Sample Ave Beads

top: 8mm Preciosa pink decor faceted crystals
bottom: 8mm salmon-pink jade beads (often incorrectly sold online as morganite [‘pink emerald’ or technically ‘pink beryl’,  beryl being the technical name for the mineral which is known as emerald when green, morganite when pink, and aquamarine when watery blue).

	8mm natural aquamarines, which are the blue form of beryl (the same mineral as emerald and morganite; note the morganite pink in the upper left bead!).
	8mm Swarovski bicones in aquamarine
	8mm light-aquamarine jade with example Paters (lampwork beads except for the second one, which is a tensha rose bead)
	8mm dark-aquamarine jade
	10×8 dark-aquamarine Czech crystal faceted ovals (bracelets only)
	8mm sapphire-colored agates with a blue lampwork glass Pater decorated with pink roses
	The same 8mm sapphire-colored agates with a blue, gold, and silver Sommerso lampwork Pater
	8mm royal blue jade (dyed) faceted beads
	8mm lapis lazuli (dyed and heat-treated). There is also a form of lapis lazuli called ‘denim lapis’ that is undyed, washed-denim in color, and with prominent matrix swirls of grey and white. Both make excellent rosary beads.
	8mm Capri blue or ‘sapphire’ crystal faceted rounds, my favorite for the September birthstone.
	7-8mm cobalt Czech crystal faceted rounds. These are darker than the Capri blue crystal above, more like a navy blue.
	8x6mm cobalt Czech bellflower beads with 3mm crystal pearls
	Top: 8mm Swarovski rounds in blue zircon; Bottom: 8mm Swarovski rounds in indicolite
	8x6mm medium aqua Czech bellflower beads with 3mm crystal pearls
	8mm African blue topaz
	8mm ocean-blue (dyed) agate faceted beads. Also available in 10mm.
	10x8mm bright teal Czech crystal faceted ovals (bracelets only)
	8mm genuine amazonite with two sample Paters: a silver-plated heart with a Celtic knot design, and a pearlized white Czech lentil bead.

Purple

Two months have a purple-colored birthstone: February with amethyst, and June with alexandrite. Natural amethysts come in every shade from deep purple to palest lavender; I prefer to work with medium-to-deep purple amethysts, but think that dogtooth amethyst would be a masculine alternative and would be willing to try it in a custom request.

Alexandrite is the only gemstone that naturally changes color between natural and artificial light: often described by gem aficionados as “emerald by day, ruby by night,” alexandrite is the very rare color-change variety of the mineral chrysoberyl. Its daylight color is anything from mossy green to deep teal, while its color under artificial light is a rose/wine purple-red. It is exeptionally rare and valuable, so crystals or jade of corresponding colors are universally used in rosaries instead. (A rosary with real alexandrite beads would be in a museum!)

	8mm true amethysts. These amethysts are a high quality of beads, being quite translucent with some visible inclusions, but having a true deep amethyst color.  I also have variegated amethysts in the deep purple color with silver luminescence in the lighter ‘variegated’ portions.   6mm amethysts also available.
	8mm amethyst Preciosa crystal
	8mm tanzanite (-colored) Preciosa crystal, which is a slightly bluer color (cooler in tone) than amethyst-colored crystal. Tanzanite, a precious stone discovered only recently, is most prized in the bluish-purple color and is often given as a modern alternative for a December birthstone.
	8mm purple imperial jade. I photographed this jade against a black-and-white page of chant as that was the only way the camera did not render the beads as black. They are a beautiful very deep purple. (The chant is Christus vincit, most appropriate.)
	8mm wine-rose ‘alexandrite’-colored jade.  These are definitely redder in tone than any of the preceding stones or crystals.
	8x6mm apollo gold Czech bellflowers paired with 4mm pink crystal pearls (and an 8mm pink crystal pearl Pater). These gorgeous beads are incredibly difficult to photograph. They are a medium pink-mauve color with an iridescent gold coating.

Pearls

Pearls are one of the two birthstones for June, and since pearls come in so many different colors, a person born in June has a nearly limitless choice of colors of pearls. Below are the most common colors and types of pearls that I keep in stock.

I use four types of pearls, one natural, one manmade from natural materials, and two manmade imitations:
Natural cultured freshwater potato pearls have a slightly irregular oval shape and are drilled through the middle of the pearl, not lengthwise. I normally use these only for Paters.

Shell pearls are mother-of-pearl beads covered in a proprietary solution that includes ground nacre and mother-of-pearl and then heat-hardened to a permanent coating; they have the weight and sheen of natural pearls but are far less expensive, and each supplier has proprietary dyed colors that are permanent.

The two types of manmade pearls are Swarovski ‘crystal pearls’ (their trademarked brand) and Crystazzi pearl beads; these are traditional imitation pearls with a glass bead center, dipped in a proprietary solution that may or may not contain real pearls/nacre, then heat-hardened.

All of these wear like real pearls and do not have their outer layer wear off as did imitation pearls of the last two centuries that were merely pearlescent-painted glass beads.

	8mm white shell pearls (also available in 6mm). These come with either a silvery lustre or a white lustre.
	8mm peach shell pearls
	8mm pink shell pearls, shown with a 10mm pink shell pearl and a gold/pink/mauve Murano lampwork Pater.(also available in 6mm)
Picture to come	8mm silver shell pearls (also available in 6mm)
	8mm light mauve shell pearls with a gold/pink/mauve Murano lampwork Pater. These are definitely more pink/lavender toned than the next ones.
	8mm silver mauve shell pearls with a ivory lampwork rondelle Pater with light and dark mauve floral decoration.

