Confessions of a Crystal Hoarder Blog

Somewhere along my beading journey, I picked up the habit of scoffing at glued projects. I suspect this had a lot to do with “Oh, you bead? I do too! I made this necklace!”

So I joined the ranks of bead snobs who disdained glue….until I sat back and thought about it. Glue isn't evil. Glue is just another tool, like pliers, or a mandrel...or a clamp. And really that’s what glue pretty much is; a clamp of sorts. It holds your beady bits in place.

I’m not even sure I could have gotten these polymer clay cabochons I made to be secure without glue. Sure, they’d stick a little because they were baked in the bezel cups, but that is in no way a long term solution.

This particular pair has a coating of Diamond Glaze, which could secure it a little…

Since I wanted this pair to to have a dull satin finish, it needed buffing. And there was no way the clay was going to stay put through vigorous sanding and buffing.

Is it possible to set chatons without glue? Wait- yes - prong set. But what if your finding doesn't have prongs? It’s time to break out some adhesive. In this case, I also broke out my Crystal Katana. The links are pot metal, from the Hoard.

The straps however, are glue-free. They are good ol’ peyote stitch with Fireline.

There are times when I don’t want to use glue. This pendant made with the Bakelite focal from the box is a good example. I made an inverse bezel of galvanized beads and magatamas to hold the loop in place. I get squeamish about glue when I feel like I may ruin a component by making my work permanent. Perhaps ruin isn't really the right word.

When I sew with vintage sewing patterns, I trace them onto new paper rather than cutting the pattern. That way, years from now the pattern can be passed on to someone else. Well, I use the same strategy with many vintage components. Someday, some other beader can harvest the focal and use it in their work.

I didn't use glue in these sibling necklaces either. Oops. So much for my theme!

They are stuck...with head pins. I've been playing around with mixing new bead shapes with the Bead Hoard. I used brick beads for these. Originally, I was going to craft a bracelet, but when I couldn't decide if I liked the daggers, I decided to break up the set.

Here’s another (glue-less) peek into my experiments. I used a variety of O beads with vintage chain for a dainty festoon necklace. So although I may not have stuck with glue, at least this month I did stick with