Jewelry Making with Acrylic Beads by Kay Daylis
You can find acrylic beads being used for many types of jewelry making and they are now available in craft, hobby and jewelry stores all over the world. Their popularity is due to the fact that they are a modern material made using modern production methods. They are inexpensive and there is a huge range to choose from.
While they are comparatively cheap, they can still be elegant and stylish, and the fact that they can be translucent means that they can resemble far more expensive gem stones at a fraction of the cost of the real thing. They are also often used as an alternative to Crystal Beads or glass lampwork beads, especially when a large amount are required.
Being molded they can be produced in almost any shape and colour required, anything from small round or tubular beads to practically any molded shapes as complicated as you could want. Dragons, Horoscope symbols, religious symbols, good luck charms are all available as acrylic beads so they are ideal for jewelry making and allow you to produce some fantastic designs.
It must however be noted that acrylic beads are not quite as durable as some other, more traditional, forms of bead and, if treated roughly they could break, so treat them gently!
As mentioned above acrylic beads can be purchased from your local bead store or craft shop almost anywhere in the world but for the best choice and most often the best prices you should look online.
The demand for beads has grown hugely over the past few years and there is lots of competition for bead sales which drives the online
prices down. It is also a fact that the smaller stores do not usually carry the same large range of beads that the large on-line suppliers can, so this is where you are most likely to find what you want at a price to suit you.
It also means that if one bead store does not stock what you are looking for you don’t have to drive miles to visit the next one, just click another button, which also offsets the mailing costs. Purchasing online could not be simpler these days and all on-line suppliers accept credit cards or paypal.
There are many online bead suppliers who will sell beads in any amounts from single beads or sets of beads up to wholesale amounts and will deliver internationally.
Try googling for online bead stores and you will find a vast range of acrylic beads, lampwork beads, findings and even free designs. In fact, all you need for jewelry making.
About the Author
Kay Daylis became entranced by the beauty of beads many years ago and maintains the Bead Store website where you can read more on Jewelry making
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