Garnet Pear-Shaped Briolette Bead

This pear-shaped red garnet briolette bead features a flattened profile and is faceted around its entire surface, giving it an attractive light-catching quality that looks great when used for pendants, drops and earrings. String these beads with small metal beads or matching- or complementary-color stone beads between them to create a drop necklace or use them individually to create earring drop designs—if used to create a necklace, add small beads between the briolettes to help ensure the strand lies flat. Garnet is the birthstone for January. Traditional red garnet derives its deep color from iron and magnesium. Garnets are actually a family of closely related stones. The most common color is red; but garnets are also found in green, orange, pink and blue. Garnet exhibits few inclusions, and those that are present tend to be rounded, seedlike crystals with irregular edges.