What are European Beads? Getting Started

European beads are silver, gold, or glass beads that are used to make charm bracelets or necklaces. There are many different styles of beads and glass. The nicest (and most expensive) ones are made out of sterling silver, gold, and murano glass.

What you need to get started
Bracelets
To get started, all you need is a bracelet and some beads. Choosing a bracelet can be very expensive (for the name brand ones) or very inexpensive (if you get a piece of leather or cord and put beads on it). The route I went initially was a cheap bracelet and necklace from http://www.evesaddiction.com . After my experience (which I will talk about in another post), I suggest getting something sturdy and sterling silver (not plated). I'm having a bad time with plating having worn off the bracelet clasp after less than 3 weeks (but I wear it all the time).

I've come to conclusion that you can go cheap with necklaces (because who ever looks at the clasp), but go nicer on the bracelet since people are more likely to look at it closely. The company you choose to go with will impact what beads you can use, so pick a company whose beads you like. (Here's an ebay article that is pretty good)

Another issue to consider is threading. Pandora is threaded which means the beads screw on. This is great because the beads stay where you put them, no sliding around. This also means you have to be careful with what beads you buy from other vendors. Chamilia is threaded at the clasp, but not on the chain (except at joints). Trollbeads are not threaded at all.

Charms
Like bracelets, you can get as cheap or nice as you want. Name brand silver charms will run $24 - $34 (US). General brand ones will run between $2 - $18 dollars. Again, here I'm having problems with the plating wearing off. If you will be wearing the charm constantly, sterling silver might be the way to go. (Or invest in silver nail polish to touch up the bronze colored spots.)


Glass Beads
The glass beads are usually called murano glass after a style made popular in Italy. Some of them are really cool. You can also get lampwork beads that will fit these bracelets made by local (or not so local) artists.

Other Beads
Most of the beads have stopper beads or lock beads so you can group beads and keep them from sliding too much on the chain. There are also spacer beads which are smaller silver beads to create space between your charms or glass beads.

Companies that make European Beads
"Designer"

• Pandora
• Chamilia
• Trollbeads
• Zable
• Biagi
  

General

• Pugster
• Eve's Addiction
• Ebay (search for pandora)
  

So, is there any brand that is better than another? Not really. Pandora seems to be the most restrictive with the fewest beads from other companies fitting on it. Trollbeads will fit pretty much any brand (as far as I can tell) because it is just a chain and not threaded like the others are. Most of the off general bead companies claim to fit Pandora.

Personally, I don't like Pandora's beads as much. I like Trollbeads much better, but that is a matter of personal preference.