Weird Bead Names

[chirapachegurl]

I'm pretty sure that many of you haven't came across a tube or a hank of beads that every bead is the exact same shape, that's what i would call the impossible perfect tube/hank of beads. For the odd shaped beads i have names for them, like the flat ones i call them saucers for flying saucers, and there are some that on one side it's raised higher than the rest so it looks like a traditional dancer's crown so i call that the crown. also there's the one bead that is larger than the rest and if you use that it can make your peice look lop-sided. So i call that one the ginormous bead. so as i'm beading and i come across one or the other i say, "i'm sorry saucer/crown i can't use you so i have to put you to the side" (yes i do talk to myself, because after hours and hours of beading if i don't talk i can forget what the sound of my voice sounds like). so do any of you have any weird names for beads??

[billyjoejimbob]

I usually name them all "effin pain in the azz" beads.

especially when i drop a line off the needle or the thread gets stuck or one has a sharp edge and cuts my thread or the needle gets stuck in one or lane wont fit or be even or when i have a spasm and i flip the lid full of beads all over the computer keyboard (i bead at the computer...when i bead).

the bead names would make a good comic strip. a family of chechs, a family of italians, a family named miyuki (mr.miyuki is the karate expert), the Delica's, then there is Charlotte who is the slut of the beads.

[subeeds]

I call the odd beads my surprises because they go into the container I keep odd size beads in and it's going to be a surprise when I make something out of this bottle that's fast filling with beads. Since I do mostly loom work, I have to have consistant sized beads. I just got some hanks a few weeks ago from Shipwreck beads and was really disapointed in the quality. I can't loom with any of them, so now I'm doing off loom stuff. Mostly netted collars because they seem to work out well with mismatched size beads. I've gotten some patterns off the web that use leftover beads and odd sizes. Maybe one day I'll get around to doing something with them. I know what you mean about the sound of your own voice. I usually only talk to myself when I mess up on a count or stitch and have to redo it. I'm worried that if I talk to myself more than that, the dog or cat will have me committed! LOL

[BeadMan]

I don't have any names for these beads, but when I was in college, living in the dorm, I was always beading and for some strange reason I saved all these odd beads in a coffee mug on my desk. Some of the hippie types on my floor found out about these beads and went crazy over them making necklaces and bracelets and all kind of strange things.

I have been throwing them away ever since.

[billyjoejimbob]

the hippies or the beads?

[chirapachegurl]

Lately I have been throwing away my odd shaped beads. at first i would keep them and at the end of the night after calling it a day I would put the odd shaped beads back into my bead container. And the following day i would take them back out and here they come again, the flying saucer, the crown and the ginormous trying to ruin my work. So I started throwing them away.

[wyo_rose]

Fat Boys and Big Boys are what I call the giant beads found in with the regular ones. Fat boys are kinda misshapened, and big boys are still proportionite. Popcorn are the lopsided beads that look like a bubble popped on them. Skinny minis are the toothpick ones that I like to fit in the edges of my applique. The rest I throw out, except Big Boys. When I get enough of them I usually do little barrettes or something.

The ones that are just right and all the same are the ones I call candy, cuz it reminds me of the candy necklaces where they're all the same.

[BeadMan]

What about hot dogs? The ones that look like a tube that no one ever chopped up into bead sizes. Not quite a bugle bead, but not worth a darn either.

You also occasionally get the Siamese twins. Two distinct beads each with a hole but pointing in different directions. I have actually seen old museum pieces with these beads being used. Some Anthropologist will probably do a book on this sacred ceremonial practice and how it brought about rain storms or warded off the plague.

Lastly, if you buy loose beads, you get the ones with no holes. Even beads on a hank willsometimes get little bits of junck that partially block the hole. I think this is grit from the polishing process, but I don't really know. The "old time" bead colors that are being marketed seem to be particularlly bad at this.

[subeeds]

Chirapachegurl, you get 5 lashes with a strand of Nymo for throwing away beads.LOL That's awful! Spend a couple of bucks at Walmart and get a set of those interlocking stackable containers to keep your odd beads in. When you have a ton or so, check out beadwork.about.com/library and look for a pattern by Emily Hackbarth. It's called Square Stitch Tube necklace. It looks like a great way to use weird size beads. I've got instructions for earrings, too, but don't have the website name here at work. I'll post it tomorrow. It's a brick stitch on hoops with dangle/fringes. I use the stackable and keep an open one beside me when I bead and whenever i come across a saucer, fat boy, or hot dog, they go in the container. I do throw away the really thin saucers, but those are the only ones. The packrat part of me can't bear the thought of throwing away beads. Of course, that doesn't include the ones the vacuum cleaner eats that I didn't find on the floor. It's amazing how much bounce a bead has on a hardwood floor.

[Anishinaabe_Kwezanz]

then there is Charlotte who is the slut of the beads.

For some reason Delica's strike me as a lot sluttier than Charlottes. I mean Charlotte has been around for time immemorable, whereas Delica's are new and yet getting used by everyone.

lol slutty beads

[wyo_rose]

Yeah, don't call my Charlotte's slutty! I have some from the 70's and they're saving themselves for the right guy, I mean project.

[subeeds]

The web site for the earring pattern that uses leftover beads is www.beadsbaublesandjewels.com. It's from the series on PBS. you want to go to project 310-1. It's just called brick stitch earrings, but these aren't your average brick stitch earrings. That site has some neat looking projects on it even though I've never seen the TV show. Now everybody can stop throwing those weird size beads away.

[shadowwalker]

Hey thanks, I always wanted to have something to do with my "orphan beads". Now I can give them a home on something that I can make and give away.

[wyo_rose]

I was thinking about doing a bead picture by setting them in glue or wax or something.

[Blackbear]

is'nt that the Huichol style of beadwork? ... you know what I mean.. it's a mexican style where they cover an object in beezwax and then set the beads in there like mosaic.. with the holes topside? Yeah I think that's it...

http://www.huicholartonline.com/