Five Types of Donut Beads to Buy for Jewelry Making

Donut beads are rather unusual beads to buy for crafting and jewelry making. Donut beads come in a variety of colors, shapes, sizes, and materials, so the possibilities are endless when it comes to creating various pieces of jewelry. What sets’ them apart from other round beads, however, is their larger holes in the centre. Their larger holes lead to even more possibilities for creating one of various strands or knots when making jewelry. You can even allow thicker wires or cords to pass through them. Using them for traditional stranding with finer wire is not the most ideal, as these donuts beads will not tend to lay like regular beads, unless there is a thick enough cord or wire use for their holes. Donut beads can either be flat, puffy, or resemble colored rings. Here are all the types of donut beads that you can consider.

Gemstone donut beads

Gemstone donuts are large donut beads that resemble actual gemstones. These gemstones have certain sheen to them to make them look like high-quality stones, and they are available in many different colors and patterns. They almost resemble granite with their various unique appearances. Gemstone donuts are also very affordable, so feel free to buy a whole strand of them if you have the chance.

Gemstone donuts can be as big as an inch and a half in diameter. When this big, these beads online in Canada can be used with hard, metal wiring or thick bails to create earrings and pendants for necklaces. You can also add a charm to gemstone beads, with the bead serving as a cool-looking background.

Crystal disk beads

Crystal disk beads have a unique appearance to them. They appear to be very translucent beads with interesting “panels” to them, making them each shine when light is reflected off of them at certain angles. They certainly have a futuristic look to them, almost resembling colored compact disks.

Compared to gemstone donut beads, these beads have larger holes in the centre, making them more ideal for complete arts and crafts as well as knotting, rather than using them for basic strands.

Natural donut beads

Natural donut beads are made of either horn or bone. These donuts are smooth, and feel comfortable, but still look great. They come in many different natural colors, from black and dark brown to white and off-white. These are great beads to paint or customize. You can even paint them to look like real doughnuts.

The holes on natural donut beads can range from small to very large, so you definitely have some options when it comes to buying the ones you want. The caveat to natural beads is that they do not age that well, compared to synthetic beads online in Canada.

Glass donut beads

Glass donut beads are not made to be very large in size, but their transparency and shape make them for interesting “striped” appearances no matter which colors you observe. The available colors in glass donut beads are always bright and vibrant, so you will not see any softer or pale colors. The sizes of the holes in glass donut beads will vary.

Shaped donut beads

Besides your typical round donut beads, you can also buy them in square, triangular, and oval shapes. These beads, however, tend to have very large holes that are in the same shape as the one that the actual bead assumes, so these are more like small rings than beads. These beads are also available in any kind of color and material, so they can look as solid as plastic or as shiny as a diamond.