Seed Beads Demystified

One of the things that I found so confusing was understanding the sizes of beads. What exactly is an 11/0? What’s a delica seed bead? What’s a good seed bead and when does it matter?

How Seed Beads are Sized

If I were to take my seed beads and line them all up one right after another, how many would it take to make that line add up to one inch? Therefore, the bigger the number, smaller the bead. So, when you see that a seed bead is a size 8/0 (can also just say “8) it’s a rather large seed bead (especially if you’re a weaver). I normally work with 11’s or 15’s. Those are quite small and if you don’t wear glasses now you will quite soon.

Types of Seed Beads

Delica is a very specific type of seed bead. It is cut very straight. Imagine taking a pipe and cutting it in half. That is the same idea with delica beads. Many weavers prefer them because when you’re doing a specific pattern the delicas will line up perfectly. I sometimes like delicas (for peyote it really comes out beautiful) but I also really like the “rounds” type of seed bead. There are also seed beads in hex, triangle, and square (cube) shapes.

Choosing a Bead

If you’re going to do an intricate design, you need a serious quality seed bead. If you buy junk, they will all be mismatched in size/shape and you’ll be really annoyed trying to work with them. Seed beads don’t have to cost a fortune (unless they’re gold lined etc). There are some really great seed beads out there by Miyuki and TOHO. I find the best deals for seed beads are online.

My Favorite Vendors

• Artbeads.com
  A great place to shop. If your order goes over $10 (that’s easy for me to do) then it ships free. I LOVE free shipping. They frequently have coupons available if you spend over $40.
  
• BeadinPath.com
  I really love their beads. They have a LOT of vintage and acrylic that you might not find anywhere else. My favorite thing about their seed beads is the packaging. They come in tubes. I love the tubes because it makes storage and viewing your loot of colors so much easier.

There are plenty of other vendors out there but I honestly just shop at these two. I think that if you really get into stitching/weaving, you’re going to find that online is the place to shop. You’ll save a tremendous amount of money and you’ll get consistently great quality beads.

My Favorite Reads

Jewelry magazines and books are a lot like recipe books. Once you find a good one, you don’t like letting go, and you can keep them on the shelf forever.

I’ve checked out a LOT of books from my local library. Some have gorgeous pictures and really cool looking designs but the instructions BLOW. I’ve tried to do what they wanted and cannot follow them at all. I would consider myself an advanced weaver—I know most stitches and can design my own work as well.

Certain magazines are better than others too. Again, use your local library and see which appeal to you. If you really like them, then subscribe so you can keep them in your home.

Library tip: Libraries have to eventually get rid of old magazines—there’s only so much storage space. If you make nice with a librarian, they’ll hold the magazines aside and give them to you. Bead & Button is my favorite magazine and ordering just ONE pattern from an old issue is at least $3. So getting those old magazines is a real cost savings as well.

Magazines I’ve Enjoyed
(Many have great newsletters and free downloadable projects)

• Beadstyle
• Step by Step Beads (now Beadwork Magazine)
• Bead & Button  (my all-time favorite)
• Beading Daily

Books I Would Recommend:

• Crystal Beaded Jewellery
• The Seed Bead Book: Over 35 Step-by-step Jewellery Projects
• Bead Romantique

What are your favorites?

How I Became Addicted to Bead Weaving

I am a crafty person. Always have been. And I have 3 kids who also like crafts, so it’s not uncommon for me to be at the local craft store Michaels. I walked in one day and they were having a make-it-and-take-it event.  The sparkly crystals caught my eye. I did the activity and then found myself buying jewelry supplies en masse.

I don’t have time (or patience) to take classes so I went to my local library and checked out every book available on beginning jewelry making. After stringing several anklets, bracelets, earrings, wrapped pearls, and necklaces I found that the jewelry magazines featured more detailed pieces that involved stitching (or weaving). I love detailed intricate type work so this really appealed to me.

In the beginning I found the directions VERY hard to follow (and my profession is writing technical directions). But, it’s a little like tax or legal documents, once you get the hang of the lingo, you can follow along. Most magazines feature how-to sections for basic stitches.

