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Hi Stef, Thanks for your interesting reply. Industries that make and sell glass seedbeads usually either sell them loose or strung. Selling beads strung (as in strings, or hanks of strings) has the advantage of being convenient (for the seller and the user), and of demonstrating that individual beads are well-formed (because one can see this) and well-perforated (because someone has already succeeded in getting it onto a line). Loose beads, sold in packets or bags may tend to have individuals that are misshapen and imperforate—to say nothing of possibly being poorly sized. But this can be offset by a cheaper price, because the makers are not paying a staff to string the beads—though it may demand that the user buy more beads than necessary to counter the percentage of beads that will be deemed unusable. Nevertheless, I would like to see a hank of strung microbeads, as made for sale to a buyer. I'm not familiar with "cut garnet" and was not aware of any really fine linen being manufactured for such tiny work. Possibly because it's not done here in the US, or even anywhere in my lifetime. Is it still made in the UK or somewhere in Europe? A number of times in my career, I have tried to use glue to stiffen a thin line, to substitute for using a needle. My experience has been that the glue itself makes the line too thick to be run through the beads I'm trying to string. So that is not an approach I would take. My strategy has been to MAKE needles for the purpose I need. Consequently, I have made needles that I believe are small enough to pass through any bead ever made. (At least, this is what I say in my classes. Technically, as I have admitted, I have not actually attempted to string any sand-beads yet!) But, since I make needles that are about as thin as a human hair, I am reasonably confident I could string some sand-beads onto Fireline, if I were moved to do that. By the way, early in my career, I strung LOTS of beads without any sort of needle, via the trim and wet-with-saliva method, or using bees' wax. I still routinely wax the ends of lines I'm using to keep them from fraying, whether they are used with a needle or not. Jamey All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
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