AFRICAN BEADWORK COLOURS

Every beautiful beadwork product on this website is handmade by the rural beaders of South Africa.

Since it’s impossible to showcase every beaded product in every colour combination on our website, we offer customization using the following bead colours:

Zulu Bead Colour Categories.

Zulu Beaders traditionally classify beads into two main groups:

  1. African/Zulu Colours – These are classic, non-shiny beads with a matte finish, representing traditional beadwork.
  2. Shiny Beads – These are glass beads with a glossy or metallic finish. Common terms for these include shimmer, translucent, metallic, glossy, and polished. In keeping with the African spirit of our beadwork, we refer to them simply as "shiny beads."

Most of our beaded products can be custom-made in any of these colours or a combination of your choice.

  1. AFRICAN/ZULU COLOUR BEADS.

  WHITE.

Black seed beads  BLACK.

mixed-seed-beads  MIXED.

  RED.

  LIME.

Green seed beads  GREEN.

Orange seed beads  ORANGE.

  AQUA/XHOSA BLUE.

Light blue seed beads  LIGHT BLUE.

Dark blue seed beads  DARK BLUE.

Yellow seed beads  YELLOW.

Brown seed beads  BROWN.


2. SHINY BEADS.

Gold seed beads  SHINY GOLD.

  SHINY SILVER.

Metallic grey seed beads  SHINY METALLIC GREY. 

Nebula seed beads  SHINY NEBULA.

  SHINY COPPER.

  WHITE-GOLD.

  SHINY CHOC BROWN.

Lime Green Seed Beads  SHINY LIME GREEN.

Jade seed beads  SHINY JADE.

  SHINY TURQUOISE.

Shiny light blue seed beads  SHINY BLUE.

  SHINY PINK.

Lilac seed beads  SHINY LILAC.

  SHINY PURPLE.

Shiny red seed beads  SHINY RED.

Shiny orange seed beads  SHINY ORANGE.

  SHINY YELLOW.

 

3. COLOUR COMBINATIONS.

Xhosa Blue White Beads

XHOSA BLUE / WHITE.

SHINY SILVER / WHITE.

BLACK / WHITE.

SHINY SILVER / BLACK.

Black and gold beads

SHINY GOLD / BLACK.

SHINY GOLD / WHITE.

SHINY GOLD / BLACK / SILVER.

SHINY GOLD / BLACK / WHITE.

SHINY GOLD / BLACK / BROWN.

SHINY GOLD / BLACK / BROWN / METALLIC GREY.

BROWN / BLACK / METALLIC GREY.

BROWN / BLACK / WHITE.

SHINY SILVER / BLACK / METALLIC.

METALLIC GREY / BLACK.

SHINY COPPER / METALLIC GREY / WHITE-GOLD.

SHINY RED / GOLD / BLACK.

SHINY RED / SILVER / BLACK.


SHINY RED / GOLD / BLACK / SILVER.

red orange metallic grey beads

SHINY RED / SHINY ORANGE / METALLIC GREY.

SHINY PURPLE / SILVER / BLACK.


SHINY LILAC / LIGHT BLUE 1 / METALLIC GREY.


SHINY LIGHT BLUE / SILVER / BLACK.

Blue gold black beads

SHINY LIGHT BLUE / GOLD / BLACK.

AQUA / COPPER / CHOCOLATE.

SHINY PINK / SILVER / WHITE.

SHINY PINK / SILVER / BLACK.


SHINY PINK / SILVER / BLACK / WHITE.

SHINY TURQUOISE / SILVER / AQUA.

LIME / NEBULA / AQUA / JADE.

SHINY LIME GREEN / SILVER / BLACK.

SHINY LIME GREEN / GOLD / BLACK.

Colour Disclaimer.

Please note that there are no exact Pantone colours for the beads used in our products. While we strive for accuracy in displaying colours, variations may occur due to:

  • Differences in screen settings across computers and mobile devices.
  • Slight colour variations from batch to batch, as our beads come from multiple suppliers based on availability.
  • The handmade nature of African beadwork, where slight imperfections are inherent.

We frequently receive requests to match bead colours to Pantone shades, particularly for company logos. Unfortunately, this is not possible, as beads are not manufactured in precise Pantone colours. The best we can do is offer the closest available match.

Earth Africa accepts no responsibility for minor colour variations in our beadwork. Our products are handmade in Africa, and natural inconsistencies are part of their unique character and charm.

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