Buying Quality Jewelry Beads Wholesale

One must be careful when buying wholesale jewelry beads otherwise they might end up with a shipment of beads that are worth nothing to them. Choosing the right kinds of beads for making jewelry requires patience, thought and meticulous attention to detail. Forget about the plastic beads used by children to make jewelry for school craft projects, the beads we are interested in are classy, quality beads used in making the finest hand crafted jewelry.

Stay away from cheap plastic beads. While they may be used in certain pieces, plastic beads overall aren't very durable or look all that elegant and pretty for jewelry making purposes. Go for glass or Lucite beads instead; these are far more durable than plastic beads and are also shiny and very pretty to look at. They are also not blighted with the unsightly cloudy sheen that plastic beads possess. Lucite or glass beads are ideal for jewelry making.

If you have the chance, always inspect the beads first before buying them. Make sure that they are prefect shapes, lopsided beads can't be used to make jewelry. Broken, chipped or scratched beads are totally useless for our purposes and should not be purchased no matter how low their prices are. They are sold cheaply because they are damaged goods suitable only to be thrown away. Save your money for beads without any imperfections.

Since most beads are sold wholesale in bulk or sold online, you won't have the chance to inspect every single bead. In such cases it is important to ask about the wholesale company's exchange and return policy. Check to see if they allow you to return and exchange beads with visible imperfections for better ones. Depending the packaging methods used and the terms of the sale this may not always be possible and many wholesalers will not allow for partial returns of beads. Shop around to find the deal that suits you best.

Beads can be bought wholesale in a variety of colors and shapes of beads that can be used to make a wide range of jewelry. To make attractive and comfortable necklaces or bracelets it is important to select the appropriate kind of beads; this cannot be guessed or randomly picked from a product catalog it is something that requires research to be done beforehand. Many jewelry designs using beads have more than one color in mind, so make sure you pick beads that have complimentary colors such as purple and yellow or red and green when buying from a wholesaler.

Beads for jewelry making can be bought in a variety of shapes ranging from round (spherical) beads, cubes, squares, hexagonal beads, roundels, flat rectangles, tubes, briolettes, tear drops, seeds, ovals, flats, nuggets and many more. All these beads and more are available at wholesalers specializing in jewelry supplies. The choices are astounding, but you have to have a clear vision of what type of beads and what color you need for your jewelry making. Sometimes browsing a product catalog online will bring inspiration, other times it requires careful planning.

Here are some great online resources on making jewelry with beads:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2141127_select-gemstone-beads-necklace.html
http://www.abeadstore.com/
http://www.lapidaryjournal.com/stepbystep/