Pearl sizes and PowerPro

Tried the 20lb but the knots were still too small and pearls slid through them unless I used two strands of it. The result wasn't bad though. I'm going to try the 30 and 50 and see how that looks. Cathy, your necklaces are beautiful!
 
Catybear, you hit the nail on the head with matching the thread to the size of the hole of pearl/bead. If the knot is too hard to see or disappears, the thread used is too fine and will stretch or slip very quickly when worn.

I sometimes use 2 strand but I mostly use 4 or more strands as I find that the knots produced sit neater to the pearl/bead when using many strands of finer thread then a single\double strand of heavier weight.

I have just completed a micro garnet and akoya necklace using 6 very fine stands.
 
Bernadette, That necklace sounds lovely. May I ask what size the Akoya are? The reason I ask is I struggle with the knots when I alternate very small and medium to large beads. I end up either having knots looking to large for the small beads or knots the larger beads can slide over.

I also have converted to all PowerPro. I use 10b, 15lb, 20lb, and 30lb depending on the size of the pearls. I have used 4+ strands before of the 10lb and agree the knots are very nice and fit well against the pearls.
 
Your necklace sounds lovely Bernadeyye.. any piccies? :o)
I love mixing pearls and it can be a pain with varying drill hole sizes.. all a bit of trial and error.
I still love using silk, but as I live in the tropics, if a favourite is strung on powerpro and I sweat all over it (ewww lol) I can wash it. I have washed necklaces done on silk but if I did it too often they'd probably get a bit ratty and need restringing.
 
Cathybear - im posting some pics in another post - dont want to derail the discussion on powerpro.

Mary - the Akoyas are 6.5 to 7mm - I dont know how to explain the "why" behind it - but for me at least - using multiple strands provides a lot more flexibility, sometimes I use strands of just one size - other times having a mix of sizes allows a better result.
 
Pearlcat said:
Tried the 20lb but the knots were still too small and pearls slid through them unless I used two strands of it. The result wasn't bad though. I'm going to try the 30 and 50 and see how that looks. Cathy, your necklaces are beautiful!
Click to expand...

Hi Pearlcat,
why don?t you use doubled thread as most of us do? Is there some special reason? The doubled thread also takes the double weight so it makes the necklace even more safe...:)
 
Hi Jerin -- I'm new to knotting so I'm trying different things. I just tried PowerPro (playing with it) last weekend for the first time and was having problems with the knots being too small -- when I tried double 20lb that seemed to work okay but I wanted to know if there was something better. I guess because I'm new at this -- double seems doubly intimidating!
 
Pearlcat:
Good for you. Keep trying new things like PowerPro. It wasn't until I tried the double strand technique spoken of often on this forum that stringing got easier for me. It used to take me over and hour to do a strand of pearls.
Keep up the good work,
barbie
 
jerin said:
Hi Pearlcat,
why don?t you use doubled thread as most of us do? Is there some special reason? The doubled thread also takes the double weight so it makes the necklace even more safe...:)
Click to expand...

There's another reason one absolutely must (IMO) use at least two strands when knotting with PowerPro.

Off the spool, PowerPro is a compact, dense rod of fibers. When I place knots close to the pearl, it stays stiff and compact, resulting in a less flexible, small knot-- even if I'm using two or more strands of it.

But when I make the knot a few inches from the pearl then pull the two strands apart to close the gap, the friction separates the fibers and fluffs the PowerPro up to make a flexible, silky-looking knot.

There's no way I'm the only person here who does this, but I haven't seen it described in a way that I recognized before.

Haven't noticed any breakages resulting from this technique. It may reduce the strength of the PowerPro, but gel-spun polyethylene fibers are much, much stronger than the task requires from the word go.
 
Lauren,
you are absolutely right! I haven?t thought about it so much but it is true - my knots are a little bit from the place the ought to be and pulling the two strands apart lets the knot glide elegantly to the pearl and it does not look stiff at all! Thanks for describing this!
 
I have come to believe in two things in my pearl stringing. Power Pro, and Japanese 2 strand method. The Japanese method gets the knots in the right place easily. First test you pearls to see how many strands through makes a snug fit. A knot onto a reasonably snung fit will not go back through. On some pearls I have ran two strands of 30# through then start back through with a third strand, the knotting strand. You end up with a necklace that has #90 lb strength.

Lloyd
Gemologist GIA
http://www.zibbet.com/LloydsJewelry
 
The Power Pro 20 lbs. that I ordered from Amazon just arrived. I immediately worked on the 11mm freshwater pearl strand of my sister-in-law. Power Pro is much easier to use than silk. It is easier to knot. I usually use a tweezers when knotting with silk, but with Power Pro the knots stay in place when I tighten them. The downside is that my fingers are sore. I am happy with the results. Will order the other sizes.
 
Both and. PowerPro is a registered trademark and is sold as fishing line and as beading thread. Suzanne Hye of Hye on Beads at eBa always has just about every size and weight of Power pro.

8-10lbs is good for tiny holes, 20 pound powerpro is good for most pearls, 30 lb is for bigger pearls if they have bigger holes. Or Say, bigger beads mixed with pearls. I keep a reel of eacj in white and mosss green. Moss green is good for most colored pearls.It is rather gray.
 
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