mid-may-2020

Spring Beads, New MrBead Shop & Jade

10th May 2020

Stay safe! We’re hoping bead fairs will resume Mid-June – for bookings click 2020 Bead Fairs.

The new MrBead shop is live from today! Be the first to checkout with an exclusive offer below, before we market on Google and social media. The old stores will continue to operate alongside. 

We’ve already listed around 50 new semi precious beads in the new shop – see at New Beads. And as no shows: there’ll be many more coming soon!

Content:
Spring Beads
New MrBead Shop
Buying Jade For Jewellery
Make a Simple Jade Bracelet
History Of Jade
Types Of Jade
Quality Of Jade
Norwich Bead Fair
2020 Bead Fairs
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Our New MrBead Shop: https://mrbeadshop.com

£5 (about US$6)  Off Anything From MrBead 

Try the new shop with £5 off orders over £20. Shipping is free too on orders over £30 – under this UK P&P is just £2.50. Can only be used once!

To get the discount Key NEWSHOP at checkout now, as offer ends Friday 15th May 2020. Use at https://mrbeadshop.com.

Spring Beads

Spring BeadsSpring is a time of resurrection and birth – this means yellow, green and light colours, and flower beads.

Spring In NorwichMake a bright and matching spring necklace, bracelet & earrings. Use small beads with subtle silver spacers for style. Sell them in a white or light-blue box.

Green beads are good for spring jewellery – other colours to look for are yellow citrine, light green chrysoprase, chrysocolla, chalcedony and chalcedony.

Aquamarine BeadsAquamarine is ideal for spring. It lifts spirit, excellent for meditation, and bringing peace and serenity.  Some even say it helps married couples solve their problems! Colour ranges from a light blue to a bluish green. Darker blue is best, greener less valuable. Check clarity and freedom of flaws or inclusions.

Chalcedony BeadsChalcedony is also a good gemstone for graceful spring jewellery. Its delicate, light-blue colour reminds of early morning mountain sky. Chalcedony is a feminine stone, full of yin energy. Thought to balance the emotions, bring stamina, and promote kindness and charity.

See our chrysoprase, chrysocolla, chalcedony beads here.
See our yellow citrine beads here.
Also see Stone Of The Month.

New MrBead Shop

I hope you like the new shop: https://mrbeadshop.com. We started work on it in January, and it’s take hundreds of hours – thanks to the lockdown it’s ready months early!

Please Register
For our regulars, I’m sorry to say you need to create an account again (as data from the old shop can’t be transferred). However, you only need to do once, it only takes a couple of minutes, and will save you a lot of time on future orders.

Just click the icon at top right of the shop, then Continue to register as a new customer. You’ll then be able to use the Wish List to store anything you like for later.

Simplified Shipping
Everyone hates paying shipping! So for transparency, the new shop has a flat rate of £2.50 for UK orders under £30, then FREE. No need for any code. International shipping starts from £4.99 with a maximum of just £14 – full details here.

New Order Facilities

  • Enhanced Search at top left – key description or item number.
  • All Categories Page – Menu of all items.
  • On Category Page: View as Grid default, or change to view as List. Plus sort by name order, price, or date listed.
  • Choose by ShapeColourSize, or other ways.
  • Add to Wish List (click little heart icon) – you must make an account first, then login.
  • Easily ask Question about a product on Product Page.
  • Add to Compare – you can compare any number of items side-by-side.
  • Shipping confirmation by email or SMS text.
  • No computer or email? No problem! You can order with a smartphone and checkout with your mobile phone number. The shop will send you a SMS text on order and when mailed.

Key Controls

  • Customer Login  Click box at top right.
  • Home Button at top left of every page – takes back to Front Page.
  • Shopping Cart / Basket  at top right – Mouseover shows content & total price.

Use With Smartphone

  • Browse and add beads to your wishlist while relaxing or travelling.
  • Order beads easily on the go. It’s very fast with a smartphone, especially if you have an account and login.
  • Browse on the phone: order on the PC later.
  • Full details at How To Order Beads By Smartphone.

If you’ve seen the new shop, I’d really appreciate you taking my fast 10 simple question survey at: New MrBead Shop Survey.

Buying Jade for Jewellery

To make jewelry, jade is available in loose beads and temporarily strung into strands. Loose beads are cheaper, but beads on strands will hang better making them best for necklaces.

Jade BeadsHowever, if you plan on knotting your necklace, then loose beads are fine. Usually each strand, or string measures 16-inches = 400mm. So if you are buying 6mm beads, you will get (400 divided by 6) about 66 beads to a strand – or around 50 x 8mm beads. A necklace will need at least 75 x 6mm beads, allowing it to hang 9-inchs, 18-inches in all. If you are making a bracelet, you will need about 26 x 8mm beads on average.

Jade BeadsMost coloured jade is dyed, this is usual, and the colour doesn’t come off. So if you want continuity it is best to purchase all you need for a project in one go. Jade beads are carved into more different shapes than other stone. Like tiny, fish, bottles, rings, flowers, barrels, hearts, tubes, and many other designs to compliment a necklace or bracelet.

