What's the Difference? A Bead Lesson - no.1

I know that many of you understand what my work entails... tiny seed beads. But, how many of you know the difference between the Regular "Single Bead on Chain", the Giant one, and the size I use in my "Linked Bracelets"? Well, the difference is in the seed bead.

Here's the skinny: Most of my work uses the size 15/0 seed bead (as in the image here with red beads - pic.1). My Giant 1" beaded rounds (25mm) use size 8/0...see, much bigger (pic. - 2). The reason I use the 8/0 for my giant 1" is that it takes as much time to make this size as it does to make the regular size 3/4" with the 15/0. Seed beads are categorized by size with numbers - the bigger the number the smaller the seed bead. The sizes I use most are 15/0, 10/0 and 8/0 .... are you saying "Huh"?

Let me explain... the 3/4" (actually, just shy of 3/4" or 16mm) single bead on chain is made with my 15/0 seed beads and they are very tiny as in this poppy bead here on the chain (pic. 3). I weave each bead to the next one-by-one and this takes time. The 3/4" bead takes approximately 1 hour to weave. Now, if I were to use the same size 15/0 on the 1", as you can see there is a significant difference in size from this image (pic.4), - and I do occasionally ... then it would take me just over 2 hours to make. So, it's not that I don't LOVE to make the 1" "Tiny Giant" (as I like to call it), it's just that I have to be in a certain mind-set when I want to make them. Usually it's many in one sitting. At any rate, there are several contributors to the infrequency of this bead but, time is the biggest. (Wait until I you see the necklace with these giants... it took awhile but worth every moment...very exciting!).

So, now you know why first, I charge more when the see bead size gets bigger, as on my newest "Limited Edition - Disco Inferno" bead (I used size 10/0 - same as the bead on my Linked bracelet) and second, why you don't see the Giant size with the 15/0 seed bead.

I do hope this was helpful information about the size that you like or want or just deciding which bead works best for you. In a later post I will give you more perspective of the beads while modeled. I know sometimes that it can be difficult to know what the jewelry looks like in relation to the body... so watch for the work being modeled!