I first came across the
California based jewelry supplier, The Bead Shop, through their marvelous tutorials on Youtube. I wrote about their
Multi Patterned Leather Wrapped Cord Bracelet Tutorials and
Mosaic Tila Bead Headband and Bracelet Tutorials because they were such refreshing approaches to popular techniques and beads.
The Bead Shop was founded in 1982 by Janice Parsons. It is the online presence of the old Bead Shop once located in Palo Alto. They said,
"Based on the culture of our old brick and mortar store, our website was created to reflect the artistic passion and beading knowledge of its owner and team. We continually push ourselves to provide our customers with new inspirational videos and handouts that give beaders of every skill level the confidence to create beautiful jewelry." Their shop sells all sorts of jewelry supplies but with a distinct emphasis on those needed for micro-macrame, knotting and wrapping jewelry. They've clearly sourced the world for the best materials as you can get supplies like
Irish waxed linen,
Korean waxed cords and
Chinese knotting cords. They also stock many colors of
C-lon,
Superlon and the US made
Tuft cord which are used for micro-macrame jewelry. There is a large range of leather cords and also something called
Compassion Suede which is not made from animals.
Their colorful range of threads, cords including leather come in different sizes to suit the varying bead hole sizes. I found their guide,
Stitchionary, extremely useful in sorting out what sort of threads and cords to use for what projects. Indeed their site is peppered with useful tips and tricks.
For example, Chinese knotting cord (0.5 mm) is used for the herringbone wrapped Greek leather bracelet shown above. I featured the tutorial before but it doesn't hurt to see
the video tutorial by Nicole Anderson again. Love the changes of laddered beads along the long bracelet!
Also used in the video is KO thread. KO thread is made in Japan and is specifically designed for beaders. It's a
"strong, fray-resistant and non-stretchy thread" which can be used with needles but is stiff enough to use the tail as a self needle. That last bit is useful if you do like making bead wrapped cord bracelets.
Heart's Desire is
a lovely micro macrame necklace design tutorial by Janice Parsons.Gemstone rondelles are knotted together with micro C-lon. Check out the
video tutorial here.
The Bead Shop also carry beautiful kimono cord.One of my favorite Bead Shop tutorials is one of the easiest.
A must see! Janice Parsons
demonstrates in this video, the ancient technique of
silk wrapping which requires no glue or visible knots
to make this kimono cord necklace. It can be wrapped twice to make a bracelet and without the button, a eyeglass cord!
A fun store to explore! I can attest to that as I have spent hours on the site.
Giveaway The Bead Shop is sponsoring a $100 gift certificate for any of their products. If you'd like be a winner, please make a comment below. Make sure you leave contact info below if you do not have an online shop or blog. Subscribers need to click on the post title to come to my actual blog. Scroll down and enter your comment. Pick Name/URL. If you don't have a store or blog, leave the URL blank.
This giveaway is international.
Extra entries if you become or are a blog subscriber or follower etc. If you also do shout outs about this giveaway, those will count as additional entries too! Please say so in the comments.
It ends in a week's time at 6 pm EST Monday, February 10 , 2014. I will pick the winner randomly and announce the results as soon as possible after. So be sure to leave a contact email if you don't have an online link or make sure you come back and check! Otherwise I will redraw in a week. Good luck!
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