A bead is a small, decorative object that is pierced for threading or stringing. As an alternative to piercing, plastic beads may be Moulded Onto a Thread during manufacturing; these MOT beads are often used for the throw necklaces worn at Mardi Gras. Beads range in size from under a millimeter to over a centimeter in diameter. Glass, plastic, and stone are probably the most common materials, but beads are also made from bone, horn, ivory, metal, shell, pearl, coral, gemstones, polymer clay, metal clay, resin, synthetic minerals, wood, ceramic, fiber, paper, and the seeds of the Bead tree. A pair of beads made from Nassarius shells that are approximately 100,000 years old are thought to be the first known examples of jewellery.

Beadwork is the craft of making things with beads. Beads can be woven together with specialized thread, or adhered to a surface (e.g. fabric, clay).

Types of decorative beads include:

• Chevron beads
• Cloisonné beads
• Dichroic beads
• Ethnic beads
• Faux natural beads
• Fire-polished beads
• Furnace glass beads
• Fused glass beads
• Lampwork beads
• Lead crystal beads
• Millefiori beads
• Pressed glass beads
• Seed beads
• Trade beads or Slave beads

Seed beads

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Seed Beads are uniformly shaped, spheroidal beads ranging in size from under a millimetre to several millimetres. "Seed Bead" is a generic term for any small bead. Usually rounded in shape, seed beads are most commonly used for loom and off-loom bead weaving. They may be used for simple stringing, or as spacers between other beads in jewelry. Larger seed beads are used in various fiber crafts for embellishment, or crochet with fiber or wire.

Units of measure

The most popular seed bead size is 11/0 ("eleven-aught"), but sizes range from 24/0 (believed to be the smallest) to 6/0 or 5/0 (the largest). The term "aught" refers to how many beads can fit into a standard unit. The origin of the name is debatable.

Size numbers are also used. Unfortunately online vendors will typically not explain the correlation between size numbers and aughts and millimeters.

aught size	mm diameter	beads per inch
6/0	3.3	10
8/0	2.5	13
9/0	2.2	15
10/0	2.0	16
11/0	1.8	20
13/0	1.5	27
14/0	1.4	24
15/0	1.3	25
delica	1.8	20

Methods of packaging

Seed beads are sold either by "hank" or by gram weight.

Hanks

A hank is unit bundle of strands of seed beads or bugle beads. There are usually 12 strands of 20 inches of strung beads in each modern hank of 11/0 beads. Different sizes and types of beads may be sold in hanks which have different numbers and lengths of strands. Different hanks (age, type, size) have had from 8 to 14 strands, and lengths have varied from 8 to 20 inches per strand. For example, Charlotte size 13/0 cut beads are generally on short hanks, containing 12 twelve-inch strands. Some vintage 18/0 hanks have had 10 strands of 8-10 inches (200 to 250 mm) each.

Czech seed beads are sold from the factories by the hank. They are often repackaged into tubes, bags, or other containers for retail sale, in quantities varying from 5 grams to 40 or more grams. When Czech beads are repackaged, they are usually sold by the gram, which creates some confusion on how many beads come on a hank. Not every 20 inch strand of size 11 beads weighs the same.

A hank of size 2 bugles or size 11 seed beads generally weighs between 30 and 40 grams, depending on manufacturing variations, coatings or linings. Purchasing Czech beads by the hank is usually a better value than the repackaged beads by far.

A production run of a custom made seed bead is 8 kilograms. The beads are produced in the Czech Republic using a 10 kilogram rod of color glass. The excess glass is recycled to form new rods. The color glass rods are produced from a larger mass melt of some 10 metric tons. Formulas for different colors of glass are closely guarded. The recipe for a true black glass was lost during World War I, and modern black glass held to sunlight is a deep purple. Examples of true black glass are circulating in jewelry pieces made to comemerate the funeral of Queen Victoria.

The color of the bead can be transparent or opaque. Transparent seed beads benefit from lining the interior hole in silver, gold, copper. Linings of pink or blue are also common. An exterior coating of a metallic film adds a lustre to seed beads called "AB" - Aurora Borealis.

Glass rods made with concentric layers of color or stripes of color can be used to make patterns of color in seed beads.

Seed bead machinery uses glass rods softened to a red heat, fed into a steel die stamp that forms the shape of the bead with a reciprocating needle that forms the hole. Manual and automatic machinery is in use in the Czech Republic. As the steel dies wear eventually, they are replaced.

Weight

Japanese beads are sold by gram weight, seldom by the hank. Buying Japanese beads by the hank usually costs about twice as much, therefore, they are not usually sold or purchased from Japan in this manner.

Most Japanese seed beads are repackaged for retail sale in manageable quantities based on price codes. More expensive beads may be sold in 2.5 or 5 gram units. Standard Japanese seed beads are usually sold in approximately 10 gram tubes. Thus, a 250 gram wholesale package would fill 25 tubes — a bit more than the average beader would need.

