When stringing necklaces, I use the office supply clips - triangular with two pinch pieces that are usually used to hold multiple sheets of paper - to hold the end that I'm not working on so the beads don't fall off.  I try to keep a decent supply on hand so I can have one on either end of a necklace for each strand, and extras to get lost in my bead stash                                                                         

Patty Wanninger wrote the following email:
" Nikki Lynn Carollo uses office-supply store clips to make a temporary end on a line. We use alligator clips, which can sometimes be found in quantity at a dollar store. Using either method, an advantage is that you can string from the middle of the piece - if you change your pattern, you don't have to restring it from the beginning. But the danger comes when you think you are finished and you lift the piece to try it on - that's when you drop it and the beads make their break for it!"

Karen Peterson writes:
"I found this tip somewhere - can't remember where. Radio Shack carries little copper toothless alligator clips that won't mar your wire, if that's a concern. Not too expensive, or I wouldn't have bought them"

Editor's Note:  These tips will help me a lot when I work with elastic.  I had previously tied many, many unsightly knots on the starting side of the string.

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