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Crimping is an essential skill in jewelry making. It's frustrating at first, but keep practicing. You will get the hang of it!
Let's talk about crimps first. A crimp is simply a hollow tube or bead that will be squashed around beading wire to attach clasps or jump rings. Crimps come in different sizes, expressed as diameter x length. Here's a handy-dandy chart of suggested crimp sizes.
If your beading wire diameter is: Then use crimp size:
.010 1x1mm tube
.014 2x2mm tube
.019 2x2mm tube
.024 2x3mm tube
.010 1x1mm tube
.014 2x2mm tube
.019 2x2mm tube
.024 2x3mm tube
To properly and securely close a crimp, you will need a pair of crimping pliers.
1. String your wire and jump ring or clasp through your crimp. Bring the wire around the jump ring and back through the tube. Make sure the wires do not cross inside the tube. Place the crimp in the bottom section of your pliers. If you look at the tube from the end, you'll see something like this:
3. Remove the crimp from the bottom section, rotate it 90 degrees, and place it in the top section of your pliers. Squeeze your pliers together, and the crimp is closed.
The completed crimp should look something like this.
One final note on crimps: Sterling silver crimps are more expensive than nickel or other base metal crimps, so you may be tempted to buy something other than sterling silver. However, sterling silver crimps are less brittle and are therefore much less likely to break during the crimping process, and they will last much longer. Go ahead and invest in sterling silver crimps. You won't regret it.
2. Now squeeze your pliers. The crimp will now look like this.
Top section
Bottom section
Here is a close up of the jaws of crimping pliers. Crimping is a 2-step process. First, you insert your crimp tube into the bottom section of the pliers and squeeze, then remove it and insert it into the top section and squeeze. Following are detailed instructions on how to crimp correctly.
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Crimping 101