Rambling: Making Beaded Jewelry
The holidays are here! I have a deep fondness for the holidays, although I’m more fond of the concept of it than its execution. I’m not religious, I grew up in a wholly agnostic household where we were allowed to pursue whatever beliefs we wanted. We ended up celebrating Christmas because hey, it’s fun and decorating is fun and I love the colors and giving gifts to people is like my favorite thing of all time. I remember my father having a train set that was given to him by his father that he was so, so proud of and was always eager to break it out the moment the day after Thanksgiving rolled around. For as much shit as I’ve given him and are about to give him, the guy had a deep fondness for trains.
Anyway - I make beaded jewelry as gifts for the holidays. It’s rather funny - in my teens I explored a form of Germanic druidism my mom loosely worships, and ended up falling out of it because I ended up being more interested in collecting funny rocks than in their intricate (and rather appropriative? I’m not as familiar with it as I once was but what with paganism’s current disposition I’m a little suspicious about it nowadays) worship rituals. Still, her coven was very casual and full of funny little gay people and a single furry, which by rural Ohio standards is pretty out there. But regardless - I took a good long look at those rocks. They’re cool, but I didn’t want to settle on just collecting them. What would I do with them, look at them longingly?
Yes, but like a drunken frat boy, I only wanted to look at them if they had holes in it.
So, I got into making beaded jewelry. My little sister’s done it for a pretty long time, and she was the one that taught me everything I know. It was quite sweet. We’d make jewelry for one another as a “hey, check out what I can do” kinda thing. I miss it dearly. We still do, albeit packing delicate jewelry so it doesn’t shit itself to death in transit is a little more of a pain in the ass than just walking down the hall and being like “hey, look what I made for you :)”. My sister never had her ears pierced (she’s terrified of the prospect) so I made sure to stock up on clip-ons. I still keep some even now. Some of the stuff she sends me is a little goofy and the metals clash and just look gaudy, but knowing it came from her and was specifically made for me is all the more touching now that we’re several thousand miles away.
Most of what I make is simple, single-strand necklaces, or bracelets, or earrings, or what have you. I do like to experiment with chains and beaded links. I’ve always had a fondness for projects that use seed beads, though I’ve always had issues with handling such itty bitty beads, so my seed bead creations are rather few and far between. Still, I have an immense respect for those that work with seed beads - for example, I really adore fellow webdev emeowly’s alterNATIVE creations, and I’d love to buy from their etsy store someday.
And like I said - I love me some rocks! I’ve got an array of actual gems, as well as funny driveway rocks that I just thought were neat enough to keep. I have a ton of stones, tumbled and faceted, that I’ve collected and have received over the years. My mom gave me this string of faceted smoky quartz that is downright gorgeous, though I’ve been stumped as to what kind of project I could do with it.
While living in Ohio, the particular area I lived in lacked any particular bead store, so that meant either hacking through cheap thrifted jewelry or driving a solid hour and a half to the nearest city that had one. That meant turning to online stores.
For the record - I am still a hobbyist, I don’t sell my stuff or anything. The jewelry I make is exclusively for gifting to others. Regardless, here’s some that I’ve ordered from or know about:
Fire Mountain Gems & Beads is a pretty common suggestion as I think they’re among the oldest online craft stores still standing? They tend to be priced a little higher than other places but they have some of the widest selections of supplies, especially gemstone beads. They also have the unique perk of sending out these big monthly paper catalogues free of charge, which I like to collect for inspiration purposes. They also always pack freebies in their packages which is nice. These range from keychains to rulers to actual strings of beads. It’s small stuff but it’s a nice touch.
Beadaholique has had a turbulent operations history with almost closing shop, but currently seems to be doing pretty okay nowadays. I like their rewards system, though rather stingy, and they tend to have site-wide sales that covers all of their products, and sometimes hold points multipliers. I like them for their selection of chains and charms. It is also the only vendor I’ve had issues with, having received packages missing merchandise. Their team is quick to respond though, and ship the corrected merch pretty fast.
Simply Beads USA carries an incredibly wide range of Toho beads, which is great for those that work with seed beads. They also sell Tohos in larger tubes, and carry various fun mixes. I found them off the beading subreddit as it’s ran by a husband and wife duo that has a presence there. I think I’ve also gotten some little free stuff from them as well, not sure as it’s been a long time since I’ve ordered from them.
Rio Grande is a little daunting at first as it’s mainly intended for professional jewelers and businesses whose entire schtick is creating and smithing jewelry (and the kinds of folks that look down upon us lowly “moms stringing beads in kitchens” type hobbyists, if salty Reddit threads tucked away in niche communities are to be believed lmao), but it’s the place to get a variety of incredibly quality wire, chain, and gemstones.
I haven’t bought from Shipwreck Beads, but I’ve heard good things about them. They also appear to have a rewards system but I can’t give an opinion on it as I’ve yet to buy from them. They seem pretty 1:1 with Beadaholique at a glance.
The Ring Lord isn’t a bead store per se, rather they sell bulk chain mail and jump rings. I’ve gotten some really good deals on quality jump rings from them. Last I checked they are Canada-based, so be ready for some longer shipment times if you’re in the U.S..
Some notes on buying online in general:
Get familiar with the specific kinds of beaded jewelry you’re interested in. Like Kumihimo? Look into Kumihimo kits. Interested in wire wrapping? Look into the different gauges and softnesses of wire and what it means. Seed beads? Learn about bead sizes and standard seed bead techniques. Solid tools are also important - that doesn’t mean dropping $300 on a set, and you don’t need a full toolkit of Lindstroms or whatever fancy German brand you can get your hands on, but it does mean pinpointing specifically what you’ll need to make the stuff you want and avoiding cheap tools, as while tools don’t make the artist, cheap shit is bound to fuck up your finished craft, especially in the case of wire wrapping where I’ve had cheap tools fuck up perfectly good wire. Keep your scope narrow so that you don’t drop shit loads of money determining which craft you end up enjoying most.
Use PayPal or some other form of payment option that isn’t directly your credit/debit card. As far as I can tell most of these shops do not use multi-factor authentication, which in 2023 is outright irresponsible for an online retailer. They will not guarantee to keep your data safe, so it’s on you to make sure of it. (TBF - it’s important to do this regardless of vendor, but I digress).
Different shops have different strengths and weaknesses. Like I said, I like Fire Mountain because of their selection of gemstone beads and the assurance that said beads are as-advertised. Beadaholique has the pretty alright rewards program. I like referring to communities online for their opinions on certain shops.
I’d avoid “mystery bags” where possible - Fire Mountain’s Boss’s Bead Bag and Beadaholique’s Mr. Kitty's Big Bead Bonanza are just not worth it. For the amount you pay, you’ll mainly get cheap shit that’s mostly broken. Bead box subscriptions can be pretty hit or miss too.
Most of these vendors host Youtube channels, where they provide numerous tutorials on their merchandise. They’re pretty helpful, although I’d take some (such as ones on the whole metaphysical stuff with rocks… it’s just marketing lolol) with a grain of salt. I like Beadaholique’s Youtube channel best for learning techniques and workflows for specific crafts they have tutorials for on their site.
That’s all I’ve got. Like I said, I’m still very much a hobbyist in my craft, so take what I say with a grain of salt. But it is something I really enjoy learning about and talking about.