My adventures with seed beads

A while back I thought I would try my hand with seed beads. My husband was complaining that I was making so many pieces of jewelry and not selling anything. So I figured that seed beads are pretty cheap, and it usually takes quite a while to make a piece. So this would keep me busy while keeping the quantity of my output down.

I found a beautiful bracelet in one of those Beading magazines and thought I would give it a try.

Of course I never did this before so I needed SUPPLIES. Needles, threads, and, most importantly, BEADS. Shiny, shiny, little seed beads.

I found the most amazing beadshop just a few miles from my house (of course, I did) that has every seed bead imaginable. Of course I didn't want the least expensive beads. Oh no. Those Japanese Raku beads called to me. I think there're like about $5 for a little container.


This was starting to add up.


Finally I got to work. I never knew working with seed beads is such a pain. It takes FOREVER. Just getting the stiches right, trying to figure out the instructions, and picking up tiny little beads that spill all over your carpet. I have a new appreciation for people who work with these types of projects.

Oh, let's say about ...oh... 40 hours of beading later, my bracelet was finished. Except for the clasp. It took me about 2 weeks to find a button that I liked to finish off the bracelet. (Of course, I found a lot of other buttons that I liked. So I had to buy them too. Just in case. You know, for future projects.)


Another 4 hours and I got the clasp finished. FINALLY.



This is my first AND LAST beaded bracelet:


While it wasn't THAT expensive for supplies, I could never recoup the cost for time I spent making this thing. If I decide to sell it, I'll probably end up making less than $1.00 per hour of time spent on it.

I think I will stick with either stringing larger beads or, preferably, working with sterling silver. Especially the kind of projects where I can hammer it - SOO therapeutic. Can't do that with seed beads.