Jewelry Making

If you are using large quantities of smaller beads, you’re probably going to want to figure out some way to contain the beads such as a beading tray. When we first started out making jewelry, we didn’t really have any type of workstation for beading. So most often, we would simply dump out the beads we needed onto a smooth surface like a desk or table - and away we would go. This actually isn’t so much a problem - it’s the cleanup that can be tough, especially if your beads accidentally get mixed up on the table.

In addition, those round beads tend to have a mind of their own and we’ve ended up more than once with a shower of them on the floor after they rolled off the table. You can alleviate this by putting some sort of coarse fabric under the round ones so they don’t roll as much. But we found that using a beading needle (or simply the end of some beading wire) to pick them up through the hole got to be difficult because the end of the wire or needle would often “catch” on the fabric - especially if it was fuzzy.

They do sell a number of beading trays and devices that you can use. One quite handy tray, which is meant for necklaces, contains a circular form for you to place the beads in so that you can see the order before stringing them, and several sections for you to place loose beads in. Another one, which we actually use sometimes for seed beading, is a harder plastic rectangular tray with straight sides but no compartments. You place a large amount of small beads in there, and in the corner of the bead tray is a little hole with a screwcap on it. Cleanup for this tray is quite easy - you just tilt the tray so that all the beads run to the corner with the screwcap and then unscrew it over your seed bead container. The beads run right out into the container.

However, if you happen to be in a fix where you need something to contain your smaller beads and you don’t have the time to go out and buy a specialty beading tray, you might want to look around the house. One of the most interesting items to try are used plastic frozen dinner trays. Sometimes, they’re too flimsy. But the nice thing is that that nearly all of them have separate compartments for you to put your beads. The problem is that sometimes the compartments are a little too deep (or shallow) to use. You have to find just the right kind of tray. However, if you’re going to throw them away anyhow, this is a nice and environmentally friendly way to make your own beading tray.

Another thing you might consider are cheap pre-made plastic food trays like the one shown at the top of the page. We actually got this green plastic food tray at Target and it’s been extremely useful for beading. What we really like about it is that the compartments are shallow and wide enough to easily allow you to grab hold of beads with a needle. The sides are also gently sloped which make it easier to reach in and grab larger beads and findings with your fingers - unlike trays that have smaller compartments that are deeper.

This type of tray might not work as well if you are working on a project which requires a large amount of separate compartments for beads, but it’s worth a shot for other non-complicated projectgs. The price is difficult to beat too - I think we got these for a dollar fifty or so.