Betty created this lovely long multi-strand necklace with tiny seed pearls. (picture below) The focal is a crystal filled geode slice.

Seed beads are informally any bead the size of a seed – whether the bead is a teeny pearl, a thumbnail sized wood bead from Africa or a small silver lined cylinder bead. With such variety, these beads play a big roll in handmade jewelry.

The most common seed beads are glass beads in sizes referred to as aught which loosely defined means the number of beads you can fit into an inch. The most common size is 11/0 (eleven-aught) which is 11 beads per inch. Beaders work with beads from the smallest 24/0 (twenty-four aught) to 5/0 (five-aught). Seed beads come in literally thousands of color and looks. Visiting the seed bead aisle of a bead store will amaze you!

Most bead crafters working with seed beads are using them to weave patterns and designs to create a “fabric of beads”. These can be used to make purses, necklaces, decorative pieces and even 3-D sculptures.

The best quality glass seed beads come from Japan and the Czech Republic. The uniformity of size and texture is critical when creating pictures and designs where images appear.

Rose of Sharon Jewelry artists aren’t bead weavers but seeds beads still play an important part in adding a touch of color, a sparkling accent or to improve spacing between larger beads. You may not even realize the dozens of seed beads incorporated in one of our handmade jewelry designs but they were carefully chosen to enhance the one-of-a-kind look.

Lilac Sensation is a five-strand necklace with deep lilac seed beads interspersed with carved pink quartz flower beads.

The seed beads give a depth of color and the strands naturally twist for a lovely textural look.

Sandra Lee’s magnificent necklace – Social Climber – incorporates a rich blue strand of seed beads to carry the lampwork focal’s base color up through the necklace.

Seed beads may be tiny but they play a big role in making beautiful and powerful jewelry. You’ll find seed beads in our artisan jewelry at Rose of Sharon Jewelry, A.F.F. Jewelry Collection at Etsy, Adornable Anklets and New Life Jewelry Art at ArtFire.

I could tell the pressed glass had a vintage look including the slight edge around each bead. The picture showed swirly, soft hues of cream, white, lilac, brown and pink. Something just told me I had to have these.

When the package came, I was thrilled to discover that my instincts had been right. The shape is wonderful and the colors better than I anticipated. See for yourself below -

So now I had 5 new glass beads. Time to dig! My beads are divided by color so I pulled out yellows, browns, pinks, creams and whites. I quickly decided against yellow or white as they created to much contrast.

I was thrilled when I found the perfect Rhodochrosite beads in medium pink with just a touch of brown to soften it. Next was a strand of brown Rhodochrosite that I had bought the month before.

Rhodochrosite beads usually are a blend of colors such as both pink and brown stripes or swirls. The beads I had were color sorted and came from two separate vendors.

Keeping the vintage element in mind, I added antiqued gold over brass bicone beads and daisy spacers and a antique gold over pewter toggle clasp.

A simple single strand of straight stringing just seem best for this piece where the color theme is the most important part of the overall design.

The creative and planning process took over an hour as I sorted through all my options.

No, No, No, Maybe, No, Yes, No, Yes, Yes, Yes!

At Dusk is available in the Rose of Sharon Jewelry store.

I love the finished necklace which I call At Dusk and hope you do too. Enjoy the pictures and don’t forget to leave your comments.

A wax-casting gold mounting was toned down so the real gold looked less like plastic and more like 14K. The finding (surrounding a turquoise cab) was purchased by my Dad several decades ago when gold was affordable. With a little antiquing, the pendant is now ready for Mom to repurpose into one of her necklace creations.

Some bright, bright silver chandelier earring components were transformed by the process. Some came out antiqued like a vintage piece. Others took on a peacock shine with blues, lilacs and pinks. A few sets immediately turned golden, then took on a rose gold tone. Yummy!

After smelling that rotten egg smell for way too long, I decided  to order some of the new gel formula of liver of sulfur known as Patina Gel from Cool Tools. Reviews have been very favorable in use, storage and effectiveness. I’ll keep you posted.

I’m a gadget and tool geek. I own tons of useful and plenty of not so useful jewelry making tools. What your newest favorite tool?

New today – Rain Priest charm bracelet. A golden charm bracelet handmade by Sharon to honor the spiritual beliefs of Native Americans. Charms celebrating the spirits and omens used by Medicine Men are mixed with handcrafted dangles of turquoise colored stone beads.

This antiqued gold over pewter bracelet is filled with images of powerful omens of birds, buffalo, horses and more.

A peace pipe is the largest charm in the Rain Priest bracelet now on sale in the Rose of Sharon Jewelry store.

To add to the movement and fullness of this one-of-a-kind charm bracelet, Sharon (that’s me) added dangles of turquoise colored Jasper.

I decided to use the Jasper because their softer more organic color was a better contrast to the bright and antique gold chain and clasp.

I hand wired juicy wine-colored garnets to look like grape clustered and mixed them between the gold over pewter charms. (These are new charms and certified lead-free.)

Over a dozen charms from wine bottles to glasses to oak casks to cheese wedges adorn Merlot.

Whether you love a bold red or a crisp white, you’ll love this artisan charm bracelet.

Merlot is available now in the Rose of Sharon Jewelry store.

These garnets have a wonderful translucent quality.