Make a Simple Jade Bead Bracelet

Jade BraceletTo make a bracelet using elastic only take a few minutes, and is a great way to use up leftover beads. Arrange the beads to form a 7 inch long bracelet as standard.

Then take your spool of elastic and string the beads without cutting a length of elastic. This will keep your beads in place.

To finish, a larger complementary bead for the end looks attractive. Pull both ends of the elastic through this bead, and pull both ends through a small crimp bead. Then flatten the crimp bead with pliers to secure the beads.

History of Jade

For 5,000 years Imperial China used the word “jade” as something precious – as in English we use gold.

Jade Ring BeadsBecause the Chinese believe jade has all the attributes most valued in society. A symbol of purity and serenity, it’s delicate, but won’t break – is beautiful, but not impermanent, it can be flawed with lines, but still pleasing.

Jade is believed to radiate divine unconditional love and balance the emotions. Held in the hand it improves judgment – ancient silk traders held jade while bartering. A small piece of jade worn around the neck was said to dispel illness.

Chinese JadeChinese jade first arrived in the West during the sixteenth century, brought from Canton by the Portuguese. Today, most jade originates from Burma, but carved in China.

The best jade has a waxy, pearly appearance. Feeling cool and so smooth, it seems soft to the touch. Yet hard enough that pressure from a sharp knife will not leave a mark. Every jade carving has a secret meaning.

Benefits Of Jade
Jade was also thought to preserve the body after death and can be found in emperors’ tombs from thousands of years ago. One tomb contained an entire suit made out of jade, to assure the physical immortality of its owner. Jadeite is also thought to cure kidney stones and other kidney ailments.

Types of Jade

The most famous type of jade has shades of green, lavender, yellow, white and grey. These colours form over millions of years from minerals in the rock. However, its the emerald green of jadeite that’s highly sought after.

Other colours are influenced by iron (green and brown) and manganese is thought to produces violet. However today, most coloured jade is dyed.

Nephrite Jade BeadsJade is remarkably tough, used by many early civilizations for axes, knives and weapons. Because of its smooth even texture, jade was soon carved into ornaments – and it wasn’t until 1863 that it was realized that Jade was being applied to two different minerals: jadeite and nephrite.

Jade BeadsJadeite is almost never found in individual crystals and is composed of microscopic interlocking crystals that produce a very tough material.

The nephrite variety is composed of fibrous crystals inter-twinned in a tough compact mass. Nephrite is more abundant than jadeite and has fewer color varieties – usually less intense dark spinach greens, white, browns, and black.

Quality of Jade

Although most jade beads these days are dyed, chunks of quality jade is usually sold by the piece rather than per carat.

Although colour is the most important value factor, attention is also paid to translucency, texture, and pattern. Certain patterns, like moss in snow, are expensive. Both jadeite and nephrite are very durable and tough, although jadeite is slightly harder than nephrite.

The top jadeite jade is usually cut into smooth dome shapes called cabochons. Jadeite bangles are also very popular in Asian countries.

To see all our Jade click: Jade Beads

Norwich Bead Fair

NorwichWe’re hoping the Norwich show can go ahead Mid-June – but your safety is paramount, so it depends on what’s advised. If necessary, we can delay the fair by a month or two.

Even then, we’ll limit the number in the hall at any one time, and issue everyone with free masks and gloves. Norwich is actually the safest place in the country, but those outside the city may not be allowed to travel.

Areas With The Lowest Covis-19 Deaths (Per 100,000 People – Source: Daily Mail 1st May 2020):

  1. Norwich – 4.9
  2. Hastings – 6.3
  3. Grimsby – 8
  4. Stockton-on-Tees – 8.9
  5. Scunthorpe – 10.5
  6. Plymouth – 10.6
  7. Weston-super-Mare – 11
  8. Lincoln – 11.3
  9. Worthing – 12.1
  10. Bournemouth – 13.2

15-Years of MrBead Newsletters
2005 to 2020

The MrBead Newsletter started April 2005, so April 2020 is the 15th full year of publication. To see the past newsletters click here. I hope some of these will inspire you to make more jewellery.

To see all the original old newsletters click here.
To sign-up for the free newsletters click http://www.mrbead.com/beadnewsletter.htm.

£5 (about US$6)  Off Anything From MrBead 

Try the new shop with £5 off orders over £20. Plus shipping is free too on orders over £30 – under this UK P&P is just £2.50. Can only be used once!

To get the discount Key NEWSHOP at checkout now, as offer ends Friday 15th May 2020. Use at https://mrbeadshop.com.

Early 2020 Bead Fairs

All shows cancelled until at least the end of May. We hope to start again with Norwich Bead Fair on Sunday 14th June and Sunday 5th July at Cornish Bead Fair.
Shows booked this year, click 2020 Bead Fairs.

OUR NEW MRBEAD SHOP: HTTPS://MRBEADSHOP.COM

Always Free Post on UK Orders Over £30!

For free UK shipping from our bead store enter FREEPOST at the checkout at http://www.MrBead.co.uk

MrBead Newsletter:

15 Years of Newsletters 2005 to 2020. See all at Old MrBead Newsletters.
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