Beyond AB - Other Bead Finishes.

Now that you know what an AB and Matte bead is, let's look at some of the other exotic treatments. Most of these coatings are applied to only one side of the bead, making transparent beads more reflective because of the mirror-like properties of the coating, and making opaque beads more dramatic, sometimes, even making them "reversible" - completely different from one side to the other.

First of all, some of the common, and not so common, bead finishes that you will find on Fire polish and pressed glass beads. Some are common on many colours of beads, and some are on just a few, usually clear.
Azuro is a dark metallic blue coating with flashes of gold along the edges.

Zairit is more purple than blue, and tends to have more gold in it.







Labrador is a silver coating on clear. It is always on clear and so is called Crystal Labrador.


Capri is a coppery colour on one side of the bead, often on clear, (known as Crystal Capri) but not always. Capri is also a colour, but to be confusing, Capri the colour is a deep aqua, and Capri the coating tends to make the clear beads look rather pink.

Marea is a gold tone, sort of brassy. Mostly on clear, (Crystal Marea) - it is occasionally seen on other colours.

That covers firepolish and pressed glass beads, and some machine cut crystal beads. Swarovski has it's own speciality finishes, unique to them, such as Volcano, Heliotrope, etc. They deserve their own page, so I'll cover them in another article! Seedbeads also have their own terminology, and I'll cover those separately too!