Designing Jewelry with Acrylic Beads
by Rena Klingenberg.
I used to be a bead snob.
Back then, I wouldn’t even look at a bead that wasn’t a semiprecious stone or pearl.
Fortunately, over the years my appreciation grew for other types of beads – glass, wood, bone, polymer clay, ceramic, metal, paper….
And finally acrylic.
Acrylic was probably the last type of bead I learned to appreciate, because the first beads I saw made from that material looked tacky and cheap.
They had obvious seams, ragged holes, and were sloppily decorated.
To me they looked more like toy beads than actual jewelry components.
But nowadays I find lots of acrylic beads that are well-made.
Some are pretty – and even elegant.
And one of the things I especially appreciate about them is that they’re extremely lightweight.
I have never been able
to wear heavy jewelry.
The weight makes me start to feel dragged down and tired after an hour or so – and I wind up taking off the heavy pieces instead of wearing them.
A necklace made with large, chunky stone or glass beads would be too heavy for me to wear.
But with chunky acrylic beads, it’s wonderfully lightweight and comfortable.
Some acrylic beads
come in gorgeously saturated colors.
Like the translucent red and lime colors of the faceted acrylic teardrop beads in the photo above.
And the hot pink teardrop and go-go hoop components in this lariat necklace from my Fun with Lariat Necklaces (Tutorial):
You can make elegant jewelry
with acrylic beads.
Like this tiered necklace with a rainbow of acrylic beads dripping from the chains, from my Two Tier Bib Necklace (Tutorial):
It’s easy to find
large-hole acrylic beads.
These can be great for stringing onto chain, or onto thick cord or wire.
In fact, here I’ve used them as a pretty way to cover the crimp beads at the ends of my necklaces, from my Pretty Crimp Bead Cover Alternative (Tutorial):
I don’t use acrylic beads
for everything.
They’re just one of the elements in my design arsenal.
And although there are still junky looking ones out there, you can also find many lovely, well-made ones.
I purchase most of mine at etsy.com – do a search there for acrylic beads, and another search for lucite beads.
If you’re buying them online, be sure to look at the zoom-in closeup photos, to check for ragged seams and other flaws.
