Choosing the right beads requires a lot of forethought. What kind of jewelry do you want to make? Do you want to make jewelry that is ultra modern? If so then you will probably want to go with beads made of different colored glass and plastic as well as some that are shiny in silver or gold colors. If you want to make higher quality jewelry stay away from the cheap plastic beads and go instead with glass or Lucite, they are much more durable and they retain their shine unlike the plastic ones which will become dull quickly.

If you are going for a more ethnic look then you will probably want to choose more earth tones and natural colors like blacks, browns, and tans. You can also mix in painted wood beads in basic colors like red, yellow and green to bring more attention to the piece. These also go well for making recreations of Native American jewelry, African American Jewelry, and beach jewelry in combination with shells and sharks teeth.

If you are buying your beads online make sure that they have a liberal return policy in the case of damaged beads. You don't want to have to pay for beads that are broken and unusable. Even if the offer to discount them that won't do, you never want to use inferior quality beads for any reason.

Most jewelry beads are sold in bulk lots so if you are doing this as a hobby you may want to get a friend to go in on them with you. It would take you a long time to use up the beads in the typical wholesale lot. Since you will probably be buying these through the internet or via mail, you probably won't have the opportunity to pre-inspect the beads, so again be sure to ask about the exchange policy. Will you be able to exchange the beads that are less than perfect no matter what the reason? Depending on how the beads are packaged and sold, and the policy of the business selling the jewelry wholesale beads, this may not be possible. If they refuse to offer an exchange policy that is acceptable to you look for another vendor.