Cubic beads can be glued to the bottom of miniatures which constantly fall over, so they have a flat surface on which to rest. Spherical beads with very small holes can be painted to look like basketballs, soccerballs, goofballs, beachballs, etc. Stacking and gluing metal-colored or matching colored beads on top of slightly larger, matte, translucent beads is a way to create tiny perfume bottles and other mini vanity items. Pretty, small, shiny beads can be glued into miniature mosaic patterns for path edging, miniature frames, or stepping stones.

Larger beads with flat enough surfaces to not roll around can be used as flower pots, long as the holes in the beads are large enough to stick in miniature flowers.

Wooden beads can be glued to flat surfaces as table or bench legs. Jaspers (fossilized trees/corals which retain their original structure, but all biomatter has been by minerals), amber (natural, fossilized tree sap), gold**, silver, copper**, platinum, bronze, brass, aluminum, titanium, steel, lead (beware: some people, particularly among the wee ones, have a habit of absentmindedly sucking on necklaces/pendants in such cases the use of lead must of course be avoided, though it is not particularly common to encounter lead beads), pewter, iron, diamonds**, emeralds, rubies, sapphires**, whole freshwater pearls (often cultured on oyster farms) and saltwater pearls*, agates, quartzes, howlites, marbles, jades, turquoise, serpentines, obsidians, onyx, hematite, opals**, goldstone, sunstone, moonstone, amethyst, aquamarine, peridot, geode slices, citrine, ebony, enamel, flowers*, teeth*, claws*, bone*, antler*, horn*, wire, chainmail, coins, keys, guitar picks, meteorites, leather*, granite, rubber*, cork*, cardboard, uncooked pasta…I could go on and on, but basically, if you can loop a thread through it, punch a hole through it, wire-wrap it, tie it up on a string, enclose it in a finding, weld it together, or clip it on a cord- you’ve got yourself a bead.ĭue to their versatility and small size, beads can be the perfect materials for crafting miniatures. Miniatures are small, colorful, composed of somewhat complex combinations of shapes (of course this varies, case-by-case), and are made from diverse materials.īeads are small, colorful, come in all sorts of shapes- from spheres to seahorses, and all display all sorts of faceting, some of which create very effective trompes d’œil and added depth, while others are carved meticulously, and others still are made from shapes fused together- and are certainly made from diverse materials.īeads made from various plastics, different types of glass, natural and synthesized crystals, clays ranging from polymer clay to natural Terra cotta from the ground, paper, string/yarn/twine, felt, wool*, porcelain, coconut shells*, yucca*, feathers*, seedpods*, seashells*, fossils, petrified woods and corals a.k.a. On the upside, upcyling is a fortunate trend in crafting (for multitudinous reasons), as is repurposing materials, and simply seeing potential craft use beyond an item’s original intended function can be very inspiring, particularly in the case of crafting miniatures. As someone on a university-student budget, this exclusion-via-disposable-income-levels can be a bit frustrating I really hope I’m not the only person who refuses to pay more for a 1:12 scale umbrella than it would cost to buy a regular, full-size, 1:1 scale, actually useful, umbrella!) is a craft which requires a little more-than-usual creative thinking in terms of finding materials to use.

Miniature-making (very much a craft du jour- thanks to the Fairy Garden trend’s explosion of popularity in recent years this has caused demand for miniatures to spike, therefore allowing the astronomical inflation of prices for miniatures by vendors.

Tiny pony bead patterns