Beads

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. more...

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Beads range in size from under a millimeter to over a centimeter or sometimes several centimeters 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 and other trees. 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, strung onto thread or wire, 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

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.

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.

Read more at Wikipedia.org