A bead silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas is a small, decorative object that is pierced for threading or stringing silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas . Beads range in size from under a millimeter to over a centimeter or sometimes several centimeters in diameter.silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas

Glass, plastic, and stone are probably the most common materials, but beads silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas are also made from bone, horn, ivory, metal, shell, pearl, coral, gemstones, polymer clay, metal clay, resin, synthetic minerals, wood, ceramic, fiber, paper, and seeds. silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas

A pair of beads made from Nassarius sea snail shells, approximately 100,000 years old, are thought to be the earliest known examples of jewellery. silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas

Beadwork is the craft of making things with beads. Beads can be woven together with specialized thread, strung onto thread or wire, or adhered to a surface (e.g. fabric, clay). silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas

• Bugle beads silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas
• Chevron beads silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas
• Cloisonné beads silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas
• Dichroic beads silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas
• Ethnic beads silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas
• Faux natural beads silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas
• Fire-polished beads silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas
• Furnace glass beads silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas
• Fused glass beads silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas
• Fusible beads silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas
• Lampwork beads silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas
• Lead crystal beads silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas
• Lucite beads silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas
• Millefiori beads silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas  
• Pressed glass beads silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas 
• Seed beads silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas
• Trade beads or Slave beads silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas
• Vintage Beads silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas

Chevron beads

Chevron Beads are special glass beads, originally made for trade in the New World and the slave trade in Africa by glassmakers in Italy as far back as the early 15th century. They are composed of many consecutive layers of colored glass. The initial core is formed in a star-shaped mold, and can have anywhere between five and fifteen points. The next layer of glass conforms to that star shape. Several layers of glass can be applied (typically four to seven layers), either star-shaped or smooth. After all layers have been applied, the glass is drawn out to the desired thickness and when cooled, cut into short segments showing the resulting star pattern at their ends. The ends can be ground to display the chevron pattern. silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas Chevron beads are traditionally composed of red, blue, and white layers, but modern chevrons can be found in any color combination. Original beads made for trade to the New World and Africa were typically composed of green, white, blue and red layers.

Dichroic glass beads

Increasingly, dichroic glass is being used to produce high-end art beads. Dichroic glass has a thin film of metal fused to the surface of the glass, resulting in a surface that has a metallic sheen that changes between two colors when viewed at different angles. Beads can be pressed, or made with traditional lampworking techniques. The metal coating used was originally developed by NASA for the space program silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas.

Ethnic beads

Faux natural beads

Often beads are made to look like a more expensive original material, especially in the case of fake pearls and simulated rocks, minerals, and gemstones. Precious metals and ivory are also imitated.

Tagua nuts from South American are used as an ivory substitute since the natural ivory trade has been restricted worldwide.

"Fire-polished" beads are faceted glass beads made in the Czech Republic. They are faceted by machine and then drawn through ovens to make the surfaces molten, and thus shiny when the beads cool. This method of "polishing" is faster and cheaper than buffing and results in a reasonably attractive bead, though generally less perfect than buffed beads. Czech fire-polish beads are made in an area called Jablonec nad Nisou. Production of glass beads in the area dates back to the 14th century, though production was depressed under communist rule. They commonly come in sizes from 3 millimetres (0.12 in) to 22 millimetres (0.87 in).

Furnace glass beads

Furnace glass beads are a special type of art bead. They are made using traditional glassworking techniques from Italy that are more often used to make art glass objects. The manufacture of these beads requires a large glass furnace and annealing kiln.

Furnace glass beads, also called cane glass beads, are sliced from long glass rods, often decorated with stripes and other color, also known as canes.

Lampwork beads

Lampwork beads are made by using a torch to heat a rod of glass and spinning the resulting thread around a metal rod covered in bead release. When the base bead has been formed, other colors of glass can be added to the surface to create many designs.

Lead crystal beads

Swarovski along with Preciosa branded crystal beads are prized by jewelers and hobbyists. They are a high-lead content crystal although today production of lead-free crystal is common. Lead crystals have an incredible sparkle and clarity, and are often multi-faceted to resemble gemstones. Styles and colors go in and out of production, so vintage cuts and colors are often prized with a similarly associated price tag. Swarovski along with Preciosa bicones are the most popular crystal beads in sizes 4 mm and 6 mm. Other Czech companies such as PAS Jablonec make similar styles of crystal beads.

Lucite beads

Lucite is a term that commonly refers to many plastic beads. However, Lucite is one of the many name brands used to describe Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) or poly(methyl 2-methylpropenoate) the synthetic polymer of methyl methacrylate. Lucite methyl methacrylate polymer was among the first plastics derived from petrochemicals. DuPont chemists discovered Lucite® in 1931 while exploring the high-pressure technology developed for ammonia production. The polymer’s crystal-clear appearance and its strength were far superior to nitrocellulose-based plastics. Lucite was in heavy demand during World War II for use in windshields, nose cones, and gunner turrets for bombers and fighter planes. After the war, DuPont marketed it for use in a variety of decorative and functional uses, such as lamps, hairbrushes and jewelry silver jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, gift ideas.

Millefiori beads

The millefiori technique involves the production of glass canes or rods, known as murrine, with multicolored patterns which are viewable only from the cut ends of the cane. Millefiori beads are made of plain wound glass bead cores and thin slices of cut cane (murrine) which are being pressed into the bead surface, forming mosaic-like patterns, while the glass is still hot. Another name for Millefiori bead is mosaic bead.

Pressed glass beads

Seed beads

Trade beads or Slave beads

Vintage Beads

"Vintage", in the collectibles & antique market, is a term used to refer to an item that is 25 or more years old. This term and its meaning has been widely adopted in the bead industry as well. Vintage beads are available in a variety of materials including lucite, plastic, crystal, metal and glass.

Fusible beads