Filling the Bead Hole Tutorial by Artwhim

Sometimes when making a piece of jewelry the hole of the bead being used is too large for the diameter of the wire  and the bead feels wobbly.  The easiest way to fix this problem is to fill the hole with small beads that will fit over the wire, but fill the space.  However, this fix does not always work because sometimes I just don’t have the right size filler beads.  One day out of frustration I came up with this solution.   

Supplies:Craft foam (this is the colored foam that comes in sheets and is available anywhere crafts are sold)

Fine nose scissors

Large pin (the type that florists use on corsages work well) 

 Step 1: Cut a small piece of foam.  Poke hole in center and thread onto wire.

Step 2:  Use the fine nose scissors to clip the foam into a circular shape.  It needs to be larger than the hole being filled, but not by much. 

  

 Step 3:  Position the bead on the wire and use the pin to start forcing the foam down into the hole.   

This is just another photo that shows the foam being forced into the hole.  Work it a little at a time.   

 Step 4:  Push the foam down far enough that it will not show at the top of the bead.  You also want it down far enough that it won’t work out of the hole with wear.     

That’s the basic idea.  If you need to have a large bead filled both at the top and the bottom, put a piece of foam on the headpin first, then the bead.  You may not be able to work the foam in the bottom if the bead is too low, so position the bead as low as you can and still get the foam in.  Then after the foam is inserted, lower the bead into it’s final position.  At that point, you can fill the top of the bead as described above.

I’ve found it doesn’t matter what color foam I use if I am covering the bead hole completely with spacers or wire wrapping.  If you think your spacers are not large enough to cover the hole, you may want to be more careful on color selection.  Honestly I’ve used green because that was sitting on my workbench from another project and I didn’t take the time to go searching for a different color.

 One of the great things about this method is how adaptable it is, and cheap too!  Hope it works for you.