About Dichroic Aikos

Why Do We Use Aiko Beads?
Are you tired of spending hours culling the deformed and misshapen beads from your Delica stock? TOHO Aiko beads have a 100% bead yield, so you won’t have to pre-sort your beads! Aiko beads are the same size and shape as Delicas, only they are much more uniform. The TOHO bead company in Japan, invested over $500,000 in the machinery needed to make super precision-cut cylinder beads. The following close-up shows how much more uniform Aikos are compared to Delicas.


Aikos can be used interchangeably with Delicas, so you can still use your Delica stock!
Just think of Aikos as being the same as a super-extensively pre-sorted pile of Delicas. Don Pierce, who is a nationally known Bead & Loom Artist, author of several beading books including “Beading on A Loom,” and who teaches bead workshops nationwide, wrote in the Feb/Mar 2005 issue of Beadwork Magazine, “Aikos are perfectly consistent in size. There are no bad ones in the bunch. I’ve been working with them a lot these days, and up to now I have culled only two beads out of perhaps 20,000. That, my friends, is perfection.”
To read the complete article click here. (opens as PDF file on a separate page)

This article was posted with permission from Interweave Press http://www.Interweave.com and Don Pierce. The issue of Beadwork magazine in which this article appeared can be purchased by visiting http://www.interweave.com/bead/beadwork_magazine/back_issues/02_05.asp . To learn more about Aiko beads, please visit the TOHO company website at: http://www.tohobeads.net

Why Do We Coat Our Beads at Coatings by Sandberg?
It’s amazing - despite the fact that a Dichroic Coating chamber costs over a million dollars, forms a vacuum almost as complete as outer space, and produces an electron beam as powerful as a lightning bolt, the color of the final product can be affected by something as little as how hot or humid the weather was outside!

Dichro production is still an art. Colors may vary from batch to batch depending on the nuances of the chamber, the environment, and the experience of the chamber operator. For example, Yellow Dichro may vary from greenish-yellow, to orange-yellow. Blue Dichro may vary from cobalt to teal. Purple Dichro may vary from indigo to violet.
We work with Coatings by Sandberg because they have the highest color consistency in the industry! Other Dichroic Coating companies have an average difference of 7%, between the wavelength of the target color and the wavelength of the actual color. Coatings by Sandberg only has a 3% difference!

I hope you enjoy your Dichroic Cylinder Beads!

“Who said diamonds are a girl’s best friend? Clearly, they hadn’t known about CBS. Nothing like it!” –Michele McManus
Michele McManus Glass
Denver, CO

“Several weeks ago a friend recommended that I consider purchasing dichroic glass from the best company around; CBS glass… Wow! My friend was correct! This is the best dichroic glass that I have ever used.”
-Ron White
Casa Blanca Designs in Glass

“What a bunch of stunning, beautiful, perfectly colored dichroic glass!”
-Laurie Hayden
Hayden Brook Studios
Bethlehem, PA

“I bought some scrap and a sample set and the result is the best I have ever seen. period.” -Janet Sholder
Montana Art Glass Studio
Lincoln, MT