Beads have been popular for hundreds of years and can be seen on fashion runways around the world. One way to showcase your personal style along with your crafting ability is to create your own beaded eyeglass holders. With a few tools, some colorful beads and three simple techniques, you can create custom-designed eyeglass holders for yourself and your friends.
things you’ll need:
•Glass or ceramic beads and spacers
•39-strand Tiger Tail, at least .019 in diameter (unbreakable beading thread)
•2 eyeglass holders (rubber or fabric end to fit on glasses)
•Wire cutters
•2 crimp beads
•Crimp pliers
Instructions
1 Sort your beads and create a pattern for a beaded lanyard to hold the glasses. You can choose to string beads for the whole length of the lanyard or to use fewer beads in a decorative pattern.
2 Decide how much of the beading thread, called Tiger Tail, will show in your design. If you use colored thread and would like the color to show through, you will need spacer beads to hold the other beads in place.
3 Cut the Tiger Tail to the length you want for the eyeglass holder plus 8 inches. The finished length of this kind of lanyard for glasses is usually between 25 and 40 inches, depending on the size of the person who will wear it.
4 Thread one end of the Tiger Tail through a crimp bead. Then, depending on which type of eyeglass holder you have, feed it through 1 of the 2 rubber loops or the large beaded end of the holder.
5 After you have the eyeglasses holder threaded, pull the Tiger Tail back through the crimp bead again. The crimp bead, as its name suggests, keeps the Tiger Tail from coming out of the eyeglasses holder and will keep the lanyard together.
6 Move the crimp bead until it is snugly nestled next to the eyeglasses holder piece. Use the crimp pliers to crimp the bead almost flat.
7 Open the crimp pliers and reposition them on the side edges of the almost flat crimp and crimp again. You want the crimp to firmly encase the Tiger Tail, but you want the crimp bead itself to be rounded, not flat.
8 Check that the crimp bead is holding securely and then use the wire cutters to snip the end of the Tiger Tail to just 1/4 of an inch.
Make the Lanyard
1 String the beads on the Tiger Tail in the pattern you have chosen.
2 Thread more beads than you think you will need; it is easier to remove beads at the last minute than to add them.
3 When you have all the beads on the Tiger Tail in a pattern you like, measure the length of the lanyard. You want it to hang about halfway from the wearer’s collar to her belt.
4 Leave the last 4 inches of Tiger Tail without beads, so you can attach the last eyeglasses holder piece and crimp it.
Finishing the Project
1 Thread the Tiger Tail through the last crimp bead and the appropriate end of the eyeglasses holder piece and then back through the crimp bead again.
2 Move the crimp bead next to the eyeglasses holder piece and pull up the Tiger Tail so that the beads of the lanyard fit snugly together without a gap.
3 Use the crimp pliers to crimp the bead until it is almost flat just as with the first crimp bead.
4 Reposition the crimp pliers and crimp again to give the crimp bead a more rounded appearance.
5 Test the crimp to make sure it is secure and then use the wire cutters to snip the Tiger Tail to about a 1/4 of an inch.
Tips & Warnings
Tiger Tail comes in a variety of strands and diameters. More strands means that the thread will be more flexible when you put beads on it. For example, 39-strand Tiger Tail would be more flexible than 7-strand thread. Less-flexible Tiger Tail has a tendency to kink when you wear the lanyard and will not go back into the correct shape once you adjust it.
Do not use regular needle nose pliers instead of crimping pliers. The crimping pliers have special teeth that cause the crimp bead to bite into the Tiger Tail securely.