Seed Beads

Seed Bead Sizing Info

Seed bead is a term used to describe very small beads. They are available in an amazing array of colours, finishes & styles. They are most often used in bead weaving and loom work but also feature regularly as filler beads on all jewellery & beading. They are always useful to have around when jewellery making.

Seed beads have one of the more baffling sizing systems of all the Beads and jewellery making supplies & you wouldn't be first person to ask "so which ones are bigger and which ones are smaller?". Basically larger number sizes are physically smaller beads eg; 15/0 is about 1.3mm & very tiny and 6/0 is about 3.3mm and fairly large- see below for a detailed explanation on seed bead sizing.

Seed Bead Sizes
Sizes are notated by x/0, x being the variable number (to make matters worse we have had to type them as x-0 in the titles on the website as our site interprets the forward slash as website code and makes the pages do funny things so please forgive us!). The higher the number the smaller the bead, this is known as aughts.
The following are approximations:

aught size	mm diameter	beads per inch
6/0	3.3	10
8/0	2.5	13
9/0	2.2	15
10/0	2.0	16
11/0	1.8	20
13/0	1.5	27
14/0	1.4	24
15/0	1.3	25
delica/treasure	1.8	20

In our 30gms packets you get approx;
11/0 2200 beads
8/0 1150 beads
6/0 450 beads

You will also often see brand names used instead of the word seed beads.
Japanese seed beads The 3 main Japanese companies that produce seed beads are Miyuki, Matsuno and Toho. They each have their own following. Japanese seed beads are the cream of the crop & are well known and loved for their regularity of sizing, large hole sizing & range of colours and shapes but they are at the very upper of pricing. We stock TOHO seed bead mixes.

Czech seed beads are also a favourite and often come in Hanks. They are a slight step down from Japanese seed beads but are also a high quality consistent size with gorgeous strong, clear colours. Our Czech seedbeads come in lots of 6 strands to a mini hank.

Chinese seed beads We have a large selection of high quality Chinese manufactured seed beads. They are extremely economical and suit most jewellery making where absolute size regularity isn't as important.

Other commonly used terms are:
Rocaille This is a word that is sometimes used in place of seed bead. What it really means is a silver (or gold) lined bead with a square hole.
Charlotte seems to always be used to describe size 13 seed beads, with one hand-cut side on each bead. This makes them slightly faceted.
"E" Bead is also a seed bead, but is larger size 4, 5, or 6 seed bead.