Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Some New Cord Styles for the New Year

After creating our clay beads and pendants comes the decision of how they will be finished into jewelry pieces.  Should they be wire wrapped, strung or just hung on a cord for best effect?  When it comes to pendants on cords,  I like to "lock" them into place whenever possible.  This prevents the cord from "walking" with the clasp ending up at the front.  The pendant below is an example of one that is finished this way:



Our favorite type of cord we like to use is the "Softglass".  It is like rubber cord but is slightly translucent, very strong, yet flexible and almost looks like frosted glass.  It has a hole going through the center which is perfect for stringing wire through.  I like to use "softflex" wire in this case and even though it isn't necessary, I prefer the 49 strand due to it's strength and flexibility so the softglass cord can still drape nicely.

Another type of cord we recently discovered is a stainless steel cable that is nylon coated.  They come in a variety of colors with a screw barrel type clasp.  I prefer to cover this clasp with clay so it is more comfortable on the neck and easier to handle.  These cables work great for shorter (16-18") choker type necklaces.  They are also great when you really want to show off the pendant or beads and not have the cord as a  distraction.



I sell these with the finished clasps in our Art Fire and Etsy shops as they are great if you want a simple cord to use for interchanging pendants.  These cables work great for beaded style chokers as well making them more versatile.  We have them in silver and gold and will have more colors available soon.

My latest discovery, however, is combining these cables with the softglass cord.  I found there is a slight "walking" problem when using these cables on a pendant so I was experimenting with ways to "lock" them in.  When I cut small pieces of the softglass and thread them on the cable they look like little beads but are also nonslip and gently keep the beads or pendant in place.  I can use the softglass pieces in contrasting colors like beads or in the same color as the cable to blend in.







This new style will work well with some of the new clay designs I'm working on and will be available in the new year.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those cable necklaces where a huge hit at my last sow ! Love what you did with the clay.

Unknown said...

Cute! May I share the first design that uses our wire on my blog for Soft Flex? I'll site you and your website in the post. :)

Happy new year!

2 Good Claymates said...

Hi Softflexgirl, I love your blog and would be honored for you to share it.

veda said...

Hi ! How can I string beads on the stainless steel cord? Are those screws detachable especially after being covered with polymer clay? Thanks!

Veda

2 Good Claymates said...

Hi Veda,

If you have large enough holes in your beads, they can thread onto the stainless steel cord over the small metal end making it interchangeable. If you want the beads to be permanent on the cord then you can thread the beads on first and then attach the screw part with pliers. You can see the cord here at shadesofclay.com under cording and wire (scroll down almost to the bottom of the page). They sell them where you can finish the cord off yourself.