Czech Glass Beads

Czech beads are renowned for their excellent craftsmanship dating back to the 11^th Century.  Made of quality glass, the vivid colours will not fade and are consistent throughout the line.  My items use Preciosa (formerly Jablonex) prime-quality, traditional Czech glass beads in pressed-form, seed beads and fire-polished.  The Preciosa brand was first registered in Bohemia in 1915, and has been a world-leading producer of cut crystal since 1948. 

Czech fire-polished beads have been immensely popular for over two centuries, and their appeal is still growing today.  They are made with a process, originated in Bohemia, in which glass beads are machine-faceted, then polished by glazing inside a red-hot oven.  The intense heat of the furnace softens the edges of the facets and gives the beads a smoother feel than machine-polished crystal beads.  The ‘fire-polishing’ also results in warm flashes of refracted fire from the interior of the bead, rather than the intense surface reflections of a lap-polished bead.  These beads do not have lead in them so are not truly crystals, despite the sparkling facets and jewel colours.

One of the particular beauties of fire-polished beads is the range of mixed and mottled colours that are available.  As well as the traditional reproduction of rare precious gems (such as ruby, emerald etc) that other crystal manufacturers were established to do, Czech fire-polished beads also come in colour combinations that resemble all the wonderful semi-precious gemstones out there in the natural world.

The most visible difference between Swarovski crystal and Czech fire-polished can be seen on the edges of the facets.  The Swarovski machine-cut crystal will have a very clean sharp edge between facets.  Czech fire-polished beads have a slightly rounded edge.  This is due to the heating process that gently melts the glass at the edge of the facets and on the edges of the holes.  Czech fire-polished beads do not have lead content so they are not considered crystal.  Swarovski beads are lead crystal (as they do have a lead content) that makes them richer and deeper in colour.