The crimping pliers have two notches or "stations." The first station, which is farthest from the tip of the pliers, has a dimple in the middle and is used to squeeze the crimp into a "figure 8" shape. The second station, which is closest to the tip of the pliers, is used to fold the crimp and form it into a nice, tube shape. |  | Take the crimp tube and slide it onto one end of the wire and then add a jump ring. Take the end of the wire and go back through the crimp. | | Push the crimp up to the jump ring, but don't make it so tight that the jump ring can't move. |
While holding the crimp in the first station of the crimping pliers, use your fingers to separate the wires so that they lie on each side of the tube. | | Next, squeeze the crimping pliers, bringing the dimple down in between the two wires so that the strands are trapped on opposite sides of the crimp. It is important that you don't have a death grip when you are crimping, because this will weaken the crimp. However, you do want to give it a good squeeze. You should now have a "U" shaped crimp tube. | | You will then move the crimp to the second station of the crimping pliers, placing it so that when you squeeze, the two sides of "U" will come together. Give it a nice squeeze. With the nipper tool, cut the excess wire. |
You may now string your beads onto your jewelry wire. Once you have done this, crimp the other end of your jewelry wire. Do this by repeating steps 1-6. When crimping this time, you will want to get the crimp close to the beads but not so close that the beads don't have any room to move. Again, cut any excess wire with the nipper tool. |
