New Pressed Bead Category on Czechbeads.com!

Just added! Teeny tiny, itty bitty flat squares -- now available in 20 of our most popular and inventive colors. These dainty little beads are highly sought after in the market today. They have a well defined shape and crisp edges; impressive for a bead that small! Some colors even look like miniature ceramic tiles.

Watch as these shiny squares add sparkle and flash to your bead and jewelry collections.

View our entire collection of 6mm flat squares here!

You can also see our full line of complimenting 9mm flat squares here.

African Sunset

With it's golden glow and blood red core, African Sunset (color #329) is one of our most popular seed bead colors. We've just received a shipment of new items that increases our selection in this color to nine shapes and sizes including rounds, hexes, bugles, triangles and treasures.

SilverWear

We're all aware of the unbelievable increase in the cost of precious metals on the world market. Gold, silver, platinum, and copper are all going up in value with little hope of retuning to previous trade prices. This has had a profound effect on the style and cost of jewelry and its components. The style of chunky, weighty jewelry made mostly of silver spacers and charms has been replaced with lightweight chains and plated components. Copper's popularity in jewelry has increased dramatically over the past few months, not only because of it's color coordinating appeal, but because it's a relatively inexpensive alternative to gold and silver.

For those who like the metallic look without the inflated price, we recommend our wide variety of silver, gold, and copper finished beads. These quality finishes are available on many accent shapes such as rondells, firepolish, druks, pinch beads and drops. The core beads are usually made from crystal or alabaster glass that are coated with a durable galvanized finish. Compare our prices with the going cost of precious metals and I'm sure you won't be dissappointed!

Czech Metallic Finished Beads:

270 - 24K Gold Plated

27000 - Silver (Full Coat)

27001 - Silver (1/2 Coat)

275 - Copper Penny

14400 - Hematite

90215 - Bronze

14415 - Dark Bronze

One of the Perks of International Business

Stamps -- what a beautiful way to brighten up an otherwise bleak envelope. In a world of mass emails and automated postage machines I have come to appreciate the simple art and symbolism contained within such a sticky form of payment for government services. What started as a hobby has become a fascination of mine to collect the wide array of cancelled postage stamps we receive from business partners across the globe. I get lots of help creating this inconsequential, yet gratifying artistic archive and am thankful for the support of my fellow coworkers, especially Jenn, who distributes the mail for us everyday. Over the years I’ve watched as the collection has outgrown its miniature Altoids tin and now its jumbo sized one as well. I’m not sure where it will be contained in the future, but I know it will expand greatly with the introduction of new stamps, which inevitably follows a rate hike.

Don’t forget the next increase starts May 12th. Get your forever stamps now!

Alexandrite Color Spectrum

Alexandrite (color# 2021) -- Is it blue? Is it purple? It's one of a kind that's for sure!

This pleasingly gentle color is notorious for confusing beaders with its ability to change from sapphire to lavender depending on what type of light shines on it. Regular indoor lighting can sometimes make it difficult for customers to tell alexandrite apart from light sapphire (color # 3001). When in doubt I recommend taking the beads outside into direct sunlight, or near a bright window.

Getting the beads to display the way you want them to in a photo can also prove to be difficult. Daylight fluorescent bulbs are an ideal light source for taking accurate product shots, but they can only show one side of alexandrite.
The contrast between the two variations is so striking that it is very difficult to switch one to the other by attempting drastic adjustments in photoshop.

To get the deep brilliance to show you may need to play around with your camera's white balance settings. The purple versions of these pictures were taken under halogen lighting with the white balance of the camera set to incandescent. The pictures were then modified and adjusted slightly in photoshop.

Color Spotlight - Diamond

When choosing a birthstone color to spotlight for the month of April the choice was clear -- crystal clear.

Below are some quick links to see our brilliant alternatives to diamonds.

Czech Glass
0003 : Crystal
X0003: Crystal AB
SL0003: Crystal Silverlined
L0003: Luster Crystal
LR0003: Luster Iris Crystal
28001: Crystal/Marea
28003: Silver/Blue/Crystal
M0003: Matte - Crystal
MX0003: Matte - Crystal AB

Toho Seed Bead Color Numbers:
1: Crystal
1F: Frosted Crystal
21: Crystal Silverline
21F: Fronsted Crystal Silverline
161: Trans-Rainbow Crystal
161F: Frosted Trans-Rainbow Crystal
3201: Crystal/Silver Mix

This link will take you to a list of Rhinestone Findings with crystal clear chatons. We carry a full line of birthstone colors in many shapes and sizes. Of all the colored stones in settings we carry, none are more popular than crystal.

Glow in the Dark Czech Beads

Nightlights - Glow in the Dark Pressed Beads

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Now Available in 50 Styles!

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View the entire glow in the dark bead collection

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Exclusive from Starman, Inc.
Retail Ready in hanks that consist of 6 strands, 6 inches long each. All of the styles are assortable when you buy a minimum combination of 5 hanks. You'll be able to offer your customers a wide variety at great prices!
These beads are unlike any other glow in the dark bead available in the market today. It's not a cheap flaky coating that makes these beads glow; they are made of quality Czech glass with a special glowing mineral added to the glass at the time of pressing. The glass takes on a natural dual-tone glow that brightens and intensifies even the most brilliant glass colors. We also offer lustered glow in the dark beads for a more elusive look. No one will suspect that they glow until after the sun goes down. The beads are also sensitive enough to give off an ominous glow even in the shade, or in dimly lit hallways.

You will notice that each glass color reacts with the glow in the dark substance slightly different. Some colors , such as 2021 and 3003 give off a bright blue-green swirl while colors like 1006 have a speckled, greenish glow.

Give your jewelry a new look after dark with our Wildly Bohemian Nightlight collection. They quickly charge under daylight, lamplight and also UV Light. Their glow lasts for hours and black light can give it an extra boost. Perfect for daily wear as well as the party scene!

Beads used for the bracelet:

227-1210-D88495 - Flattened Ovals 12/10mm : Glow in the Dark - Luster Transparent Topaz/Pink

TR-11-2031F - Round 11/0 : Silver-Lined Frosted Rainbow Rosaline

TR-11-999 - Round 11/0 : Gold-Lined Rainbow Black Diamond

TR-11-21 - Round 11/0 : Silver-Lined Crystal

TR-03-993 - Round 6/0 : Gold-Lined Black Diamond

34-44-91002 - M.C. Beads 4/4mm - Bicone : Luster - Pink Lemonade

(Click on the pictures to see enlarged versions)