HOW TO CRIMP THE WAY BETTER DESIGNERS DO: Using Crimp Beads, a Crimp Pliers and Flex Wire

Warren Feld
30 min readApr 24, 2020

How to Crimp Using Crimp Beads, a Crimp Pliers and Flex Wire

Crimping is a technique for securing a clasp to beads strung on cable wires. Here crimp beads are used instead of tying knots.

Mechanically, crimping does three things:

In the first steps in crimping, you need to separate two wires that lead to the clasp component. One wire is your spine — what your beads are strung on. The other wire is your tail — extra wire you will need to cut off.

Second, you need to create a lock to literally lock the two wires in place.

Last, you need to make it pretty. The crushed crimp is ugly, and you need to make it look more like a bead again.

So with your pliers and your crimp bead, you separate the wires and create a lock and make things pretty again. The process is relatively simple and requires only a little practice.

If using a traditional crimping pliers, you would follow the 4-Steps listed below.

However, you can also use what is called a One-Step Crimper. This crimping pliers does all four steps in one step. If crimping is a technique that you will be doing often…

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Warren Feld

Beading and jewelry making have been wonderful adventures, from custom work, production work, and teaching. *Design is about the ability to make smart choices.