Czech glass beads originate from the Czech republic, where they have produced the best glass products for over 100 years. They produce almost 1500 varieties of Czech pressed glass beads, and also the famous Czech firepolish crystals that have a amazing faceted cut.

To create a pressed glass bead the glass rods are heated and then pressed into moulds while the tool that they use also simultaneously inserts a metal rod to make the hole. The beads cool down but have the sides and seams showing, so go through a tumbling process to make them have a shine and so that the join is no longer visible. The glass maker that creates these makes 1 or 2 beads on each rod before the rod needs to be heated again, but they rotate on different rods to be continuously working, so that they can make thousands a day. Once the beads have been tumbled they are graded and then passed through another machine to be threaded onto hanks.

Firepolish beads start off as round beads, and they are then put on a conveyor belt and then fed into a grinder that facets the beads on varying sides. These beads are matte and then are fed into an oven that heats the bead to a certain temperature so that it heats up and creates the crystal effect.