FYI!! The Bead Parlor now has an ETSY store! Please click here >BeadParlorBeads Etsy Store
We'd like to have our "store" all in one place for your shopping pleasure! This will make it much easier for us to keep track of inventory, lol! So, for now we're going to take the shopping cart ability off of this website. So sorry for any inconvenience! Please go to our Etsy store to check out all the goodies you see here and MORE!!
The Bead Parlor and BeadParlorBeads Etsy Store features "Heavy Metal Seed Beads". I discovered these beads and Shelley Nybakke fell in love with these the minute she saw them! Most all of her work features these METAL seed beads in one way or the other. If you like the metal look, and you like beads, these are the ones to get. These beads are solid metal!! They all start out with a brass base, and then are heavily plated in the various finishes. They are very uniform in size. They are a much more rounded bead compared to the Japanese glass beads which are generally more cylinder shaped. (see close-up photo below). They are especially handy for any project where you want your beads to really "snug" up against each other.
IMPORTANTTIP: We have had good luck with the finish on these beads. They do have a great lacquer finish on them! Almost all metals will tarnish and most plated metals will wear with time. Excessive oil, humidity or exposure to the elements will speed up this process. All that being said, we have found that the benefits of using metal beads far outweigh the drawbacks!
