Beads by Mail Getting Started with Beads
Step by Step to Making Your Own Beautiful Jewelry
FREE ... Every bead order includes FREEBEES--$5, $10, up to $20 worth OF MORE BEADS!
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Introduction
Beads are HOT! You see them everywhere, in jewelry, handbags, even trimmings on clothing, shoes, and home accessories. We have even seen coffee tables completely covered with a woven-bead fabric constructed of larger wooden beads.
Museums are competing for ancient, medieval, and modern bead artifacts. Some of the most beautiful beaded objects come from Africa.
Easy Projects
It's easy to make beaded jewelry. Most designs are quite simple. Dangle earrings take about 5 minutes to assemble. Bracelets take about 10 minutes to string. A simple necklace takes about 20 minutes to assemble and string, after you have decided on a design.
Getting Started With Beads
Our comprehensive Web pages save you valuable time and money because everything you need is right here on our site, only 2-3 days from arriving at your door, sooner if you can't wait.
For your convenience we are offering the Getting Started Kit with everything you need to start designing jewelry.
It's yours at a very special price! You could spend hours assembling such a kit yourself and some required items might not even be available in your area.
Our Best Selling Quarter Pound of Quality Glass Beads GREATLY REDUCED!!!!!
Our Best Seller! Full Quarter Pound of Quality Glass Beads OLD PRICE $14.99! SOLD OUT
The photo at left shows just a fraction of the beads you get with this special
package. Make bead chokers, bracelets, earrings, pendants, it's fun for everybody!
The quarter pounder typically contains about 150-250 high-quality glass beads and NO seed beads.
The beads in the quarter pounder are from top glass bead makers in
Czechoslovakia, Germany, Japan, US, China, India. We hand-pick and
carefully assort the selections.
What You Can Make with the Quarter Pounder!
Here we show you about 10 bracelets we made from a randomly chosen quarter pounder & still had some beads left.
See more of these pretty crystal pieces on the Swarovski page.
What You Need to Put Your Ideas Together
To make jewelry you need tools and findings (connecting pieces, clasps) as well as beads. Order our best selling Starter Kit which contains these items plus a quarter pound of high quality glass beads and a valuable FREE gift.
- Tools: a pair of jewelry pliers: needlenose or chain nose are best if you only plan to purchase one pliers. Ours are very high quality, $13.99 each.
- Wire cutters or nippers, small size, $13.99, needed to cut cord or thread.
- Earring Findings. For earrings you need earring wires and headpins. The shepherd hook style for pierced ears is the usual style. These come in silverplate or goldplate, or sterling, or 14k goldfill. We also have a clip style for unpierced ears.
- Stringing Cord. For necklaces and bracelets you need something to string the beads on. We recommend Beadalon 7, a strong, supple steel cord. 30 foot spool for $3.50. We also sell the stretch cord for bracelets, 2 yards for $2.50.
- Crimps. You also need crimps and clasps. We have a wide selection of sterling or gold clasps and crimps.
- Bead Board. If you will be doing a lot of stringing, you should get a bead board. It really helps organize your design with everything in one place, and is easy to take with you. Our bead board is covered in a felt like material that keeps beads from bouncing & rolling on the work space or floor.
Please visit our Toolbox page. You will see photos of the items on the above list. On the Toolbox page you'll see other useful findings, helpers like tiny zip top baggies, and unusual clasps.
Getting Started with Beads Kit
Beginning beaders keep ordering this kit, and they value the time it saves and the easy way they can make their own jewelry with it.
Your Getting Started Kit contains:
- Chain nose pliers, one pair, $13.99 value.
- Quarter Pounder, about 150-200 glass beads, $14.99 value. See photo at top of page for typical assortment--yours may vary.
- Beadalon 19, 30-foot spool, $12.99 value.
- Sterling & copper crimps, 20, $2.99 value.
- 4 eyeglass leash holders value $2.99
- Silverplated lobster claw clasps, 4 clasps with rings, $2.99 value.
- 2 magnetic clasps, silver, $2.99 value.
- Earring findings for 3 pair earrings, $5.00 value, silver.
- Earring findings for 2 pair earrings, $5.00 value, copper.
- 2 pair clip earring findings with loop, $2.99 value.
- One bead board, $9.00 value.
- 3 feet of black leather cord, 1mm, value $2.99.
- 2 pair comfort clutch earring backs, $1.99 value.
- Special Bonus, Free Gift worth at least $8.00 or more!
Special offer: Getting Started with Beads Kit
Everything you Need Only $54.99!
(a $70.00 value if purchased separately)
Basics of Bead Stringing, Invaluable for How To
This invaluable handbook covers most every technique needed to string beads, including knotting, memory wire, wire work, crimping, and has many color photos of designs for necklaces, bracelets & earrings. It's a real value for the price! Get it for half price with the Parts Pak or the Bead Board Special! (see below) Basics of Bead Stringing, $13.99 per copy.
Beads
Bead Sizes
Our wide selection of unique beads allows you to create original designs that you won't see elsewhere.
On each of our pages you'll find lots of information about beads, materials used to make beads, types and styles of beads, and so on. Each photo description contains valuable bead information.
We give bead sizes in millimeters (mm). There are 25mm to an inch. We sell beads in 3mm (smallest) up to 16mm. A 12mm bead is about a half inch.
Best Selling Bead Deal, Our Quarter Pounder
You will receive this in the Starter Kit. If you want a great value, order the half-pound of lampwork beads for $11.99 (see above). The quarter pound of high quality Czech glass beads contains about 150 - 200 hand-picked beads in a large range of colors, shapes, and sizes. $14.99. You'll find a photo and description of the quarter pounder at the top of this page. Our Czech glass page also has photos and full descriptions of hundreds of beautiful glass beads. The quarter pounder is included in the Starter Kit.
Metal Beads, Gold, Silver, Brass
Metal spacer beads are extremely popular. You'll see them in all kinds of designs. We have several sterling silver styles, some from Bali, usually hand made. We also have 3mm goldfill spacers. You can find these as well as other metal beads--enamel, cloisonne, filigree--on the Metal Beads page.
Gemstone Beads
Semiprecious gemstone beads are a very popular jewelry item. You will find hundreds of different gemstones in bead or pendant shapes on the gemstone pages (see the links in the pink navigation bar). Gemstone leaf shapes, scarabs, carved ovals, nuggets, buffalo, fish, horses, and other amulets, in turquoise, peridot, citrine, jasper, garnet, amethyst, carnelian, jade, pearl, and other gemstones.
Free Instructions
Your free jewelry design instructions are on the pages listed below.
Basic Jewelry Construction should be your first stop if you have never made jewelry before.
Making a bracelet with Stretch Cord demystifies the beaded bracelets you see everywhere.
More Easy Projects With Beads demonstrates "beadiful" ways with home decor, different jewelry ideas.
Visit the Gallery page to see what others have made with our beads. Lots of ideas here.
We accept payment by MasterCard, Visa, Discover (Shopping Cart or offline ordering), personal check, money order (offline ordering).
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