Beads

Look up bead in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

For the bead of a tire, see Tire bead.

For the visual effect during a Sun eclipse, see Baily's beads.

A bead is a small, decorative object that is pierced for threading or stringing. As an alternative to piercing, plastic beads may be Moulded Onto a Thread during manufacturing; these MOT beads are often used for the throw necklaces worn at Mardi Gras.

Beads range in size from under a millimeter to over a centimeter in diameter. Glass, plastic, and stone are probably the most common materials, but beads are also made from the seeds of the Bead tree, and also from bone, metal, resin, wood, clay, felt, paper, and other materials.

Beadwork is the craft of making things with beads. Beads can be woven together with specialized thread, or adhered to a surface (e.g. fabric, clay).

Types of glass beads include:

• Lampwork beads -- technique of glass modelling
• Millefiori -- putting little pieces of colored glass into a glass pane to form a picture
• Pressed glass beads
• Slave beads -- a currency in African trade in the old times

Other types:

• Anal beads -- a sex toy
• Chevron bead -- a kind of a painted bead, traditional African jewelery
• Fire-polish beads
• Seed beads -- a generic term for a small jewelery bead
• Prayer beads