Seed Beads
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. more...
 Home
Art
Basketry
Bead Art
 Bead Kits & Instructions
Bead Storage & Display
Beaded Flowers
Clasps
Craft Beads
 Other Beads
Pony Beads
Seed Beads
Other Bead Items
Pendants
Pliers & Tools
Wire, Thread & Cord
Candle & Soap Making
Ceramics, Pottery
Crafts Wholesale Lots
Crocheting
Cross Stitch
Decorative, Tole Painting
Drawing
Embroidery
Fabric
Fabric Embellishments
Floral Crafts
Framing & Matting
General Art & Craft Supplies
Glass Art Crafts
Handcrafted Items
Kids Crafts
Knitting
Lacemaking, Tatting
Latch Rug Hooking
Leathercraft
Macramé
Metalworking
Mosaic
Needlepoint
Other Arts & Crafts
Painting
Paper Crafts & Origami
Quilting
Ribbon
Rubber Stamping & Embossing
Scrapbooking
Sewing
Shellcraft
Spinning
Upholstery
Wall Décor, Tatouage
Weaving
Woodworking
Yarn
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.
Multiple strands of seed beads make an ideal necklace that coordinates with colors of a pendant or other visual centerpiece.
Varieties
National origin
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.
Lesser quality seed beads are produced in India, in People's Republic of China (PRC) and in Taiwan. Beads from these countries are less uniform in shape, hole size and finish. Dyed Chinese seed beads may transfer the dye to clothing or skin. Other Chinese seed beads have an external coating that will rub away to reveal a completely different color underneath.
Colors and Finishes
Transparent - the glass is see-through;
Translucent - one can see light through the bead, although the light is diffused;
Opaque - the solid color prevents light from passing through the bead;
Matte - the bead is textured on a microscopic level to result in a matte finish;
silver-lined - a silvery coating which reflects light is applied to the inside of the seed bead;
copper-lined - a coppery coating which reflects a reddish light is applied to the inside of the seed bead;
bronze-lined - a bronzy coating which reflects a brown light is applied to the inside of the seed bead;
luster or lustre - a rainbow effect applied to the surface of the seed bead;
AB or aurora borealis - also a rainbow effect applied to the surface of a seed bead;
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 commemorate the funeral of Queen Victoria.
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.
Read more at Wikipedia.org
|
