Best Knotting Techniques for Bead Jewelry

Video transcription

Hi I'm Monica from Monica's Quilt and Bead Creations in Palm Desert, California and today I'm going to be showing you some best knotting techniques for beaded jewelry. For me the best knotting technique for bead jewelry is to use the tri-cord pearl knotting tool. Now you don't necessarily have to use pearls but in this case we're going to. You can use any type of bead you want but this is what a professional would do to pearl a knot between each of the pearls. I'm using a yellow so that you can see what it looks like when it's done. You're going to bring your pearl next to the pearls you've already knotted. In your left hand, you're going to take your thread and form a loop. I always think of "fire in the hole" when I drop these through because I'm going to send my whole piece through the hole I've created. Picking up my tool in my right hand, I'm going to stick it into the hole. Gently, putting my forefinger on the tip so that this doesn't slide off, I'm going to pull my cord and bring it close to the pearl. Putting it into the V, holding it straight up towards my body, I'm going to flick this up and it creates the knot right next to the pearl. Release it and your knot is next to your pearl. Once again we're going to pull our pearl next to the knot that we just created, taking our left hand, wrapping the thread around forming a hole, we're going to drop the pearls in that we've already knotted. Picking up our tool, putting the tip into the hole, holding the tip loosely with our forefinger, that's so that the thread doesn't slide off here, and we're going to pull the thread and knot next to the pearl. Putting it into the V, holding it directly towards my body I'm going to push my thumb up and it's going to create the knot. Once I release it the knot is right next to the pearl. You can do that with full strands. Here are some examples. And here's a longer version. There are several different versions of this tool. They range from $15 up to $70. It's Monica and those are my techniques.