There are a few names for flexible beading wire, tiger tail being used as a generic one. You will also see brand names such as Soft Flex, Beadalon, Accu~flex, acculon and more.

Though I am not an angler, basically if I am not mistaken tiger tail is a lot like a fishing trace wire. You start with thin stainless wires that are twisted together and are nylon coated. For a basic wire you will have seven strands and the wire will be available in varying diameters.

The more strands used per diameter the greater the flexibility of your wire and the softer the drape. Tiger tail is usually seven strands though some of the smaller diameters may only be three strand. As you move onto the higher quality wires you will find they have more strands often divided into multiples of seven. While a 19 strand wire is simply that 19 wire strand twisted together, 21 strand has three lots of intertwined wires that each have seven twisted wires, 49 strand have 7 lots of 7, about the most you will currently find on the market. The larger the diameter the better it is to have more wires to help with your flexibility.

Now for diameter, these are given in inches so the smaller the number the finer the wire. Manufacturers have recommendations on their sites for the uses of various diameters but here is a general guide.

• 0.014 - used for fresh water pearls and seed beads, for designs that will not suffer a lot of wear.
• 0.019 - recommended for glass beads and crystals for general wear and designs.
• 0.024 - the heavy boys for the heavy jobs, use with stone and ethnic beads that may wear through your wire. Try to use 49 strand wire as this will give your piece a longer life span and use for pieces such as watch bands that need extra strength.

Now a word of caution, tigertail does kink and it is impossible to get the kink out once it is in. This is where the more flexible wires come into their own as they are harder to kink and some of the fine ones can even be knotted and threaded onto a needle for weaving. You can try to keep your wire manageable by placing it in a plastic re-sealable bag and only have the tip poking out. If it is spooled you can keep a hair scrunchie on it to keep it in place. You can find further tips like this at Beading Forum dot com dot au

I am not going to get into brand names here, competition in the market place means that the designer has some great wires to choose from and everyone will find their favourites. You can even get wire now coated in 22 kt gold and sterling silver.