Semiprecious stones are gems that are not considered as rare or expensive as precious stones.

Transparent beads are beads that light can shine through, and they come in virtually any color, shape and size.

Opaque beads are one solid color and light cannot pass through the bead.

The common weight measurements for stones and gemstones are carats and ounces.

Gemstone Donut Beads, usually used in jewelry making, are generally circular flat beads with a large hole. Like the name suggests, donut beads look similar to the donut you would eat.

A pi bead is simply a round donut bead.

Besides the obvious center hole, some donut beads (sometimes called Donut buttons) have a side-drilled hole going perpendicular to the center hole.

Hex beads are cut on 6 sides and are also known as three-cut beads.

Freshwater pearls have more imperfections, such as not being as round or smooth, when compared to salt water pearls.

Some gemstones that are used in the beading world are "reassembled". The reason usually is that the gemstone is in short supply, or that it is too unstable (crumbly) to make a well shaped bead with a nice glossy polish.

Luster describes the way pearls seem to glow from within. It's based on the depth of reflection due to the layering of the aragonite crystal.

Mother of pearl is the lustrous coating that lines the inside of an oyster or mussel shell.

The criteria that determine the quality of a pearl are based in part on the type of pearl being evaluated. In the case of freshwater pearls, these include shape, size, color, luster and surface quality.

Thanks to some new nucleating techniques, freshwater pearls can be found in a nearly endless variety of shapes, but the more traditional shapes include:

Many people get confused about how different beads and wire are sized and how that compares to inches. These tables should help....

In the beading industry, "std" is an abbreviation for strand.

Donuts can be used as a pendant on a necklace, in earring designs, or as spacers for other beads.

Donut beads come in all shapes and sizes. Some newer style donut beads include half donuts, triangle donuts, axe donuts, oval donuts, figure-8 donuts and heart donuts.