A Very Brief History
Essentially any material that can have a hole drilled in it, to be strung or attached to a surface, may be classed as a bead. They are some of the earliest decorative objects made by humans with 41 shell beads, dating back 75,000 years, having been found in caves in South Africa. The earliest beads were made of natural materials such as wood, stone and shell. Their beauty, desirability and small size made them ideal for trade.
Glass beads started to be manufactured in quantity during the 16th Century. The island of Murano, lying off Venice, became the centre of production with 251 bead making companies in Murano alone by 1606. These glass beads were prized for their beauty and rarity making them a commodity for the rich and political elites. World trade saw the Portuguese and Dutch trading glass beads for the most valuable products such as; copper, tobacco, ivory, horn and tortoise shell. It is recorded that Peter Minuit of the Dutch West India Company, included glass beads in his deal with the Lenape people when he bought New Amsterdam for 60 guilders in 1626!
Trade with England also proliferated in the 16th Century with the ‘Book of Rates’ documenting imports of, ‘beades of bone, box, christall (glass) and wood of all sorts,’ from the Europe. It was at this time that objects began to be made entirely from beads rather than applied as an embellishment. Beaded purses and jewellery caskets were often worked entirely in beads, and beadwork was considered an important part of a girl’s education. Motifs were taken from nature; tulips were particularly popular having recently been introduced from Holland. Often the ground fabric was a fine linen canvas on which the design would be lightly drawn. The beads would then have been sewn down as densely as possible. A slow process but ideal for box panels which needed to be flat and strong.
The lighter fabrics and fashions of the regency period meant the use of beads was lest widespread, but their popularity resurged during the Victorian period with many publications providing instruction for beaded garments and homewares. Often the beads were worked on canvas to embellish Berlin woolwork or designs were worked entirely in beads with a background of wool or silk. It is difficult to date Victorian beadwork as the designs remained consistent throughout the period, featuring flowers, birds or landscapes. However, the size of the beads can give some indication of age as they became larger overtime. What is quite remarkable though is how well many of these antique beadwork pieces have survived. Often the beads remain pristine without loss of colour, whilst is it the background canvas that has perished. Victorian beadwork was generally worked on an evenweave fabric, each bead being sewn individually using tent stitch giving a more regular pattern to the design than was seen in 17th Century work.
Today manufacturing methods allow for a staggering variety of colours, shapes and styles of beads which has allowed beadwork to be considered, more than ever before, a branch of fine art.
Artists working in Beads
Liza Lou – Los Angeles & South Africa
“When I started out making Kitchen, I took a lot of flak, beads were not considered a serious art material. Twenty-some years later, and that has changed.”
Kitchen (1991–96), a life-sized model of a rather ordinary suburban kitchen that demanded the precise application of millions of glass beads took Lou five years to complete. It garnered Lou the MacArthur “genius” grant, and Kitchen is now part of the Whitney Museum’s permanent collection.
Ran Hwang – South Korea
“Paying attention to the smallest element while keeping a your eye on the bigger picture is the delicate balance that animates beadwork. The core of my practice is to enliven these tiny beautiful objects.”
Although Hwang’s subject matter is familiar—cherry blossoms, palaces, and birds in flight—her technique for representing these motifs is unusual. For Hwang, the process itself is a kind of meditative ritual. “I nail hundreds of buttons in place from top to bottom, left to right, waving my arms in repetitive action,” she explains. “I go through the ritualistic process of hammering in each bead to suggest that the existence of each ordinary person has meaning.”
Cherie Harrison-Nelson – New Orleans
“My dad always said, ‘You can’t create a suit just to be pretty, you must address social issues,’” Harrison-Nelson explains. “As an artist, you are obligated to get people to think about being agents of change.”
She has stayed true to this philosophy with her designs championing her West African heritage, black culture and achievement.
Jeffrey Gibson – New York
Gibson was the first indigenous artist to represent the USA with a solo show at the Venice Biennale in 2024. Having first worked with beads as an undergraduate at the School of Art in Chicago, he now works in this medium to combine his Cherokee and Choctaw heritage with modern pop culture.
Technical Considerations
There are challenges of working with beads which are unique to this material. The nature of glass means beads can be opaque, transparent, pearlized, lustre, rainbow, silver-lined, metallic, matte, multi-coloured, multi-layered, reflective and refractive. These characteristics means that beads do not sit insolation but interact with all the materials around them. For this reason, it can be quite challenging to select a palette of beads that will work for any given design. Tubes of beads on the worktable may appear perfect for a project but once you start stitching light will bounce off their surfaces and suddenly contrast is lost or harmony becomes a clash. Remember when looking at a tube of beads they represent a block of intense colour in one hue. When used individually the intensity will be lost. The colour of your thread may also influence the look of a bead once stitched. Be prepared to unpick your work periodically and take some risks in selecting alternative beads, vibrant and bold colours will loose some of their edge so bead selection is not as intuitive as working with yarn or thread.
Glass seed beads, also known as round beads or rocaille, are the favoured bead for textiles. The best quality seed beads are currently produced in Japan and Czechoslovakia, the key suppliers being Miyuki, TOHO, Matsuno and Preciosa. Their consistency in size and shape, in a wide variety of colours, make them ideal for needlework projects as they will sit evenly across a canvas and cover any palette.
Another type of glass bead commonly used in textiles, weaving or jewellery are cylinder or Delica beads. Again, the best quality examples come from Japan and Czechoslovakia. These are probably the most regular beads available so are ideal for creating patterned or pictorial designs. Like seed beads they are numbered according to size BUT take care, although the numbering system is the same, cylinder beads are smaller than their equivalently labelled round seed bead.
Beading Needles
Short needles are easier to use when stitching single beads whilst longer needles are better for couching strings of beads. Sharps, size 10 – 12 are good for working bead embroidery on linens where a sharp point is needed to pierce the fabric. Specialist wire needles split by an eye that runs the entire length are ideal for loom or canvas work or if there is difficultly threading the very small eye of a sharp.
Threads
Synthetic beading threads such as Nymo are very strong, but thick so can be difficult to thread. Natural silks and linens provide a greater range of gauges and colours which may influence the appearance of your finished work. Simple dressmakers thread is often fine for seed beads.
Beading Mats
Seed beads have a tendency to roll around and are easily lost! There are specialist beading mats but a linen napkin on a plate will work perfectly well to keep your beads under control.
Fabrics
For freeform beadwork you can simply select any fabric which has the density to carry the weight of the beads. For regular designs any evenweave fabric is fine, just match the gauge of the fabric to your bead to ensure they sit neatly and lock together. A double canvas works well as it is possible to use the smaller holes to make anchoring stitches as you work to stop the beads slipping or becoming loose.
Buying Beads
Beadwork patterns generally indicate the quantity of beads needed for a project. It is always best to buy more than recommended as the process of manufacturing beads means there can be inconsistencies in dye lots and it is not uncommon for a colour to be discontinued with little notice.
The best quality beads come from Japan and include; Matsuno, Miyuki and TOHO. Beads of equivalent quality can be sourced from Preciosa of Czechoslovakia.
| Seed Bead Size | Diameter | Number per 10grams | Canvas Count |
| 6 | 4mm | 170 | 7 |
| 8 | 3mm | 420 | 10 |
| 11 | 2mm | 1000 | 12 |
| 15 | 1.5mm | 2800 | 18 |
Please note the values in this table are approximate and there are variations between bead manufacturers. It is often a case of doing a little experimentation before starting a beadwork.
Bead Suppliers
United Kingdom
CJ Beaders
Spellbound Beads
The Southampton Bead Shop
Beads Unlimited
Spoilt Rotten Beads
Peppy Beads
The Bead Shop
iBeads
Creative Beadcraft
Ann’s Orchard
Imogen Melissa
United States America
Caravan Beads
Fire Mountain Beads & Gems
Shipwreck Beads
Simply Beads USA
Beads Direct USA
Barrel of Beads