Economical Gemstone Beads for Jewelry
If you like to use gemstones in your jewelry designs and also like a more “organic” look, give gemstone chips a try. Gemstone chips are the by-product of the manufacturing process for other shapes of gemstone beads. The excess “chips” are then polished, drilled and temporarily strung. The resulting strands are much less expensive than round, faceted or shaped beads from the same material stock.
We just replenished our inventory of “mini-chips” from our supplier in India. In general, the mini-chips are about 4-6mm wide and 1-3mm thick and strung on 16” strands. Some of the more popular gemstones back in stock include the Tanzanite (pictured below), Multi-Tourmaline, Smoky Quartz, and Sunstone.
