AB Faceted Beads

• Faceted AB beads, or beads that feature many angled cuts, come in a wide range of colors and styles, including teardrops, rondels, hearts, feathers, flowers, rice beads and snowflakes. Feathered, rice and teardrop AB beads are frequently used for beaded handbags and miniskirts because of the way they hang and catch the light. Heart and flower AB beads are a favorite of jewelry makers; snowflake AB beads are often used in Christmas crafts because of their iridescent, frosted, ice-like look.
  
  

Opaque and Transparent AB Beads

• Opaque and transparent AB beads are usually clear-colored beads with a metallic iridescent coating that creates a see-through or milky-white finish. These beads often have the look of pearls and are used in jewelry making and in arts and crafts projects such as beaded lampshades and pillows.
  
  

Fire-Polished Czech AB Beads

• Fire-polished Czech AB beads are glass beads created in small, handmade batches in the Czech Republic. Slightly more expensive than plastic or acrylic AB beads, Czech AB beads have a heavier weight and feel much more substantial. While there is a general consistency in the look and feel of this style of AB glass, due to the nature of its production, there are sometimes slight color variations in different glass batches.
  
  

AB-style Lampwork Glass Beads

• Lampwork glass beads are typically made one at a time by glass artists, though they can be mass-produced for commercial markets and are readily available at craft stores. Lampworkers can create an AB-like finish on transparent, opaque and pastel beads by using reactive glass. This glass has metallic components that change color in different degrees of heat; once finished, the beads appear to change color according to the light and when viewed from different angles. The most common type of glass is produced by Double Helix Glassworx.