The Sundance beads in the photo above were a gift from a friend who was at the last stitching trade show in Dallas. They are the newest bead style from Sundance. My friend called them Boho Beads although the package just has the color names and numbers. They are--from left to right--Lemonade #BDS-FP300, Black Cherry #BDS-FP102, Persian Green #BDS-FP401 and Rain Gray #BDS-FP103.
The beads are all faceted beads. They are the shape of bicone beads from Swarkovski. If this diagram is to scale, the Boho beads are about 4mm in size.
However, they are lighter weight than Swarkovski crystals. Plus one or more of the faceted sides is covered with a colored shiny or iridescent finish. For example, Lemonade beads are light lemon-lime in color but one side of each bead is iridescent pink. The Black Cherry beads are black with either a purple or a green faceted side. Persian Green beads are a turquoise with both a purple and a gold facet. Rain Gray beads are gray with faceted sides in gold, purple or a yellow-green.
I've never seen anything quite like these since the bulk of the bead is one color but 1-2 sides are a different color. Makes them quite unusual looking! I emailed Sundance Designs, asking for details, and here is what Nandra said in reply:
"The beads are Fire-Polished Bohemian glass beads. We call them Boho for short. We have 28 colors. The beads are faceted and then placed in a furnace. The intense heat fires the flashes of color onto the faceted sides. These beads contain no lead like many of the crystals. I have been doing a little stitching with them and they are very nice to work with. I especially like the large hole so I don’t have to fool with the old beading needle. I stitched up a little “Gypsy Flower” using a bargello variation." |
| Nandra's Gypsy Flower Using Boho Beads |
Nandra kindly sent me a photo of the Gypsy Flower she described so you could see the Boho beads in action. She says that Pocket Full of Stitches is putting these flowers (from Sundance) on their tote bags but Nandra herself wears them as pins. There is a May 4 article about them on their blog but it refuses to let me do a direct link so go here first, then click on Older Posts at the bottom of the page and find May 4 to see the Sundance flower kits.
http://pocketfullofstitches.blogspot.com/2010/05/happy-tuesday.html
If you want something a little different, these beads are worth searching out. I plan to use these on the next painted canvas in my schedule (they are the wrong colors for the snowman stocking) so stay tuned for more information on how they stitch up.
