I’ve had my eye on two stories over the last two months about folks who are using beads to break world records. So far, I’ve not heard the official verdicts from Guinness World Records, but I think these extraordinary beaders deserve some publicity for their efforts!

In Somerset, England, a group of kids has been vying for the world record of most beads strung on fishing line. The previous record stands at 164 feet (50 meters) in 24 hours. According to event organizer Anne Stoneham, that record was left in the dust when the youth of Somerset strung 355 feet (108 meters, 21 centimeters) in a mere 13 hours and 15 minutes using an estimated 20,000 beads. Read the rest of the story in this BBC article and send your congratulations to Somerset!

From England, we turn to Abu Dhabi where 41-year-old Jeyaraman Ravi has created a 10 x 5-ft. (3 x 1.5 m) beaded version of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) flag using nearly 300,000 beads. He tells the Gulf News, “I have completed two decades of my life here and wanted to give a tribute to this nation by doing something exceptional.” Fourteen months of those two decades was spent on the beaded flag. The Guinness World Records has since opened a new category for largest national flag made of beads. Congratulations, Ravi!