Review: 1-Step Looper (and Big Looper) from BeadSmith

00:00:03 –> 00:00:07 Hi guys, its Cindy Lietz, your Polymer Clay Tutor, and in today’s PcT Product Demo,

00:00:08 –> 00:00:16 I’m going to talk about the 1 Step Looper, and the 1 Step Big Looper by Beadsmith.

00:00:16 –> 00:00:23 And what they are are plier style tools that will make loops for your Polymer clay beads

00:00:23 –> 00:00:25 and charms and that kinda thing.

00:00:25 –> 00:00:32 Now I’ll show you how they work and everything in a second, but in…last year, when I was

00:00:32 –> 00:00:42 making this Mistletoe bracelet, I had to put all these little tiny charms on the end, and

00:00:42 –> 00:00:51 they can take quite a long time, and the whole process takes…you have to take a pair of

00:00:51 –> 00:00:56 pliers, you bend over your wire…I’m not gonna show you this very closely, but I’m

00:00:56 –> 00:01:02 just gonna show you how fast…or how long it takes, you have to bend it over, do another

00:01:02 –> 00:01:10 loop, you have to cut it, and you can see that it can take you quite a while to get

00:01:10 –> 00:01:17 the adjustments right if you’re working on it…on a whole bunch of them, and you

00:01:17 –> 00:01:20 know, to get it just right and the size that you want.

00:01:20 –> 00:01:26 Now the cool thing about the Loopers is that you can do it all in one step, I mean, hence

00:01:26 –> 00:01:33 the name ‘1 Step Looper’, now there’s 2 sizes, this is the original and it’s just

00:01:33 –> 00:01:43 called the 1 Step Looper, and it does a hole that is this little one here, which is 1.5

00:01:43 –> 00:01:45 millimeters size hole.

00:01:45 –> 00:01:53 The big looper has a little bit bigger hole here, and it is a 3 millimeter size hole,

00:01:53 –> 00:01:57 which is a lot bigger, and the small one is good for things like you know, the end of

00:01:57 –> 00:02:06 an earring and that kinda thing, but it’s very, very easy to use Now, okay I’m just

00:02:06 –> 00:02:11 gonna show you…I’ve got a head pin here, where…and I’ve put a bead cap, and a Polymer

00:02:11 –> 00:02:18 clay bead…this is from my Art Sheet technique, and then another bead cap, and all you have

00:02:18 –> 00:02:25 to do is slide everything down to the end of your pin, and then on the tool, the spring

00:02:25 –> 00:02:32 sits at the back side and this curve goes on the right hand side and you just slide

00:02:32 –> 00:02:38 your wire through, and there’s a hole at the back…and I’ll show you where that

00:02:38 –> 00:02:43 is in a second, see how it comes out a hole at the back here, you just wanna slide it

00:02:43 –> 00:02:50 right up until it’s…everything’s all butt up to the bottom of that little part

00:02:50 –> 00:02:59 there, then all you do is squeeze the handles, it cuts it, slowly bends it into its circle,

00:02:59 –> 00:03:04 and then if you tilt this back a bit it straightens the loop, and then you just…oops, you pop

00:03:04 –> 00:03:10 it off and you have a perfect loop on the end, and you can see that that’s super-fast.

00:03:10 –> 00:03:16 Now I’ll show you on the little bit bigger one, so it’s the same process, you butt

00:03:16 –> 00:03:27 everything down to the end, you slide it through…now these pliers, or these Loopers do wires that

00:03:27 –> 00:03:38 are sized 26-18, I wouldn’t go much smaller than a 20 or maybe a 21 gauge because…and

00:03:38 –> 00:03:43 I’ll show you in a sec, so now I’ve got it all slid in, butt right up, just squeeze

00:03:43 –> 00:03:48 it, it cuts it off, pinches it up, you can straighten it out, and there you’ve got

00:03:48 –> 00:03:50 your perfect loop.

00:03:50 –> 00:03:58 Now if you have… if you use a smaller gauge wire than say 20 gauge, then what happens

00:03:58 –> 00:04:03 is is this loop here… because it’s not a wrap loop, it might be a little too flimsy

00:04:03 –> 00:04:08 of a wire to have in there and it might open up on you, so I would just use 20 gauge or

00:04:08 –> 00:04:09 so.

00:04:09 –> 00:04:12 But as you can see, you can get these perfect little dangles, now I could turn that into

00:04:12 –> 00:04:21 an earring pretty much instantly by just sliding it on to an ear wire, and there you go, you

00:04:21 –> 00:04:25 can make…or you can use it on bracelets and things like that, but see how fast that

00:04:25 –> 00:04:26 is?

00:04:26 –> 00:04:30 I love this tool, it’s really neat, I got these at Shipwreck Beads, you can find them

00:04:30 –> 00:04:37 at lots of different locations, but that’s where I got these ones here, and I hope you

00:04:37 –> 00:04:43 enjoyed that, it’s a very handy tool for your Polymer clay jewelry making projects.

00:04:43 –> 00:04:47 If you liked this video, do let us know in the comment section below.

00:04:47 –> 00:04:53 And if you’ve got a tool, a technique, something that you’d like me to demo, leave your suggestions

00:04:53 –> 00:04:55 in the comment section below as well.

00:04:55 –> 00:05:02 And don’t forget we have a great resource over at polymerclaytutor.com where you can

00:05:02 –> 00:05:07 use the search box there and find all the answers to your Polymer clay questions.

00:05:07 –> 00:05:09 We’ll see you next time, and bye for now.

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