Beading threads

If you've ever stood in a bead shop (or scrolled through an online bead shop) staring at the thread options wondering which one to pick, you're not alone. Thread choice can feel overwhelming at first, but once you understand what each one does well, it starts to make a lot of sense. Let's walk through the main types I have experience with and when I reach for each one.

Nymo

Nymo is probably the most widely known beading thread, and for good reason — it's affordable, widely available, and comes in a huge range of colours. It's a nylon thread that works well for loom work and off-loom stitches like peyote and brick stitch. The one thing to know about Nymo is that it can be prone to twisting, tangling and fraying so I'd recommend running it through beeswax or thread conditioner before you start. This was the thread I learnt to bead with. 

KO Thread

KO is a Japanese nylon thread that I have a  soft spot for. It's finer and smoother than Nymo, which means it passes through small bead holes easily — brilliant for anything requiring multiple thread passes. It has a lovely drape and doesn't tangle or fray as much as Nymo in my experience. If you're doing intricate work with size 15 seed beads, KO is worth trying. It's a little pricier, but for the right project it's absolutely worth it.

One-G

One-G is another Japanese nylon thread, similar to KO but with a slightly different texture and feel. Where KO is very smooth, One-G has a subtle grip to it, which some beaders find helps keep tension more consistent. I find the two fairly interchangeable for most projects, but I tend to prefer One-G for beading which requires a bit of structure — that gentle grip seems to help the beads sit just right.

Fireline

Fireline is a braided fishing line that was adopted by the beading community, and honestly, it's easy to see why. It's incredibly strong, resistant to fraying, and holds its shape well — which makes it a great choice for more structural work or anything using heavier beads. It doesn't need conditioning and it's very resistant to abrasion which makes it perfect for working with crystals and pearls which can have sharp edges. The trade-off is that it has a bit less drape than a nylon thread, so for delicate or flexible pieces it can feel a little stiff. 

Fireline mainly comes in two colours - crystal (white) and smoke (black). It also comes in different thicknesses or weights - depending on what size fish you want to catch!  If you buy Beadsmith branded Fireline, 4lb is fine, and good for multiple thread paths, 6lb is good for everyday beading and 8lb is sturdy and really only suitable if you're not using size 15 seed beads. 
I tend to buy my fireline from a fishing supply shop, and my preferred thread is Fireline Thermally Fused Tough 0.10mm, and honestly this is my favourite go to thread. 

So Which Should You Choose?

Here's a quick rule of thumb I go by:

For everyday seed bead stitching without many crystals or bead embroidery: KO or One-G

For heavy beads, structural pieces or anything with a lot of crystals: Fireline

For loom work or when you're on a budget: Nymo

For tiny beads with tight holes: KO or a fine fireline

There are lots of other threads out there, wildfire, SoNo, durathread, S-lon to name but a few, but I don't have experience working with these, so I can't give an honest review of them. 

Honestly, the best thing you can do is try them all on a small project and see which one feels right in your hands. Every beader ends up with their own preferences, and yours might be completely different from mine — and that's totally fine!

For years, KO and One-G were my favourites, and now I almost exclusively use Fireline. Do you have a favourite thread I haven't mentioned? I'd love to hear about it in the comments.

When life gives you left-handed lemons...

 I'm the kind of person who tries my hardest to always look on the bright side of things, but the last few weeks have been rather challenging. I've dislocated my right shoulder, twice. I'm right handed. Thankfully I've been able to pop my shoulder back into place myself both times, so I've avoided a lot of trauma. But still, I've been keeping my right arm in a sling for the last few weeks.  For those of you who are curious, I'm hypermobile, I managed to dislocate my shoulder by turning over in bed.

