How to Find and Save Spilled Seed Beads

Beaders everywhere live in fear of one great, apocolyptic event: the spilling of the beads. The worst type of bead to spill on the floor is the seed bead. These are the smallest type of beads. They can easily be lost forever in the rug, seams between floorboards, and places you never imagined.

If you have spilled a couple of seed beads, the best thing to do is forget about them. If they are the last ones you need for a beading or jewelry making project, get down on your hands and knees and pick them up by hand. However, if you spill a large quantity of seed beads, you just cannot forget them. This article will cover the top tips for finding and saving spilled seed beads.

Find and Save Spilled Seed Beads – The Wet Cloth

For table tops and hardwood or tile floors, the wet cloth is the first line of retrieval for spilled seed beads. You can also use damp paper towels. The tiny seed beads will stick quite well to the damp cloth and you can sweep them up and shake them off gently into a bowel or tray.

Find and Save Spilled Seed Beads – The Folded Tape

The next method of finding and picking up spilled seed beads involves the use of wide sticky tape. You can use packing tape, masking tape, or even duct tape. The latter, however, may get residue on your seed beads, or damage any surface applied finishes.

To pick up beads with a piece of tape, lay the piece of tape, sticky side out, across your fingers. Then, fold it over the back of your hand and stick it together. Simply pat the floor or furniture where the seed beads fell.

Find and Save Spilled Seed Beads – The Clean Vacuum

If the seed beads fall onto deep pile carpet, behind furniture, or in otherwise inaccessible locations, you can also use a clean vaccuum cleaner to retrieve them. If your vacuum cleaner uses a bag, simply put a new, clean bag onto the vacuum and vacuum up all the seed beads. When you are done, cut open the bag and retrieve them.

Canister vacuum cleaners can be used to find and save spilled seed beads as well. After sucking up all the beads, dump out the cannister and pick out the beads. This is easier than picking them one by one out of the rug.

After a horrendous seed bead spill, all is not lost. There are three easy ways to find and save your spilled seed beads.