Thursday, April 9, 2009

Great Ideas for Finding Cheap Beads

By Laura Kay

When you're making and selling your own beaded jewelry, every penny counts. It's easy to get caught up trying to buy the most expensive beads and supplies to make the most expensive beaded jewelry you can, but that's not always the best strategy to make the largest profit. You really want to try to mix affordability with creativity to strike the perfect balance of quality beading supplies with beads that you can make a profit from.

Sure, you can spend all your time visiting the clearance sections of your local bead store or spend all night trying to win some online auction for a lot of beads of questionable quality. In actuality, though, there are lots of amazing places you can go to buy discount beads for making jewelry.

Discount and warehouse stores: Lots of larger stores are now stocking craft supplies, scrap booking materials and even bead jewelry making supplies. These stores sometimes have rotating product stocks and may not always have the beads or supplies you're looking for, so if you find something you'd better buy it right then and there because there's no guarantee you'll see them again.

Large chain art stores: Art and Craft stores are finally learning that beaded jewelry is big business and now most have at least three aisles full of beads and beading supplies, often at very low prices. And if you're just starting out with bead jewelry making, you can almost always find a friendly salesperson who can help you locate the beads you're looking for.

Hardware stores: Yes, I know this sounds crazy, but if you're looking to add some fun and unique pieces to your jewelry then you really have to think about going to a hardware store and looking over their sections of fasteners, screws and even nails. I've picked up grommets, washers, and even some cool little metal clasps from my local hardware store and used them all in different jewelry pieces. Jewelry made from hardware pieces always seems to be a hit amongst the teenagers and younger audience members at the craft shows I visit.

The more imaginative you are, the more you can use alternative and affordable beads to create amazing bead jewelry. Some of these stores aren't the kind of place you'd normally go to find jewelry supplies, but I've learned to be open-minded when it comes to finding great ways of making jewelry.

So keep an eye out wherever you shop and always be ready to look for and buy some cheap beading supplies. Every time you shop you may be just moments away from finding some amazing deals on beads for making jewelry.

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