Toho's Hybrid Seed Beads

These seed beads from the Toho Company of Japan are beautiful in so many ways. You can't find seed beads in these colors anywhere else, and they are highly consistent in size and shape, as are all of Toho's seed beads. While the finishes of some colors are applied and may wear off over time, a simple, quick coating with a spray acrylic will ensure that your beads will retain their beauty for many years to come. Well worth the price!

If you’re like me, you’re always looking for a new and different color of seed bead to add to your stash. And recently, I received a large sample of a new type of bead from the Toho Company that has me swooning. They are called Hybrid Seed Beads, and the colors are incredible. Toho, a leading manufacturer of Japanese cylinder beads, has created this gorgeous line of seed beads with colors you won’t find anywhere else. How have they done this? They took their high-quality glass seed beads and shipped them over to the Czech Republic where special finishes and coatings are applied, the way they are applied to Czech pressed glass beads. The result is a line of seed beads that are not only consistent in size and shape, but will match perfectly with your favorite pressed glass accent beads. The colors that I received ranged from a beautiful, dark marbled hematite to a lovely, bright gold luster pink. True to the Toho reputation for quality, these beads worked up almost as nicely as Toho’s cylinder beads when I used them in square stitch and peyote stitch. The beads that I received were all size 6/0, a little larger than I usually use, but I can see how they would also work very well as accent beads in fringe and stringing projects. Toho’s Hybrid Seed Beads come in several different shapes and sizes. Round beads come in sizes 11/0, 8/0 and 6/0. There are also 11/0 triangles and 3mm cubes available with these luscious finishes. If you want to purchase some of these beads and see for yourself, I highly recommend checking out the selection at Artbeads.com and Kandra’s Beads. Both offer a great selection and very reasonable prices.