Seed bead

Seed beads or rocailles are uniformly shaped, spheroidal beads ranging in size from under a millimeter to several millimeters. Seed bead is also a generic term for any small bead. Usually rounded in shape, seed beads are most commonly used for loom and off-loom bead weaving. They may be used for simple stringing, or as spacers between other beads in jewelry.

Larger seed beads are used in various fiber crafts for embellishment, or crochet with fiber or soft, flexible wire. The largest size of a seed bead is 1/0 ("one-aught", sometimes written 1/°) and the smallest is 24/0, about the size of a grain of sand. Seed beads are categorized by size, with larger beads (e.g., 1/0 to 4/0) used in fiber arts, and smaller beads (e.g., 11/0 to 15/0) common in intricate weaving. Industry standards vary by manufacturer. Modern seed bead sizes commonly used in beadwork range from 6/0 to 15/0, with 6/0, 8/0 and 11/0 being particularly prevalent in beaded knitting techniques. The extremely small class of seed beads smaller than 15/0 have not been in production since the 1890s and any in existence are usually considered antiques.

The narrow diameter of seed bead holes necessitates the use of specially designed beading needles, which are longer and thinner than standard sewing needles and it called a beading needle.