Best place to buy beads

[Deleted]

Hi,

I've just started making jewelry, and I'm interested in a source for good quality beads for making bracelets. Any suggestions? 

Thank you!

[caeterle]

Hello Katherine and welcome to the forum

What kind of beads are you looking for? Glass, seed, lampwork, stone beads? Do you want to string or use some other technique?
I assume you are in the USA? I can't help you myself with that as I'm in Germany, but I'm sure the others will have some recommendations for you.

[Deleted]

Thank you for your reply! I am interested in glass and stone beads right now, and it would be just stringing the beads. I am in the US.

Thanks again!

[michelle]

I like using Etsy.

[caeterle]

You could also try Fire Mountain Gems. I think people were always very happy with them.

[DawninCal]

Along with the two mentioned above, I love Lima Beads. Great quality at a fair price and they have great customer service too!

Welcome to our little community, katherine!



Dawn

[Deleted]

Thanks so much for your replies!! One more question, if anyone has any thoughts. I'm looking for some information on simple jewelry making fundamentals. Is there a book you could recommend, or is trial and error always the best way to learn? I've been looking at simple beaded bracelets in some gift shops in my area, for example, and while they are very pretty, I can see some issues with them that I'd like to know how to address. Most of them are on that stretchy plastic type of string, but it leads to a somewhat stiff looking bracelet, and I don't know what experienced jewelry makers do about that. Anyway, that's just one of several questions I have, so if you can suggest a basic information source, that would be great.

Thanks again for chiming in! I appreciate it!

Katherine

[DawninCal]

katherine, later today I will go look at my collection of jewelry books. I think I have a couple of basic jewelry making techniques in there.

If you have a bead store nearby, you might look into taking a class or two. If that's not a possibility, there are tons of free tutorials on the internet and youtube is an awesome resource. There are also some good magazines out there that give tips and feature tutorials.

One of my favorite sites for tutorials and information is The Beading Gem. Link: Beading Gem's Journal

Most of us here are self taught and will be happy to try and answer any questions you have. I started out stringing beads and as I mastered that skill wanted to learn how to wire wrap and weave wire. From there, I moved into working with resin. You can pretty much go in any direction you want as jewelry makers are very generous in sharing their knowledge.

As far as your question about stretchy string goes, there are various thicknesses that might address the stiffness issue, but the problem with stretchy string is that it eventually will either stretch out until the bracelet is too big to wear or the string will get brittle and break. You would probably be happier investing in some beading wire, crimps, wire cutters and a crimping tool. You can buy all of these things at your local beading store or a craft store like Michaels or you can order them online from one of the sites recommended earlier in this thread.

I have posted a link below to a tutorial that shows the steps involved. It may look complicated at first, but like anything else, it's just a matter of practice.

How to make a bracelet using beading wire and crimp beads

Hope that helps and please do let us know if you have any questions we can help you with.



Dawn

[DawninCal]

And, the day got away from me. I never did get a chance to look at my books. On my list of things to do tomorrow though!



Dawn

[caeterle]

Beadaholique is another store for supplies and they have their own YouTube channel with a lot of different videos, too. I had the name on the tip of my tongue!
I never watched one of their videos, but I think they are quite popular because they give many tips and tricks.

[Deleted]

This is such great information. Thank you so much!!

[DawninCal]

You are very welcome, katherine!

Ok, I'm back! I looked thru my books and I really don't have anything for the beginning jewelry maker, but if you get to the point that you are interested in working with wire, I do have and would recommend Bead on a Wire by Sharilyn Miller. I refer to that book quite often, although not as much as I used to because I've gained enough knowledge that I can pretty much figure things out on my own.

Another good online resource is at Fire Mountain Gems. They have a tutorial section that covers all sorts of techniques and they have projects there too.



Dawn

[lotty64]

Hello Katherine, I started out bead stringing and found that Aunties Beads on you-tube was really good.