A deliberate progression of tone across the strand rather than an accident of sorting. Done properly it is harder than a matched strand, not easier.
Graduated strand
- Character
- Graduated or alternating tones
- Difficulty
- Higher than a single-tone strand
- Strongest markets
- Southeast Asia · retail gifting
- Best counts
- 33 and 99, where the run is visible
Why it is harder, not easier
A matched strand needs one tone held across ninety-nine beads. A graduated strand needs a controlled progression through several tones with even steps between them — which means selecting to a curve rather than to a point, and rejecting beads that are individually perfect but sit wrong in the sequence.
Suppliers who treat multicolour as somewhere to place off-tone stock produce strands that read as unsorted. The difference is visible instantly to anyone who handles amber, and it is the difference between a design decision and a mistake.
How we specify it
By naming the endpoints and the number of steps, then building a physical reference strand before the run. A drawing cannot settle a colour progression; a strand in the hand can, and once approved it becomes the reference the production run is matched against.
What buyers ask about this
No. A controlled progression requires selecting to a curve rather than a point, which rejects more material rather than less.
We build a physical reference strand from the named endpoints. It becomes the object the run is matched against.
33 and 99, where there is enough length for the progression to read as deliberate.
The rest of the amber colours
Send a sample before you commit.
Three to five physical variations, couriered worldwide in seven to ten working days. A specification like this one is decided properly in the hand.