Also available: Swarovski or Crystazzi pearls in pale rose, pale gold, amber gold, and white (6mm or 8mm or both); white also available in rice shape. Other colors available by request.

White, Opalescent, and Clear Crystal

April’s birthstone is diamond, which is usually replaced in rosaries with clear crystal (often with aurora borealis [AB] coating) or naturally clear rock crystal. Since rock crystal is substantially more expensive than crystal beads, I only stock it by request.

Mother-of-pearl beads of many shapes were common Aves in the 19th and first half of the 20th century, including cubes and chips (!). I stock rice beads shaped mother-of-pearl beads for pocket rosaries.

Opal is one of the three October birthstones (the other two being pink zircon and tourmaline). True opals may be found under the Pink/Peach heading. “Opalescent” refers to any stone—whether real, lab-created opal, crystal, or glass—that exhibits an opal-type flash.

		8mm opalite. Often sold under the trade name ‘Sri Lanka moonstone”, opalite is a glass that is treated during the firing with a secret process to produce the flash that is similar to real opals. The first picture shows opalite under strong light, with the characteristic gold and peach flash of opalite. The second picture shows it under natural light, in hand, which shows the normal variation of translucency from milky white to translucent pale blue. The best quality of opalite glass has this milky-white to very pale blue; it does not look baby blue or totally clear with a blue cast.
	10x8mm white opal AB Czech crystal teardrops (large-sized bracelets only); 8mm rounds can be acquired for rosaries or regular-sized bracelets
	8mm alabaster opal faceted round Czech crystals. Taken on a brocade backdrop to try to should the beauty of these hard-to-photograph crystals.

Black

Solid black glass beads were and still are the traditional rosary beads for many men’s rosaries such as a Knights of Columbus rosary. Black crystal and black onyx have been the preferred beads for the Chaplet of Our Lady of Sorrows (the Seven Sorrows Chaplet). I keep black onyx beads in stock but can order black crystal or black hematite upon request in 6mm, 8mm, or 10mm round (faceted or plain), or 9x6mm ovals.

8mm solid-black onyx round beads shown with Sommerso lampwork beads of black glass with silver and gold foil sealed in clear glass. Onyx is the black form of chalcedony, and may be totally black or exhibit black-and-white banding.

Mixed-color Stones, Manmade Stones, and Other Natural Beads

I love beautiful natural stones, and so have included some of my favorites in each color category above. This category contains natural agates that do not fall into any other category as well as tiger eye. Also included here are goldstone (a manmade stone often falsely claimed to be natural) and Job’s tears, a dried seed often used in Victorian rosaries.

	11x8mm red tiger eye ovals. The golden-yellow version of tiger eye is more common, but I fell in love with these red tiger eye beads. The colors range from rust to deep red to almost black.
	8mm Botswana agates. Agates are a form of chalcedony that are distinguished by their banding and silky/waxy surface. These agates are not dyed or treated–the gorgeous colors are natural.
	8mm mixed colors of Indian agates. These agates are also completely naturally colored.
	8mm goldstone. Goldstone is a type of colored glass which has copper flecks introduced into it during the heating of the slag, resulting in the gold speckles throughout. There is also a variety called ‘blue goldstone’ which is a beautiful navy blue with gold flecks.
	8-11mm round/oval Job’s tears. Job’s tears are the flower-containing pod of a type of corn that grows as a roadside weed and as a harvested grain in both Old and New World tropical climates. Other names for these naturally polished and ‘drilled’ beads are David’s tears, Saint Mary’s tears, Christ’s tears (Lacryma Christi), and just plain tear drops. You can read more about Job’s tears here.

Endnotes on stone/gemstone beads and pearls

China is the largest manufacturer of stone beads worldwide, and some of my stone beads come from China. In terms of gemstone names and description, China does not have the legally-protected, accurate gemstone names that we do in the US, so, for instance, any red stone bead may be described as a ‘ruby’, a green stone bead as ’emerald’, and so on. The Chinese do not seem to care whether or not beads are actually of the chemical composition of precious or semi-precious gemstones; they use what we think of as gemstone names as color names only. This does not preclude the lowest grade of actual gemstone as being part or all of a ‘lot’ of beads–there may very well be some real ruby or peridot or emerald et cetera (opaque or translucent at best) in a lot that is primarily jade.

Even more confusing is that jade does come in most of the colors we associate with precious or semi-precious stones; otherwise, it is permanently dyed and/or heat-treated to enhance the color. Most precious and semi-precious stones are treated in some way–for instance, emeralds are normally oiled (even the most expensive ones) to increase their clarity. There are many websites you can consult to read about faceted-gem quality stones and their treatments. There is not even a legal definition of ‘precious’ and ‘semi-precious’; those are just traditional descriptions of the highest quality (clarity) of clear or colored stones.

I do my best to only purchase stones from legitimate buyers who understand American rules on what a stone must be in order to be called by a specific name, but I have no control as to whether the stones are truly what they are called. Bead-quality stones are always a lesser quality than the gem-quality stones faceted for the jewelry trade, and I know that I am not paying for jewelry quality stones, no matter what the vendor calls them, so I will preface my descriptions with the possible attribution of the stones as well as what they probably are, to be on the safe side; e.g., ruby/ruby jade.