Sorry, but these tiny beads are going fast!
It looks
like the rest of the world is catching up . We 've had many requests from
beadstores for kilos of mixed colors in the tiny beads, and we've had to say no
. We've saved them for you!
Wondering why the interest? Read on...
Using
beads size 16° and smaller allows you the greatest detail possible within
this medium. I've loomed with size 18°s and Carol's loomed with size
20°s. People don't even realize they're looking at beads when they first
encounter our work (Carol)
(Virginia)
The trade-off is that it takes many times longer to weave something when you've got 600 or 750 beads per square inch! And you think twice about selling something you've worked on so long that looks so good. The huge advantages are the range of subtle colors available in these sizes and the resulting uniqueness of your work.
The Czechs are making size 16°s, and they have the capability of making cane with a diameter equivalent to a size 20°. However, the demand doesn't exist which would prompt them to market a complete line of colors and sizes. So, for size 18° and smaller, we're still dependent on these old, hand-made beads.
Size 16° and 18° beads are pretty reasonable to work with. You may choose to use a magnifier if you work with size 20° and 22°, although Carol doesn't. We both wear corrective lenses for near-sightedness (a condition existing in both of us long before we took up beadwork) and have found that our eyes have become accustomed to working with ever smaller beads.
A wide array of thread weights work with these small beads, from A down to 000, depending on how many passes you must make through each bead.
Just to make you feel really humble, people in the late 1700's used the size 24° beads to do incredibly detailed work, called "sable" (sand) beadwork, commemorating, among other things, hot-air balloon races!