Seed Bead

Seed Bead

Seed beads are uniformly shaped, spheroidal beads ranging in size from under a millimeter to several millimeters. "Seed bead" is a generic term for any small bead. Usually rounded in shape, seed beads are most commonly used for loom and off-loom bead weaving. They may be used for simple stringing, or as spacers between other beads in jewelry. Larger seed beads are used in various fiber crafts for embellishment, or crochet with fiber or soft, flexible wire. The largest size of a seed bead is 1° ("one-aught", sometimes written 1/0) and the smallest is 24°, about the size of a grain of sand. However, seed beads that are size 5° or 6° are usually called "pony beads" rather than "seed beads"; the next larger class of seed beads, from 3° to 4°, are usually called "trade beads"; the largest class of seed beads, including 1°, 2°, and anything larger, are usually referred to as "crow beads." Most modern seed bead work is done using seed beads ranging in sizes 8°, 11°, 12°, 13° and 15°. The extremely small class of seed beads smaller than 15° have not been in production since the 1890s and any in existence are usually considered antiques. The very small holes in the centers of most seed beads means that stringing them usually requires the use of a specialized long narrow needle called a beading needle.