Thanks to reader, Sneaky Burrito for this new find!  She said she wanted to minimize her screen time while designing her bead work. Much easier on the eyes too.  Also perfect if you are away from any internet service. 

It was invented by a lady called Orly Garrett who explained , "Many years ago, I had a machinist make a seed bead board for me, per my specifications. I was always frustrated by software programs and grid paper to create my seed bead designs. 

When I retired from my real job, I improved upon my 20+ year old design board, patented it and thus OGees Seed Beading Design Board was born in 2017. " 

Necessity is indeed the Mother of Invention!

As you can see from the introductory video, the board consists of two panels - two sizes of little indentations to hold seed beads from 8/0 to 16/0, Delicas and small beads no larger than 1.8 mm. Users place the beads according to their design ideas into the indentations. A pair of tweezers comes with the boards.  Nifty storage wells on either side of the panels. 

This low tech board works for many stitches such as peyote, brick stitch, loom etc. 



Here are some  tips.  I suggest you use some double sided sticky tape to keep the boards still on the table. Otherwise an accidental jolt might scatter those beads.  Maybe your cats are better behaved than mine. But covering the whole board of the work in progress with say, an upside down baking tray, in between sessions seems like a good idea to me!

The designer also talks about "shrinkage" particularly when working with smaller seed beads. The beads are by necessity further apart from each other on the board than in the final design. So you cannot really use the board itself as a final measurement.  

A really nifty product! See more design examples on Orly's blog


UPDATE : Orly contacted me and has offered a 10% discount for her boards and tweezers through her site .  Just use the code 10%Pearl. The offer is valid until September 30, 2020. Yay Orly!

Before You Go :

Disclosure 
This blog may contain affiliate links. I do receive a small fee for any products purchased through affiliate links. This goes towards the support of this blog and to provide resource information to readers. The opinions expressed are solely my own. They would be the same whether or not I receive any compensation. 
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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM