Hi, I'm new to the world of beading and was wondering if anyone out there could tell me what is the best beading wire? Where can I get it? Any suggestions would be helpful and APPRECIATED.
Sincerely, Robin Babcock, NC
Hi Robin, welcome to beading and to Beading Daily! You've asked a bit of a loaded question, since there are many brands and sizes of beading wire. Which brand you use is a matter of personal preference, but the major ones are Soft Flex, Accuflex and Beadalon. If you decide you enjoy beading a lot you might want to try different brands to see which one you prefer.
As for size, there are lots of different ones. How many wire strands is the first part (7, 19, 21, 49 are the most common). More strands means stronger wire overall. The second part is the diameter: it generally goes from .012" (fine) to .024" (heavy duty). What you need will depend on the beads you are stringing. For pearls, other beads with small holes or lightweight beads you can use a finer diameter, and for heavier or large holed beads you'd use a thicker one.
For an average necklace I generally use 19-49 strand, .019" wire and it works just fine.
Jeni
Oklahoma City
ArtFire Studio & blog | Gallery
Robin,
As far as diameters, a good rule of thumb is to use the largest wire that will fit through your beads once. A fine diameter - .014 is manufactured for smaller seed beads and pearls. A medium diameter - .019 is designed for mixing and matching everything, it is a great multi-purpose wire for silver, glass, stones, etc. A heavy diameter - .024 is great for bracelets and abrasive stone, like Turquoise.
Happy beading!
HomeFacebookTwitter
So, Mr. Softflex's ad is OK because he personally pays for advertising I guess.
In my own opinion, I do not like Softflex and don't recommend it to anyone. My reasons are my own and I will not post them here so as not to get into some big argument with the Softflex sales person. If anyone wants more of my thoughts, contact me off-forum.
Dawn
As a former moderator as well as a member since the forums opened, I think that no advertising should not be allowed in the forums. I think it should stick to the signature line ONLY like we have done from the beginning. They may pay for advertising, but that should stick to their banners and popups. I come to the forums to chat and learn, not be bombarded with advertising. I get enough of that from the newsletter and banners on the site.
I was demoted and almost banned because of my opinions about an advertiser's product so be careful. Apparantly some of them can't take critism very well, even if it IS the truth.
Billy ;o)
I yam wut I yam and dats all wut I yam. ~Popeye~
Dragonfly Jewelry Designs - ArtFire Artisan Studio
I agree wholeheartedly with you, Billy! No big surprise, I usually do. That's why I told folks to contact me off-forum if they want my thoughts on this particular vendor. I'm only just getting back into the swing of things; I don't want to be banned simply for having strong opinions. I'm galled at the thought even that we've been made to feel that our voices are not to be heard on this forum about certain vendors. But we've already had that discussion about illegal censorship, I'll desist from digressing. On the other hand ...
Just because a particular company may pay for ads does not, in my mind, mean that they should automatically be exempt from the rules - sounds too much to me like our current state of government, like "I'm above the law" "I have a completely different set of laws to live by" or even "do as I order you to do, not as I do". IMHO it's a double standard and in most areas of life it's neither accepted nor tolerated. But, this is BD and I guess the rules are different. Not to mention the fact that I am FORCED to have to look at all the obnoxious ads already paid for, why should I be subjected to the same dern thing imbedded inside discussions.
If Deb cannot post here, then neither should Softflex or any other big business!!
OK, so why has Softflex not been warned and his posts deleted when he adverts his product directly on these forums?? Here is a quote and the link to the specific BD discussion where Leslie herself posts the so-called rules for the BD Forum:
"2. Promoters, retailers, manufacturers, etc. may not advertisement in the blogs, forums, galleries, or public groups. Posts of this kind will be deleted."
http://www.beadingdaily.com/forums/t/6474.aspx
One simple question. Has anyone brought it to the attection of a moderator or staff? I would think, that would be a good first step. When I seen advertizement on the forums from a drog retailer, or wholesaler which ever he was, I contacted Jeni and informed her about it. Sometimes it is not possible to read everything that is typed, and if you see something that shouldn't be, it might help the moderators to point it out to them.
I am not defending or berating anyone, this is just the way I feel. I also don't like getting bombed with a bunch of advertishing, so whoever is advertizing I also believe they should be stopped.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Happy Beading!!
Sue,
Temperance,Michigan
I'll ask for guidance from Leslie. He's posted several times before and no one has said anything up till now.
Agreed. With you Dawn, Billy, and Sue.
