Feature
| BEAUTIFUL BEADS
Among beads of this size, you will find seed
beads, crystals, crystal pearls, natural pearls, and fire-
polished glass, to name just a few. The photographs
here, particularly the image below, show different
“
Another colour issue may occur with silver-lined
beads. Some beads tarnish and can rub tarnish on
your yarn, while others remain bright silver. I always
Not all beads avoid silver-lined beads with light-coloured yarns and
beads of approximately 4mm in size, lined up next
are created
threads. Likewise, I do not use metal beads on light-
to each other. Although the beads themselves are coloured yarns.
of a similar size, the hole sizes will vary greatly. A equal, even
6/0 or 'e' seed bead with a large hole can be used
if they do
Avoiding breakage
on yarns of even a worsted weight, but pearls with Last but not least, before you begin, it is a good idea
their smaller hole sizes can barely be used on lace appear much to consider the compatibility of your beads and yarn.
or cobweb-weight yarns. The photograph below
the same, and
Some beads, such as crystals and metal beads, can
shows various beads from the top where the hole have sharp edges that will wear through certain yarns
is visible. You can see at once that the size of hole many will over a period of time. I have used crystals on silk/
varies greatly, all the way from the tiny hole in the
simply not be
stainless steel yarn because of its relative strength,
freshwater pearl to the size 6/0 seed bead with a but I would not suggest using crystals on yarns that
square hole, my personal favourite for needlework. suitable for could easily be cut, such as a lace-weight wool or
Coloured for success
needlework.
mohair. Fire-polished glass can look very similar, but
the edges are rounded and will not wear through your
When shopping for your beaded project, always yarn. They make a great substitute for crystals when
remember that if you are planning on washing your you want some added sparkle.
finished piece, you will need to choose colourfast
beads. Most problems occur in the red and orange
shades. It is a good bet that more inexpensive reds
are not colourfast, but always remember to check
your beads by stringing them, swatching and then
washing the swatch. For one particular felted project,
I recall how confused I was at first when I looked at
the result. Then I realised that none of my beads had
”
The other area to consider is the weight of the
beads versus the weight of your yarn or thread. Avoid
heavy beads on light threads and avoid loops of
beads that might become caught on something and
pull out, damaging your needlework and spraying
beads everywhere! In my necklace pattern, you will
be stringing beads onto a chain, so that the weight of
the beads will be born by more than one strand of the
been colourfast, and the colour mix was decidedly thread. You might say that it is engineered to last!
different from the one I had envisioned! Now with these insights, go forth and bead!
46 | INSIDE Crochet
IC2.feat.beads.FINAL.indd 46 13/5/09 11:55:14
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