زيتونة
Pointed at both ends, full through the middle. The oldest profile in the craft and still the most elegant on a long 99-bead strand.
- Standard sizes
- 7×12 · 9×15 · 11×18 mm
- Aspect ratio
- 1.62 : 1
- Production note
- Longest profile. Creates a visibly slimmer strand.
- Available in
- All nine amber varieties
- Minimum order
- 100 pieces per specification
Custom dimensions are routine. If the profile you need is not in the library we tool for it, proof it against a physical prototype, and archive it under your account so it is never produced for anyone else.
Amber weight, by diameter
Integrated from this profile’s own geometry at 1.08 g/cm³, beads only. Amber is traded by weight, so this is the figure that turns a specification into a price.
- 16G
- 8 mm · 33 beads
- 48G
- 8 mm · 99 beads
- 32G
- 10 mm · 33 beads
- 95G
- 10 mm · 99 beads
- 54G
- 12 mm · 33 beads
- 163G
- 12 mm · 99 beads
The longest profile we cut
At 1.62 times its diameter, the olive is half again as long as a round bead and noticeably longer than a barrel. On a strand that changes the arithmetic: the same bead count needs a considerably longer loop, so a 33-bead olive strand hangs longer than a 33-bead barrel strand of identical diameter.
Buyers frequently do not expect this and specify a count from experience with another profile. We calculate the finished strand length from the actual profile rather than from a rule of thumb, and we will tell you when a count and a profile together produce something longer than the brief intended.
Turkish and Balkan by tradition
The olive is the profile Türkiye, the Balkans and Bosnia reach for first, usually in deeper cognac tones at 33 or 66 beads. Sending those markets a Gulf barrel assortment and wondering why it sits is the most common avoidable error in this trade, and the olive is the specific thing they were expecting instead.
It carries deeper tones particularly well, because the elongated body gives light a longer path through the material and produces a richer interior than a compact profile can at the same colour grade.
The tips are the risk
A tapered profile narrows towards the drill hole, which means the material around the bore is thinner than on any other shape here. Drilling concentricity therefore matters more: an off-centre hole that a barrel would absorb can leave an olive with a visibly thin wall on one side.
This is one of the nine gates rather than an assumption, and it is why we would rather quote an olive honestly than meet a price by relaxing the check that protects it.
Cord, hang and movement
A long bead pivots further on the cord than a short one, which means an olive strand moves more as it hangs and settles more slowly. Buyers describe this as the strand feeling alive, and it is one of the profile’s real attractions — but it puts more cyclic load on the cord and the termination than a barrel strand of the same weight.
We step up cord specification on olive strands at 12 mm and above as a matter of course rather than as an upgrade. A termination adequate for a static barrel strand is not adequate for a profile that swings, and that difference only shows up in the second or third year, which is exactly when it is most expensive to discover.
Questions about this profile
Yes, at 12 mm and above, as standard rather than as an upgrade. A long bead pivots further and puts more cyclic load on the termination than a barrel strand of the same weight.
Fewer than you would expect from another profile, because each bead occupies more length. We calculate finished length from the actual profile and will flag when a count and a profile together overshoot the brief.
The profile is 1.62 times its diameter, so the same bead count needs a longer loop. We calculate finished length from the actual profile rather than a rule of thumb.
Türkiye, the Balkans and Bosnia, usually in deeper cognac tones at 33 or 66 beads.
Drilling concentricity. The material around the bore is thinner than on any other profile, so an off-centre hole shows as a thin wall.
Quote a olive programme.
Send a diameter, a bead count and a quantity. We reply within one business day with a specification and an indicative price.