Easter, Diamond & Crystal Beads
1st April 2023
See us tomorrow, 2nd April, at Cambridge Bead Fair, Harston Village Hall, CB22 7PX. Close to M11 J11. Free entry & refreshments.
For bookings so far click Bead Fairs 2023.
MrBead Shop: https://mrbeadshop.com
Content:
Cambridge Bead Fair
Easter Beads
East Sussex Bead Fair Report
Diamonds For April
Cubic Ziconia
Quartz Crystals – April’s Alternate Stone
New Beads
Next Bead Fairs
Beads Up North
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15% Off All From MrBead
Enjoy 15% off anything with no minimum order. Shipping is free too on UK orders over £35 – under this UK P&P is just £2.99. International shipping from £6.99.
Can only be used at the MrBead shop & not with any other coupon. To get the discount Key CAMBRIDGE at checkout now, as offer ends Sunday 9th April 2023. Use at https://mrbeadshop.com.
Orders delayed while we take a few days Easter break – from Tuesday 4th to Sunday 9th April. Will mail on Monday 3rd.
Happy Easter!
Cambridge Bead Fair
Don’t miss Cambridge – a busy, fun show with a huge range of different beads.
Semi precious & pearls from MrBead; glass & crystals from Southampton Bead Shop; findings, tools & beading kits from Nottigham Bead Shop; and custom rings & jewellery from MaghaJewels. Free Entry & Refreshments!
Full Details at: Cambridge Bead Fair
EASTER BEAds
Easter Friday this year is on 7th April – so get your Easter designs ready now! Easter’s a great time to sell jewellery – spring has arrived, and buyers are keen for new designs. There’s also many spring fairs over the holiday for you to sell at.
We have a whole category of flower beads made from all stones and material. Some millefiori, some agate, some jade and some metal.
Bunny, egg designs and flower beads are great for the Easter jewellery. Light yellow, green, or anything pastel. Hight key and enlightening. Resurrect your old non-sellers, by taking apart and adding different beads for a new design.
Choose pastel colours and mix them to make a bright, light, design. Pearls are also popular this time of year, along with all types of crystal and jade.
These all produce a bright, high-key look. White, yellows, greens and pinks look good, giving a spring-like feel. Colourful seed beads can be used to cover eggs and other objects to give an Easter look.
Give a loved one a pearl necklace for an Easter present – she will look so good wearing it on Easter Day. Plus, flower bead bracelets and earrings are so easy to make too. Happy Easter!
See Our Pink Beads
See Our Pearl Beads
See Our Flower Beads
For ideas, see what others are making this Easter on Elsy
East Sussex Bead Fair Report
Alfriston was a new record for our own shows! We sold more beads at this fair than any other far in the past, except Big Bead and one Kempton. Britain is indeed booming now – with bead sales exceeding pre-lockdown levels and tables hard to book at most restaurants. Don’t believe the media!
There were so many through the door, the hall was chock-a-block. However, we had a hard time. No parking (only to load) outside, and no phone signal for our card machine. Luckily there was wifi, but sometimes we still had trouble. Maybe next time we need to find another hall. Shame really, as Alfriston is a beautiful village.
Click For Short Video Of East Sussex Bead Fair & Rye With Bead Buyer
DIAMOND APRIL’S GEMSTONE
April’s birthstone is diamond. With myths of romance, power, greed, and magic. Ancient Hindus thought they came from lightning bolts. Today, the diamond is a symbol of enduring love and the hardest naturally-occurring substance.
Diamonds are similar to graphite, both crystalline forms of carbon. The difference is the way carbon atoms are bonded together. Graphite atoms are in sheets that easily slide past each other. Diamond crystals, are a tight-fisted network of carbon atoms securely held in four directions.
Diamonds were formed over 3-billion years ago inside the Earth’s crust. The majority are extracted in Africa by miners paid less than a dollar a day. The second-largest miner of diamonds is Russia – so economic sanctions will hike prices. However, the world’s largest jeweller, Pandora, switched from natural to lab-grown diamonds last year.
