Beading News - 5mm Mini Silky Beads

Have you seen the new, smaller Silky beads yet? They're super cute and look just like the original full-size 6mm Silkies but they're tiny. I have them in several colors but I haven't had much time to play with them yet. Below you can see the new Mini Silky beads next to some of the regular size ones:

Deb Roberti discovered that her "Silky Squares Bracelet and Earrings" pattern, which was written for the original 6mm Silky beads, works very well with the smaller Silkies too with a little tweaking. Read about it on her blog HERE. If you purchased the "Silky Squares" pattern from Deb, there is a free addendum available with instructions for making the bracelet with the mini Silkies. You can buy her pattern or download the addendum HERE. If you buy the pattern now, the addendum is already included in the PDF file. The pattern is also on sale for half price until 12/16/16.

I made some "Silky Squares" samples in three colorways to try out Deb's idea. These were all made with Mini Silky beads and either SuperDuos or MiniDuos. Both of sizes of those work well with the pattern too if you're using mini Silkies.

Here are the bead supply lists for my samples:

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 5mm Mini Silky beads "Chalk Red Luster"
• SuperDuo beads "Red Luster" OR
• MiniDuo beads "Ruby Luster aka Pink Luster"

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
• 5mm Mini Silky beads "Light Green Luster"
• SuperDuo beads "Jet Old Silver" OR
• MiniDuo beads "Matte Antique Silver"

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 3mm Czech pearls "Antique Gold"
• 5mm Mini Silky beads "Blue Turquoise Travertine"
• SuperDuo beads "Aquamarine Dark Travertin"

I haven't done much searching for them online but I do know that you can buy the 5mm mini Silky beads at Red Panda, Queen City Bead on Etsy and also at Aura Crystals.