Saturday, August 27, 2011

Explore About Small Seed Beads

By Siffion Quaid


Seed beads are little beads commonly made of plastic, glass or metal, they can measure from one millimeter and are used in jewellery making, clothing patterns, household decoration to name a few of their uses.

Who produces these beads?

The Czech Republic are the most prolific manufacturer, they create glass beads, firepolish beads and also crystal beads. Other areas that are known for making seed beads are Japan and France. The French normally make their beads from reused metals. India and China are quickly becoming as effective in large scale bead making as other places but take care, the quality is not as good.

What kind of Seed Beads are there?

Seed beads come in all types of textures and shapes. They can be transparent, translucent, opaque, coloured, lustered or matte finished for instance. Japanese beads are renowned for their cylinder shape which makes the bead not as round in shape but it has more area space for the design. Charlotte Cut beads have areas of the surface cut to make the bead more shiney, Charlotte Cut beads are also known as single faceted beads as well are 2 cut or 3 cut beads depending on how many surface cuts there are.

What size do Seed Beads go up to?

Seed beads come in numerous sizes, usually a size 11 bead is an inch in size, these sizes range from 5 to 24. A bead is measured before it is cut so if you have a bead that has been judged as an inch in size chances are it is a little less than an inch due to wastage from it being cut. Alas seed bead sizes are not exact.

How are the quantities measured?

Seed beads aren't measured by quantity; the logistics of counting out thousands of beads makes it almost impossible to be precise. Instead the beads are measured by weight or a hank. A hank is a bundle of beads made up typically of 12 strands if it is a size 11 beads for instance. Buying beads in a hank does work out better for value than buying them loose weight. Czech beads are often sold as a hank were as Japanese beads aren't.




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