Czech beads are incredibly varied and versatile which makes them popular among beaders. They are made by a number of Czech manufacturers mainly in the Jablonec region.  Best Beads is a Czech supplier of many types of these beads - they offer special discounts for volume buys.  They recently sent me Preciosa Pip™ beads for review.



These beads are petal shaped and side drilled at the top.  They are not as pointy like dagger beads. The color finishes are beautiful as you can see below.  Metallic, pearl luster and mottled effects were found in the beads I received. Just gorgeous!



Although I considered making some wire work projects, Pip beads are really too wonderful for bead work to pass up on. So I made a beaded cabochon pendant using two of the gold tone beads at the bottom.


Fellow members of the Grand River Bead Society will recognize the bezel cabochon part as well as the moss stitch as the project we did with Stephanie Dixon back in October.  When I took it home,  I made it oval and off centered the cabochon. The use of double layered pip beads was inspired by some of the designs in Linda Landy's Textured Bead Embroidery book which I reviewed recently.

Sharp eyed beaders may have noticed I did not use a beaded bail.  So tune in later this week on the tip/tutorial on how to add a jump ring bail to beaded cabochon pendants.


Beading was my first love and I wish I had more time to devote to it.  If you are in a perpetual time crunch like me, then consider light beading projects!  My Pip bead flower earring designs below are based on the idea that the stiff foundation typically used in bead embroidery could be replaced with metal filigrees! Fast beading indeed!  The basic tutorial for this can be found here.






Giveaway
If you'd like to win the $50 worth of  Czech beads from Best Beads to create your own awesome designs,  please make a comment below. Make sure you leave contact info if you do not have an online shop or blog.  If you can, also let us know which kind of Czech beads are your favorite!

Subscribers need to click on the post title to come to my actual blog. Scroll down and enter your comment. Pick Name/URL. If you don't have a store or blog, leave the URL blank. 

This giveaway is international.

Extra entries if you become or are a blog subscriber or follower etc. If you also do shout outs about this giveaway, those will count as additional entries too! Please say so in the comments.

It ends in a week's time at 6 pm EST Monday, November 24, 2014. I will pick the winner randomly and announce the results as soon as possible after. So be sure to leave a contact email if you don't have an online link or make sure you come back and check! Otherwise I will redraw in a week. Good luck!

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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
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