• Make Your Own Beaded Jewelry

• Choose Specialty Beads

• Find Loose Beads on eBay

• Buy Loose Beads With Confidence

Make Your Own Beaded Jewelry

Make Your Own Beaded Jewelry

If you’re putting together a basic jewelry-making supply kit, think about what type of jewelry you want to make. You may want:

• Loose beads: Choose a variety of loose beads in various sizes. Although you’ll save a lot of money if you purchase beads by the mass (1 mass equals 1,200 beads) in one size, you’ll often find them online in much smaller quantities. Also buy spacers that fit between your primary beads.

• Jewelry wire: Wire is available in various gauges, or diameters. You can start by stocking it with 18G, 20G, and 22G inexpensive practice jewelry wire.    

• Findings: Pick out findings, which are metal parts that fit to and hold or attach a gemstone or bead. Findings include head pins, eye pins, any type of necklace or bracelet clasp, and earring parts, posts, clutches (the backs of post earrings), and clip closures.    

• Pliers and cutters: Get the right tools to open and close loops to attach clasps. A good pair of bent chain nose pliers makes it easy to grasp and open or close a loop by turning it to the side so that you can slide your cord in and secure it. You may also want a good pair of round nose pliers and a flush cutter for cutting wire.

There are many ways to make your own jewelry and plenty of jewelry-making books to get you started. Look for those that cover beginning techniques. Below are some basic techniques:

• Learn to make basic loops: Twisting wire into basic loops is one of the most used skills in jewelry-making. The most common loops are the "P" loop, which looks like the letter P, and the "Eye" loop.    

• Wrap your beads: Create wire coils to wrap around your beads.

• Create illusion jewelry: You can create the illusion that your beads are floating on your wire or cord by gluing them. A simple way to achieve the effect is to place your beads on your cord where you want them and mark the location on a bead board by clamping a hemostat next to each bead, then simply applying glue inside each bead hole and allowing it to dry thoroughly.

Choose Specialty Beads

Choose Specialty Beads

Some of the more fanciful types of loose beads include:

• Handmade lampworking beads: Lampwork beads, frequently called “glass-blowing beads,” form when a high-temperature torch melts raw glass and forms it into shapes.    

• Gemstone beads: Craft makers and gemstone lovers enjoy the vast array of colors, shapes, sizes, and “mystical properties” that gemstone beads and semiprecious gemstones such as turquoise beads add to their art. Be sure you know what you’re buying. Many gemstones are heated, dyed, or fractured-filled to enhance color and smoothness. The more expensive varieties are often crafted in briolette (teardrop-shaped) style. Do your homework and ask questions to make sure you get what you want.

• Vintage glass beads: Many vintage glass beads are from Germany, Japan, Italy, or Czechoslovakia. Often, they’re handmade and are hard to find. Their beauty and uniqueness means most bead lovers have a special place in their hearts reserved for vintage glass beads.     

• Antique beads: Antique beads can create beautiful accents on the jewelry you create. While some beads are antique, other beads are newly made with an antique style. For example, TOHO’s antique-style beads are traditionally sized at 8/0 and 11/0. Other brands come in smaller sizes, from 15/0 to 24/0; these require ultra-thin (and increasingly rare) beading needles size 15 and up.     

• Swarovski crystal beads: Swarovski-cut, Austrian crystals are often considered the best beads in the world. These high-brilliance leaded-crystal beads are named for the 19th century Bohemian man who developed a machine to cut glass, which was formerly cut by hand.    

• Seed beads: Use seed beads for embroidery and weaving. These minuscule, ovular beads are created from bits and pieces of drawn glass.     

• Craft beads: Craft beads, used for arts and crafts projects, can also make good beadwork objects.

Find Loose Beads on eBay

Find Loose Beads on eBay

Once you know what type of loose beads you want, go to the Jewelry & Watches portal, click Loose Beads, and start searching for items on eBay.

• Categories: The Categories list on the left side of each page will help you narrow down your listings by item type. You'll find links for Lampwork, Crystal & Glass, Metals, Rhinestones, Vintage, Antique, and more. As you dig deeper into the site you'll be able to further narrow down your choices by subcategory.    

• Keyword search: Search eBay listing titles for specific words. For example, if you want to find blue beads made of crystal, type "blue crystal beads" (without quotation marks) into the Search box. Click "Search title and description" to expand your results. Visit eBay's Search Tips page for more tips on searching with keywords.

If you can't find exactly what you want, try shopping eBay Stores, tell the eBay Community what you want by creating a post on Want It Now, or save a search on My eBay and eBay will email you when a match becomes available. You can also find bead art supplies in the Crafts category on eBay.

Buy Loose Beads With Confidence

Buy Loose Beads With Confidence

Before making your purchase, make sure you know exactly what you're buying, research your seller, and understand how eBay and PayPal protect you.

Know your purchase

Carefully read the details in item listings.

• Figure delivery costs into your final price. If you spend a lot of money, make sure the seller will insure the item when it ships.

• If you want more information, ask by clicking the "Ask seller a question" link under the seller's profile.

• Always make sure to complete your transaction on eBay (with a bid, Buy It Now, or Best Offer). Transactions conducted outside of eBay are not covered by eBay protection programs.

• Never pay for your eBay item using instant cash wire transfer services through Western Union or MoneyGram. These payment methods are unsafe when paying someone you do not know.

Know your seller

Research your seller so you feel positive and secure about every transaction.

• What is the seller's Feedback rating? How many transactions have they completed? What percentage of positive responses do they have?

• What do buyers say in their Feedback? Did the seller receive praise?

• Most top eBay sellers operate like retail stores and have return policies. Do they offer a money-back guarantee? What are the terms and conditions?

Buyer protection

In the unlikely event that a problem arises during your transaction, eBay and PayPal are there for you.

• Pay safely with PayPal: PayPal enables you to pay without the seller ever seeing your bank account or credit card numbers. In fact, PayPal protects buyers 100% against unauthorized payments from their accounts. Plus, with PayPal Buyer Protection, your purchase can be covered up to $1,000.

• eBay Security & Resolution Center: Visit the Security & Resolution Center to learn how to protect your account and use eBay's quick and efficient resolution tools.