Beading Glossary

Your one stop beading A to Z glossary guide.

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• ABALONE - 
• ACRYLIC - A description of a type of plastic that is used to make inexpensive beads, an economical alternative to glass or crystal beads.
• ALLOY - A metal made from combining two or more base metals. White gold, sterling silver and pewter are examples of alloys. Alloys are often used to increase or decrease certain properties of the main metal ie strengthen, brighten etc
• ANNEAL - Annealing is when material is heated (usually to a high temperature) and then slowly cooled to make it stronger and more pliable. This is useful for strengthening metal such as sterling silver so it is softer to work with. Lampwork glass beads are also often annealed in a kiln to prevent the glass from shattering. If a hot glass object is allowed to cool too rapidly, it will be highly strained by the time it reaches room temperature and it may break as it cools. Most glass has a stress range, a temperature range at which the glass will break if allowed to cool too quickly. Highly strained glasses break easily if subjected to mechanical or thermal shock.
• AUGHT - This is the unit of measurement for the size of seed beads. It is usually denoted by a number followed by a slash and a zero or a degree sign (e.g. 11/0 or 110). The higher the preceding number, the smaller the bead. There are a couple of schools of thoughts on the Aught measurement, one that is easy to remember is that it refers to the number of beads lined up side by side in a given space. A 6/0 bead means that you will get 6 beads in the space. 11/0 will be eleven beads in the same amount of space. So the smaller the number the bigger the bead, as it takes fewer beads to fill the space.
• AURORA BOREALIS - Aurora Borealis (AB or A/B) is a light reflecting finish applied to the exterior of a bead of any shape or size or material. Other names a bead glossary may have for AB-type finishes are iris, oil slick, or rainbow. An AB finish on a clear glass bead can indeed appear as a rainbow & on beads of color, it is more subtle but highly reflective. The real Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, is a fabulous color display in the night sky caused by the interaction between the solar wind, the Earth's magnetic field, and the upper atmosphere.
• AUSTRIAN CRYSTAL - Also called Swarovski Crystal, it is a high quality leaded glass that has very definite facets giving the beads an intense sparkle. Imitations don't have the same “sharp”; edges or the clarity and smoothness of surfaces.

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