| Original Message: Re: Re: Re: Sizes |
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Dear Juel, I do not doubt that many people say this and similar things about bead sizes and sizing systems. However, these are mistaken ideas. Seedbeads get grouped by size via sifting or screening. At Venice, they traditionally have a series of screens, one atop the other, with finer and finer screens as the beads drop down. The beads that remain in any particular screen become beads of that size. The numbers (if they refer to anything tangible—as opposed to abstract) probably refer to the screen used. (I'm guessing.) Beadworkers would LIKE there to be some reasonable system of numbering that tells us what the size of the beads is (in relation to something or some standard we can grasp and understand). However, there is really no such thing. Beads are numbered from largest to smallest (in their category), with larger beads having small numbers, and smaller beads having larger numbers. The same thing happens with threads/fibers/yarns, appliances for using them (needles, hooks, etc.), with wire, and probably anything that is made in a variety of descending/assending sizes. It is a manufacturer's convenience. By the way, as I use the following words, this is a convention I find useful. A "seed bead" is a bead made from a seed. A "seedbead" is a very small bead, also called a "beadwork-bead," typically made from glass by the drawn method (though at some points in time they have been wound—even very tiny ones). The name "seedbead" comes to us from an English convention of comparing things, and tangibly from such conventions as "seed pearl" and "seed coral"—these being popular embroidery elements over the past 500 years (or longer). Seed pearls and seed corals are so small, they are "like seeds." Seedbeads are so small, they are like seeds. However, since beads are actually made from seeds (probably encompassing the entire history of humanity, and in virtually every part of the world), it is helpful to have a name that does not imply a botanical origin, or that can be used to distinguish. Be well. Jamey All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
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