MrBead Shop: https://mrbeadshop.com. For 2026 bead fairs, click Bead Fairs 2026.
Content:
Upcoming Bead Fairs
Beads For June Jewellery
Bead Fair Reports
Mr & Mrs Bead’s Turkish Trip
The Secret Of Pearls
Knotting a Pearl Necklace
Enjoy a Bead Fair Soon
2026 Bead Fairs
Can only be used at the NEW shop & not with any other coupon. To get the discount Key PEARLS at checkout now, as offer ends Friday 5th June 2026. Use at https://mrbeadshop.com.
Lincon Bead Fair – Saturday 13th June
Lincoln Bead Fair at North Kyme Village Hall, Vacherie Lane, North Kyme LN4 3DL. Free entry, refreshments and easy free parking. The latest semi precious by MrBead with seed beads & findings by Southampton Bead Shop.
Norwich Bead Fair – Sunday 14th June
Then, the following weekend we’re at the Norwich Bead Fair, at Best Western George Hotel, Arlington Lane, Norwich NR1 3SS. Free entry & refreshments. Limited parking at the hotel, but only 10-minutes walk from City Centre.
Popular summer combinations include:
Natural stone beads with silver spacers
Glass seed beads in soft pastel colours
Shell charms, leaf pendants, and pearl-style beads
One of the joys of semi-precious jewellery making is that every stone is unique, giving handmade pieces real individuality.
Simple elastic bracelets are perfect for beginners, while experienced makers may enjoy:
Click To See Our Semi Precious Beads
New Forest Bead Fair
This show is always booming, and this one didn’t disappoint. We’ll be back on Sunday 13th September – see at New Forest Bead Fair.
Devon Bead Fair
A new venue for us, near Honiton, but we did have a problem with the wi-fi, so not sure we will return to the hall. Otherwise the show went well, with one visitor travelling 2 1/2-hours from St Ives!
Cornish Bead Fair
Johnny from Southampton Bead Shop had to visit his mother in China, so Michael from Bead Buyer joined us. We love it in Cornwall and will return for our show at Wadebridge on Sunday 19th July – see Cornish Bead Fair.
We flew from Luton to Istanbul, then to Antalya. All three flights were only £150 each, with return to Gatwick. The best dentist was in Istanbul – where we must return twice, for 6-days per trip, to get the work done. Picture shows the state of my teeth! What’s £35,000 in the UK, is just 8-grand there.
To make quality, impressive jewellery that’s appreciated, go for pearls. Everyone loves pearls. They’re versatile and always look good. Pearls are expected to be expensive as they’re usually natural and in short supply. Prices have gone up 400% over the past 4-years – so don’t sell your pearl jewellery cheap!
Pearl Jewellery Sells! Pearls are expected to be expensive and in short supply
Pearl jewellery sells because people understand pearls are natural. However, since the 1950s, natural pearls have been cultivated by man – making them much cheaper to buy. This means that including them in jewellery, you will make you even more profit! Cultural freshwater pearls are not inferior to sea pearls.
What are Cultured Pearls?
Cultural pearls are more durable and less sensitive to environmental change than sea pearls. Cultured freshwater pearls occur in mussels for the same reason saltwater pearls occur in oysters. The least expensive cultured pearls today rival the most expensive natural pearls ever found.
Foreign material inside a mussel can’t be expelled. To reduce irritation, the mollusk coats the intruder with the same secretion it uses for shell-building, nacre. To cultivate a pearl, farmers slit the mussel and insert small pieces of live tissue from another mussel. The ancient Chinese practiced this technique, but the first real cultured freshwater pearls originated from Japan in the 1930’s. Japanese farmers by Lake Biwa achieved natural colours previously unseen in saltwater pearls.
The most desirable colours are pastel pinks, roses, lavenders, and purples. Natural colour take the colour of the shell in which they form. However, permanent dyes are used today for saturated colours.
The Best Pearls
Good pearls have thick overlapping layers of nacre. This can be tested by viewing its “lustre”. Roll the pearl with a pen in bright light – the best pearls will reflect the pen more.
A large pearl is only more valuable if it’s the same quality as a smaller one – the rounder the better. Being an organic gem, grooves, pits, or dents are expected.
What is Mother-of-Pearl?
