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 Best for Heavy Jewelry Designs

Steel tiger tail is a stiffer wire that consists of many thin strands of steel wires. It is a nylon coated wire cable which is used for heavier beads and jewelry making. This kind of wire comes in a variety of sizes and colors. It is usually used for necklaces making, bracelets making or anklets making.

Tiger Tail, Silver Gray

Tiger tail, also sometimes spelt Tigertail, is really a kind of beading wire. They are resilient and durable. They are available in different sizes (from 0.3mm to 1mm) and various colors; you can choose what you like or suitable for your designs. Using this kind of wire to string beads is very easy, as this wire is not soft and won’t knot itself. And just because they are not soft as some other cords which can be knotted easily, you need to use crimp beads to make ends with this wire to stop jewelry beads fall off. You can make a loop with this wire to hold your clasp before you press crimp beads, and then you don’t need to use jump rings to attach the clasps onto your necklace or bracelet.

Tiger Tail, Red, 0.38mm

A jewelry designer said:”Steel tiger tail wire is actually my favorite kind of jewelry making wire to use for creating beaded necklaces. It is flexible like string, but with the strength of wire. It is actually a braided stainless steel wire coated with nylon. This makes it a perfect substitute for string with sharper beads like glass and stone. The rough edges of the beads will not wear out this wire as they would string. You can use this as wire completely covered up with beads, or for that “floating” bead look. This wire requires the use of crimp beads to secure clasps to it, and to get that floating effect. However, tiger tail is not a wire wrapping wire.”

Tiger Tail, Mixed Color

Steel tiger tails can be purchased easily from online stores. You will get a wide range of selection about their sizes, colors and prices from them, as there are tens of thousands of jewelry online stores all over the world. Well, in order to avoid meeting problems after you receive your wires, please make sure to do more research or homework to find a reliable supplier. PandaHall.com, as a leading China beads, findings and gems online market, is recommended by several friends. If you also want to save money and get quality items in one-stop shopping, you can have a try.