My first weaving piece was a daisy chain (shown here) using Swarovski crystalized pearls and jade chips for the leaves. You can do a lot with daisy chain and it’s not that difficult to master. I think I originally learned it in Girl Scouts. I recently taught my daughter, Belle, how to do the daisy chain and she’s 5 years old.

If you want to try bead weaving I would suggest you try some of the simpler stitches like cross weave (example shown here) and right angle weave. If you look in magazines like Bead & Button, you will find some designs that you can do.

Email me if you need some beading inspiration!

Make it for Mom Challenge by Artbeads.com

Happy to share with you that Artbeads.com is having a “Make it For Mom” contest. Take pictures and enter your items for a chance to win a $250 gift card!!  Click on the image below to get to the contest. Good luck!!

If you need to make something and need materials, there’s a special coupon you can use too. You can save 15% on your order of $45 or more in our Make it for Mom Sale going on right now. Just enter coupon code ZZ-MOM15 at checkout to take advantage of the savings. Hurry, this sale ends on Saturday, April 23, 2011.

 

Beaded Choker Chain with Sterling Silver Snowflake Charms

This is another piece of winter/snowflake jewelry I created using some supplies given to me from Artbeads.com. These charms are pretty adorable and I imagine you can do just about anything with them. My mother is a huge snowflake fan—so when I saw them I thought of her right away.

You could make earrings with them or even a simple charm bracelet for the snow lover in your life. I wanted to do something a little different and I tend to really like to stitch beads. So,  I made a beaded chain.

What’s neat about this design is that it looks like a chain but it’s made of really pretty soft blue delica beads. It wears SO nicely on your neck. Not heavy at all and the charms are equally spaced across the front making for a very cute wintery necklace.

The supplies I used were Miyuki 8g 11/0 Trans Pearl Dusky Blue Delicas, Fireline, and Sterling Silver Snowflake with Blue Crystal Charms. You can download the free instructions here.

Full Disclosure: Most of the beads you see are from Artbeads.com.  Some of the items I had on hand but many of the items are from them. To be clear; they gave me the beads so I would create and then write. Nothing really very sinister but I need to tell you this all upfront so none of us gets into trouble.

Chevron Chain of Ice

The challenge was to make some jewelry that brought snowflakes to mind. We’ve had quite a bit of snow here in the Northeast and I’m honestly rather sick of looking at it. However, this bracelet is so pretty I don’t even mind that it reminds me of the cold stuff. I used a pattern from an old copy of Bead & Button I had laying around. The pattern is for sale on their site.

 

 

Instead of alternating the beads to create a flower design I kept all the beads the same. My friends at Artbeads.com provided me with some really pretty beads. The seed beads are  Miyuki 8g 11/0 Trans Pearl Dusky Blue Delicas and the other beads, new on Artbeads.com, are 3mm Alexandrite Druk Beads.  I have to admit I’ve never worked with Druk beads before but really loved them by the time I was done.

This bracelet design is nice because no clasp purchase is necessary. You use the same beads to create your own clasp!

Full Disclosure: Most of the beads you see are from Artbeads.com.  Some of the items I had on hand but many of the items are from them. To be clear; they gave me the beads so I would create and then write. Nothing really very sinister but I need to tell you this all upfront so none of us gets into trouble.

Snowflake Pearl & Crystal Bracelet

I modified a simple daisy chain with right angle weave and created a bracelet you can finish in a day. It works up very quickly. The challenge was for me to create something that resembled a snowflake. My 5 year old daughter, Annabelle, says what I’ve made is not a snowflake because a true snowflake has 6 points. She said it’s still pretty anyway—so I’m grateful.

My friends at Artbeads.com supplied me with the seed beads for this bracelet.

I used some really pretty silver toho beads. I also used some crystalized pearls I had on hand in a soft pink. The pink and silver beads look amazing together.

If you’d like to make this bracelet, feel free to download my free directions.

Full Disclosure: Most of the beads you see are from Artbeads.com.  Some of the items I had on hand but many of the items are from them. To be clear; they gave me the beads so I would create and then write. Nothing really very sinister but I need to tell you this all upfront so none of us gets into trouble.