Supplies :: Findings, beads and gemstones

Written by Jo Reed of Finding Beadtopia

FEATURED SUPPLIER! – Mum4Beads

The mother of Folksy bead shops is Mum4Beads with seven pages of all things beady. Michelle is not only a Mum of 4 and a student of Natural Sciences she also runs three shops here on Folksy, MiMi B and MiMi Rox alongside her supplies shop. “Mum” has been really busy since Christmas and items for the New Year include; Freshwater Pearls, Swarovski Crystals, Czech Fire polished Beads and Gemstones galore. I love the River Jasper oval beads and the Brown Agate Pendant both new additions that I don’t think will hang around for long. If you are gearing up for Valentine’s Day have a look at the gorgeous Glass Heart Mixes which are just perfect for spreading the love!

FOLKSY FINDS! Turning over a new leaf…

Click the images for more details!

JEWELLERY MAKERS TIPS! – Seed Beads

I’m not a big user of seed beads and I am sure I’m not alone in coming unstuck when ordering seed beads and not quite getting what I expected. Part of the reason was the sizing which was a mystery to me.

Seed beads were originally made by drying small seeds and pods for decoration of clothes and jewellery, hence the name. A seed bead is usually taken to be a bead of 5mm or less, they are measured using the international x/0 format. The higher the x number the smaller the bead.

No-one seems to know how the sizing scale came about but it is commonly thought to be the number of beads per inch. So a 6/0 bead ( 6 beads per inch ) would be larger than 11/0 ( 11 beads per inch).

However it isn’t that simple and the ratios don’t always work out, possibly due to the advent of decimalisation and also due to the different coatings and shapes used for modern beads. So to help out here is a rough guide to seed bead sizes.

Jo Reed @ Finding Beadtopia

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