Fire Polish Beads, Czech Glass Beads
Glass Beads from Czech Republic, Austria, Germany--Beads by Mail
Glass Beads and Light
If you read the bead descriptions you see if a bead is transparent, translucent, or opaque. How light passes through a glass bead is an important design consideration. Our all-time best-selling glass bead was transparent, translucent, and opaque! On the web pages here, most of the beads are transparent.
Pretty Rainbow Necklaces
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| You can easily create a necklace like this. We strung five 6mm fire polish faceted beads in each color, and assorted the colors so they would alternate in each strand. Then we added dangles using the larger faceted drops. We used ruby AB, sapphire AB, aqua AB, amethyst AB, clear, lite sapphire AB, emerald AB, colorado AB, and rosa.Each strand is a separate necklace so you can wear them apart or together. The shorter one is about an inch shorter than the longer one. |
More Colors in Fire Polish Beads
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| Above (left to right) 6mm montana, 8mm emerald AB, and 6mm antique copper (opaque). |
Fire Polish vs. Austrian vs. Czech vs. Machine Cut vs. Rhinestones
Most of the faceted glass beads on our Web site are mass-produced. The leading producers are in the Czech Republic and Austria. In Austria in the tiny town of Wattens is the Swarovski factory (imagine, I was in Austria and didn't visit). Swarovski was the first to perfect the production of machine-cut faceted beads and stones. Each bead is cut and faceted, much like a precious stone, by a special mechanical process perfected by Swarovski. This results in extremely "sharp" edges on each facet, and exact calibration of measurements so the facets produce the maximum sparkle and liveliness (refractance).
Refractance
The greater the refractance, the more a glass item sparkles and shines. Achieving maximum refractance in glass cutting is the goal, and depends on exactly quantifiable formulae. As a result, all beads and stones in each color/size category are exactly the same size and color. This is important, especially for jewelers who do inlay and settings.Fire Polish
Fire polishing is a less costly way to finish the beads using heat, not individual machine cuts. The beads are pressed and then tumbled in a heated container to polish the facets. This process results in a perfectly beautiful bead, but the edges aren't as "sharp" nor are the facets as exactly sized. If you look very closely you can tell the difference between a machine-cut and a fire-polish bead, although from a distance it is nearly impossible.
Swarovski Manipulates the Market
Swarovski beads and stones sell for a premium price because of the name and because the company controls how much material is released for sale. The company has been producing glass items for jewelry for over 100 years. Swarovski is indeed the DeBeers of glass, controlling output, removing certain styles from the market before introducing others, and setting strict rules for distributors. Swarovski also restricts production.
Czech Machine Cuts
In recent years, Czech factories have also produced machine-cut faceted beads which sell for less than the premium Swarovski. The Czech machine-cuts are identical. It is truly impossible to see any difference. Production is a matter of getting the math right, and once this happens, the output is going to be identical no matter who makes it.
We will be featuring Czech machine-cuts in time for holiday crafting. Although they will be pricier than fire polish, they will still cost far less than the Swarovski machine-cuts. So, watch for them.
Individual Czech bead producers didn't develop the brand recognition as did Swarovski, although in the jewelry world the phrase "Czech bead" is synonymous with very high quality as well as originality, creativity, and tremendous variety of styles. Czech glass beads have been around much longer than 100 years, as evidenced by trade beads produced in Czechoslovakia/Bohemia that are more than 300 years old.
There's nothing prettier than a holiday table set with good crystal wine and water goblets,
reflecting every glimmer of the candlelight. In such a setting, you can show off your crystal earrings, necklace,
and bracelet proudly.
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