Shopping for the Perfect Beads

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Looking for the Perfect Beads for Your Designs

Are you like me? Always on the search for perfect beads for you jewelry design business?

I hope to be able to offer you some great places to find beads that will take your breath away but not take a big chunk out of your wallet. Some of these may be wholesale only. Others are wholesale to the general public. And the others are retail but at great prices. I have literally 1000's of bookmarks that deal with jewelry design. So sit back and have fun shopping ;O)

How to pick your Beads

from About.com

How to Buy Lampwork Beads that are Durable and Beautiful
Handcrafted lampwork beads are a popular jewelry component. You'll find lampwork beads in beaded necklaces, bracelets and other jewelry. The jewelry is sold on the Internet and in local stores where jewelry artisans sell their creations.
The quality of any handcrafted item is equal to the expertise of its maker and lampwork beads are no exception to that rule. Choose beaded jewelry in a style you like, but remember that style isn't the only thing you must consider when you buy handcrafted lampwork beads.

Lampwork beads must be cooled in a specific way
I don't understand all the physical and chemical reasons why molten glass behaves as it does, but I understand the concept enough to explain the basics of lampwork beadmaking.

Lampworkers use a torch to melt the tips of colorful glass rods.

As it melts, they wind the fluid glass around a mandrel, a narrow stainless steel rod. Later, when the bead is removed, the space occupied by the mandrel becomes a hole in the center of the bead--the hole used to string it onto jewelry.

Glass cools from the outside in and the outer layers shrink as cooling takes place. Bringing a bead out of the flame and leaving it in the open air allows the outside of the bead to cool rapidly around its molten interior. A stress point develops between the cool, shrinking glass and the hot center. The stress can cause a bead to crack, either immediately or at a later time.

Cooling beads slowly is a must

To prevent cracks, beads are cooled in a kiln, where temperatures can be closely regulated. The beadmaker anneals the bead as soon as it comes out of the flame. That means the bead is left to soak up heat in the kiln so that all glass within it is the same temperature.

The soaking temperature is high enough for glass to flow on some molecular level, but not so high that the bead ends up in a puddle on the kiln floor. After annealing, the artist begins to reduce the heat in the kiln, taking several hours to bring the beads to room temperature.
Go HERE for the rest of the article. There is pop ups tho. That's why it isn't here in Iframe.

More About Buying Quality Beads

from Wikipedia.com

My Etsy

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Lampwork Beads

A few friends who design their own glass lampwork beads

These are NOT the mass produced beads you find all over the net. These are artists' beads that have been made one at a time by hand. Then annealed for strength and durability.

Shopping for the Perfect Beads

Looking for the Perfect Beads for Your Designs

How to pick your Beads

from About.com

More About Buying Quality Beads

from Wikipedia.com

My Etsy

Lampwork Beads

A few friends who design their own glass lampwork beads

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Great Stuff on eBay

Great Places to get Swarovski Beads

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Bali Silver Beads

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Handmade Silver Beads

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Some Great Places for Semi Precious Beads

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Great Stuff on CafePress

Czech Glass Beads

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Seed Beads

Gotta have the babies

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New Amazon Voting (Plexo)

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