Bead 'n Shop >> Lac & Kashmiri Beads
Buy wholesale lac beads from Bead 'n Shop.
They are one of the most unique beads on the planet.
Lac beads along with bangles, bracelets and other lac jewelry are produced only in Jaipur (Northwest Region - Rajasthan, India) and some surrounding areas, and normally won't be found at any other dear places. Lac beads are also know as Kashmiri beads, as it was first known to be produced in Kashmir (Northernmost Region - Jammu and Kashmir, India). But actually it should have been called as lac beads only. They are still produced in some parts of Kashmir but Jaipur is the hub for lac products. All the beads on the website are made of Lac.
What is Lac?
Lac is the hardened resin, secreted by the tiny lac insect belonging to a bug family. The widely known Indian lac insect (small in size, need a magnifying glass to see it) is Kerria lac Kerr. Lac insects settle closely on the twigs of certain host trees, suck the plant sap and grow, all the while secreting lac resin from their bodies, in India and the Far East. Lac is safe natural product which is non toxic, hard, tough and brittle but softens with slow heating.
Check out the procedure of manufacturing lac beads.
This beautiful piece of lac bead with the added accessories and rings makes it looks traditional.
The small white round balls are surrounded by metal rings and the bead is encircled by a metal chain in the center.
Price: $14.00 USD per 50 pc
| Buy dark red lac beads now. |
This round shaped black colored lac bead with added small white color balls between rings and ball chain at the middle makes it look a natural art.
Its fine finish and color imparts shine to anyone who wears it.
Price: $14.00 USD per 50 pc
| Buy black lac beads now. |
This round shaped dark yellow colored lac bead with added small blue color balls between rings and ball chain at the middle makes it a true traditional piece of Indian art.
Completely handmade these lac beads are antique & unique.
Price: $14.00 USD per 50 pc
| Buy dark yellow lac beads now. |
This antique lac bead with added small red and blue colored balls, rings, with unique handmade shape makes it a totally unique piece around.
The accessories are studded on the black colored base.
It can be easily stringed through a metal tube passing through this bead.
Price: $22.00 USD per 50 pc
| Buy beaded lac beads now. |
This hollow cylindrical shaped green colored lac bead with added rings, small balls and chain at both the ends, makes it look and feel antique.
The small silver colored balls are encircled by circular metal rings.
Price: $18.00 USD per 50 pc
| Buy dark green lac beads in cylindrical shape now. |
Procedure of manufacturing lac beads from model number: MBD-151 to MBD-235
- First plain raw material (similar to hard stones), usually brown / black in color is molted on heat (natural wooden coal heating) to form a thick stick called lac-stick.
- A similar pure, thin color-lac-stick is also made by adding color to lac while heating it.
- Then colors are added to first lac-stick surface by colored-lac-stick.
- Now, required volume is cut / separated from lac stick to proceed further.
- Now separated small piece of lac, from lac-stick, is given shape by the hands, with regular heating on wooden coals.
- Then it is dropped in cold water since it gets very hot. This procedure is repeated 5-7 times until the shape and size came to fitting.
- Now then, other accessories (stones, mirrors, etc.) are manually stuck in it with regular heating, but these accessories are not pressed till now.
- Again, they are dropped in cold water or let out to get cold.
- Then, they are heated again and accessories are pressed with nice hands.
- And again it is dropped in cold water.
- There you are, with a fine lac bead with added colors and accessories.
- Note: Do not expose lac beads directly to heat or heating sources or anything bearing high temperature.
Procedure of manufacturing lac beads from model number: MBD-236 to MBD-275
- First some chemicals (not harmful) are added to plain raw material (lac stick) and it gets soften itself for 2-3 hours; no heating procedure is applied in it nor it is dropped in cold water.
- Then the required color is added to it.
- Now, it is applied on small hollow tube, which works as its structure.
- Then it is give shape, size and accessories are added to it (stones, mirrors, etc) by hand.
- After that it is let out to get hard.
When lac gets cold it becomes tough and hard but when it's heated it gets soft and it becomes easy to change its shape, size and to add accessories to it.
These accessories are very small and take good time to be stuck on it.
That’s why there will never be a perfect design and shape in all the beads.
And the added color will never get the same position as it had got earlier.
They will vary.
This concludes that the material is unique (only produced in India and Far East), the manufacturing process is unique (only done in Jaipur and some surrounding areas) and the beads itself are unique (all
pieces are different).
That's why Lac beads holds uniqueness for the world.
And still people have not know about it or seen it.
It has become an interesting work for our clients to watch how they get manufactured.
The simple that looks in the words (above) doesn't looks while you really see it.
If you have a plan to visit Jaipur, give us a visit.
We will take you to the homes of some of our workers and let you know about lac beads in detail and when you actually see the interesting manufacturing process of these wholesale beads you will also get amazed as others...
Get know about our workers; who they are, where they manufacturer at wholesale beads manufacturer.