Bead Upon Bead
- Brittany Lambson
- Apr 4
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 11
Beading is one of my favorite craft activities. It is easy to start, and there is always another new idea or technique to learn. Because enjoy it so much, I have found many ways to use beading as an educational tool with my children as they grew. Toddlers can improve fine motor skills by threading large wooden beads onto a shoelace. You can explore concepts like colors, counting, and patterns with preschoolers. Beads can be used as a springboard for complex patterns, geometry, multiplication, even algebra!
The most basic form of beading is threading beads onto a single string, then tying the ends together. Tah-dah, you have a necklace! This skill alone can provide endless possibilities for creativity, but it is only the first step into a much bigger world of possibilities. Bead stitches, loom work, and even 3D beading provide things to explore and techniques to learn to keep you busy…well, forever!
I find it very helpful to use a bead board to see approximately what the finished piece will look like. However, a silicone mat also works to keep the beads from slipping and bouncing around as you lay them out.
There are dozens of kinds of bead boards. I like beadsmith boards, and I absolutely love the flexible sponge mats (pretty cheap an amazon, search “bead mat”.)
As a general rule, focal and larger beads are put in the middle of necklaces, and smaller complimentary beads taper to the ends. Bracelets can have a focal area, but are usually evenly balanced around the piece. Choose pieces and colors that bring you joy! Often the clasps can be just as fun as the beads.
Lay out your design, and try changing a few things up. Often you will find something you love that wasn’t at all what you had in mind originally. If you aren’t feeling inspired, there are thousands of patterns available online, both free and paid. Lots free instructional videos are available on YouTube as well. I like to watch videos from Potomac Beads, Orchid and Opal, and Fire Mountain Gems.
You can use anything from shoelaces to premium braided and waxed thread to string your beads on. You can use chains and attach pieces using jump rings or split rings. However, it’s important to choose a product that will compliment your piece and be strong enough for use. You don’t want to spend hours making a piece only to have it break the first time you wear it.
Beading wire is a good choice if you are doing a simple stringed piece. You can find decent quality wire without breaking the bank. I love to do bead weaving, making little dangly pieces and flowers that wrap around. Got this type of project, Personally, I like to use beadalon fire line, wi but it is a little pricey. Nylon thread can also be good, especially if you can reinforce some of the weaker points.
If you want to use higher/end metal and chains, note the difference between solid gold, gold vermeil, gold filled, and gold plated. Solid gold is (obviously) very expensive and best quality. I find gold vermeil and gold filled to have the same look and shine at a fraction of the price, and these are what I use. Gold plating tarnishes quickly and tends to look cheap after only a few times wearing it.
The last thing I want to cover today is the importance of using the right needle. If the eye of the needle is too big, trying to force it through the bead can crack and break it. There are different sizes of needles, and for tiny works there are specialized beading needles that are almost completely flat and fairly flexible to use on bead weaving. Discovering these needles completely changed the game for me and allowed me to use all my tiny beads. I highly recommend several sizes of both styles of needles.
Fire Mountain Gems has an excellent post explaining the advantages of different types of needles.
Next time we will go over several of the basic beading stitches, such as brick stitch, peyote stitch, Learning these will allow you to make practically any project.
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