Thomas Womack wrote:
Praseodymium is surprisingly cheap for so strange an element ($200 or
so the kilo), and has an attractive greeny-blue patina; so casting
decorative beads from it doesn't seem too absurdly ridiculous an idea
(though it may emerge that the overlap between chemistry geeks and
wearers of beaded jewellery is empty).

It's a bit reactive, however; melting under argon doesn't seem _that_
impossible, but I don't think it would be at all safe to wear
praseodymium next to the skin.

Is there any standard way of getting a really durable transparent
overcoating by basically physical means (IE mechanical rather than
chemical adhesion)? I suppose whatever process is used to embed

Probably the easiest way is dipping in some sort of epoxy resin.
However, to even approach 'really durable', you're looking at probably
a millimeter of epoxy.
If MP is low, you could pour it into a glass sphere - but then you
wouldn't likely get a patina.