Is there a trick to getting carved gemstone beads to face forward?

• I'm working with 1" carnelian flower beads that are carved on one side and have a stringing hole in the back. I'm using leaves mixed in with the flowers.

• The front piece needs to face forward~3 flower beads and 6 leaf beads.

• There will be smaller beads on the rest of the necklace.

• Total length of the neckalce will be 17"-19".

• Is there a material for stringing that would keep the beads from slipping and turning backward?

• Would it be better to use wire for the front piece?

• What about knotting between the beads?

• Has anyone tried rubber bead bumpers, like the ones sold at Rings & Things and FMG?  Would they hold the beads in place?
  

Any advice or suggestions welcome.

Thanks in advance,
Duster

(Full disclosure: I work at Rings & Things.)

 Duster, I asked Mollie of etherealgirls.etsy.com about the bead bumpers, because she uses ours.

Her answer boils down to: you'll hardly notice they're there because they're tiny -- and they do what we say they will.

 So there's some feedback from an actual crafter!

 
--Dave at Rings and Things
 

 Thank you for the information Dave!  I'm going to try those Rings & Things Bead Bumpers.

The gold and silver colored ones look interesting. I like the clear ones, too.

Happy beading,

Duster 

This is a question I have had for years, how to keep one sided beads showing, now you mention bead bumpers, and I have looked at your web site but I still don't know how they work.  Can you tell me how they work.    Thanks

 Hi, luv2bd,

 Bead bumpers are an alternative to knotting your cord...nice to have when your cord is pretty tough stuff like multi-stranded cable (Beadalon, Acculon, and so on).

 
Here's my stab describing bead bumpers: They're a silicon bead.  You slip one onto your cord on either side of a bead that you want to stay put.  Being silicon (plastic), the bead bumper grips the cord, preventing movement.

Hope this gives you the idea.  It's really simple! 

 --Dave

at Rings & Things