Pursonal Touch Beaded Purse Repair

Steel Bead Purses.....

"Pursonal Touch"
Beaded Purse Repair

I decided to dedicate a page just to these beauties, because they really are in a league all their own!

Beaded purses are constructed so many different ways....bead knit, bead crochet, bead on canvas, tambour stitch and loomed, each one requiring a different method of repair. The steel beaded purses were done on a loom. They are unique in the fact that they are composed entirely of steel beads that will rust when either wet or simply exposed to a humid environment for any length of time. In addition to that, the beads are heavier than glass beads, putting an enormous amount of weight and strain on the fibers used to construct the purse. The finished product is the most gorgeous purse with a heavy feel and a metallic sheen. As beautiful as they are, they are the most troubled of all beaded purses in my opinion when it comes to their life expectancy!

The weight of those metal beads pulls at the vertical threads holding them in place, which is why you often see splits of the horizontal rows, especially underneath the hinges. If the purse was used a lot, or perhaps hanging on a wall for an extended period of time, then there will be significant wear to the threads.

Repair of this type of purse is no easy task. It is actually quite time consuming, as the only way to repair the split rows is to re-weave it much in the same manner that it was created. I have repaired quite a few with relative success, but the most important element of a successful repair is the overall condition of the purse. A small split here or there is really no problem, but if the purse has multiple split rows throughout it, then chances are that all the fibers are weakened and it would not only take many hours to repair, but the integrity of the repair could not be guaranteed.

Above, you can see the multiple splits in both the horizontal and vertical rows of this steel beaded purse. In this case, the threads pulled completely away leaving a gaping hole in the loomwork.

Here is another gorgeous steel beaded purse done all in blue and gold beads. Though this purse has no splits of the rows, you can see that it has splits on the side seams, a common type of damage with these purses.

This beauty is part of my friends collection, and she displays it in a flat, glass lidded jewelry case, rather than hanging the purse on the wall.