Beads-for-jewelry-making!

Big, small, glass, crystal, pearl, gemstone, seeds, wood, vintage…, these little jewels are all beautiful!
They are sized in numbers or millimeters and are sold by the strand or by the piece.

You can use any type for jewelry making but if you wish to use simple techniques only, such as stringing, you really need to pay attention to patterns and colors when mixing, blending them together.
Taking time ( testing, trials) during this design process is essential.

Here is a short list of the types of beads for jewelry making that you can easily find in the craft market.
Also, you will find Here is a list of our favorite beads for jewelry making, they are fun and easy to use.

Glass Beads-For-Jewlery-Making

You can find many different types of glass beads in craft stores.

Swarovski Crystal

• Faceted glass (sharp edges),
• high quality : Crystal is glass with lead,
• comes in various shapes such as diamond, round, bi-cone, teardrop… Some pendants or charms (angels, hearts, dragonflies) can be used for beautiful handcrafted jewelry.
Bi-cones used as dangles in 2 colors are matching the flower bead.

• You can find high quality glass pearls also called "faux pearl", less expensive than pearl or freshwater pearls and come in nice colors (pastel, water color) and sizes that you can't find for pearls or freshwater pearls.
Feminine, fancy, romantic, modern…, you can make all types of necklaces, bracelets or earrings with glass pearl.

Czech Beads-For-Jewelry-Making

Huge variety of colors and shapes, very reasonable price.
We use Czech drops for our beaded beads for example.

• Pressed glass with a smooth or faceted finishes.

Lampworked Beads-For-Jewelry-Making

• Handmade by melting glass rods with a flame torch.
• You will find a lot of flower and leaf designs in beautiful colors and shapes. See how the design can be easily matched with other beads.

Italian Beads

Murano or millefiori; beautiful!

Seed Beads

Delica, rocaille, charlotte…

• Made from chopped glass canes.
• Czech, japanese, french are the most common types.
• Sizes from 20°(the smallest) to 7° (the bigger) and a huge choice of beautiful colors (yes again) I do use 15° a lot, they are tiny but sparkling!
  Look at our e-book "My Ring Making Guide" for flat bead embroidery projects such as rings of course but also pendants, brooches, bracelets…

Plastic Beads

Resin Beads-For-Jewelry-Making

Matt satin finish, lightweight, amazing colors.
You will find here few patterns.

Polymer Clay

Polymer is plastic, you can buy or make your own polymer clay shapes.
Polymer clay can be found in all craft shops. It is easy to use and do not require special equipment. You can come up with interesting designs such as millefiori, flowers, leaves …
Making polymer clay patterns takes time but it is very relaxing and rewarding because you can make intrigate motifs. You can make polymer clay beads in a snap!

Pearl, Freshwater and Cultured Pearls, Beautiful Beads-For-Jewelry-Making

You can design beautiful jewelry using freshwater pearls, the price of a strand is less expensive than saltwater pearl.
They come in white, cream, grey, brown and many others dyed colors.
Average sizes go from rice (1mm) to 7 to 8.5 mm.
We use mother of pearl (nacre) beads, charms, buttons and shell pendant a lot.
We like mother of pearl for its iridescent, softness, "feminine" color and also because you can make different types of designs with it.
Here is an example.
If you want to design with cultured pearls, please note that pearl grades goes from AA Grade (high luster), A Grade (good luster), A/B Grade (pearl's luster is moderate).
Shapes : round, potato, rice, half round are the most common but now you can find amazing shapes such as heart, coin, stick…

Natural Beads-For-Jewlry-Making

• Wood, kukui, tag nuts and even bone beads. You will find a lot of designs in this website, they are among our favorites.
• Amber is a natural resin.

Gemstones: Beautiful Beads-For-Jewelry-Making

We like gemstones for their natural beauty of course but also for their magical properties!

• Red : garnet, red coral, red jasper, red jade.
• Orange, yellow : amber, carnelian ( agate ), amber, citrine, tiger's eye.
• Blue : aquamarine, aventurine, lapis-lazuli, blue topaz, turquoise.
• Green : ammonite, blue-green opal ,green jade, malachite, agate, turquoise, (Chinese) moss agate and agate Tree, peridot.
• Pink : pink opal, rose quartz, pink topaz.
• Violet and purple : amethyst, ametrine.
• Grey : labradorite, grey agate.
• Black: jet, onyx ( black agate).
• White : moonstone ,white jade, white howolite.
• Crystal : transparent crystal quartz, tourmanilated quartz.
• Multi color : tourmaline, multi-color moonstone, fluorite, jasper.
• Brown : pietersite, brown jasper.

The variety of gemstones is immense. Not only they have fine, rich, superb colors but also they are known for their magical properties (joy, happiness, love for example ). Gem stones beads, charms and pendants come in different sizes, shapes like any other bead.

Vintage Beads-For-Jewelry-Making

It is possible to find amazing vintage (hand-made or not) beads, amazing for their colors, shapes and design. Because they are vintage, they are unique and you can design unique jewelry.

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