seed bead quality
 

A little suggestion to those of you who work with seed beads. If you
are absolutely desperate and need to purchase seed beads, please do
not purchase them at Walmart unless they are a brand you've used
before. Last week, I needed clear AB seed beads. Michael's had been
out of stock for a few weeks, and the only other store in town with
any seed beads was Walmart. I purchased three packages, but the beads
are so inconsistent in size it's agony working with them. I strung
what I needed onto #8 perle cotton for beaded knitting, but I keep
having to break beads because they are either so small and weirdly
shaped, or so big and weirdly shaped.

The good news is when I get some better quality beads I will
appreciate them that much more.

take care, Linda D. in B.C., Canada

seed bead quality
 

I think lot of us have learned this the hard way!

I can always find a use for those junky beads though, either with something
where the beads don't need to be uniform, or if all else fails, I take them
to the arts program for my kids to use.

--
Jerri
www.beadbimbo.com
"Linda D." wrote in message
...
A little suggestion to those of you who work with seed beads. If you
are absolutely desperate and need to purchase seed beads, please do
not purchase them at Walmart unless they are a brand you've used
before. Last week, I needed clear AB seed beads. Michael's had been
out of stock for a few weeks, and the only other store in town with
any seed beads was Walmart. I purchased three packages, but the beads
are so inconsistent in size it's agony working with them. I strung
what I needed onto #8 perle cotton for beaded knitting, but I keep
having to break beads because they are either so small and weirdly
shaped, or so big and weirdly shaped.

The good news is when I get some better quality beads I will
appreciate them that much more.

take care, Linda D. in B.C., Canada

seed bead quality
 

I only use seed beads as spacers, but even there quite often
a rather uniform size is required (think e.g. earrings). I bought
some seed beads from Walmart, but other than the blue-green
mix, I found that even the jewelcraft beads that our local Ben
Franklin used to carry (I wish they had kept those) not only
are more uniform in size but also usually shinier. A customer got
me to get Ornela, and I prefer those to anything else (including
Toho).

Aloha,
Maren