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By Dwyn Tomlinson June 1, 2009 August 23, 2022  glossary, shapes, tips

Let?s talk shapes. Bead Shapes.

It?s all very well for me to tell you to string 15 Size 52 icosatetrahedrons ? but what does that MEAN! (Ok ? I would never do that ? there?s no such thing as size 52 in beads. Yet. )

So let?s run down some basic shapes that beads come in. I?ll use examples from our own website ? to make it more relevant.

Round Beads. Popular in both glass and metal beads, a round bead, also known as a Druk in glass beads, is the most basic and obvious shape. (Druk rhymes with Truck.)

Rounds can be smooth or faceted. A facet (fah?-set) is a flat face cut or polished onto the face of a surface. A faceted round can have a different number of facets. The more facets (flat surface areas) it has ? the closer it is to round.

Faceted Rounds

Bicones. Bicones are like two cones, attached base to base.

Again, they can be smooth, or faceted, or something more ornate.

Metal Bicone with texture

When you have a bead that is round, but flat, that is ? not spherical round but round like dinner plate ? then that is a Flat Round, or a Coin, or a Disk.

Some time you will see a shape described as a ?Puff Something? ? like a Puff Coin, or ?Puffy,? Puffy Heart, etc. ?Puff? means that it is not flat on the sides but ?puffed up? and curved from the centre to the sides. Like a pillow.

Sometimes, a ?puff coin? is called a lentil.

Ovals of course, are oval ? seems pretty obvious, and they can be flat or puffy or dimensional ? oval all the way.

Olive and Barrel is also used to describe an oval bead ? barrels tend to have squared-off ends.

Barrel is also a specific pattern of facets cut into the surface of a bead (or gemstone) ? resulting in flat, parallel surface planes that resemble the slats of a barrel.

Rice is a dimensional oval ? so not a flat oval ? but oval all the way ? so to speak. It is similar to a bicone ? longer than it is wide, rounded in cross-section, and tapering towards the ends. The distinguishing factor is a bicone had more of a break or stop at the centre, and the oval is more curved.

You see it most used for pearls and stone beads. Pearls, may be not entirely smooth, of course, and Faceted Rice means an oval with facets cut into it.

The term ?Oat? is also used for oval beads. Anyway you slice it ? it refers to the shape being similar to that particular seed!

A Tube or Cylinder is also round in cross section, but does not taper down to the ends. Sometime referred to as a ?column.?

The very long, thin metal tubes are often referred to as ?Noodles? ? and they are often curved as well ? giving you a Curved Tube Noodle ? which sounds positively Dr. Seussian.

Very thin tubes of glass ? and usually included in with the seed beads ? are ?Bugles.?

Then there are ?Rondelles? ? a bead wider than it is long. They can be faceted or smooth. They are a wheel shape ? and they might be called a Wheel Rondelle, or if they have curved sides ? like a donut ? they may be referred to as Donuts rondelles.

A very wide bead with a very large centre hole that is meant to be displayed with the hole facing forward is also known as a Donut. Generally ? these are intended as Pendants. The hole can be centered, off-center, and they can be round or other shapes.

A square bead, predictably, is a flat square, and likewise, a rectangle is longer than it is wide.

Beads that are flattish, whether round or rectangular ? are also referred to as ?tablets? for the large, flat, visible ?table? of the bead.

A rhombus is the same as a square ? but with the hole running from corner to corner. We also refer to these sometimes as ?Dancing Squares? ? for the way they look when they hang. Some refer to them as ?diamond? shape too.

A cube is a 3-dimensional square ? the same length on all sides.

That covers a lot of the basics for now.

Comment with your questions!

Mikimoto ? the First Name in Cultured Pearls

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