'Round' Beads: 

The most common bead shape is the "round" bead, the correct term is "spherical" most everyone

just says "round".

 

'Faceted' Beads: 

Faceted beads are smooth beads (of any shape) which have had facets cut in the surface.  

Facets can be cut by hand (in which case the artisan uses a box-like cutting device which cuts facets

on many beads at once) or by machine. 

Machine-cut beads have facets that are not as perfect, so they are then fire-polished (pulled through

high heat to cause the bead surface to become molten, which makes them shiny). 

 

There are so many bead types available, I have summarised the most popular beads.

 

Acrylic Beads

Acrylic beads are pure plastic and not fake at all,
They are made of a transparent polymer that dyes well. Available in a large arrary of colors and cast, molded, pressed or extruded into all sorts of shapes. Acrylics can look as if they are crystal, glass, wood, even metal. They look as if they are heavy but are in fact quite quite light weight, which makes them prime candidates for decor ideas that involve many strands, or in designs that are heavy, encrusted or layered. Do I like them? Sometimes, even though I admit that I am a bead snob.

 

Bugle Beads 

Bugle beads are often grouped with seed beads; they are small tubular beads that typically range from 3mm up to 12mm in length. 

 

Crystal Beads 

Crystal Beads are high quality glass beads. They may be smooth or have facets cut into their surface. Crystals can be cut into many different shapes such as bicones, rivoilis, rounds and rondelles to name but a few.

 

Czech Glass Beads 

Czech glass beads are often  the best quality pressed glass beads. The dominant brand is Preciosa (formerly Jablonex), and pressed glass comes in a huge range of shapes, colours and finishes. There are also glass leaves, flowers and hearts as well as glass shape mixes from Preciosa.

 

Fire Polished Beads 

Fire Plished beads are also Czech glass beads, but they have a faceted surface, so are often called fire polished crystals. These beads are formed and facets are cut into the surface, then the entire bead is passed back through a raw flame to partially melt the surface. This leads to hugely increased shine and quality to the bead, making fire polished beads some of the most desirable faceted crystals you can have.

 

Spacer Beads

Spacer's, is the term most often applied to metal beads as they are frequently used between other types of beads to make them stand out more.

 

Metal Beads 

These can be plain plated metal, die-cast into shapes or even made of wrapped wire.

 

Bali Beads

Bali beads are handmade silver beads decorated with wire originally created in Bali, Indonesia. Bali ‘style’ beads are now from Indonesia, Thailand, India and other places. Bali beads are not just rounds, but also cubes, barrels, headpins, cones, clasps, spacers, drops, and earring studs of incredible variety.

 

Lamp-work  Beads, 

Lamp-work beads are hand blown and crafted by layering glass on glass, take a look they explain themselves.

These Lamp-work beads are made in South African glass beads handcrafted in Preoria by 'FIRE & GLASS',

They are Stunning, Beautiful, Lovely, Amazing, these words fall short in describing these beads,

 

Indian Glass Beads, 

Affordable glass beads handcrafted in India come in a large range of sizes and shapes; shells, fish, butterflies and leaves.

They include Bumpy, Lamp-work, Venetian beads and an enormous variety of decorative beads.

 

Pearl Beads 
Pearl beads come in either genuine freshwater pearls or coated glass pearls. Both types have varying degrees of quality associated with them, Generally freshwater pearls are more expensive.. the pearls are often dyed to different shades, whereas glass pearls are a generic glass bead beneath a pearlescent high-resistance coating.

 

Semi Precious Beads 

Semi precious beads are made using semi precious stones. This is a huge genre and includes almost any naturally occurring mineral that can be made into a bead, such as agate, hematite, turquoise etc. Freshwater pearls and shell beads are also often categorised with semi precious beads.

 

Wooden Beads  

Wooden beads come in a huge variety of shapes, colours, sizes and designs, as well as quality.

 

Acid-Etched Beads
These are glass beads etched in acid to remove shine. the bead has a non-reflective finish also called matte or frost, sea glass, or even acid-washed beads.

 

African Trade Beads

Also know as Seed beads. The Venetians produced beads for commercial trade as early as the 1400's as well as many other countries. Bead trade continues with very old beads are new ones based on old techniques. The variety and novelty of these beads is enormous.

 

Amber
A natural product, Amber is old calcified tree sap that is cut, polished and treasured as if a gemstone.

 

Aurora Borealis
AB (or A/B) is a light reflecting finish applied to the exterior of a bead of any shape or size or material. Other names a bead glossary may have for AB-type finishes are iris, oil slick, or rainbow. An AB finish on a clear glass bead can appear as a rainbow; on beads of color, it is more subtle but highly reflective.

 

Briolette 

Both a shape and a style of faceting (gemstone cutting) Briolettes are usually an oval or pear shape drop bead (top drilled or side drilled) with its entire surface cut in angular facets for a beautiful sparkle. Briolette cuts are found in almost all gemstones. Briolette refers to the faceted cut, not a color or size.

 

Cat's Eye

"Cat's eye" beads are made from fiber-optic threads.  I don't fully understand the process, but it results in beads with luminous striations that are simply gorgeous.

 

"Crackle" Beads

These are beads which were dipped into water while they were still hot, causing them to crack inot small cracks throughout the beads, giving the beads a particular appearance.  Some people just adore crackle beads, but crackle beads sometimes do break apart, so I consider them to be unreliable.

 

"Lined" beads

have either metal (usually silver, in which case they're called "silver-lined") or color (usually paint) in

the holes.

 

Luster

"Luster" and "lustrous" (and sometimes "high-gloss") for beads which have a glossy finish but do not

reflect light in iridescent colors. Luster beads can be more than lustrous.  They can be metallic, or they

can have a mottling of colour.

 

"Satiny"

Refers to glass which has an appearance similar to satin cloth – i.e., lustrous and grainy.  

 

Other types

There are other types of beads that I could list here, but in most cases it is obvious from the name what

they are.  For example, "leaf beads" (beads in the shape of a leaf).  Embossed beads would be any bead

with a raised pattern on them.