Seed beads - sizes of beads and DIY instructions

• Pearls - Infos
• Seed beads - sizes
• Colors of the pearls
• Pearl bracelet made of seed beads
  • Empty template for making yourself
• Beaded animals made of seed beads

Rocailles are among the most beautiful and therefore most popular beads for crafting jewelry. The elements are optimally suited to make beautiful pearl bracelets yourself. After general information about the glass beads, which are to facilitate the purchase decision, follow two detailed DIY instructions for bracelets worth seeing. Create with us small works of art of seed beads!

Pearls - Infos

Seed beads are fine glass beads. They are also called seedbeads, seed pearls or Indian beads. The latter name comes from the fact that the pretty utensils were used by the Native Americans a long time ago. These used the beads to decorate their beautiful robes. Today many craft friends are happy about the small elements. No wonder, because with Rocailles magical accessories like pearl bracelets can be created.

Before we introduce you to two great DIY instructions for bracelets, we would like to tell you more about the glass beads:

• Differences in quality depending on the manufacturer
• sizes
• To dye

Differences in quality depending on the manufacturer

There are sometimes enormous differences in quality between the various seed beads that the trade offers online and in local shops. In the meantime you will find large packages of glass beads for little money in almost every craft shop as well as at market stalls and in numerous internet shops.

But: The supposed bargains of no-name manufacturers often have a quality problem: sometimes there are crooked shapes, sometimes dirty colors or different sizes of individual beads. In short, you have to expect shortcomings if you give the giant pack of an unknown label the preference to save money.

Anyone looking for a uniformly beautiful result when working with rocailles who does not want to sort out heaps of defective pearls should, without exception, opt for products from renowned companies right from the start.

Tip: Most pieces of jewelery that you can make out of the glass beads take several hours to complete. For that reason alone, it would be extremely annoying if the result would not completely inspire due to insufficient quality of the materials. In short, the motto here should be "quality over quantity".

But which manufacturers are the best in terms of seed beads ">

Rocailles from the Czech Republic (by Czech companies) are recommended as extremely solid middle ground between the "luxury" issues and the in each case cheap copies. However, there are also significant quality fluctuations here. Use (reputable) reviews from other users to get a better picture before ordering. In addition, it is advisable to buy only once a pack from a yet unknown manufacturer and to check the quality with their own eyes.

The type of size is the same for all seed beads - no matter where they come from. Note, however, that the "meaning" may differ. So are the Fädelkanäle (diameter of the holes) in the Japanese pearls in principle larger than in the Czech. This has several advantages:

• It is often possible to thread through one and the same bead, which results in a higher stability and also allows more complicated threading patterns.
• Due to the larger threading channel, the Japanese pearls have a lower dead weight, which makes the final jewelry lighter in feel and comfort.

Tip: The beads of Japanese manufacturers are generally more uniform and high quality processed than the designs of Czech companies.

Incidentally, the company TOHO offers the glass beads with the largest hole diameters.

Tip: The products of German companies are usually also of good quality. So take a look around in these climes.

Seed beads - sizes

Seed beads are available in many different sizes. Here is an overview of the typical classification:

Sizing -> Outer diameter in millimeters (best format as table and paste)

size specification	Outer diameter of the seed beads in mm
20/0	1.0
18/0	1.1
17/0	1.2
16/0	1.3
15/0	1.5
14/0	1.6
13/0	1.7
12/0	1.9
11/0	2.1
10/0	2.3
9/0	2.7
8/0	3.1
7/0	3.4
6/0	4.0
5/0	4.5
4/0	5.0
3/0	5.5
2/0	6.0
1/0	6.5

Note: For MIYUKI seed beads, the outer diameter is usually slightly larger than for TOHO beads.

Generally, in terms of size, the smaller the number before the slash, the larger the outside diameter of the bead.

Colors of the pearls

Especially with the well-known manufacturers you can enjoy an immense range of colors. Meanwhile, there are even beads in neon colors or metallic features (metallic look). TOHO and MIYUKI offer you several hundred shades and continuously expand their respective range. So you can customize your jewelry specifically to your personal taste.

Tip: Special highlights include the "Picasso colors" by MIYUKI. The mottled design ensures an extraordinary charisma and gives the bracelet (still) more pep.

Pearl bracelet made of seed beads

For our first tutorial you need several utensils and a lot of patience. The task is primarily to "weave" the beads on yarn. As for the pattern of the bracelet, you can give your imagination and creativity free rein. We will help you with a sample template.

You need this:

• Seed *
• tear-resistant yarn (thicker handmade yarn and thin sewing thread)
• very thin needle
• Picture frame without glass
• scissors
• our template **

* Use beads in three different colors (such as red, gold and black) and sizes (eg 6/0, 8/0 and 11/0). These are just examples, ultimately you decide. It is important to ensure that the colors harmonize and the sizes are not too far apart.

Important: One pearl must be bigger than all others. It serves as a closure.

** Print our sample template to make it literally more tangible.

Click here: To download the Rocailles template

Step 1: Pick up picture frames and yarn.

Step 2: Attach the end of the yarn to the frame. To do this, wrap the thread centrally around the "highlighted" frame element on one of the two longer sides and tie it in place.

Step 3: Now wrap the yarn several times around the "entire" frame (from one end to the other and back). You need eight close strands of yarn. Pay attention to good tension!

Step 4: Wrap the yarn around the frame a little further away from the eight main strands. The additional strand later acts as an "extension" of the closure.

Step 5: Grasp the pair of scissors to cut the yarn with a long tail and knot the latter on the highlighted frame element.

Interim note: Now it's time to thread the beads. Here are some comments:

• Each row consists of seven pearls.
• The arrangement of the colors results in a chic striped pattern.
• When threading, follow the template exactly.

Step 6: Cut a long piece of yarn from the thin sewing thread (at least 2 m) and fasten it to the left outer thread skein. Leave about 3 cm to 5 cm from the top frame. So make sure it does not end up with the clasp at the end.

Step 7: Pick up a fine needle and pass the end of the piece of thread attached in step 6 through the hole.

Step 8: Now thread the beads of the first row (see template) in the correct sequence (starting on the left).

Step 9: Pass the threaded beads underneath the ropes. Where:

a) Always work from left to right.
b) Using the index finger of the free hand, lift the row of beads from below to place the individual seed beads in the spaces between the twine strands.
c) Tighten the thread a little bit more.
d) Then pass the yarn with the needle coming from the right through all beads to fix it.

Tip: Be very focused here and make sure that the needle really passes over the skeins of yarn and not underneath. Otherwise, the seed beads do not hold logically.

Step 10: Thread the other rows on the same principle (steps 8 to 10) - until the wristband loosely fits around your wrist (or the person you want to wear later).

The pattern is in our case exactly in the middle. The finished bracelet begins with the same colors, with it ends.

Step 11: Turn the frame over after threading the last row.

Step 12: Cut the skeins of yarn on this non-beaded side in the middle. Now you have a bracelet with eight loose twine strands on each end.

Step 13: Braid the ends into small braids.

a) Knot the larger bead on a braid.
b) From the other braid you create a loop.

Tip: Make sure that the bead just fits through the loop. The latter should not be too big, otherwise the pearl could slip out and lose the beautiful DIY bracelet.

Empty template for making yourself

Here you can print the bracelet template without colors and determine the individual colors of the beads themselves. Create your own individual design:

Click here to download the Rocailles template for coloring

Beaded animals made of seed beads

You can do a lot more with Rocailles beads. The small glass beads are versatile. In this tutorial, we'll show you how to thread beaded animals - a crocodile and a snake: Instructions - make beaded animals