Bead shapes (Or, Am I the only one?)

I'm at the opposite end.

I'm still making jewelry, especially bracelets (I get a lot of requests, and they're certainly faster to string). I (and many of my customers) find round beads more difficult to design with. The main reason I finally gave in to presses was because a) the only non-round freehand beads I make easily are teardrops and rather large bicones...not good bracelet candidates and b) I was sick to death of making round beads.

I've been amazed by the positive feedback I've gotten since I started making lentils and tiles. I could kick myself for being such a heel-dragger.

My favorite freehand shape is still bicones. I like all the design possibilities and they just feel good.

KarenS

Do you mean round round or bead shaped round? I'd love to play with all the presses, but my favorite shape is always that bead shape round.

Same here - although lately I have really enjoyed playing with the round shape - making a more chunky round and also making disk-shaped rounds. But even though I like messing with shapes sometimes, I will always return to the round - mostly because I just really enjoy making them.

I really love the straight-sided lentil, I think it's also referred to as a pastille. Such a beautiful shape! Of all the presses I've seen that is the one I'd most like to get. But I'm still learning and I really need to learn to hand-shape first. But I like rounds too. They are classic.

Cheryl

Christ> Today I decided against a set of beautiful aqua floral beads. It was

Beads is beads. I likes them all.

Becki

Whoops, I liked. I likes them all except the freaking bones. LOL

becki

TEE HEE Becki. I think the bones are weird too.

I'm a beadmaker and make jewlwery for myself. The reason I like the pressed beads, especially for bracelets, is that I can make a larger bead that will lay flat on the wrist. If I made a round bead of that size it would stick up too much for my taste.

However, I like almost any shape.

Lara

(ebay ID lutrick)

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote:

I like flat and tabular beads for the reasons above and also I like having it lay a certain way, especailly focals. A tabular bead drilled through the upper third for instance can be relied on not to flip around or backwards. I find that easier to design for, also bigger rounds feel clunky to me, sticking out too far. I also find odd shapes creatively more stimulating than rounds.

Ingrid

Round beads are great for necklaces and earrings and I sell quite a few of them, especially the smaller ones. For bracelets, there's nothing like the flat guys--I notice at bead shows that folks pick different shapes in similar colors, like mix and match. When I'm working in a color series, if I remember to switch out the presses, those beads are always popular with buyers. Especially when there's something different in the mix, like the Zoozii diamond--that's a nice non-flat shape that adds to a bracelet design without bulk.

Perfectly round beads aren't that easy for me to make--donuts are one thing, but a really round bead with good holes is something of a challenge.

You guys are making me want to run down and turn on the kiln, but I'm taking a bead crochet class today--and I think I'm behind in my homework! What's new?

Have a good one,

Nolly

"Round" lampwork to me is that almost round donut shape.

Tina''

with

I hear you about bracelets. But I hate wearing bracelets, so I only make them to go with necklaces. I seldom even wear a watch anymore. Winter here lasts so long, and as you say it's hard to wear bracelets under 2, 3 or

4 layers. Even in summer I tend to cover up, either from the sun or more importantly from the mosquitoes. And even for necklaces, I seldom use beads bigger than 18mm or so. And I like that round beads roll.

Tina

hear ya about the watch. I gave up on wrist watches on the order of 25 years ago. My watch hangs from my neck, on bootlaces (any kind of metal necklace irritates my skin and frays my clothes too fast). As my last watch died, and apparently it wan't just a dead battery, the kid said "Mom, just go to Ben Franklin (my only LBS), buy one of the watch faces they have and hang it from your neck". I did and meant to put a bead (actually, the one I made at Kalera's) at the bottom, but I never got around to the latter yet.

I wear bracelets when I'm out and about and when I travel, but I take them off when I work and when I'm at the computer (which is the same thing most of the time).

Maren

Christ> I hear you about bracelets. But I hate wearing bracelets, so I only make

For lampwork beads, I like the rounds best for bracelets. For necklaces, I like different shapes, my favorite being lentils and tile shaped beads.

In gemstones, I like shaped beads, different shapes in the same gemstone, or combining different shapes in different gemstones. I especially like the curved kite shape, which they don't seem to be making any longer, because it just fit your wrist and the hollow of your neck so well. I'm finding I like pearls a lot more than I used to, especially combined with one of my dichroic glass fused pendants or lampwork beads. My new favorite as far as pearls goes is coin pearls combined with Bali.

Patti