How to Choose and Use Steel Tiger Tail

Along with the popularity of jewelry making, more and more people start to create handmade jewelry. But some beginners may ask which jewelry wire should I choose to create bracelet or necklace? If we choose steel tiger tail, how to use it?

Steel tiger tail is a versatile jewelry wire, and widely used in jewelry making. If you want to choose a wire to create heavy necklace or bracelet, tiger tail will be a good choice. Tiger tail is an industry term that typically refers to stranded wire that is made of three strands or fewer. It is available in many different sizes, so that you need to choose correct size for your designs according to the hole of beads and findings.

Tiger Tail

Steel tiger tail is braided wire and coated in nylon. This wire is very strong and available in a plenty of colors. Although it is widely used in jewelry making, it is not used for wire wrapping as it is still, and cannot be bent into wire wrapped loops as its ends like other types of beading wires. But as we have said above that this kind of jewelry wire is the very strong, it is should be used with heavy, large beads, natural gemstone beads and etc. If you have some large, heavy beads with rough edges, tiger tail will be the perfect jewelry wire to use.

Handmade Polymer Clay Necklaces

How to use steel tiger tail for jewelry making? The first step is cutting the wire to the length of your project, of course. 8 inches is suitable length for bracelet, and 36 inches is suitable length of necklace. Second, put a white cloth on your work area so that you can easily see beads and wire, and then arrange all supplies on your work area. Third, add a crimp bead and jump ring on steel tiger tail and use a crimp plier to press it to stop beads fall off. Fifth, string beads on steel tiger tail according to your design. Sixth, add another crimp bead and clasp on the other end of tiger tail once you have string all the beads on. Seventh, you can add a piece of extended chain on jump at one end to make this bracelet or necklace adjustable. Now, you have completed your one of a kind handmade jewelry design with steel tiger tail.

From above instructions, it is not hard to find that steel tiger tail is very easy to be used, even if you are just a beginner of jewelry making. And they are easy to be purchased in your local jewelry stores. But if you need more of that kind jewelry wire, you’d better to purchase them from wholesale stores to save money.

Steel Tiger Tail Is Versatile in Making Beaded Jewelry

If you want to create beaded jewelry, you cannot miss steel tiger tails. Tiger tail is available in a wide range of colors and can be used to create durable but comfortable jewelry pieces. That is why so many jewelry makers like to use Tiger tail to create jewelry designs, such as necklaces and bracelets.

Tiger Tail

As a traditional beading wire with a small number of strands, steel tiger tail is economical and typically very strong, but it can kink easily when you bend it. Well, depending on the brand, Tiger tail may or may not be coated with nylon; even most of them are coated with nylon. About the size of this wire, it is measured in inches or millimeters as well as in gauges. Gauges range from 0 to around 50; the smaller the number, the thicker the wire.

Steel tiger tail is a commonly used jewelry wires in jewelry making. It is very strong and a good choice for beading heavy necklaces, bracelets and earrings. This wire is stiff, and cannot be bent into wire wrapped loops at its ends like other types of beading wire as it will form kinks. Instead, tiger tail is attached to jump rings and clasps with crimp beads. Even though it cannot be used for wire wrapping, it can be used to give the look of an “invisible” setting, where the beads look like they are floating.

Tiger Tail

To the beginners of jewelry making, they may not clear about how to use crimp beads on tiger tail. Here is instruction. String one or two jewelry beads, a crimp bead and a jump ring on the wire first, and turn the wire back to string the crimp bead and jewelry beads again. Leave a length of wire to make it as loop to hold the jump ring. Use your crimp tools to close crimp bead. Now, you have attached a jump ring and crimp bead on the wire successfully. You can string your rest jewelry beads to finish your design now. Use the same method to make a loop to hold a clasp. A handmade necklace or bracelet is created.

Apart from having a wide range of selection with colors, steel tiger tail is good for most beads, for the nylon coating protects the steel wire inside it from rough bead edges and giving your jewelry design a longer life. What is more, you can get a range of selection and cheap prices if you purchase tiger tail from jewelry beads wholesale online stores.