Tiger tail wire

"Tiger-tail" redirects here. For other uses, see Tiger tail (disambiguation).

Tiger tail wire (also called tiger tail or tiger-tail) is a thin wire encased in nylon often used in beaded jewellery, and particularly suited to stringing heavy beads and sharp beads, which tend to fray other kinds of thread.^[1] For this reason, tiger tail is the thread of choice for gemstones.^[2]

Some tiger tail has multiple intertwined wire threads under the nylon coating.^[3] The wire threads are made of stainless steel.^[4]

Tiger tail cannot be fashioned into a knot in order to end a sequence of beads as other kinds of thread can;^[5] instead, crimp beads are often used for this purpose.^[6] Crimp beads are also used as spacers between other beads strung on tiger tail.^[7]

Among the types of wire used for bead stringing, tiger tail is the most common.^[8] Tiger tail is easier to use than many other kinds of thread, and it does not require the use of a sewing needle.^[9] Tiger tail has high ultimate tensile strength and is therefore extremely difficult to tear,^[10] but if it is creased or twisted, tiger tail has a tendency to kink and then become brittle in the kinked area.^[11]