There are many choices when it comes to clasps, but really nice clasps usually carry a really nice price tag, so base-metal clasps may be your only alternative. But slapping an inexpensive metal clasp on a bracelet that took 30 hours to stitch just doesn't make any sense, and it also diminishes the look of the quality of your work.
Although I like to make beaded clasps to tie in the colors, extend the design of the piece, and give it a more finished look, sometimes it is necessary to use a metal clasp, and they are typically stronger than a stitched clasp. So if metal is your choice, consider dressing them up with the following ideas:
• Add dangles to a toggle clasp: On a head pin, string a few of the beads used in your beadwork, then make the first half of a wrapped loop. Attach the loop to the toggle ring, and complete the wraps. Repeat to add several dangles, but make sure the toggle bar can still fit through the ring.
You can also use wire to make your own bead-embellished clasps:
• Make a toggle ring with 22-20-gauge wire: Cut about 6 in. (15 cm) of wire, and wrap it around a marker or dowel until the wire crosses. Use one wire end to make a wrapped loop next to the crossed wire. Slide beads on the other wire end until they cover the ring, then wrap the remaining wire over or above the wraps from the wrapped loop. Trim any excess wire.
• To make a toggle bar: Cut about 3 in. (7.6 cm) of wire, and wrap it around a small dowel or roundnose pliers until the wires cross. Twist the wires at the cross once. String several beads on each wire end, then make a plain loop on each end. Make dangles as described above, open the loop on each end of the toggle bar, and attach the dangles.
In addition, you can stitch sections of tubular herringbone or peyote stitch to fit around a wire toggle ring:
To make a herringbone toggle ring: Make a ladder four beads long with a 15/0, a 15/0, an 11/0, and an 11/0, then join them into a ring. Work two 15/0s per stitch off of the 15/0s in the ladder, and two 11/0s off of the 11/0s. Work rounds until the tube is long enough to cover the toggle ring. The difference in bead sizes will help the tube curve around the ring.
To make a peyote toggle ring: Pick up enough 15/0s to match the circumference of the inside of the wire toggle ring, and tie the beads into a ring. Work a few rounds of tubular peyote starting with 15/0s, then switch to 11/0s. Alternate adding rounds along each edge, checking often to make sure the beadwork wraps around the ring from the inside out. Switch to 8/0s if needed for the outer round, and zip up the end rounds when the two edges meet.
Try these out, and you may find yourself designing jewelry around your clasps instead of the other way around!