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Metal beads - truly an elementary matter
Simple and inconspicuously decorative or filigreed and playful, beads made of different metals and alloys simply belong in every bead workshop!
Metal beads are the prime embellisher for any type of jewellery because they can be combined nearly without limitation with all existent kinds of beads.
Beads of metal are often used as spacers to underline the elegance of a piece of jewellery and to emphasise other beads.
Special attention should be paid to the combination of metal beads with the colours of the other beads as well as the shapes. For example, golden tones can be combined very beautifully with warm colours whilst silver tones better harmonise with cold or dark colours. One of the most popular combination is lava beads with silver-coloured wire pearls.
However, as beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, this is down to personal taste and therefore, cannot be argued over. The proof is in the pudding :).
Best of all, try it out with a bead board to test the suitable combinations, before starting the threading.
Often with professional jewellery design, real gold and 925th silver beads are used. For the passionate designer beads with base metals will also suffice, for example, brass or coppers which are coloured by galvanisations (silver/gold).
There are galvanisations in many different silver and golden nuances as well as qualities. The strength of the galvanisation matters also. The thicker the galvanisation, the more resistant to abrasion it will be. If the coating is too thin it will wear away and reveal the carrier metal underneath.
Solid silver beads as well as some silver- or golden-coloured metal beads tend to discolour in the air, or by contact with sweat and/or cosmetics. They will obtain a yellow tarnish or become darker.
That can be little prevented by using these beads only as spacer pieces between larger beads as they will therefore avoid any direct skin contact. If you would like to avoid discolorations completely, you should pick only metal beads which are galvanised with precious metals like gold, palladium or rhodium.
All our metal beads are nickel-free.
For metal beads manufactured in Europe we can also vouch for that these are free of cadmium.
You can gain a false economy with buying lower quality metal beads as they will not keep their lustre and will look less than ideal over a relatively short time. Particularly with metal beads everyone must find their own way with the time. For inexperienced jewellery designers this is not always easy.
Metal beads are the prime embellisher for any type of jewellery because they can be combined nearly without limitation with all existent kinds of beads.
Beads of metal are often used as spacers to underline the elegance of a piece of jewellery and to emphasise other beads.
Special attention should be paid to the combination of metal beads with the colours of the other beads as well as the shapes. For example, golden tones can be combined very beautifully with warm colours whilst silver tones better harmonise with cold or dark colours. One of the most popular combination is lava beads with silver-coloured wire pearls.
However, as beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, this is down to personal taste and therefore, cannot be argued over. The proof is in the pudding :).
Best of all, try it out with a bead board to test the suitable combinations, before starting the threading.
Often with professional jewellery design, real gold and 925th silver beads are used. For the passionate designer beads with base metals will also suffice, for example, brass or coppers which are coloured by galvanisations (silver/gold).
There are galvanisations in many different silver and golden nuances as well as qualities. The strength of the galvanisation matters also. The thicker the galvanisation, the more resistant to abrasion it will be. If the coating is too thin it will wear away and reveal the carrier metal underneath.
Solid silver beads as well as some silver- or golden-coloured metal beads tend to discolour in the air, or by contact with sweat and/or cosmetics. They will obtain a yellow tarnish or become darker.
That can be little prevented by using these beads only as spacer pieces between larger beads as they will therefore avoid any direct skin contact. If you would like to avoid discolorations completely, you should pick only metal beads which are galvanised with precious metals like gold, palladium or rhodium.
All our metal beads are nickel-free.
For metal beads manufactured in Europe we can also vouch for that these are free of cadmium.
You can gain a false economy with buying lower quality metal beads as they will not keep their lustre and will look less than ideal over a relatively short time. Particularly with metal beads everyone must find their own way with the time. For inexperienced jewellery designers this is not always easy.