Opal comes in many varieties and is available at Root's Beads in boulder opal, white opal, and fire opal.

Looking for a nice black and white color scheme?  Try black onyx, white howlite, snowflake obsidian, and smokey quartz, as shown here in beads, donuts, carved leaves, hearts and animal beads.

Brown stones:  earthtone onyx, riverstone, picture jasper, leopard jasper, mahogany obsidian, boulder opal, tigereye

Picture jasper with its natural tans evokes images of the dessert and is available in a variety of bead shapes and sizes, plus cabochons, donuts, and carved animal beads.  Other jaspers we carry include red jasper, poppy jasper, breciated jasper, Picasso Jasper and ocean jasper.

Red/ pink stones: rubies, garnet, red jasper, poppy jasper, rose quartz, pink opal, rhodochrosite, rhodonite, tourmaline, spinel, red jade

Pink opals and rhodochrosite bring out the feminine side of stones.  The lovely pastel pinks of pink opal are available in nuggets and beautiful flowers and rondells when we can get them. Rhodochrosite is a more vivid banded pink stone available in a variety of sizes and shapes..

Rust /orange stones: hessonite garnet, sunstone, natural agate, carnelian agate,crazy lace agate, fire opal, peach/red aventurine, goldstone, mookaite

The rust-reds of natural agates and carnelian agates come in rounds, shapes, nuggets, chips, carved flowers and more.  The barrel and rondell mix shown here is condor agate.  At Root's Beads we also have a great selection of antique trade agate, the South American agates cut in Idar-Oberstein, Germany, and traded to the African colonies.

Yellow stones:  citrine, sunstone, yellow jade, honey onyx, lemon quartz, amber

These lovely yellows and golds are amber, available in many sizes, shapes and colors of amber.           

Serpentine comes in the lovely pale translucent greens of "new jade" or "shui jade" plus the opaque yellows of "yellow turquoise" and the natural green/brown/golden swirled version shown here.  The dark even colored browns are heat treated.  Because  serpentine is a relatively soft stone it  is often carved into different designs on the beads as well as many pendants, donuts, and dragons.

The greens of moss agate and nephrite jade are cut in many sizes and shapes including nephrite carvings of whale tails and fishhook pendants.  Jadeite and Tibetan jade pendants are just some of the specialy items available at Root's Beads.

Beautiful green malachite, shown in a variety of beads and carved pieces.  We carry a nice selection of malachite in round and shaped beads, donuts in several sizes, and animals, small animal bead pendants, and boxes.

Blue stones:  sapphire, iolite, blue lace agate, lapis lazuli, turquoise, sodalite, dumortierite, apatite, blue tigereye, blue goldstone, azurite, aquamarine

Turquoise!  Enjoy the beautiful blues of Sleeping Beauty turquoise, the soft aquas of Kingman turquoise, and the blue and green turquoise with matrix from China.  Arizona turquoises come in nuggets, chips and natural shapes.  Chinese turquoise also comes in cut shapes and donuts in a multitude of sizes.            

Lapis Lazuli, the stone favored by the ancient Egyptians.  Our lapis is from Afganistan, the best lapis in the world. Root's Beads has a variety of lapis beads in many sizes and shapes, from machine cut, highly polished to hand-cut hand-polished.  

Root's Beads has a good selection of rose quartz, blue lace agate, lepidolite, and fluorite in these lovely light pinks, blues, and violets, in beads, mini collars, donuts, carved animal beads, and tumbled stones for wire wrapping.

Origin of Stone Beads

The stones for beads are mined in many countries throughout the world.  Most are from North and South America, Africa and Asia, although some are also mined in Australia and Europe. Regardless of the origin of the stones, most will be labeled "made in China" or "made in India" because they are required to be labeled from the last place they are processed, not from where they originate.

The vast majority of stone beads are cut in China or India.  Stones cut in India are mostly gemstones such as ruby, sapphire, garnet, tanzanite, iolite, peridot, citrine, amethyst, spinel, moonstone, and labradorite.  India cut stones tend to be fairly small, often faceted, and tend to be more irregular in size and shape with small holes.

 

Indian-cut gemstones shown here are tanzanite, iolite, peridot, amethyst, citrine, garnet, and tourmaline.

Stone cut in China usually includes the jaspers, agates, most of the opaque stones, plus some of the quartz stones that are also cut in India.  The Chinese cut beads come in all sizes and many different cuts, including round beads from 2mm to 20mm, rondells, oval, rectangles, cubes, cylinders, and carved shapes such as flowers, leaves, shells, and donuts.  The Chinese beads are machine cut and tend to be more uniform in size and shape with larger holes.

The beads shown here are the lovely greens and lavenders of Chinese-cut fancy jasper in beads and carved flowers and leaves.  Other jaspers we carry include picture jasper, poppy jasper, ocean jasper, red jasper, Picasso jasper, and leopard jasper.

Size Guidelines

Most stone beads come pre-strung from the factory on a temporary string, ususlly 15-16".Here is a guide to help you plan for the approximate number of beads per string:

• 4mm     95-100
• 6mm     65-70
• 8mm     50
• 10mm   40
• 12mm   33

Birthstones:

• January       Garnet
• February     Amethyst
• March          Aquamarine or Bloodstone
• April            Diamond or Crystal
• May             Emerald
• June            Pearl, Moonstone, or Alexandrite
• July             Ruby
• August         Peridot
• September  Sapphire
• October       Tourmaline or Pink Opal
• November   Yellow Topaz or Citrine
• December   Turquoise, Lapis, or Blue Topaz