Short version: a popcorn chain is a string of small hollow puffed beads, each one crimped or dimpled so the surface is bumpy and catches light. It looks like popcorn on a string. It's hollow, so it's ridiculously light for how thick it looks, a 3mm is 6 grams. That's the whole deal with it. Big look, no weight, low price. You just need to understand what hollow means before you buy one.
How it's made
Thin sterling sheet gets formed into small puffed beads, strung tight on a core, and then the beads get crimped so they look like kernels. You end up with a round bubbly chain that's soft and bendy. There's air inside every bead. That's why a 3mm popcorn is $30 and a 3mm rope is three times that. There's a lot less silver in it.
Popcorn, rope, bead
- Bead chain is solid balls on a wire. Smooth. Heavier for the width.
- Popcorn is hollow puffed beads packed tight. Bumpy, light, cheap. Sparkles more than bead because of the texture.
- Rope is solid twisted strands. Same round shape from across the room, three times the weight, and it'll outlast a popcorn by years.
Popcorn is the budget version of the look. Nothing wrong with that, as long as you know that's what it is.
Width and weight
- 1.3mm, 3 grams, $13 to $20. Thin and sparkly. Pendant or layering.
- 2mm, 3 to 5 grams, $16 to $42. The usual one. You can see the texture, still very light.
- 3mm, 6 grams, $30 to $42. Looks like a real chain, weighs like a shoelace.
16 to 30 inch. All sterling.
The hollow part
A hollow chain dents. Catch it on something, sleep on it wrong, let a kid grab it, and you get a flat spot on a bead that doesn't come back out. It's also hard to repair, a jeweler can't really solder a hollow bead. We sell it because for the price it's a nice real-silver chain and a lot of people like how it looks. We just don't sell it as a forever chain, because it isn't.
Pendants
Light ones only. A real pendant pulls the beads out of line and stresses the core. The 2 and 3 will take a small charm. If you want a chain to actually hang something from, this isn't it, those are here.
Taking care of it
Gently. Don't crush it, don't pull on it, don't bend it hard. Tarnish gets into the dimples where a cloth won't reach, so soft brush and warm soapy water, then dry it completely because water sits inside hollow beads. Store it hung or flat.
Who it's for
Somebody who wants a bold-looking silver chain for not much money and won't beat it up. Good for going out, good as a gift, good for someone who has a bunch of chains and wants a different texture in the mix. Not a daily chain for someone who works with their hands.
Questions we get
Is it hollow?
Yes. All of them, from everybody. That's what makes it a popcorn chain. If someone says theirs is solid, it's a bead chain with a different name.
Will it dent?
It can. Careful with it, no. Treat it like a rope chain, yes.
Is it real silver?
Ours is 925, stamped. Thin sterling over air, but sterling. Cheap popcorn elsewhere is often plated base metal and the price tells you.
Popcorn or rope?
Want it to last and want weight, rope. Want the look for a third of the money and you'll be careful, popcorn.
The three widths are in the popcorn collection. If you read all that and decided you want solid, rope is the same shape done the heavy way.