Tube Clasps and Crimp Covers

I went to my local amazing international bead shop today and found a basket-full of sterling silver tube clasps at very reasonable, almost wholesale, prices. I picked up a few different sizes:

• 1 1/2 inch – 5 holes
• 1 inch – 4 holes
• 3/4 inch – 3 holes

I’ve found that tube clasps are the easiest and cleanest findings for loomed bracelets. The tricky thing (as with any multi-strand end piece) is finding one that has the right material, size and number of holes.

For instance, I recently finished off my Diamond-patterned loomed bracelet with a three-strand 3/4 inch stainless steel tube clasp.

I think the size of the tube clasp at 3/4-inch is ideal; however, the clasp could stand to accommodate one more hole to up it to 4 instead of 3. This I think would make the warps line more evenly with the strand holes because as is, the end warps tend to pull a little bit from the edges towards the center. Next time I could use a 4 holed 1-inch tube clasp but would that extra 1/4-inch upset the scalability of the bracelet? You don’t want to look at one of these bracelets and BAM! have the clasp jump out at you. You want to admire the pattern on the bracelet. Hmm… if anyone finds a 4 holed 3/4-inch tube clasp, please drop me a line.

One final issue with the particular clasp I used for the above bracelet is its stainless steel material. I think it’s entirely too shiny, flawless, sterile and “new” looking to adequately complement the nature of the technique. It gives the bracelet the feel of being manufactured – blech. I try to use sterling silver whenever I can to highlight the simple beauty of the craft.

You can also see from the above picture that I affixed crimp covers to hide the bent crimps of the original design. A note about using crimp covers: the ones I used were sterling silver and therefore a bit soft so take care when using your crimper (or pliers) to close the cover. If the cover doesn’t sit in the crimper the right way and you force the cover closed, it will be become dented and bent, thereby defeating its purpose. But the ones that are done the right way look quite beautiful and make the piece feel more “finished”.