NEW SOURCES FOR CZECH BEADS

      When York Beads closed, many of us were sad to lose a great resource for Czech beads and a fun place to visit.  Luckily, two former York employees have opened mail order businesses to fill some of the void left by that beloved family business.
      In my last post, I mentioned Bon Beads, which saved my bacon with lovely colors of etched farfalle beads.  They have much more including fire polish beads, mushrooms, pyramids, superduos, and aged seed beads.  There is a $100 minimum for an order, but there is much to tempt you.  Here are some of the mushroom beads that I couldn't resist.

Bon Beads



These are some of the etched farfalle beads that I bought for my Luminous Tweed bracelet kits.

     Bon Beads is not the only new source because Kelly Stevenson, a favorite in the bead world, has opened Back2Bead, with his own selection of Czech Beads.  Kelley has buttons, charlottes, dragon scales, fire polish, daggers, rhinestone roundels, aged stripe seed beads, and more.  There is no minimum order at Kelly's online shop.  These are some of the fire polish beads and donuts that are calling my name.

Back2Bead

More Back2Bead

So check out either or both of these new suppliers when you need some Czech Beads.

I BUTTONED UP THIS CHALLENGE

 I am participating in another group challenge and this year's theme was embellished found objects.  The parameters were a found object embellished in metallic colors other than gold with a finished size of 1 1/4 inches or less, plus a 1/4-inch loop for attachment. 

I had this great idea of combining crystal clay, some cute filigree hearts (above) that I found at CJS Sales, and beads until I remembered "oh yeah-no gold color allowed."  Hmmm...now what?

After leafing through Break the Rules Bead Embroidery by Diane Hyde for inspiration, I decided to follow her suggestion to look for items in the scrapbooking section of a craft store.  As I picked up my keys to walk out the door, my brain said "Buttons-you have lots of buttons left over from projects."

My 22 embellished found objects using buttons

So I got out my button box and started playing.  Stacking the buttons appealed to me so I used 20 gauge wire, silver size 8 seed beads, and buttons of various size to make 22 "charms."  There is more skill in putting together buttons than you might think!  I threaded the buttons on the wire with the seed beads at the bottom, in between the buttons, and at the top.  A loop wire loop finished the "charm."

I had such fun that I also made myself a pair of earrings.

My new earrings


 

Making the ear wires allowed me to use my new Wubbers pliers.  I know that wire people say you should just use your round-nose pliers and a Sharpie pen to make the ear wires, but the Medium Bail Making pliers and Large Bail Making pliers make the job so much easier and give you consistent results.

My found objects are now winging their way via USPS to the organizer.  Now to wait to see what everyone else in the challenge has done.