People like to wear beaded accessories since the ancient times. Beads themselves are very varied. They can be classified by the materials used to make them. They also range in sizes, from under millimeter up to above centimeter. So, don’t be surprised if you find beads with several centimeters diameters.
The most common materials used to make beads are plastic, glass, or stone. Of course it does not mean that they are the only materials, since you can also find some beads made of other materials, such as bone, shell, coral, horn, pearl, ivory, metal clay, polymer clay, resin, gemstones, synthetic minerals, fiber,wood, ceramic, seeds, paper, and so on. So, there are so many materials available to make beads.
The most common beads that can be found in almost all accessory or art shops are glass beads, stone beads, plastic beads, wooden beads, and metal beads. The glass beads are made by molded boiling glass. This makes it available in different combinations of colors. Glass itself is considered as the most decorative material which makes it easy to be molded into various shapes and sizes to make innovative designs. One of the most famous kinds of glass beads is lamp work.
On the other hand, the wooden beads also have various shapes, such as cube, oval, barrel, round, spiral, rectangular, or other shapes like the shapes of animals, flowers, leaves, and so on. The more interesting part of the wooden beads is their colors. Some of them have natural wood color while the others often have artificial color of wood. The artificial color here means that the beads are polished, so that they have more interesting color than those unpolished wooden beads. The woods used to make wooden beads are also varied in types. The most common woods used to make wooden beads are acacia, pear tree, pine, teak, bamboo, oak, and rose wood.
One of the other common beads is the metal beads. Metal beads use elegant but inexpensive materials, such as copper and brass. They are also available in various shapes, styles, and finishes. Copper and brass beads have gained popularity around the world not only because of their affordable prices, but also because of their simple looks.
There are so many other types of bead that it would need tons of words to describe them one by one. So, those most common beads will serve the purpose of giving some pictures about several types of beads. Well, it is also because of their various kinds of shapes, colors, looks, and materials that they are favored by most people, especially those who like accessories very much.<