What can one say about a beaded jewelry designer? When it comes to an artist indulging in their most creative endeavors (to create one-of-a-kind pieces), a beaded jewelry designer has a wide variety of options. Beads can be made from a wide variety of substances, from plastic to glass to crystal to gemstone.
Throughout time, beads have been made from bone, horn, ivory, metal, as well as shells. Frankly, anything that can be pierced to fit a string through, and is small enough to be worn, has been used as a bead. Indeed beaded jewelry may have been the first jewelry. A pair of beads made from Nassarius sea snail shells, approximately 100,000 years old, are thought to be the earliest known examples of jewelry. These beads have been found throughout Israel and Algeria, in Northern Africa.
