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Suppliers & Product Reviews

Czech glass bead suppliers

Tuesday, November 27th, 2007

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Exclusive Imports
All shapes of Czech beads ~ pressed, lampworked, firepolished, and rhinestone

Czech Beads
Lots of handmade beads as well as molded and machine cut

Wild Things
Many hard-to-find specialty shapes

Purebeads
Arranged by color and sold in lots for good prices. Helpful articles too!

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Woodworking tips

Tuesday, October 30th, 2007

Not everyone would want to make their own wooden jewelry or beads, but for those who decide to give it a try, I would definitely recommend Lee Valley Tools for your woodworking needs! I’ve already recommended the DIY Network for some interesting tutorials on making wooden jewelry. You can also find some like-minded people over at Craftster.Org too, who like to mix wood into their jewelry projects.

Any other suggestions for good places to gather info or share pieces?

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Amy Fraser’s fall collection

Wednesday, October 24th, 2007

My friend Amy Fraser has an amazing collection of pendants out for the fall and winter. She’s calling it the Prophecy Collection. Take a look!

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Don’t miss the artist profile that Amy did for Bead Arts either!

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Inspiration galore!

Wednesday, October 10th, 2007

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Don’t forget about the Design Gallery at Beadalon when you need a shot of inspiration! There are so many lovely things to look at, like these Sparkle Flower Earrings, a new design by Meredith Roddy:

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Sparkle Flower instructions

Each project has a list of supplies needed, plus links directly to the items available from Beadalon, and easy to follow instructions.

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Metal bead suppliers

Friday, October 5th, 2007

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Hands of the Hills
Glorious Hilltribe silver and Khmer gold

Nina Designs
Bali, Indian, Thai, and Hilltribe silver

Beads of Bali
Wholesale Bali silver, direct from the producers

Rishashay
Huge selection of exquisite silverwork

Anne Choi
American artist with an international background, Anne creates silver beads like no others!

Green Girl Studios
Silver and pewter fairy-tale beads. Wonderful!

Tarak High Karat Gold
Wholesale only ~ beads, chains, and findings

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Interesting findings from Nunn Designs

Wednesday, September 26th, 2007

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Nunn Designs offers some different products than I’ve seen elsewhere. Their findings line is called Patera, and has some very cool links and pendants for which I can envision many different uses!

Speedy Stringer

Wednesday, September 12th, 2007

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I want one of these. I can’t really justify it, since most of my work is embroidery rather than seed bead stringing, but I still want one!

If you can justify buying one (or getting one for me as a special surprise!), they’re available at Fire Mountain Gems. Here’s some infomation from their website:

Use the Speedy Stringer for crocheting, knitting, loom weaving or multiple-strand jewelry projects. Simply pour beads into the bowl, insert the specially designed needle, then spin the brass knob to string hundreds of beads in no time at all.

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Bead for Life

Friday, September 7th, 2007

The slogan of this mission is “eradicating poverty one bead at a time”. Bead For Life creates a bridge between Ugandan women who want to build a better future for themselves and their families and bead buyers who can help them.

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[tags]beads,beading,handmade-beaded-jewelry,Uganda[/tags}

Taking a class with Nancy Eha

Friday, August 10th, 2007

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Jungle Rhythm

I had the time of my life last Saturday! I was fortunate enough to be able to take a class in a nearby city with one of my beading heroes, the incomparable beaded quilt artist, Nancy Eha. Not only is Nancy’s beadwork original, beautiful, charming, and totally unique, but so is she. I have rarely been in a classroom with such a gifted teacher. Nancy is patient, organized, articulate, and creative. Very often you’ll get a teacher with one or two of these qualities, but rarely ever all of them. If you ever have an opportunity to take one of her classes…DO NOT MISS OUT!!!

Here are some pictures from our class, and above is one of Nancy’s pieces that was displayed at the quilt show where the classes were being held.

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Here’s my finished piece

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Nancy Eha

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My friend, Debbie

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The project that Nancy was teaching is available in her book, Bead Creative Art Quilts. Can you teach yourself using this book? Of course. Will you have anywhere near the fun or learn as much? No way! So do both: get the book and take a class!

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Cast pewter pendant blanks

Tuesday, August 7th, 2007

I’m not sure what exactly I want to do with these, but I do know that I want some! Maybe one of each :)

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You can get them from HHH Enterprises.

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My haul from the Intergem show

Monday, July 16th, 2007

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I love going to the local Intergem show. Intergem stands for International Gem and Jewelry. The show closest to me is not a place to find handmade lampwork beads or seed beads, but it is wonderful for semi-precious and precious gemstones of all kinds, stone beads, Swarovski crystal, pearls, and silver silver silver. I always seem to go with the same list, to replenish my silver and pearl stock, but after that’s been taken care of, it’s time to see what catches my fancy. This year, it was moakite and amazonite rondelles, and tons of turquoise. I can never seem to get enough turquoise!

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Venetian and Murano glass beads suppliers

Friday, July 6th, 2007

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Beautiful beads from Via Murano

De Roma Venetian Glass
Imported Venetian glass beads

Venetian Bead Shop
Imported Venetian and Murano glass beads

Gems 2 Behold
Wholesalers of Venetian and Murano glass beads

Via Murano
Imported Venetian glass beads

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“Sea glass” beads

Wednesday, July 4th, 2007

The Beadin’ Path has some of the neatest looking new beads. Made in China, they are tumbled to look like sea glass, but with better colors than you’ll usually find washed up on the beach. Plus, they already have a hole!

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Polymer, clay, and porcelain bead suppliers

Thursday, June 28th, 2007

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Clayfulmingles
The Spirited Bead
Beautiful polymer beads by Karen Lewis, aka Klew

Clayfulmingles
Mia Rox’s polymer cane beads

Beyond Beads Gallery
Porcelain beauties by Jean Christen

CF Originals
Spectacular critters and more by Christi Friesen

Columbine Beads
Raku beads and pendants by Linda A Hendrix

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Swarovski crystal suppliers

Thursday, June 14th, 2007

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Nothing even comes close to comparing with the sparkle and beauty and color selection of real Swarovski crystals. Many other faceted beads are called “crystal”, but true crystal glass has a high lead content that gives it that extra shine.

Here are a couple of good sources for all the colors and styles of Swarovski crystals:

The Beadin’ Path
Many vintage and hard-to-find styles

Jewerly Supply
An amazing selection

Best Buy Beads
All the contemporary shapes and colors

Rainbows of Light
Incredible selection and organization

Create Your Style
Swarovski’s own site, with design ideas, a design tool, links to events and stores

Bead Stuff
Fabulous color and shape charts

Jerry Smith Beads
Charts and easy shopping

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About Bead Arts

Come on a journey through a bead and jewelry wonderland, where no item is considered too strange to use in making something...especially if that item has a hole in it! All types of beads are welcomed and cherished here, and no techniques are off-limits. You'll be amazed and inspired by the beadwork that is being done today!

Bead Arts Author(s)

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