Anna and I went bead shopping. It was not as much of an adventure as I would have liked, simply because there are so few bead stores within driving distance here in Kansas.
In fact, for the type of beads we were looking for, there are only a couple. We picked the most promising of the two, and hit the road early in the morning.
Now, I know most people would think, “Yay! An opportunity for a day out shopping! Hurray!”
No, no! We were women on a mission, focused and determined. We were finished and on our way back home pretty quickly.
I want to include a few “unusual” beads in a project that we are currently working on. The beads fall into the realm of jewelry-making beads, rather than embroidery-type beads, and we only need a few for each kit – enough to cover about one inch of wire.
I didn’t want to order these types of beads online in kit quantities without having seen them first, to find out that they were not exactly what I had in mind. We needed to go where we could see, feel, touch, and work with the types of beads we have in mind. These means purchasing quite a few to work out a good prototype. Once we find what we like that works, we can order them online in bulk from a distributor.
Oh gosh! Beads are mesmerizing things! And to see so many of sparkling and shimmering in one place – oh, it’s scintillatingly tempting to buy some of everything!
Fortunately, I had Anna with me as a control factor. I managed to restrict myself to beads I knew would work for a prototype, without getting too carried away on diverse possibilities.
Today, we are going to built the thing we have in mind, and then begins the fun of sourcing the various components. Fingers crossed, we will find them in the quantity we need!
All of these little steps go into the whole project planning process – whether we are planning projects for the stitch-alongs here on the website or planning projects for larger kits. This particular project is a Stitch Snippet, but it’s a much more expansive kit than the previous snippets. There are many components, so in that regard, it falls slightly beyond my notion of what a Stitch Snippet should be (a small taster project). Still, there are so many valuable learning aspects to it, that I think it’ll make a fabulous stitch-along.
In any case, I hope you like what we are concocting! This is our final piece of the puzzle, and we’ll be able to show you the finished details quite soon.
Have a jolly weekend!
I LOVE beads!! I trust the online shops because I’ve experimented with sizes, qualities, and pricing. I know that’s alot for your own purposes, though.
Bead shopping in bulk would give me an excuse to visit NYC. Talk about heaven. Garment district.
Can’t wait to see how you use them!
Isn’t that the truth! I have been bead shopping in the garment district in NYC – but alas – too far away at the moment!
Will it take special thread and fabric to do this bead work? So excited!course living in the White Mountains of NEW HAMPSHIRE I’m going to have to order everything!
Well, if you want to make the project identical to the one we work through in the stitch-along, yes, it will take particular fabrics, threads, beads, and finishing materials – all of these will be included in the kit, though, to make it easy to acquire everything through one source.