French Wire Finish for Your Pearls; It’s Stronger and Prettier

Gold tone French Wire Finish on Pearl Necklace

French Wire Finishing the Stringing of This Pearl Necklace

What’s in a tiny finishing detail in stringing like French wire finish? Have you ever wondered why some pearls or beaded necklaces break more quickly? Or why some just look great and others look like they’ve been “cheaply” strung? French wire finish may be the difference you’ve noticed.

As a restringing jeweler, I am frequently asked why French wire finish is desirable and how it works. Here’s my answer.

What is French Wire Finish?

French wire is a very thin, very tightly wound coil of metal wire used at the end of pearl and beaded necklaces. Imagine a Slinky shrunk down until it was only 2 or 3mm in width. Tiny. That’s what French wire looks like. It’s a tiny, hollow, Slinky-like coil of metal.

Both the gold color and silver colored French wire finish are made of a costume metal. It will not hold its pretty gold or silver tone forever.

I’ve been asked, “why don’t they make it in real karat gold?” And, “my clasp is real gold, why is the French wire fake?”

My answer is that you’ll use that lovely real gold clasp again and again, you’ll probably re-string your pearls long before the French wire finish starts to look funny. Pearls are supposed to be re-strung regularly. If your French wire finish is looking tacky, it’s more than time to restring with fresh new French Wire.

How it Works

I’ll get a bit technical here. Feel free to look at the pictures and skip this section.

We start by knotting the last few inches of silk thread at the end of your pearl necklace. Then we run the French wire through the clasp’s ring, connecting it to the stringing thread. We weave the French wire around the stringing thread on the end ring. The end of the stringing thread is then finally threaded back through the last several pearls and knotted off. What we’re left with is an attractive metallic loop of French wire protecting the stringing thread in its most vulnerable and breakable area. The area connecting the pearls to the clasp.

Check out a video: “How to Use French Wire” to see how it works visually.

The Two Purposes for French Wire

Flexible French wire for French wire finish

French Wire Comes in a Long Uncut Section. I Only Use a Small Amount Per Job

1. The first purpose for using French Wire is to give a necklace a finished, professional, and aesthetic look. It conceals the stringing thread or wire so that all we see is the gold or silver colored French wire.

Pearl Stringing String Showing Wear

Stringing String Will Fray Most Quickly at the Clasp

2. The second purpose is that it protects the string from rubbing and abrading against the metal clasp. Abrasion of string: not good! Too much abrasion of string: loss of mother’s pearl necklace! Not good at all!

A French Wire Finish For Every Necklace

French wire typically comes in three different colors: gold, silver, and rose. It comes in different sizes, too, depending on the size of the pearls, beads, and/or the stringing thread or wire. It looks great with lapis, malachite, amethyst and all kinds of different beads. It’s not just for pearls.

Why I love French Wire Finish in my Restringing Work

Pearl clasp with french wire finish detail

This Protects the String at the Most Vulnerable Spot

I restring almost all pearl necklaces with a French wire finish. Not only is it stronger, it just looks better. Next time you have to get your pearl or other precious bead necklaces restrung, choose a jeweler who knows how to use a French wire finish.

Restringing Jeweler,
Calla Gold

Want to learn more about pearls?  Check out these blog posts

Choosing Pearls: Five Things You Need to Consider

Pearls, Your Jewelry Divas and How to Store Them

Top Ten Reasons To Restring Your Pearls

The Pitfalls of Pearl Restringing – What Might Happen After Restringing

Why Pearl Ring Sizing Costs More

Pearls Must Be Knotted! Or Pearl Restringing with Knots

Ten Ways to Casual-ify Your Pearl or Bead Necklace

 

 

 

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About Calla Gold

Calla Gold is a Personal Jeweler and Author who takes pride in working with clients one-on-one to integrate their personal sense of style and taste into custom designed jewelry and repaired jewelry pieces.   Unlike typical Santa Barbara jewelry businesses, Calla Gold has no brick-and-mortar location. Calla Gold comes to you, bringing you the jewelry collection you want to see and collaborating with you to create unique custom jewelry. Calla also works with at-a-distance clients.

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madeleine Vite
10 years ago

I really like the look of the french wire finish for my pearls. I like its a very clean look.
Recently I had someone else string my pearls and they used a funky brass cap thing to hold the last knot. It looks tacky and I wished I’d been given this as a choice. I’ll be calling Calla Gold Jewelry, sooner than later!

Rae Largura
10 years ago

Thank you so much for this information. I have never heard about the french wire finish before and I now see that it matters in high quality jewelry.

Alison
Alison
10 years ago

This post on French wire finish just popped up when I was Google-ing pearl re-stringing. This little detail is one I really want on my pearls. I’ve seen it before, but didn’t know that was called French wire finish. Now I do!
It’s a beautiful touch that serves an important purpose-protecting your pearls. Sign me up!
A.

Sierra
Sierra
10 years ago

This is wonderful, thank you for sharing. I am a beader and have been wondering what French Wire was for. I am going to start using this! But I dont understand your description on how to finish off pearl knots. I understand how it works for beading wire. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thank you Calla.

Teri Huestis
Teri Huestis
7 years ago

WHERE can I purchase French Wire???Thank U…