More Ethnical Diamonds
Up until a few years ago De Beers controlled all the worlds diamonds. By stockpiling, they increased the value of a relatively-common crystallized rock. However, we can now artificially grow diamonds, like how they’re formed in nature. Using high pressure and temperature in ‘growth chambers’, the size of a washing machine.
A sliver of natural diamond is bathed in molten graphite with a catalyst at 1,500 C. Slowly, carbon precipitates onto the diamond seed. A gem-quality, 2.8-carat rough yellow diamond grows within three-and-a-half days. This can then be cut and polished to over 1.5 carats.
Chemically these’re identical to mined diamonds – but have different growth patterns and a lack of inclusions that would draw suspicions to a jeweller. However, a lack of inclusions can be a good thing.
CUBIC ZICONIA
A cheaper way of making a stone that looks like diamond is Cubic Zirconia – a dense clear material through which laser light can be reflected.
Formed at high-temperature, the compound crystallizes into chunks similar to rough diamonds. Using the naked eye, even a trained jeweller can’t detect the difference between good cubic zirconia, genuine or cultured diamonds. All are faceted, cut and polished the same.
Click for our cubic zirconia rings.
QUARTZ CRYSTAL – APRIL’S ALTERNATE GEMSTONE
Diamonds are too expensive for most jewellery, but a gemstone with similar characteristics for April is quartz crystal. You can benefit from the same metaphysical properties as diamond, by using quartz beads.
The Mayans, Druid priests, and Tibetan monks all knew the spiritual power of crystal. The ancients used it to strengthen the sun’s rays to bring heat, and the Chinese science of feng-shui teaches that arranging crystals around the home retains positive energy.
Crystals became important to these people because of the belief in their capacity to store and amplify any power source fed into them – physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual.
Today’s crystal therapists say that the stones’ ability to work as a conductor allows energy to be focused via a person’s thoughts to stimulate healing.
Many people use crystal to focus attention on what they want. With a little imagination, you too can use crystal’s energy to access a higher level of consciousness and turn a desire into reality.
All types of crystal have this magical power, but individual colour crystal is believed to have other uses too.
Rose quartz, the stone of unconditional love, is great for emotional healing. Red, yellow, and orange stones are said to produce energy; clear and aquamarine stones are healers; and lavender and blue-violet are calming stones.
Pure rock crystal is clear, but usually quart comes in a variety of opacity. Rutilated quartz has tiny inclusions inside the rock.
Milky quartz is cloudy because of fluid embodied in the crystal – creating an attractive effect of a crystal within a crystal, giving the interior a ghostly appearance. Smoky Quartz is caused by natural radiation from nearby granite rocks.
Click for our Crystal Beads
Our Quartz Beads
New Beads
We have some NEW!
Click For Our New Beads
2023 Bead Fairs
This year we’re doing less of the 3-day Gem n Bead Fairs, and more of our own single day shows with free entry & free refreshments. We can display more, they’re busier, and visitors have more of a buzz and chance to share ideas together! If we’re far from you, let me know and I’ll consider your location.
Next Bead Fairs
Sunday 2nd April: Cambridge Bead Fair Harston Village Hall
Saturday 15th April: London Luton Bead Fair, Stockwood Hotel
Sunday 16th April: Oxfordshire Bead Fair, Hornton Pavilion
Sunday 23rd April: Beads Up North, Haydock Racecourse
Saturday 13th May: New Forest Bead Fair, Brockenhurst Village Hall
Sunday 14th May: Welsh Bead Fair, Redwick Village Hall
Sunday 21st May: Cornish Bead Fair, Probus Village Hall
For the full list so far click: 2023 Bead Fairs.
Beads Up North Discounted Tickets Now Available – Click Beads Up North Tickets to buy by card or Paypal.
A great long-standing show just-off the M6 between Manchester & Liverpool. Learnt to bead with workshops – many exhibitors & refreshments. Not to be missed! Sunday 23rd April.
15% Off All From MrBead
Enjoy 15% off anything with no minimum order. Shipping is free too on UK orders over £35 – under this UK P&P is just £2.99. International shipping from £6.99.
Can only be used at the MrBead shop & not with any other coupon. To get the discount Key CAMBRIDGE at checkout now, as offer ends Sunday 9th April 2023. Use at https://mrbeadshop.com.
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