Part 3: Czech Glass!
Next time you peruse your beads, think about the specific beads in your collection that truly stand out to you…the ones that make you just a little extra happy when you look at them. What about those beads makes you love them just a little bit more? I’m willing to bet it’s not so much the bead – but the FINISH! The same simple bead can be utterly transformed with various finishes currently available on the market. Today, in part 3 of our new blog mini-series, we’ll review Czech glass beads and just SOME of the amazing finishes that can be found coating them!
Here at Eureka Crystal Beads, we carry a huge selection of Czech glass! On our website we offer a variety of shapes and sizes in various colors that feature these lovely finishes. Below, in our third and final installment in this mini-series, I’ll review the many standard finishes you can expect to find on these lovely beads! Note: Often, more than one finish can be combined on the same bead!
| AB , | AB stands for Aurora Borealis, and whether a seed bead finish is “AB,” “Rainbow,” or “Iris,” they all have one aspect in common: an oil-slick rainbow effect that tends to pick up on whatever else it’s near and can become more or less intense depending on the color underneath it. This will usually cover one part of the bead.
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| Bronze | These beads are coated with a bronze-gold glaze and baked.
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| Iris | Metal Rainbow-type coating, usually found mainly on opaque beads
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| Frost, | Slightly less than a matter surface, a frosted finish may resemble sea glass!
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| Opal | If the glass is an Opal glass, it is generally milky and translucent. If it’s the finish that is Opal, the finish will give a bead a milky/pearly effect.
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| Opaque | An opaque glass bead is one that is solid color throughout and that doesn’t let light pass through.
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| Luster | This finish, which is a transparent glaze, provides a white shine to the outside of the bead.
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| Marea | A gold/orange effect over part of a bead
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| Matte | Matte surface beads lack any shiny surface. (When combined with an AB-type finish, they truly take on a beautiful depth!)
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| Metallic | Coated in a metal-type finish that creates a highly reflective bead surface
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| Peacock | A rainbow metallic finish, often with a blue/green tint
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| Pearl | Opaque Luster coating giving the look of an actual pearl when applied over glass.
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| Satin – Soft dull or flat sheen | A soft and hazy luminescent finish
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| Transparent | A clear bead with or without color that allows all light to pass though.
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| Vitrail | Silver/Iridescent finish on part of a bead, often with a bright orange/pink tint
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