Beads have always been a popular material with which to make jewellery and other items of decoration. Jewellery itself has always been popular throughout time and across many different civilisations. Beads are a favourite material of jewellery designers because of their versatility and this is especially so in the case of beaded necklaces.

Beads that are used in the jewellery industry were most commonly made from glass. The Venetian’s were world famous for their glass beads from the island of Murano, near Venice. Glass as a jewellery material is excellent to work with as many different shapes can be fashioned from glass and many different colours can be added. This adds another dimension to the beads that no two beads
are exactly the same and this in turn makes each piece of glass jewellery unique.

There is a cheaper alternative to glass beads and this is beads that are made from resin. Resin beads are becoming very popular among modern jewellery designers for the many different colours and textures that can be made with this product. Necklaces are probably the most popular item of jewellery to be crafted from beads with bracelets coming in in a very close second place. Necklaces are ideal as they allow a number of beads to be strung together to give an overall effect. This can be striking depending on the colours of the beads used and whether they are used alone or with another material such as shells. Always shop around for good quality beads, it means that your necklace will last longer!