Crimps are an entire blog post, believe it or not. I'll also talk about crimp covers.
A crimp is used when you want to fold over the cord of your necklace and have it stay folded over. Basically it helps you turn the end of the cord into a loop. Now there are many other uses for crimps such as:
- Keeping beads on a chain suspended in one spot to make a sort of spread-out random placement of beads on a chain or a bunch of chains
- Keeping the beads on a wire hoop earring from moving around
- Keeping the beads on a wire earring finding you make
But the main use is on the ends of necklaces.
Types of crimps:
Crushable cord ends: These are expensive but they look and work great. Basically instead of folding over the cord, you insert the cord into the crushable cord end and maybe glue it before using your jewelry pliers to crush the middle part of the metal tube. Some of these were used on the necklace above. I really like these and my only problem with them is having enough of them onhand and in all the sizes and colors I want to use. Ordering these is tricky as it is for all cord ends because the websites and stores tend to give you the outer measurement of the cord end when what matters more is the inner measurement, since that is what makes it work on your chosen cord! (or not).
Crimp beads: The most basic type of crimp, you loop the cord through them and then use a special pair of crimping pliers to clamp them down onto the cord. Sometimes crimp beads don't cooperate, but ideally you should be able to double the crimp bead by folding the metal using the pliers.
Crimp beads come in all sizes, colors, and shapes, but what they have in common is that they must be crushed with a tool to work.
Fold-over crimps: I personally no longer use these because I don't think they look pretty enough, but they are an extremely cheap option if you just want to make a ton of necklaces really quickly and at minimal cost. All you do is sandwich the cord in the middle of the crimp and fold the metal sides over it to clamp the cord in. It can be kind of challenging to make these look centered on the cord itself--they tend to flop over to one side or the other and look lopsided.
Manually homemade wire crimps: These are literally just a piece of wire that you wrap attractively around the area in which you would have put a crimp bead, then use pliers to clamp the wire down and secure it. This takes practice and more time than a crimp bead but it can be by far the cheapest solution and is always an attractive option any time you lack the crimping findings you would have wanted (usually because what you have is the wrong color or size.)
Crimp covers are amazing! When you get a crimp bead crushed and folded, you might imagine it doesn't look as pretty as a nice, round, metal bead. It doesn't! The solution are these tiny, little, metal shells called crimp covers. You'll need to experiment to make sure the crimp cover goes completely over the crimp when closed. Finding crimp covers in all sizes and colors can be challenging!
To close crimp covers without crushing them, try some wide-jawed, square, flat pliers. The thinner pliers tend to dig in more. You can always make your pliers less marking on your parts by covering their jaws with masking tape. The tape wears off quickly but I think it's a simple alternative to using tool dip for this purpose.
That's about all! Much love and peace to your crafting table,
--Pam