Pearl and Bead Stringing

Pyramid Studios Provides Professional Knotting Services to Make Your Necklace Look Like New Again! 

Good Things to Know Before Getting Your Pearls or Beads Restrung

Why bother with knotting at all?

If your knotted necklace breaks, you may lose one pearl or bead saving you from a potentially embarrassing situation crawling about the floor publicly or worse, the loss of a precious pearl 

A knot will separate one pearl from another and allow you to see more of their surface area. A knotted pearl necklace has a finished, beautiful look that we all so desire in a good strand of well-fitting pearls.

Knots are not just for pearls. The same can be said for any precious bead that you want to stand out and protect from loss.

New is better than old: Nylon® is better than silk

Silk has been used to string pearls for centuries but it is no longer the best choice for stringing your pearls. Silk stretches and soils much more easily than the modern cord we use today. 

Nylon or Polyamid bead cord is a soft, supple, spun cord that looks the same as silk when knotted but is far superior. It holds up better to body chemicals and cosmetics, and it won't mind getting a gentle bath. 

Wire is not stronger than thread

All wires, thread, string, cord, monofilament, even chain, do eventually break. There simply is no stringing medium out there that will last indefinitely.

 Wire or Beadalon which is composed of many strands of coated, stranded wire is a good choice for metal beads or beads where the holes can abrade string.

If your necklace is knotted, it will be shorter after it is restrung

Bead cord stretches over time especially with necklaces that are knotted between beads.  

When your necklace is re-knotted, there is no space between the knot and the pearl or bead so that no pearl or bead has room to move. Your necklace could even have a "wrinkled" look: that is a positive indication of tight knotting, but it will vanish with wearing and straighten itself out. 

This tight re-knotting can reduce the length of your necklace which may or may not be noticeable depending on the length and previous condition of your necklace.

If your necklace was unknotted and you want it knotted, it will come back longer

The knots will add length to your strand. The larger the size thread that is used, the longer the finished strand will be. The more beads or pearls are on the strand, the longer the finished necklace will be after knotting. Typically, a 16" strand of pearls or average size beads will increase by about 1 to 1½ inches.

If you have a multi strand necklace, all strands should be restrung

When string ages, stretches and gets brittle, it does that on the entire necklace, not just the one strand that broke. Fixing just the one broken strand will mismatch the other strands in length and appearance. Each strand will stretch over time, and a freshly knotted strand is shorter than before its repair.

Graduated pearls don't always give the best results

Graduated pearls or beads can differ not only in the diameter of the pearl or bead, but also in the diameter of their holes. Consequently, it is difficult to achieve a perfectly restrung necklace and the knots between the beads may appear uneven. 

When knotting pearls, the thickness of the string being used is determined by the diameter of the pearl hole. What may fit through a small hole may not yield a knot that's large enough for the next bead. This smaller knot may slip into the inside of the hole. 

You may prefer the smoother look of a graduated strand without knots or consider occasional knots.

Metal beads are not usually knotted

Metal beads usually have larger holes than any other beads. They are left unkotted so the knots do not slip under the metal bead. Many precious metal beads are hollow with thin walls. Over time, the knot next to the precious metal bead will work itself into the inside of the metal bead, tearing the bead wall on the way in.