Some beads have large enough holes to slide the knot into. I like to do that if I can, otherwise, a crimp covers the knot nicely.

If the sterling silver beads are loose and are not on a jewelry piece, you can clean them using either a treated polishing cloth or liquid jewelry cleaner. If the beads are in a jewelry piece already, you can clean them with a treated polishing cloth. We do not recommend using liquid jewelry cleaner on an entire finished jewelry piece.

http://www.artbeads.com/tools-and-supplies-polishing-cloths.html
http://www.artbeads.com/tools-jewelry-cleaner.html

You can use an untreated polishing cloth to clean plated beads and findings, such as our Artbeads.com Polishing Cloth (Product Code: POL-01). Cloths that are treated with cleaner or spray cleaners will remove or discolor the plating on your beads.

We receive shipments from our suppliers daily, and add new product to our inventory weekly. As new product is added to the website and the current clearance items sell out, older items are cycled into our clearance section. We currently do not have a set schedule as to when more items are added to the clearance section. Be sure to check back often for new clearance items, or to watch your email newsletter for clearance sale notifications!

Since the Swarovski Rivoli is not drilled, you will need to create a bezel around the bead to hang it from a necklace. You can use even-count peyote stitch with Delica beads, for example, to create a beaded bezel. You can find a picture tutorial on how to start learning even-count peyote stitch via the following link:

http://www.artbeads.com/how-to-make-even-peyote-stitch.html

We do not currently have instructions on our website for creating a beaded bead, but we do have several seed bead books available that include instructions on how to create these beads. We would recommend checking out either "Getting Started with Seed Beads" or "Beading With Peyote Stitch", as both of these books teach you how to create a beaded bead, among other seed bead projects:

http://www.artbeads.com/book-128.html
http://www.artbeads.com/book-39.html

Cross-drilled beads are beads that have two separate holes drilled through them. The paths of these two holes "cross" inside the bead and form the shape of a "X".

You might wish to search the vintage sellers. I've seen many cabachon type beads with the flat back. Hope this helps.....good luck with your search!

Sure sounds that way...off-gassing varnish? Too bad, sounds like a cool design. Can you use a polishing cloth on the rings? Mixing materials makes it tough to polish.

Think about copper or gun metal links.

use material that has stretch to it like what is used in the stretch fabrics today or if you want it of the same material you can buy the very thin elastic and tube the material, draw the elastic through it, but tube will be fluted somewhat.