Types of Beads for Charming Jewelry making

Glass

• Faceted glass (sharp edges).
• High quality : crystal is glass with lead.
• Comes in various shapes such as diamond, round, rondelle,bicone cone, teardrop... Some pendants or charms (angels, hearts, dragonflies) can be used for beautiful handcrafted jewelry.
• High quality Glass pearl.

• Pressed glass with a smooth finishes.
• Various shapes such as round, drop, donut, cube, bi-cone, flower, leaf...

• Handmade by melting glass rods with a flame torch.
• You will find a lot of flower and leaf designs in beautiful colors and shapes. Flowers mix and match will be trendy this comming spring ! Look at indonesians beads, they are beautiful !

• Murano or millefiori.

• Made from choped 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 !

Plastic

• Matt satin finish, lightweight, amazing colors.

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 a very relaxing and rewarding hobby or business.

Pearl, Freshwater and Cultured Pearls

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.
In my projects i use mostly fresh water pearls, 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, potatoe, rice, half round are the most common but now you can find amazing shapes such as heart, coin, stick...

Mother of pearl (nacre) iridescent part of a shell.
Big and beautiful choice of buttons and charms.

Naturals

Wood, Coco, Kukui, Buri,Vegetal Ivory...
Beautiful beads, pendants and charms.

Amber
Amber is a natural resin, (see gemstone beads section).

Gemstones

• 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, BlueGreen 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.
• Multi color : Tourmaline, Multi-color Moonstone, Fluorite, 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

• 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.