Home / Beads / Beader's Glossary

This is the place to find out what a Peridot or a Labradorite is. There are over 80 bead-related terms for you to browse.

Note: Some of the definitions and descriptions used here are copyright 1995 by Ornamental Resources, Incorporated. We are grateful for their permission to quote from their catalog to create this feature. This information may not be reproduced or distributed for financial gain or included in commercial collections or compilations without express permission from Ornamental Resources, Inc., P.O. Box 3010WW, Idaho Springs CO 80452. Visitors are permitted to print out this section for personal use only.

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Core glass onto which different colored glass or glasses are fused while hot, as in turquoise-matrix. (Hubble).

Very bright Japanese beads made from a fiberglass-like material.

Mother-of-pearl belongs to the ostreidae family and is found in temperate and warm coastal waters of all oceans. The mother-of-pearl shell was seen in early Christian wall mosaics, inlaid into furniture and keyhole decorations during the 17th and 18th centuries, and in handles for knives, silverware, kitchen utensils, and shoe-button hooks. In the 1800's mother-of-pearl was used extensively for buttons throughout the United States, and can still be seen on clothing today.

Beads made from the hardened sap of the Myrrh tree, in Africa. Fragrant.