Beading Encyclopedia

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Terms and tools to help novice beaders. Click links below for more detailed descriptions and images. (This list will update often.)

Beads: Types and Descriptions

AB finish
Bicone beads
Bugle beads
Crimp beads
Facet
Opal beads
Opaque beads
Translucent beads
Transparent beads

Tools

Flush cutters

Stringing Material

Silamide thread
Tigertail

Everything Else

Beeswax
Findings
Jump rings
Seed bead sizes

Wire gauge


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I've got a notion to sew a Halloween costume

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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
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