As beaders, we all have our favourites - favourite thread to use, favourite needles to stitch with, favourite colour palettes and, of course, favourite beads to use. We think it's fair to say that Miyuki are consistently one of the go-to brands that we beaders trust and depend on to deliver high quality, consistent, beautiful beads.
We love to showcase not only their new bead ranges and colours, but also their tried and trusted beads that have been around for a while (usually with a good reason!). With that in mind, our blog focus this time is on Miyuki Triangle beads, those lovely little bumpy, bubbly, organic-y-feeling seed beads!
It's worth noting at this point at Miyuki actually have two ranges of triangular shaped beads - Triangles and Sharp Triangles. We'll be looking solely at Triangle beads this time, but to help you understand the difference here's some key points:
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| Here's a profile comparison between the Miyuki Triangle and Sharp Triangle beads. | Miyuki Triangle beads - Note the softer, rounded corners, soft triangle holes and tiny indentations across the sides of the triangles | Miyuki Sharp Triangles - Note the sharp, angular corners, round holes and flat sides of the triangles |
Miyuki Triangle beads are available in three sizes:
| Bead Size | Bead Dimensions | Hole Size | Link to Sample Cards |
| 5/0 | 5mm | 1.8mm | https://www.miyuki-beads.co.jp/english/seed/pdf/01_06_02.pdf |
| 8/0 | 3mm | 1.1mm | https://www.miyuki-beads.co.jp/english/seed/pdf/01_06_02.pdf |
| 10/0 | 2.5mm | 0.9mm | https://www.miyuki-beads.co.jp/english/seed/pdf/01_06_01.pdf |
So why should you get some Miyuki Triangles into your beadwork? Well for one thing, due to their rounded corners they catch and reflect the light perfectly (much more than a typical seed bead).
They can be used in place of seed beads and depending on how you stitch them together, they can produce a wonderful bumpy texture which you can highlight as the main focus of your design or just a small element of it.
Peyote stitch, Brick stitch and Herringbone are best for really showing off their unique shape. And as all the bead sizes have large holes, they can easily allow multiple passes through with thread for off-loom stitches or multi-strand designs.
As with all Miyuki beads, Triangles are available in multiple colours and finishes (see link to sample cards above to check out the full range) along with pre-mixed colour palettes such as:
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| 10/0 Serenity Mix | 10/0 Caribbean Blue Mix | 10/0 Evergreen Mix | 10/0 Strawberry Fields Mix | 10/0 Gemstone Mix |
The 8/0 and 5/0 Triangles are commonly used not just in bead-weaving but also in textile and fibre crafts such as knitting, crochet, kumihimo and looming. Due to their larger size, they can be easily be threaded onto yarn using big eye needles (needles that open in the middle to accommodate threads of thicker sizes) and can add sparkle and dimension to items such as scarves, shawls and hats. They can also be used with Leather, Rattail and S-Lon bead cord for more substantial designs.
| If you're after a more organic looking, natural, free-form style of beadwork then Miyuki Triangles are perfect for achieving this. Check out these earrings made using 10/0 Triangles. Their irregular shape gives them a great summery look and feel and of course you can dress them up or down, depending on the colour choices you make (and great news! We'll be making some kits for these earrings soon so keep an eye out for those!). |
Make Miyuki Triangles a staple of your bead stash today and fall in love with them as much as we do!
Check out our range here