I get a lot of questions from people on where I buy my beads and jewelry supplies. I thought I'd do a post with the low down on where I get them from!
Where to Buy Beads and Jewelry Supplies
Bead Shows
Bead shows normally roll into a venue for a long weekend. These shows are great places to STOCK UP! Most of the beads are sold on strands or in vials. You can normally find a lot of great deals at bead show finds. Booths will have buckets of $1 strands or displays of $2-$4 strands, and THESE are the places I flock to!
Bead shows are normally pretty exhausting. Physically- and on your wallet ;). Wear sneakers and be ready to fight with lots of middle-upper aged ladies for a spot at the tables to dig through the beads!!! Ok, maybe not fight....but politely nudge out of the way possibly...
The BEST bead show I have been to is
Bead Fest. It only comes to Philadelphia, Texas, and Santa Fe though. The Philadelphia show is only 20 mintutes from my house {{{lucky!!!}}}Some People go all out for these things-flights, hotels, the whole deal! I've blogged about bead fest
here and
here.
I also go to
The Innovative Bead Expo, which goes to a few more states on the East Coast.
If your interested in going to a bead show but these don't come to your area, flip through a Bead & Button or Bead Style magazine next time you are at a bookstore - there are tons of ads in there for bead shows all over America.
Craft Stores
These are your Michaels, Joanns, AC Moores, and Hobby Lobbys (never been to a Hobby Lobby though--do they actually have jewelry supplies? None near me so I wouldn't know!!)
Just in my opinion...I'm not that big of a fan of AC Moore. Unfortunately that's the closest craft store to me so I do go there if I really need something. I don't think their variety of jewelry supplies is the best.
I normally go to Michaels/Joanns for jewelry making supplies. I tend to hit up Joanns a little more, just because they will often have 15% off all jewelry findings or 20% off on all beads, where Michaels I have never seen that. Head pins, jump rings, ear wires, beading wire, all that stuff I normally stock up on here. I get some beads here, but normally come away with more supplies. Beads are normally sold in these stores in little packages, strands, or vials.
Local Bead Stores
These shops are normally little mom & pop shops or small chains. There is a
ma & pop type shop about 40 minutes from my house, and a small chain around 20 minutes from my house. I tend to find the small shops overpriced. They mostly sell beads PER bead, which really adds up quick. I tend to only hit up these places if I need something really unique, like a gemstone pendant or something like that.
I really like
The Potomac Bead Company chain. There are two of these within half hour from my house. They still sell a lot of loose beads per bead, but also have a lot of strands and jewelry making supplies - a lot more variety than you would find in a craft store.
Online Bead Store
There are a ton of online bead stores. I use these often for supplies for pieces that are made-to-order in my etsy shop. I don't normally get findings from them (head pins, jump rings, etc.) unless I'm looking for a fancy clasp or something. I buy beads and more unique supplies like resin or sheet metal online.
My FAVORITE place to buy beads from (and I really wish they'd sponsor me or something cause I talk and link to them all the time out of the goodness of my heart lol) is
Fusion Beads. They have a great variety, fair prices, ship quickly, and best of all, shipping is always free! I would completely recommend them.
I've also bought beads from Fire Mountain Gems before, but I'm not very pleased with that company. If you do a lot of work with gemstones they have a great variety, but I ain't go the cash for that! They charge shipping AND handling. Seriously, who still charges handling anymore?
If you do a good search you'll find tons more, but from a personal preference Fusion Beads is my favorite.
Walmart
Good old Walmart. They've got everything. I would NOT recommend buying findings here, they are very low quality. Most of the beads they sell are plastic or acrylic, but every now and then I'll find something I like. They are the best place I have found, however, to buy rhinestone chain, and sometimes have some other nice chain as well. My walmart has recently had the rhinestone chain on clearance for 50 cents a package though...so I hope they continue to restock them (cause lord knows I bought up all the 50 cent packages already...)
Whew! Alright, I think that's all the places I frequent. Questions? Thoughts on other places? Leave me a note in the comments :)
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