Beads and chocolate, what could be better? On this past, rainy Sunday I went into Manhattan for the opening day of the Manufacturing Jewelers & Suppliers of America Expo. On the way I detoured into Teuscher's Chocolatier in Rockefeller Center for some truffles. Here are a few shots of their Easter windows.
Having bought chocolates for us to consume later, I continued on to the Expo. Most of the shows exhibitors didn't really help me much, being metal casting, insurance, metal machinery, and precious metal jewelry businesses, but I did find some great metal beads at BCM--Ball Chain Manufacturing Co. The nice people at the BCM booth gave me samples of some of their copper beads which I played with last night.
Here are two bead crochet samples using BCM beads. The top one was done with copper, 1/2 inch, elliptical bars and the bottom one uses the 5.5 mm, copper, filligree beads. Their website is http://www.ballchain.com
The other discovery at the Expo was Preciosa, maufacturer of Czech crystal beads, pendants, and crystal nacre pearls. It's a name that I had been seeing in advertisements in the bead magazines, so I was happy to have a chat with Larry Brezenoff at the Preciosa booth. Preciosa is an old company located in Northern Bohemia who products are better-known in Europe and South America than in the U.S.A.; they are now hoping to move into North America. I am excited to have an alternative to Swarovski.
At left and below are a few photos of part of the sample card that I got at the Preciosa booth. Their crystals look very nice and are less expensive than Swarovski. The Preciosa people also explained that they have some colors and cuts that Swarovski doesn't have and Swarovski has some cuts and colors that Preciosa doesn't make.
Here is a closeup of a small part of the sample card showing 4 versions of each color from left to right: Color, Color AB, Matt, and Matt AB. I am in love with that matt aqua. The Preciosa website is http://www.preciosa.com. For retail shoppers, Preciosa's crystals are available from Margola Import, 48 West 37th St., New York, NY 10018. Their website is http://www.margola.com.
Mode Beads (http://www.modebeads.com/) also is a retailer of Preciosa beads. They're located on 4th ave in Brooklyn.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct but the salesman for Mode Beads told me that you needed to order $150 worth of crystals 3-4 times a year to buy from them. Most people won't want to do that. Thanks for the reminder, though.
ReplyDeleteMargola welcomes all beaders, embroiderers, and artists to our storefront showroom 48 West 37th Street. We are open 8am-6pm Monday - Thursday, 8am-5pm Friday, and 10am-4pm Saturday.Please browse our on-line B2B store at www.margola.net.
ReplyDeleteReckless, it sounds like the salesman was talking about their website, not their retail store. I shop in their retail location on 4th ave in Brooklyn all the time and there is never any minimum purchase. My friends and I go there a lot and the sales people at Mode are so helpful- they even helped me with designs for certain projects I was working on.
ReplyDeleteThey have a HUGE selection and I love the convenience of not having to go to the city - even met a customer coming in from Manhattan to check them out. :-)
I'm surprised the salesman told you that and didnt mention the retail store. It's called Beads on Fourth - located on 4th avenue between 50th and 51st streets. Totally worth checking them out.
I am also surprised that Mode's rep didn't mention the retail store. I will check it out.
ReplyDelete