Tldr: Do you guys have tips and advice for somebody who struggles with messed up eyes and double vision but who loves using her beading loom?

A few days ago my brain has decided that bead weaving with a loom is now absolutely essential to my personal happiness. It was completely out of the blue but that's how it sometimes goes, right? XD
Anyway, I did some research, waited a few days to make sure that this wasn't just some 24h mini hype and then bought a loom, some beads etc.

Only to realise that this is probably the worst possible craft and hobby for me.
The thing is: I struggle with double vision and seeing things a little bit offset. I don't know if this is the correct word, English isn't my first language, but things aren't exactly where I see them. It's not much and usually my glasses help a lot and my brain is really good at adjusting and compensating.
But things are so tiny and the strings on the loom give me quite a lot of trouble because single objects are usually fine but when there are for example several lines next to each other or stuff like that, I really start to struggle^^
Instead of just seeing for example 8 strings on the loom I see often 16. and they are moving and jumping around. a lot! ^^ and don't get me started with the beads ^^
and a bigger loom and beads wouldn't really solve the problem because there would still be several strings next to each other.

I am the last person on earth who should work with a loom, especially a beading loom. And possibly beads in general.
But my brain latched onto this specific craft like a little duckling that has imprinted on a house shoe.
It's so hard, it's frustrating, it's misery.... and I LOVE it XD
It reminds me a bit of the good old Dark Souls days. I love a good challenge ^^

And beading is just so much fun and so beautiful. And satisfying.

But who else here struggles with stuff like that and do you have any tips and advice for a little masochistic duckling?

https://preview.redd.it/poszmaezywce1.png?width=325&format=png&auto=webp&s=a934fc3db5a602df65592a770e8f61eeb345b98e

Thought you'd all get a chuckle at this.

Bet you can't even tell which one was the first... (kidding.)

What a difference quality beads and skill makes!

A cute little weekend project I did just for me 🍊 I love it!

Wanted to try my hand at beading recently. I was able to get my hands on some fire line and tulip needles for cheap and didn't want this to be a whole thing, so I picked out some cheap size 12 seed beads. I saw someone saying you'll absolutely want miyuki delicas or something of a similar quality if you want a nice finish and now I understand why. The beads have very different sizes, some are twice the size of others, some have slanted ends, etc.

I tried learning an even count peyote stitch with them and could not for the life of me get them to sit right. So potentially stupid question- how much harder is it to figure out how to stitch with beads like this? I'm ready to give up for now, is this more of a skill issue and I need to keep practicing, or are beads like this going to lead to a messed up stitch almost every time? Any input appreciated.

A piece I have picked up and put down a few times over the years. I hope to finish in 2025. :)

I am making a bracelet with seed beads (2mm beads with 0.9-1mm holes). I can’t for the life of me close it. When I work with bigger beads I double wrap and use surgeons knot, G-S hypo glue, done. With these tiny beads it doesn’t work.

1st attempt: 1mm crystal string and big eye needle. Could barely double wrap, surgeon’s knot too big to hide. Also tried glueing without knot, this came undone.

2nd attempt: .006 wildfire thread and size 12 needle. Double wrap is easy, knots small enough to hide but glue got onto the tiny beads and I couldn’t get knot to stay under bead because thread is not elastic and bead hole is too small.

I’ve watched YouTube videos to no avail.

For seed beaders, how do you tie off your bracelets or necklaces? What kind of knot do you use, and how do you hide it? Thank you in advance!

I'm curious what software everyone uses to plan their beading projects, especially bead embroidery bracelets and necklaces.
I create large, elaborate necklaces with a huge variety of bead types and I'm always looking for a good way to plan it out ahead of time.

Im at a loss at finding storage for larger beads (20mm bubblegum). Only things im finding are ones ill have to get multiple of and i want to be able to get the most out of my space……. Does anyone have any suggestions for things to use?

Hello! I had purchased the below earring a long time ago from Etsy that is no longer around. Last year I had lost its twin outside and couldn't find it, so I consigned myself to only having one of the two. This year I decided to make it a goal to try and make a second one, or make a pair as similar as possible.

I'm trying to confirm what I can about the size, finish, and colors are on these beads, but searching online for info about seed beads is overwhelming with no super consistent terminology as far as I can figure out.

The beads are about 1.5mm wide (17 beads/inch). When I look up the terminology it seems like this should be 17/0, but it looks like they're actually 15/0 when I search for a 1.5mm size bead? And then some sites seem to have the X/0 size and a *different* bead/inch size? Super confused there.

The shape seem to be "round", but more donut like than standard round beads which research says that's there's different style of round beads. All I know is these are not Delica. It seems like they may be Toho or Czech?

The finish coating looks to be "Opaque" for the first two and the last blue, but "Matte" for the third blue?

And finally, the colors are the hardest to find. The lightest blue has evaded me since most tend to be too green or transparent. Any help with finding beads of the color, or color names to look for, would be appreciated. Thank you!

https://preview.redd.it/dec2b7d3unce1.jpg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=44ee7fdf4f37913536d07431f74968976fb1f82c

First attempt ever. I used beads from one of the el-cheapo Amazon $5 assortment packs. I do realize those beads aren't uniform but just playing around trying to get a clue as to what I'm doing, it serves it's purpose. I need to play around and practice on knots. I ended up putting a dot of super glue on the knot I made.

Granddaughter will be happy.

The bag is done with size 11/0 glass seed beads, the bracelets with size 15/0 glass seed beads. The wraps are brass and have turquoise, Ethiopian opal, and moonstone in them