swarovski briolette--stringing

Hi Sarah, Welcome to the R&T forum.

It wouldn't really be a 'bad' thing to string these side by side, but because of the shape of a briolette, every other bead (or two) will flip up (rather than hang down). The best example of this that I can find is this necklace, made with gemstone briolettes.

A LOT of designers/crafters prefer to use spacer beads with Swarovski crystals. It keeps each bead hanging well, and also can keep cost down. In the case of the crystal 'warning' on our Swarovski briolettes, that's simply to let people know that putting stress on the top of the briolette is not a good idea... if you are wire wrapping each crystal to create a bail, you'll need to be extra careful so the crystal does not break at the hole. Simple stringing of these beads should be fine.

The gemstone necklace pictured above uses 51 larger gemstone briolettes. I'm guessing here, but using the smaller crystals could take as much as two to two and a half times that amount for a full 16 to 17 inch strand. If you post the stock number of the crystals you have, I might be able to give you a more accurate count.

Hope this helps! Let us know if you have any other questions.

-Mary