SoftlexGuy, you can edit your post yourself and remove that link to your site (if you're back here reading instead of just seeding various sites with advertising that is). Are you interested in these forums for anything other than advertising? If so please place your link in your signature instead of in your post and please don't post this kind of "oh I can help you...go here and get some freebies (and while your there buy some stuff) again."
Out of 30 posts there are links to his site on these:
January 26, 2010 http://www.beadingdaily.com/forums/p/6074/60937.aspx#60937
January 15, 2010 http://www.beadingdaily.com/forums/p/6016/59592.aspx#59592
January 14, 2010 http://www.beadingdaily.com/forums/p/3644/59433.aspx#59433
January 6, 2010 http://www.beadingdaily.com/forums/p/5885/58716.aspx#58716
September 3, 2009 http://www.beadingdaily.com/forums/p/4418/45296.aspx#45296
September 3, 2009 http://www.beadingdaily.com/forums/p/4427/45293.aspx#45293
August 18, 2009 http://www.beadingdaily.com/forums/p/4279/43187.aspx#43187
November 5, 2008 http://www.beadingdaily.com/forums/p/1905/12584.aspx#12584
November 4, 2008 http://www.beadingdaily.com/forums/p/1988/12527.aspx#12527
October 24, 2008 http://www.beadingdaily.com/forums/p/1695/12041.aspx#12041
September 30, 2008 http://www.beadingdaily.com/forums/p/1795/10643.aspx#10643
September 30, 2008 http://www.beadingdaily.com/forums/p/1746/10640.aspx#10640
September 15, 2008 http://www.beadingdaily.com/forums/p/1514/9769.aspx#9769
September 9, 2008 http://www.beadingdaily.com/forums/p/1644/9390.aspx#9390
If any of us ordinary members of Beading Daily who didn't pay Interweave for advertising were to respond to questions on the forums with direct links to our stores/products as the answer 47% of the time we'd have been banned long ago. SoftFlexGuy I'd like you to apologize. At the very least I'd like to see you stop posting links to your products. Better, I'd like to see you remove all those ads yourself. Likely we'd never hear from you again if you weren't allowed to post links to your products/stores/etc. directly here anyway. Best of all, I'd like to see you banned for misuse of these forums.
BD administrators: When will you learn you can't offer us a double standard and expect us to be quiet about it? After all the changes to this site, the confusion created while you try to explain, wheedle, and lie your way out of pushing us around here on the forums I'm suprised there isn't even more outcry about it. I suppose it's because we really do love these forums and our friends here on them. But maybe that isn't what you really want, maybe you really want a place loaded with advertising, but only by people who pay for it. BD you don't care about us, that's obvious. Maybe you're suprised we care so much about each other.
Softflex is now on my list of "never buy anything from these people." Since it's been proven they willfully won't play by the rules here, why would they anywhere else?
Pam
There is no email available on SoftFlexGuy's profile page. All the signature links go directly to advertising (which is okay in the signature block) so there is no way to contact him directly without signing up for more advertising or buying something.
Hello,
Our intention was only to offer a free sample and offer advice to try several brands and choose the one that you find to be the best for you. That is something that all of us advise regularly because we feel confident in the quality of our products. Thomas - Soft FlexGuy has hung out in many beading forums for many years and to my knowledge he has always done his best to be informative and not sales driven. I can certainly ask Thomas to steer clear of posting on Beading Daily if all of you feel as if his contribution is imposing upon you.
Although we are paid advertisers, we are beaders too. Most of us use the products that we sell and although we may speak from our experience using a specific brand, we do offer a whole lot of experience.
Thomas > Thomas@SoftFlexCompany.com
Best Wishes,
Sara Hardin
Sara@SoftFlexCompany.com
SoftFlexGirl Blog
Okay, we're sorry. We obviously see it a little different. Education and information is a big part of who we are and it feels totally natural and normal to share what we know. If someone is asking a specific question that pertains to us as individuals and as a company, we have chosen to post and pass along information. Thank you for clarifying how you feel about our posts, we will certainly take it into consideration as we move forward. Again, we were not intending to step on any toes.
Take Care,
Sara, it's not a matter of feelings or of seeing things differently. Responsible forum members read the rules before they post. It's also not a matter of education and information, what was offered is clearly advertising with a bit here and there by way of "education and information." Honest apologies don't come with excuses.
Five words: Don't advertise in your forum posts. Clear enough?
oops, that's six words
Clearly understood. We really are sorry.
Copyright (C) 2013 Interweave Press, LLCUse of this site signifies your agreement to the Terms and Privacy Policy, updated March 2007
