Repairing a beadwoven piece…
By their very nature, beadwoven pieces are delicate in comparison to metal jewelry. Thread is simply not as permanent. Yes, there are some beadwoven works that have been around for hundreds of years, but one must take into account how often and under what circumstances the pieces were worn. How they were cared for and stored must be factored in as well. Fortunately, out of the many beadwoven pieces I have made, I’ve only had to repair a few. A tool I use often in my daily work for singeing thread ends comes to the rescue when a piece needs repair. It‘s called the “Perfect End™ Thread Burner” and it makes short work of ends that would otherwise have to be knotted and woven back and forth through many beads to secure. Because I use Fireline® primarily for beading, I simply cut an exposed thread to about 1/8” and zap it with the thread burner which fuses the thread end and causes it to shrink, creating a nub on the end which can be pushed inside the bead! It’s wonderful!
Does it smell? I can see where it would really come in handy!
It smells like burning thread for a milisecond, but it really locks your thread in, which is so important in bead weaving.
I love my thread burner! It is fabulous when you are working on a piece and have may threads to start and stop. I actually weave around a bit then burn – I use it so I do not need to put knots in my bead work.
Great tip, thanks for sharing!
I’ll usually add a dab of clear nail polish on all of my knots to help keep them from coming loose.