The shining, playful, reflected light of mother-of-pearl has attracted attention since ancient times. The natural material has always been popular. From then, different technology has turned mother-of-pearl into many uses, apart from jewellery. Today, it’s dyed every colour under the sun – creating attractive jewellery at affordable prices. The mollusk forms mother-of-pearl as a protective shell. Like the pearl it’s a secretion of the mantle, composed of alternate layers of calcium carbonate and conchiolin.
See our Mother of Pearl Beads
Glass Pearls
These are coated glass to look like the best quality pearls. Any pearl that’s a perfect round shape without grooving, will either cost thousands or made of glass! However, glass pearls are fantastic value for money and are popular for affordable fashion jewellery. To see our colourful range of glass pearls from £1.25 a string, click Glass Pearls.
Matching Pearls
Matching pearls isn’t easy. Try to buy all the pearls for a project at the same time, as later batches may not match. When balancing pearls for jewellery, you need to consider:
See All Our Pears At: Pearl Beads
There’s a few ways to knot a beaded necklace – this is the easiest. First choose silk or nylon cord. Silk is traditional, however it can snag and fray. Both come in different colours and sizes – thicker cord for larger beads. For beginner’s technique, two strings are put through each bead, so use a thinner size. For 6mm beads, use size 2 for this technique, and try to match the colour of the cord with the colour of the beads.
A popular way to start any beaded necklace is with bead tips. The only difference here is that two strings of the cord are inserted through the bead tip instead of one. Easier than using one strand of cord, and the results look almost the same.
Professional Testing
If you want to buy expensive pearls that are perfectly matched, a gemmologist certificate is essential. It costs about £100 for a test, as opposed to thousands for the type that warrant the test. An x-ray will show variations in density inside of the pearl and the characteristic shapes of drill holes.
The Tooth Test
Rub the surface of the pearl over your teeth – a real pearl feels gritty, while a faux pearl feels smooth. Real pearls are made up of layers of nacre that are deposited like sand on a beach. The slight waves in the nacre give a bumpy feeling against the teeth. However, dye can fill in natural depressions.
Close Inspection
Look at the pearls in bright light. Unless they’re very expensive, genuine pearls have slight variations in shape, size and colour – along with grooves in their nacre, with ridges or pits. If any are perfect sphere or grainy smooth: they’re suspect. Cutting a pearl open reveals everything. Natural pearls are comprised of many layers of nacre. Cultured pearls have a mother-of-pearl shell core covered with a thin layer of nacre.
Pearl Holes
Examine drill holes to see the nacre layers and what lies beneath. Real pearls are usually drilled from both sides to meet in the middle – making the hole appear wider at the outside edges. Holes of fake pearls are usually strait and are more likely to be larger.
Other Clues
Real pearls are heavier for their size than fakes. A genuine pearl necklace is more likely to be knotted and set in gold or silver. You can examine clasps for stamps in the metal. The clasp should have a safety mechanism – no one would use insecure clasps on good pearls.
Faux Pearls
Faux pearls, although manmade, are not necessarily a cheap substitute to the real thing. They have genuine beauty of their own, looking “almost” the same as natural pearls costing thousands. They’re created by coating the outside of glass with pearl powder. This is then dipped into various solutions of pearl film to simulate the lustre of a natural pearl.
Pearl Care
Special care is needed for pearls. Since they are naturally porous, ensure they don’t absorb cologne or hair spray. Although oils from your skin help keep the pearls from drying out. Pearl jewellery is often in a felt pouch – keep the pearls in this to prevent scratches. To clean pearls, wipe gently with a damp cloth, not using jewellery cleaners .
Click To See All Our Many Pearl Beads
We have booked 30 shows so far for 2026. These are the first few:
Sat 6th June: London Kent Bead Fair, Farningham Village Hall
Sat 13th June: Lincoln Bead Fair, North Kyme Village Hall
Sun 14th June: Norwich Bead Fair, George Hotel, Norwich NR2 2DA
Sat 27th June: London Luton Bead Fair, Stockwood Hotel, Luton LU1 3SS – Just off M1 J10.
Sun 28th June: Worcester Bead Fair, Ombersley Village Hall WR9 0DY
Sun 5th July: Cambridge Bead Fair, Harston Village Hall, CB22 7PX
Click For Bookings So Far: 2026 Bead Fairs
Can only be used at the NEW shop & not with any other coupon. To get the discount Key PEARLS at checkout now, as offer ends Friday 5th June 2026. Use at https://mrbeadshop.com.
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