Czech Glass Beads

 There are many types of glass beads available to the jewelry crafter. One type is made in the Czech Republic and are known as Czech glass beads. These beads are considered by many to be the highest quality glass bead you can purchase.

History

The Czech Republic was once known as Bohemia and in the 3rd century, Celtic craftsmen began to make the first glass beads. Many of these beads were considered to be very valuable and were used for trade as well as adornments. Over time, glass making techniques progressed. These methods were perfected by the Italians and were adapted by the Czech artisans and through experimentation were able to discover all the secrets to the glass making techniques. 

It was these early Czech glass makers who began molding the glass into pressed glass beads and began applying fire-polished finishes to the beads. This was done by placing the hot glass into a mold, cooled it then polished and drilled the beads. This method was perfected in the 18th century. It was during this time that Czech glass making dominated all the markets of the world. Throughout the subsequent centuries they have continued to improve and advance their methods.

Preciosa is the primary manufacturer of Czech glass beads today. 

Today I will illustrate two of the most common types of Czech Glass beads, Pressed Glass and Fire Polished. I have a fair collection of these for sale in my Etsy Shop.

Pressed Glass

Pressed glass beads come in hundreds of shapes and sizes. A few of the common shapes are round, daggers, leaf, oval, heart, drops and nugget. There are many, many more shapes as well. 

4mm Round Duk

11x3mm Side Drilled Dagger

13x18mm Etched Leaf

 

Fire Polished

Fire polished beads are faceted and sometimes are called crystals, however, true crystals contain lead and can be quite expensive. These faceted fire polished beads are wonderful at reflecting the light. They can be either hand or machine cut, then heated to smooth out the edges. These beads have a smoother look then the lead crystals. They come in many colors and are quite beautiful. 

Fire Polished beads may be multi-colored and sometimes also contain metal components at their core. A popular finish is known as "AB" which stands for Aurora Borealis which gives the beads a rainbow effect as the light is reflected. The beads made in the Czech Republic are of an excellent quality. Fire polished beads also come in a variety of shapes and sizes. A few of my favorite shapes are round, donut or rondelle, bicone and rectangle.

14mm Round

15x12mm Oval

12mm Round

Back Again After a Long Hiatus

It's been more than ten years since I've posted, wow, how time flies when life is happening!

During the past six months, I find I have quite a bit more time on my hands, so after a very long hiatus from beading activities, I decided to jump back into it all.

I am in the process of putting together a curated bead collection which, if all goes as planned, will be placed for sale in my Etsy shop on or around May 1, 2022. I hope to put together a new collection of approximately 20 items or so each month. Each collection will be color coordinated.

I've seen many examples of these curated collections elsewhere and most of them are subscription related and also what you receive inside is usually a surprise. I am choosing to do neither of those, so no subscriptions and in my Etsy shop you will be able to see exactly which items the collection will contain. The collection will be at a price point that offers the beads at two to three times cheaper than the retail value if the items are purchased individually.

I will be selling the items individually in my Etsy shop. Anyone who purchases a curated collection from me will receive a discount coupon code good towards all items in my shop.

I have begun placing some of these items for sale and will be featuring these items on my Bead of the Day Blog. 

The color theme for May consists of greens, golds and purples. Here are the first two items I've placed for sale so far.

I've quite enjoyed putting this collection together and while it has been a bunch of work, it is also a loads of fun! I am so excited for the launch in just 2 weeks!

I also plan to challenge myself to create some jewelry from the items in the collection and will feature them on my Nyx Enchantments jewelry blog as well as place them for sale on my Etsy jewelry shop. 

Stay tuned and I hope you will enjoy the posts related to my new venture!

 

Playing With Color

I've been having some fun with my camera. I recently purchased a big notebook full of colorful paper and decided it might be fun to add some color to my photos. Supply photos don't usually seem so interesting and they needed some jazz. So here are a few of my favorites that I just finished up within the past month. I hope you like them as much as I do.

Time For a Short Vacation

Every time I take a vacation, I have the intention of not working at all during the time away. But when it comes to beads and bead stores, I cannot stay away! Technically, the visits to bead stores would fall under the category of work, but, is it really work when it's fun? I also find myself unable to resist the handing out of business cards when appropriate.

So far, I haven't had the chance to look up the bead stores in the location I'm visiting, but as soon as I do, I'll make a post and review the store. Look for it within the next week or so!

What's In a Name

On occasion, I am asked how I came up with the catchy name for my shop. When I started my shop, it began as a de-stash shop for my jewelry supplies. At the time, most of the beads I had for sale were made of glass, so that is where it started. I knew I wanted glass somewhere in the name. I gathered up all the items I was going to place for sale, and when looking upon the collection, I was reminded of a flower garden with all the colors in front of me. That's when the name hit me, and Garden of Glass was born!

Besides my large collection of glass beads, I have a great many other items for sale including clay, plastic, wood, shell, stone, and even some vintage beads as well as a small amount of findings.

What started out as a tiny little de-stash shop has become a full blown supply shop. I am having so much fun searching out new items to sell here! Be sure and have a visit!

Newest Additions To My Shop

I'm pretty excited about some of my latest items. I recently ordered a big batch of beads that were all mixed up. It took some time to sort them all out, but I ended up with a great collection of unusual beads! Many of these are items I can't order by themselves.

Here are a few examples of some of the 16mm and 18mm beads - I can see these being used as a centerpiece in a pendant or a bold pair of earrings. If you'd like to see more photos of them, simply click on the photo.

Welcome!

Beginnings. Everyone and everything has one. Beginnings can be scary, exciting and just plain fun!

Welcome to the beginning of my Garden of Glass blog. I have no idea where it will go or what will be contained herein, but I assure you I'm going to keep it as exciting as I can, and definitely fun! As for scary, well, not so much!