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How-to knot pearls.
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There is more than one way to start and finish a knotted pearl necklace. After a wonderful class with Mary Farrugia at the Sydney bead and gem show we are now all clued up in knotting beads and want to share this knowledge with you.
Apart from knotting beads being one of the most therapeutic beading techniques out there why would you bother you may ask, isn’t it quicker to simply string your pearls?
Well there are a number of reasons one should consider knotting pearls:
- Firstly for security, if your strand breaks you drop one pearl (bead) only as opposed to the whole necklaces worth of pearls scooting along the floor or worse still, road.
- A knotted strand of pearls is extremely flexible and drapes beautifully.
- Protection, the pearls cannot rub against each other
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Materials:
Depending on your method you may need
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Tools:
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TIP: We have found that medium French wire is suitable for both #4 and #6 silk thread, it is a little too wide to sit nicely on #1 thread, We will update this box as we trial out other sizes.
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The professional way to knot pearls is to start and end with a clasp loop protected by French wire (French bullion). So lets start with cutting two 1 cm or there about pieces of French wire.
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The next step is to select six pearls or beads that you can thread the silk or beading cord through twice.
Grab a bead and thread your needle through it, now thread your needle back in the hole it just came out of, pulling softly until you have a little loop flush with your beads hole. If there is not much room left in the hole then put the bead aside, if there is quite a big gap discard it as the knot will simply slide into the bead. Repeat this six times until you have six beads set aside. Three of these are your beginning beads and three are your finishing beads.
DONT get them mixed up with the remainder of your beads, keep them aside with your two pieces of French wire.
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Start by unwinding all your beading thread from the card, Griffin beading threads come in two meter lengths.
Next tie a knot near the end of your thread, you dont need a big tail.
Thread on three of your set aside pearls (beads) and your French wire. You could thread on half of your clasp now but we always like to use jump rings to attach clasps. Firstly this offers a safety release in case of an accident and secondly you can change out clasps if you want at a later date.
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TIP: Take care when threading your French wire, do not pull on it, slide it down gently from the rear end so it doesn’t pull open on you.
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Now lets thread back through the last pearl, if you have a largish hole bead take care the French wire does not start to travel back through the bead.
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Using your needle end of the thread tie a knot around the thread the pearls are strung on.
See instructions further below:
You can use the over hand knotting technique just ensure your knot pops over the bead you want to knot behind.
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Use your tweezers to secure the knot nice and close to the pearl. Explained further below.
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Thread through the second pearl and tie a knot as you did with the first.
Thread through the third pearl, repeat with another knot. Now trim off the small tail of your thread and seal the third knot with a little glue or clear nail polish.
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You are now ready to string several pearls ready for knotting.
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Slide a pearl down to your last knot.
Make an overhand knot, and use your tweezers to secure the knot up tight to your pearl by placing the tweezers through the loop and lightly holding them flush with your pearl as you pull the knot.
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Your next step is critical. Remove the tip of your tweezers from the knot and place them on the outside of the knot. Do not close the tweezers completely, simply use them to block the knot and then pull the thread end away so that the knot is pulled up towards the pearl by the tweezers.
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TIP: Dont move the tweezers, move the thread instead.
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Continue to slide a pearl down to your last knot, make a knot, slide a pearl down, make a knot and so the story continues until you have the length you need less your clasp and the last three pearls.
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When you are ready to finish thread your remaining three set aside pearls and one piece of French wire.
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You are basically doing the same as when you started your piece.
Thread back through the end bead, tie a knot, thread through the next bead, tie a knot
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Thread through the third bead and STOP, you don’t need to tie a knot here, just trim off the end of the thread and secure both the knot and the cut thread with a dab of glue or clear nail polish.
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Now add a jump ring to each French wire loop and half of the clasp to the jump rings and you are done.
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If you would prefer to use a bead tip then simply knot the non needle end of the thread through the bead tip, thread the first pearl then knot and thread as usual, after the final pearl, knot in a bead tip and attach your clasp.
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For a continuous strand tie a slip knot on the end of the thread. Thread on four pearls, tie a knot after the fourth pearl and begin with the normal stringing process. When you are ready to finish make a knot behind the final pearl you just strung, now bring the needle back through the very first un-knotted pearl and hold everything nice and close together. Snug the 1st pearl close to the final knot and tie a knot over the thread and between pearl one and two. Keep going until you have doubled threaded and knotted the initial three un-knotted pearls. Thread through to the fourth knotted pearl, trim off the needle end of thread. Go back to the slip knot end, cut off the tail and secure the knot between the final pearl and the first pearl with glue.
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Over hand knotting:
Secure the thread by placing it on a flat surface and placing your palm over the thread. Make sure you have enough thread on the bead side.
Now loop the bead end up and over your first two fingers and run it down between the second and third finger, (1st image).
Place your hand upright again and loop your beaded tail back around the first finger and under the loop of thread, (2nd image)
Remove the loops from your fingers and you will have the knot below ready for the insertion of your tweezers.
Once you get the hang of this you wont need to hold your hand flat. Keep the tension with your thumb and little finger (not shown).
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