Not only do I need my right hand for work and life in general, obviously, I need it to bead! My best beading friend, the fabulous editor of Bead and Jewellery magazine, Vicky Roberts asks me to test-bead and proof read a lot of her patterns/tutorials, and when I told her I'd dislocated my shoulder, we agreed I should learn to bead left handed. I think she was actually joking, as she was rather stunned when later that day I sent her a picture of a bezelled cushion stone. I'm sorry I can't share that picture with you, but it's for a top-secret project. 

Instead, here's a piece of modified right angle weave I've done left-handed. This will make up part of the chain part of a necklace designed by Heather Kingsley-Heath - the design is called Katia. I'll blog about it once I've finished it. 

It has made me think though, about how easily I adapted to beading with my left hand. Obviously, I was slower, my tension wasn't quite as tight, but that's not necessarily a bad thing as my usual beading tension can only be designed as fierce! With my right arm in a sling, I can hold the beadwork just fine, so it's just like swapping everything over. 

Usually (right handed), I like to bead in an anti-clockwise direction, but left handed, I seem to prefer clockwise. I also feel like I prefer a longer needle in my left hand, but a shorter one in my right, but it may be too soon to tell on that one really. 

It definitely is much easier to bead left handed than it is to write left handed. I've just about got the hang of using a mouse left handed, and typing with just one hand is slow, and involves a lot of proof-reading (I tend to forget capital letters and apostrophes). 

Months ago, I signed up to do a Zoom workshop with Sabine Lippert for her Fields of Gold necklace which is just beautiful. The workshop is tomorrow, and I still have to keep my right arm in a sling. Normally, I'm a speedy beader, but I I'm definitely going to be one of the slower ones tomorrow. At least I have a really good excuse! 

Learning Bead Embroidery

This year, I have made two new years resolutions... the first is to learn bead embroidery, the second is to write more tutorials (and particularly, to finish the two I have had on the go for bloomin' ages!).

But bead embroidery is the theme today... it's something I've admired for a long time, but never had the courage to give it a try.  Thanks to some gentle persuasion from a very good beady friend, I've taken the plunge!  I didn't need to add much to my stash to get going with this... just some Stiff Stuff, some glue, and some ultra-suede.  Thanks to a de-stash sale on Etsy, I managed to buy enough ultra-suede to last a life-time for $5, and I bought some Stiff Stuff from RB Beads.  I already have a glue gun, although I'm not sure how suitable it is for this purpose, but it'll do for the while... I've also invested in some tacky-glue, which seems to work pretty nicely too!.

So, on to my first attempt.  I decided to keep it pretty free-form, and bead around a small chrysocolla cab, and add some 4mm semi-precious beads in too.
Nancy, my bead embroidery mentor, suggested that I add another row of 11s around the outside to make it easier to finish off, which I did, and finishing off something so wiggly would have been difficult!

Finishing off was something that I couldn't get my head around until after Christmas.  My boyfriend and sister bought me books on bead embroidery.  I got The Art of Bead Embroidery: Technique, Design & Inspiration by Heidi Kummli and Sherry Serafini, and Bead Embroidery by Yukiko Ogura. (My other sister bought me the Bead & Button Right-Angle-Weave Stitch Workshop book... but I'll leave that for another day!)  The books are very different, as they focus on quite different techniques.  The first, is written from two different points of view - each showing how they work certain techniques, and what materials etc they use.  It's full of project ideas from each author, and has a totally inspirational gallery at the back.  The second focuses on individual stitch techniques, showing how to make flowers, leaves, different lines, raised, textured bead work etc.  Both books are beautiful, and I am very grateful to have received them... I just need to find the time to play with all the techniques, and the inspiration to make beautiful things with the techniques.

Do any of you readers do bead embroidery?  I'm curious to find out any hints and tips etc, Is it better to embroider on stiff stuff or ultra-suede?  Ultra-suede feels very floppy - should I use an embroidery frame to keep it tight when I'm sewing?

I'm full of so many questions about this beautiful art - I suppose the only real way to answer them is to dive right in, and have a good old play!  Wish me luck!