Handmade Gemstone Jewelry - bead shapes - a primer - nuggets and chips

Faceted sugilite nuggets
with gaspeite

Turquoise nuggets with other
gemstones

Nugget shaped bead gemstones are among my favorites, probably because they're close to their natural state. Nugget shapes can be smooth, rough, faceted, unfaceted, polished or not, long, short, fat - basically any shape, kind of. I like the casual look they create.

Purple Sleeping Beauty turquoise
chips with Nacozari turquoise

Kingman turquoise Chips
with Mohave turquoise

Chips are, well, chips. I don't know this for a fact, but I would assume they are a byproduct of cutting larger stones. They are usually flat, but not always, they can be quite small or rather huge. Chips also can be polished, or not - rough, or not. Like nuggets, just about anything goes. I like the way they stack on each other, kind of like a pile of rocks.

Chips and nuggets add texture to a piece of jewelry. They're definitely fun. But that may depend on what your definition of fun is....