Beading Term: Seed Bead Sizes

-
Typically, beads that do not fall into the "seed bead" category are sized by their diameter, such as 3 millimeter, 4 millimeter, 5 millimeter and so on.

With seed beads, size is roughly based on the number of beads in a line it would take to make an inch. Therefore, it would take about 11 size 11/0 seed beads to make an inch and 15 beads at size 15/0 to make an inch. The higher the number, the smaller the bead.

This is really just a rule of thumb, though, because size varies by style. For instance, a Delica size 11 is smaller than a size 11 Japanese seed bead. The size differences aren't huge, but they are noticeable, and should be taken into consideration when mapping out a design.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

More pumpkin earrings for Halloween

-
Image
As my older sister showed me the latest earrings she made, I couldn't help but laugh. Just like me, she had her mind on pumpkins. (And Frankenstein and Dracula, though she hadn't made earrings featuring those creatures yet). Nearly all earrings my sister makes are long, dangling creations in the Native American style,* and she brought that into her Halloween earrings. Here is what they look like: How adorable are those little pumpkin faces at the top? I also love the sparing use of turquoise-colored beads; they seem to be just the right amount of accent for the orange and black. My big sis never ceases to amaze me. After the false starts I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, I decided to nix the idea of using square stitch in my own pumpkin earring creations because it seemed too easy to move the beads out of shape. I think this was likely because I'm not all that skilled at square stitch, since it isn't a stitch I'd used before. However, in the inte
Read more

I've got a notion to sew a Halloween costume

-
Image
Now that I'm a mother , I find myself enjoying Halloween more than I ever did as a child. Case in point: Halloween 2015 was less than a week past when I began wondering what my daughter will wear next year. On a trip to Walmart, I sought out the Halloween leftovers and sifted through the costumes hoping to get an awesome costume — one that normally costs out of my price range — at half off. But I know two things about my daughter that made looking through those costumes a waste of time: She has growth spurts every few months. I could buy the next size up, but by next Halloween, she might be two sizes taller — or three even. (She's very tall for her age.) Her tastes come and go quickly. In the week since Halloween, she's already told me that next year she wants to be Wonder Woman, then changed her mind and said, "I think I want to be Sofia the First. " Once I realized the perfect 2016 costume wasn't on the rack, I got ambitious. Despite knowing l
Read more

My Etsy shop reopens

-
Image
For the first time in years, I added a listing to my Etsy shop a couple of weeks ago. My uncle has been making flutes for several years now that he sells to gift shops and tourist sites that highlight the Native American culture (he is full-blood Cherokee). He had told me that he was interested in selling them online; and since I have an Etsy shop, I offered to list some for him to see how they did. So a couple of weeks ago, I listed one. He says he has more ready to go, but I haven't had a chance to pick them up from him yet. It won't be the last of the items I list; I want to start listing my own creations -- beadwork and a few baskets once I get better at making them -- between now and Christmastime. In the meantime, if you'd like check out my uncle's flute, you can visit my Etsy shop here .
Read more