Not encasing cubic zirconias?

[Kikki]

Is it possible to use cz's without encasing them?

I'd like to make some beads looking like the Beads du Monde interchangeable beads but I wonder if the cz's will pop out if the are not encased.
Has anyone tried with good results?

[shawnette]

Probably will eventually. Try it and see. You could also poke and not melt and then just glue the CZ in place after the bead cools, maybe.

[rightbrainbeads]

Hi Kikki,

Yeah, you can do it for sure. Just make sure they're well poked in. I use unencased CZs for the belly buttons on some of my torsos-- I've had them for a few years and they haven't fallen out yet. I poke a little hole, lay the CZ in it, tap it down a bit, and then gently reheat the spot so it's well melted in.

:love: lynne (ignore the fact that her belly button is way too low #-o )

6170

[kimberly]

She is lovely. I would just call it a piercing.

[Kikki]

Thank you ladies.

Lynne, the goddess is beautiful!

Well, I made a bead the other night and placed some CZ's in it. Now I'll have to wait and see if they stay in there.

[AngelHeart]

I have also used the cz's without encasing them and haven't had any problems with them popping out. I did have an interesting thing happen once though. I made a test bead with an unencased cz and left it out of the kiln as I wanted to see the effect before making any more. Anyway the bead cracked in half as expected but what I didn't expect was that the cz, which was in the centre of the bead, also cracked in half. Considering that the cz's are extremely hardy I was surprised that it would crack. Learn something everyday I guess. ;-)

[dgg112]

I bow to the greatness of all yall who use cz's!! I got mine out to try the other night and not only could I NOT see them (which end was which), I couldn't get ahold of the little suckers either. After dropping the fifth one they went back on the shelf.

[Sue in Maine]

Someone (sorry can't remember who to give proper credit here) had a great way of implanting cz's. She puts a dab of elmers glue on the tip of a bent mandrell and glues the cz to it. Then just puts all the bent mandrells in a glass jar, propped up with sand in the jar to keep the mandrells upright and separate. When she needs them, she's got a built in handle to poke the cz in with. Just bought some cz's myself but haven't done anything with them yet.

Sue

[AngelHeart]

I also use the cz's with glue but I don't bother with bent mandrels. I just have a heap of 3/32" mandrels, each cut about 6" long. I file one end flat otherwise if they are rounded the cz doesn't sit well on it. Then I dip that end in plain old craft glue, grab a cz with it making sure the flat side of the cz is sitting on the mandrel. Then I just pop each one into a cup with the end containing the cz sitting upwards. They don't sit perfectly vertical in the cup but it doesn't matter as the glue holds the cz in place and doesn't slide off. So when you want to use a cz just grab one of the mandrels, poke it into your bead and voila! For those who haven't used cz's before when you first poke the cz in it will go black from the glue but don't worry just wave it around in the flame and the glue will burn off and you'll have a sparkling cz again. :biggrin:

[collectiblesbyrose]

Or, just use clear stringer to grab the underside of the cz that is sitting in a tiny hole on your graphite face down. When ready to use, just grab one of these stringes and stick it on the bead.

[dgg112]

Or, just use clear stringer to grab the underside of the cz that is sitting in a tiny hole on your graphite face down. When ready to use, just grab one of these stringes and stick it on the bead.


Now I tried that one and the little suckers all fell off......... guess I didn't make a big enough blob of glass????