An old bead mix

I was taking some bead photos today so I thought I might as well also snap a few pics of a bead mix from my stash. Bought it ages ago and unlike some mixes I haven't used it not because it isn't good, but because it was, at least at the time, too good. I.e. I wanted to save it for something special as it was both pretty and not very cheap. Also, at the time I was a seedbeading newbie who couldn't combine these various shapes and sizes into a piece the way I an today -- though I'm also considering using them for stringing.

Unlike many mixes, the base of this mix is matte beads. Very matte metallics in bronze and chocolate brown. Then there's matte metallic iris, copper-lined, and shiny colours adding  touches of black, bronze, purple, russet etc. The drops feel a tad malplaced, but other than that it's a good mix of shapes and sizes with a focus on the slightly chunkier (what with cubes and big seeds) -- and best of all, no bugle beads. There are mixes where bugles fit in, yes, but most of the time they're not adding anything to the mix.

(Yes, you may ask where I got it, but it was years ago and the shop no longer sell bead mixes so...)