What to do with millions of teeny tiny purple beads?

Hello everyone!

My name is Dot and I just recently got back into beading and jewelery making. I've bought lots of supplies and already completed a necklace/earring set! I've now cracked open my old box of beads and found I have literally millions of tiny little glass purple beads and their larger, matching plastic sisters and they are taking up half of my sorting box!

I would like to make a necklace with them using thread and a stringing technique but I'm not sure what to do - I don't know enough techniques yet! I started out with a tubular peyote stitch to see how it would look but it's ended up too rigid for a necklace =/

Does anyone have any ideas about what I could do with them? Even if you have an idea using wire that would be great too - I've had these beads for years and what to finally put them to good use!

Thank you very much in advance! =)

Dot       .
xxx

PS. I did try to insert photos but I couldn't figure it out.... =/ Why isn't there a simple upload feature? Why do you need a URL for the photo? =/

Hi Dot,

welcome! For uploading photos there is a good tutorial here in the forums. Just type "how to upload photos" in the search box and you'll get the thread.

Maybe you can do a multistrand necklace with the bigger beads as accents. You can leave the strand as they are or maybe braid them to get a different look. Depending on the beads you can try to make a RAW cuff, as this is a very easy stitch to learn and very versatile. Maybe a RAW cuff base and use the bigger beads for embellishment.

Nice to meet you Dot!  I had the same thought as Dagi-some type of multi-strand necklace.  If you're intimidated about stringing a zillion seed beads, you might look into getting or making a bead spinner-it will save you loads of time.  I think they cost around $20, or you can make your own out of a wooden chopstick and a plastic container like the kind sour cream comes in.  I believe there's a free tutorial for one at www.jewelry-lessons.com.

Thanks guys! Great ideas there! I'll have to look up the RAW cuff stitch and check out how to make a bead spinner! Can't wait to give it a go! =)

xxx

 Yeah, I was thinking a great multi strand would be a good option, OR what about beading one of those "simple spirals" like in the thread "what it this spiral called"

here's a photo of the kind of multistrand project you might consider. This one in particular is made with cord instead of strands of seeds... but you'd get the same effect.

Lois

That's exactly what I had in mind Lois!

RAW would work just fine also-you could make squares big enough for your larger beads to fit into and add them to the centers, like this:

Thanks for posting a pic, Jeni! That was what I was talking about!

dot254:

My name is Dot and I just recently got back into beading and jewelery making. I've bought lots of supplies and already completed a necklace/earring set! I've now cracked open my old box of beads and found I have literally millions of tiny little glass purple beads and their larger, matching plastic sisters and they are taking up half of my sorting box!

Anybody else here old enough to remember the "Three Horned, One Eyed Purple Eater"?  [ one horned, three eyed?  -- must be 'old-timer's disease']

dot254:

I would like to make a necklace with them using thread and a stringing technique but I'm not sure what to do - I don't know enough techniques yet! I started out with a tubular peyote stitch to see how it would look but it's ended up too rigid for a necklace =/

Tubular ladder stitch [Ndebele] is very limp, my tubular peyote/gourd is soft.

dot254:

PS. I did try to insert photos but I couldn't figure it out.... =/ Why isn't there a simple upload feature? Why do you need a URL for the photo? =/

Go to 'Community Center', go to 'How to Use Forums', thenj 'Help [down]loading pictures' by Pam.  Storing pictures elswhere saves space on this site, and most already have their pictures one line somewhere.

CrystalCubeBead.:

 

Anybody else here old enough to remember the "Three Horned, One Eyed Purple Eater"?  [ one horned, three eyed?  -- must be 'old-timer's disease']

You mean that song by Sheb Wooley? Nope - never heard of it! <LOL>  I'm FAR TOO YOUNG to remember something like that! ::humming:: "It was a one-eyed, one horned, flying purple people eater. A one-eyed, one horned, flying purple people eater. Sure looked strange to me".

BTW - Welcome Dot!!!

How about trying my latest passion - a simple spiral rope? It would be flexible and would use multitudes of those little purple critters!

Or you could do kumihimo - we do an 8 strand spiral braid. It's very simple, no moving beads or anything just string them and braid them.

Anyway - again, welcome to the BD family!

Deb

Funny you should mention that song-I sang it to be silly for kidlet the other day and now he wants me to sing it all the time!  Yes, I'm too young to remember it also.

JSmaz:

Funny you should mention that song-I sang it to be silly for kidlet the other day and now he wants me to sing it all the time!  Yes, I'm too young to remember it also.

Now I wonder if the purple people eater went into the spaceship and helped rescueing Goofy from the moon. (Sorry, I still giggle when I think of Zach saying "spaceship"! Sooo cute!).

And to make my post complete: I'm either too young to know the song or live in the wrong part of the world. And I'm not kidding (like the others ).

I might be too old for the memory of "one-eyed Purple people eater". I am sure I am not to young

My kids drove me nuts with that song. We lived 10 miles from town, they sang in the car going and coming. It kept them awake.(and me too:)

When we went on road trips we would make up stories, and when someone ended with "..and the stagecoach tipped over" it was the next person's turn to continue it.  Don't know if my parents made that up or if they did it when they were kids too.  Either that, or we would buy Mad Libs books and die laughing while reading them.

Can I borrow this idea to add to one of the chapters in my book?(Things I wish I'd known?)

That is a Great Idea, no matter where it came from. I love it! 

By all means-it's not my idea, and whatever works, right?