Shopping for that special Treasure!

On my last post, regarding my shipment of vintage beads, one of my readers, asked where I purchased my beads from. While I do scrounge through antique shops and flea markets for vintage treasures, I do most of my serious bead purchasing online. Craft supply stores like Michaels, are great for beginners, or for someone who just wants to make a personal piece of jewelry. If, however, you want to sell your work, you need to buy wholesale, and look for competitive prices, or look for unique beads and findings to make you jewelry stand out. I have spent countless hours searching for certain bead suppliers, but I know the time is well spent when I locate a fabulous and dependable supplier or an amazing bead artist. Now...some of them I will keep secret, so that I can keep some of those goodies all to myself. However, for all you beaders, jewelry designers and crafters out there, I will share with you some of my favorite sites.

For sterling and Bali silver (wholesale only) www.bamiyansilver.ca
For vintage and unusual finds: www.agrainofsand.com and www.jewelex.com
For wire and jump rings: www.theringlord.com
General beads and findings: www.artbeads.com and www.ringsnthings.com

There are also many great suppliers and talented artists that create handmade beads and findings on Etsy, eBay, and Artfire.
Happy shopping!

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