In my work, I primarily do off-loom bead weaving. This involves any one of a number of bead stitches: peyote, right-angle weave, herringbone, brick stitch, or bead crochet. I also do some bead embroidery. Once in a while, I will put together a finished piece that involves stringing. Whenever possible, I try to avoid using glue and even knots. In my beadwoven pieces,I eschew knots for several reasons. Most of my work is one-of-a-kind pieces that I develop as I go, which involves a fair amount of ripping out and reworking. Knots hinder that revision process and often force restarting from the start, a big time consumer. Also, knots look ugly and amateurish so are kept hidden, which means inside beads. If it is expertly done, the knot-filled bead is one that does not need to be in the thread path a second time and so does its job invisibly. In my experience, however, the knot can make a bead sit awkwardly, and invariably I will want to pass through the bead again as I continue crafting the piece and the knot precludes any room for another trip of the needle. I've broken off many a needle eye doing this, or worse, cracked the bead, requiring me to remove it and rework that section. Instead of knots, I have learned that by passing my thread at several right angles in the work, I will have secured it sufficiently to ensure it will not unravel. When I first tried this theory, I worried that it wouldn't hold, but I found it worked just as well as knots, maybe better. (I was especially convinced when ripping out work that the threads were so secure I needed to cut them to pull it all apart!)
In strung pieces, I do use knots and will finish an end knot with a drop of hypo-tube cement. Since those knots are at the ends of a work, there is no efficient way to weave the thread back through the work, so a knot is the best solution, and a drop of glue helps extend the life of the knot. Glue contains chemicals, though, and they can degrade the thread, so it's important to use it sparingly and according to directions. Bead embroidery is sewn directly to a base fabric, so no glue is required there, but once in a while, I find a particular piece requires glue as the best solution. Recently I was embellishing a vintage evening bag for a client friend. My beadwork replaced a warped piece of horn that had slipped into brass brackets. The brackets would not hold my beadwork in the same way. I tried weaving the beadwork around the brackets, but it drooped too much for that to be the sole support. I tried sewing the beadwork directly to the fabric of the bag, but the fabric was too stiff for my beading needles, and needles that would penetrate the bag would have broken the beads. (Not to mention they would leave permanent holes in the bag's fabric.) So I resorted to glue. I checked with my local bead store to be sure the glue was the best solution and opted for E6000. When I pulled my tube from it's location inside a closed plastic bag on the top shelf of my bead closet (away from the curiosities of my three sons), I discovered that it had been unused for so long a crack had developed in the tube and the glue had all dried up. So I went back to my bead store and bought another (small) tube to finish the project. With my habits, it too will be hard before I go to use it again! Here's a photo of the finished embellishment on the bag.
In strung pieces, I do use knots and will finish an end knot with a drop of hypo-tube cement. Since those knots are at the ends of a work, there is no efficient way to weave the thread back through the work, so a knot is the best solution, and a drop of glue helps extend the life of the knot. Glue contains chemicals, though, and they can degrade the thread, so it's important to use it sparingly and according to directions. Bead embroidery is sewn directly to a base fabric, so no glue is required there, but once in a while, I find a particular piece requires glue as the best solution. Recently I was embellishing a vintage evening bag for a client friend. My beadwork replaced a warped piece of horn that had slipped into brass brackets. The brackets would not hold my beadwork in the same way. I tried weaving the beadwork around the brackets, but it drooped too much for that to be the sole support. I tried sewing the beadwork directly to the fabric of the bag, but the fabric was too stiff for my beading needles, and needles that would penetrate the bag would have broken the beads. (Not to mention they would leave permanent holes in the bag's fabric.) So I resorted to glue. I checked with my local bead store to be sure the glue was the best solution and opted for E6000. When I pulled my tube from it's location inside a closed plastic bag on the top shelf of my bead closet (away from the curiosities of my three sons), I discovered that it had been unused for so long a crack had developed in the tube and the glue had all dried up. So I went back to my bead store and bought another (small) tube to finish the project. With my habits, it too will be hard before I go to use it again! Here's a photo of the finished embellishment on the bag.