I recently was provided with someone's old bead collection. When I saw
all of these beads I was pretty excited. Such an array of so many
shapes, sized and colors.
I did quickly notice that they were all quite a bit smaller from the beads that I have been using though. But, as long as they fit on the wire, it should be fine!
<-- Here, you can see the difference in bead sizes. The green bead is the usual 3mm size that I've always worked with before. The other two are the average sizes of the beads provided to me. One is 2mm and the other is 1mm.
The next day, I started to work on a thank you project that I would give to this person in exchange for all of these beads. I quickly learned that they were quite a bit more difficult to handle Because they are so tiny, they are not only difficult to pick up and string on wire, it also takes more of the beads to add a colorful accent to my designs.
So, my first project with these little beads, I chose to crochet the wire to fill in the butterfly design. I used this technique to make this butterfly pin. So may little beads and so much wire to fill in this tiny 2" pin.
I wasn't absolutely sure how I felt about crocheting in all the spaces on my designs. So, I made a butterfly ornament. In order to use the tiny beads, I had to make a smaller ornament than usual. My typical ornaments are about 3". But I made this one 2".
Honestly, the smaller beads were very frustrating for me to work with. But when I finally finished this project, I had to admit that they added a very delicate look to the design. So, I may continue to use the smaller beads. But, I'll also have to look into methods to help make handling them more manageable and proficient.
