The Ultimate Delica Bezel Directory

Learning to Bezel

I really enjoyed learning to bezel.  The evening I learned, I was attending a monthly Wine and Bead night at the Potomac Bead Company, where we learned to make the Queen Victoria Earrings.

The evening ended up taking longer than expected because all of the rookies in attendance were brand new beaders or not beaders at all. But, it was was a fun time nonetheless.  After I left that evening, I wanted to bezel more on my own and purchased some black 10 mm Potomac Crystal Rivolis and some Miyuki 15/0 seed beads.  I messed around with the stitch and really liked using a peyote stitch for the bezel, which is different from the stitch in the Queen Victoria Earrings mentioned above.  My finished product was a cute pair of black and gold studs earrings that I love!

Arriving at this finished product was not without its frustrations.  I ended up wasting lots of thread and not just a few feet.  I’m talking YARDS.  I couldn’t quite get the starting number of beads right and wound up ripping out my work and restarting four times or more.  I also ended up breaking a few beads from too many passes with the thread and needle, causing me to start over yet again.  After I moved on from that project and went on to others I made sure to keep note of all the “starting numbers” of beads and type of beads to use for each size item I was bezeling, hoping to avoid starting and restarting over and over again. Surely, I’m not the only one who has started bezels, and restarted them trying to get the size right and so I wanted to share my bezel directory with you!

Best Bead For Bezeling

After working with Miyuki 11/0 and Miyuki 15/0 seed beads (link), Toho 11/0 and Toho 15/0 seed beads and Miyuki 11/0 Delicas, I found that the delicas were my favorite to work with when starting a bezel and I’ve decided to focus this directory on using Miyuki Delica 11/0 seed beads to start.

 Here is why they are my favorite:

• Size Consistency – They are incredibly consistent in size which makes the below bezel directory more reliable.
• Shape – Their cylindrical shape with straight sides allows for a consistent, neat, and tight-fitting bezel to start.
• Large Hole – A larger hole will allow for more passes through a bead with the thread and needle.

I’m recommending starting a bezel with delicas but after the first few rows are complete and you want to start decreasing the beads around what you are bezeling, you can move on to using smaller beads such as Miyuki 15/0 seed beads and even Czech 15/0 Charlottes depending on how small you want to go.

The Beaded Bezel Directory

And finally, here is the bezel directory I want to share with you.  You may find that there are some sizes and dimensions of items you are making a beaded bezel for that are not included here.  You can most likely figure out, based on the numbers below and the size of what you are bezeling, on how many beads to start with.  If you do have some information to add, please share your secrets with us and we’ll expand this directory!

If you’re looking for something to bezel, check out Potomac Bead Company’s awesome selection of cabachons including Par Puca Cabachons, Cameo Cabachons, Czech Pearl Cabachons, Lunasoft Cabachons, Druzy Cabachons, Mood Cabachons, and more.

In addition, check out Potomac Bead’s exclusive crystal products including rivolis, squares, drops and more!

-Lindsay Seifarth