Sometimes I find myself with an extra bead in a piece of work that is a noticeable problem. (Or at least noticeable to me.)
If I discover the problem early enough I simply undo the work back to that point. But what happens if it’s in a finished piece or at a point where I can’t easily do that?
Crimp pliers to the rescue. 🙂 Here’s how.
1. Working over a bead mat, slip a beading needle through the unwanted bead, separating the bead as much as possible from the surrounding work.
2. Place the oval hole of the crimp pliers (the one furthest from the handle) over the bead-needle combo.
3. Gently close the pliers. (I usually hold my other hand over the bead/needle/pliers combo while doing this, to keep bits of glass from flying away.)
Voila! The bead breaks and the glass falls onto the mat.
If there’s some extra thread showing where the bead fell away, gently tease surrounding beads to take up the slack.
The key to this process is the beading needle — it elevates the bead above the surrounding work and therefore away from beads you don’t want to break, ’cause there ain’t no easy way to insert a bead if you take out too many.
If you don’t have crimp pliers, needle nose pliers (the kind with the pointy nose) will work. Again, the beading needle is important — in this case it helps keep the pliers from crushing the glass against the thread and weakening or cutting through it.
Beau Dangles 