One major supplier, Miyuki, sells factory packages which contain up to 1 kg of beads, and are almost always repackaged into tubes or other containers for retail sale. To accommodate the average "wholesale" customer, whether it be a bead shop or designer, some larger distributors have made deals to receive their wholesale packages of beads in smaller (50 to 250 gram) pre-packaged sizes.

Toho, the other major Japanese supplier, seems to have a more flexible packaging policy. Many of the tubed seed beads that can be found in craft stores are stamped with their name on the bottoms, indicating both a wholesale and retail packaging setup.

Varieties

Cylinder beads

During the last decade, a new shape of Japanese seed bead, the cylinder bead, has become increasingly popular. Unlike regular rounded seed beads, the cylinder beads are quite uniform in shape and size and have large holes for their size. Because the ends are flat instead of rounded, work created with cylinder beads has a flat, smooth texture. Rows and columns in weaving line up more uniformly, so pattern work comes out more accurate and even.

There are now 3 versions of cylinder beads:

• Delicas® made by Miyuki
• Treasures (formerly Antiques) made by Toho
• Aiko - an all new, extremely precise bead made by Toho, and introduced in 2005

Charlotte cut beads

Charlotte cuts are seed beads that have a single facet per bead to add sparkle. These are called "the most brilliant of all seed beads".

Bugle Beads

Bugle Beads have different lengths but all bugle beads will be longer than they are thick. This creates a tubular shape.

Other

Most contemporary high-quality seed beeds are made in Japan or the Czech Republic. Japanese seed beads are generally more uniform in size, shape, and finish as well as having larger holes than Czech seed beads of the same size. Some seed beads produced in France are available in historic "old-time" colors and are popular for use in repairing or replicating antiquities.

Confusing terminology

Seed beads used by craftspersons should not be confused with Seed Beads™: laboratory-grown beads made of PTFE used to generate seeds of protein crystals.

Other types of beads

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Chevron beads

Chevron Beads are special glass beads, originally made for the slave trade in Africa by glassmakers in Italy. They are composed of many consecutive layers of colored glass. The initial core is formed in a star-shaped mold, and can have anywhere between five and fifteen points. The next layer of glass conforms to that star shape. Several layers of glass can be applied, either star-shaped or smooth. After all layers have been applied, the glass is then cut to show the resulting chevron pattern. Chevron beads are traditionally red, blue, and white, but modern chevrons can be found in any color combination.

Fire-polished beads

Fire-polished beads are faceted glass beads from the Czech republic. They are popular in jewelry and come in sizes from 3 mm to 22 mm. The pattern of facets is always the same and the resulting bead is somewhat oval in the smaller sizes. The beads are glazed in a red hot oven after being machine faceted.

Lampwork beads

Lampwork beads are made by using a torch to heat a rod of glass and spinning the resulting thread around a metal rod covered in bead release. When the base bead has been formed, other colors of glass can be added to the surface to create many designs.

Millefiori beads

Millefiori beads are made with mutiple canes of glass fused together to make an all-over flower pattern.

Pressed glass beads

Pressed glass beads are formed by pressing the hot glass into mold to give the bead its shape.

Trade beads or Slave beads

Trade beads are various types of beads made in Europe specifically to be used in the slave trade and other trading in Africa. Chevron beads are a specific, historically important type of trade bead.

Swarovski® crystal and other lead crystal beads

Swarovski crystal beads are also prized by hobbyists. They are a high-lead crystal, have an incredible sparkle and clarity, and are often multi-faceted to resemble gemstones. Styles and colors go in and out of production, so vintage cuts and colors are often prized with a similarly associated price tag.

Faux natural beads

Often beads are made to look like a more expensive original material, especially in the case of fake pearls and simulated rocks, minerals, and gemstones. Precious metals and ivory are also imitated.

Ethnic beads

Other beads considered trade beads are those made in Africa, by and for Africans, such as Kiffa beads. Other ethnic beads include Dzi beads and African brass beads. Rudraksha beads are customary in India for making Buddhist and Hindu rosaries (malas). Magatama are traditional Japanese beads, and cinnabar was often used for beads in China.

Furnace glass beads

Furnace glass are a special type of art bead. They are made using traditional glassworking techniques from Italy that are more often used to make art glass objects. The manufacture of these beads requires a large glass furnace and annealing kiln.

See also

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• Glass beadmaking

External links

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Some information resources

• Bead Facts/Charts Handy charts from Bead World
• Bead Weights and Measures

Seed bead manufacturers

• Toho Beads A Japanese manufacturer's site, manufactures Treasures (formerly Antiques)
• Miyuki Beads The manufacturer of Delicas®

Beadwork | Craft materials

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