Design Your Own Beaded Necklace!

Click on the bead icons below to create a bead on the construction area. Drag the beads onto the tiger-tail chain to design your own beaded-jewelry necklace.

Welcome to Beaded Jewelry. Beads are frequently used in jewelry. These may be made of glass, gemstones, metal, wood, shells, clay and polymer clay. Beaded jewelry commonly encompasses necklaces, bracelets, earrings, belts and rings. Beads may be large or small, the smallest type of beads used are known as seed beads, these are the beads used for the "woven" style of beaded jewelry. Another use of seed beads is an embroidery technique where seed beads are sewn onto fabric backings to create broad collar neck pieces and beaded bracelets. Bead embroidery, a popular type of handwork during the Victorian era is enjoying a renaissance in modern jewellery making. Beading, or beadwork, is also very popular in many African cultures.

Lampwork Glass Beads

Advanced glass and glass beadmaking techniques by Murano and Venetian glassmasters developed crystalline glass, enamelled glass (smalto), glass with threads of gold (goldstone), multicoloured glass (millefiori), milk-glass (lattimo) and imitation gemstones made of glass. As early as the thirteenth century, Murano glass and Murano beads were popular. Silversmiths, goldsmiths, and lapidaries methods include forging, casting, soldering or welding, cutting, carving and "cold-joining" (using glues, staples and rivets to construct the beaded jewelry).

Pearl Beads