Bead Reaming

Yesterday I was working on a fun project - dangles for silver bracelets with removable ends. The dangles are made from various colors of pearls and fine silver head pins (that I made myself wOOt!). While the headpins were pretty thin (22g silver), they just didn't fit through some of the pearls!

What to do? I had 33 dangles to make, and wanted to have a good variety of colors in my selection.

Why, whip out my handy dandy Beadalon Bead Reamer, of course! I reamed out the pearls (take that, you bad pearl! LOL) and like magic, the headpins fit through the holes.

So what's involved in reaming out a pearl (or any bead with a small hole, for that matter)? It's easy...and I find it pretty relaxing as well. Here's are my easy steps to reaming beads:

I have a fairly inexpensive battery operated Beadalon Bead Reamer. While I got mine at a Rings N Things trunk show, I've seen them at Michael's and Hobby Lobby as well. You can use a hand reamer, but the battery operated one is quick...just make sure you have fresh batteries to keep it powered up!

Gather your beads that you want to ream, a towel, and either a small bowl with clean water in it or stand next to the kitchen sink. You will want to ream the bead under water - I turned on my kitchen faucet at just over a drip and reamed under running water, but some folks prefer to just use a bowl of water.

Hold the bead under water, and insert the tip of the reamer in one side of the drilled hole. Turn the reamer on, firmly holding the bead steady. The idea is to let the reamer do the rotating, not the bead. ;-)

Use a rocking motion to gently pull the reamer slightly out of the inside of the bead and push it back in. Use a little force - your objective here is to make the opening wider all the way through. After you've widened the hole about 1/2 way through the bead, flip the bead around so you are reaming through the hole in the opposite side.

Test the bead periodically by removing the reamer and attempting to insert the headpin or wire that you are going to string it on. Once it fits, you're done reaming!

Dry the bead thoroughly (I air dry on the towel).

Labels: bead reaming, beadalon, beading projects, pearls

posted by Beading Help Web Editorial Team at 5:36 AM |