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Select any text in red below to view
the beading items in that department in our Internet store. All of our
bead products are priced and sold by the package. To view the quantity of
beads in a package, please select either the picture or the name of that
item from the department level view with many bead items on a page.
This will take you to a web page of detailed information about that
specific item. Select any picture to view our instructions for how
to make that jewelry item or to view that beading item in our Internet store.
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More Bling for
less Cha-Ching™ Man Made Gemstone
and Cubic Zirconia (CZ) Stones and Findings.
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WigJig Beadology -- Information on Beading
Fire polished beads are defined as faceted, cut glass beads that are
polished by heating. This is a more expensive process for polishing than making
a pressed glass bead, but it is a less expensive process than the polishing
done on the finest quality Austrian glass bead and on all gemstones.
Seed beads are smaller, less expensive beads made of
glass. They are
generally shaped like a very small donut and can be as small as 1/16"
thick to as large as about 1/6" thick.
Bugle Beads are smaller beads made of cylindrical tubes of
glass. A bugle bead is are about 2mm in diameter with a 1 mm
hole in the center of the bead. Bugle beads can be as short as 4mm
long, or it can be 7mm long or even longer. Bugle beads are frequently used a spacers, between larger
beads.
Pressed glass beads are made in the same manner as a milk bottle.
Hot glass is forced into a mold to make the bead. This is a less
expensive manufacturing process and pressed glass beads are normally
rather inexpensive.
Lampwork glass beads are hand made beads, normally made on a rod or
mandrel, For this reason, lampwork glass beads tend to have larger holes. Since they
are hand made, each lampwork glass bead is unique, although they may be
made commercially to look very similar. Making lampwork glass beads
involves melting, shaping and combining colored glass into the shape of the beads.
Swarovski Austrian Crystal Beads are made by the
premier manufacturer of cut glass crystal beads. Their beads are
know for their uniformity in color and shape, for the crisp edges of the faceted beads, and for the vibrant
colors.
Pony Beads are made of glass or plastic with larger holes in them, originally
intended to be worn in the hair.
Stick-on glass beads are small spheres of glass, without holes and
are made to be glued or
fixed on objects using double sided tape.
Pearls are made by marine mollusks like clams and oysters.
There are also many commercially manufactured pearl beads, made by
applying a pearl like coating to glass beads.
Gemstone beads are made from naturally occurring minerals
or gemstones like
onyx, amethyst, and many, many other naturally occurring gemstones and
minerals.
Metal beads are made out of metal. Generally,
silver, gold-filled and silver-tone metals are used.
Bali Beads are generally a form of partially tarnished,
partially polished sterling silver bead
initially made
on the Indonesian Island of Bali. Bali Beads may represent an everyday
item like a snake, a drum, and a coil of rope. Because of the
expense of sterling silver, many Bali-style beads are now made out of a
silver-one metal. These beads are now made in many countries in
addition to Indonesia including
South Korea and India.
Dichroic glass beads are made with two or more colors of
glass. The colors are highly reflective making these beads very
dramatic in appearance.
Stringing beads was initially done on silk thread
because in ancient times silk was the strongest material by weight.
Because glass and gemstone beads are relatively hard by comparison with
silk, the silk thread was knotted between each bead. The reason
for the knots was that over time, even softer materials like pearls,
will saw through silk thread causing the thread to break. When the
silk thread was knotted and broke, only one bead would fall off the
necklace because the remaining knots held all the other beads in place.
There are now many natural and artificial materials used to thread beads
into necklaces and bracelets. The fabric materials like nylon,
cotton, silk, and other beading threads are all still vulnerable to being broken
by prolonged wear. The newest technology in beading thread is the
stranded stainless steel metal wire used for beading. Our favorite vendor
for this flexible wire is the Soft Flex Company, but there are several
other vendors who make similar stranded beading wire. The advantage to the
stranded beading wire is that it is much less likely to break due to wear.
A secondary advantage is that because the wire won't break, the user
won't need to tie a knot between each bead in the necklace. This
saves a lot of time in making a necklace.
Please select here to view
our free instructions in how to make a necklace using beadstringing
wire.
 View additional information on beading here:
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