Bugle Beads

Bugles - slender glass tubes. Traditionally - these were used for ornamenting clothing - but now find just as much work in making jewellery and other ornamentation. The origin of the name seems lost to obscurity now.

Bugle beads tend to be sharp at the ends, and frequently cut the thread they are strung on. Experienced beaders know to put a seedbead at each end of the bugle to make a nice rounded edge for the thread to glide over safely.