10/04/2026
Laser etched beads.
A pressed glass bead which has a flat surface is needed to make these type of beads.
I will tell you a little bit about the first time the maker made these styles of beads for us.
We were in the Czech Republic buying beads, in the Crystal Valley, but far away from Jablonec nad Nisou where we normally go and where most of our 30 plus factories are situated.
The factory was a very old building situated on the edge of the forest, and in a back room we saw a small set up on a table. It looked to me like someone was using a old style leather hand tool to etch on glass beads, in this case daggers coated with AB. The flat surface on both sides of the bead were hand etched with stripes. The beads were stunning. The bead maker sat down and showed us how he how he was making them. It looked very labour intensive. We all brain stormed with ideas.
IJme had an idea to help him make them faster. Oh, and by the way, we bought every bead he had available right then on the spot! They were so unusual and exquisite.
~When we came back 5 months later, Jme brought with us an electric hand etcher, which would increase his production. We then all went to a hardware store and showed him a grinding wheel he could also use to help with larger areas, reminding him to keep the water flowing to help with the process. This was a bit like grinding stone to make cabochons.
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Fast forward to 2 years later, there are new machines made to use to etch the patterns onto flat surfaces, but the machines are quite pricey. He asked if I had ever seen them. So that night at my hotel, I did a google search of laser etching machines, found many photos of some of those machines and emailed them to him. ( actually, it was the royal we…Jme emailed him.) He decided to ask a machine shop to help make one for him.
~ It has now been 12 years and he has progressed to making a semi automated laser etching machine which makes very fine details. The beads he designed and created were very different than those original hand etched daggers, but still flat beads coated with AB, and then etched, with designs of animals, faces, cartoons, etc.
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You will be seeing many of these wonderful beads today on this post. And although they look beautiful, they look much better in real life. I hope you love them as much as we do. J-Me & Guy of Wild Things Beads.
