Thursday, March 31, 2016

Bead Shops are Like Sweet Shops!

I love bead shops, they're like sweet shops for people who don't eat sweets!  We used to have a lovely little one in Long Melford but sadly it closed.  I love getting a little wooden bowl and filling it up with goodies, mentally planning necklaces and earrings as I add to it, so I was thrilled when I discovered one in Cambridge earlier this week.


When I got my treasures home I started rummaging in my seed bead boxes to find small beads to go with the larger ones I'd bought; laying them out in different arrangements.


After lots of arranging and threading and adding ends I ended up with 3 new necklaces with matching earrings:

a blue and white set (reminiscent of delftware I think),


a yellow and green set (a perfect match for my lovely work jacket)


(no I didn't make the jacket, Hobbs did),

and a lovely green set with gorgeous acrylic patterns beads.


All in all the 3 sets cost me £27, which is a darn sight less than I would have to pay if I'd bought them ready made, and I had the all the fun of stringing beads onto thread and wire :-)

at

6 comments:

  1. galantMarch 31, 2016 at 7:14 PM

    I'm not one for craft work usually, things always tend to look more like they were run to make but no more than that ... but these necklaces and earrings are something else! They are so beautiful! I love them all! I don't have pierced ears, but I'd certainly wear those necklaces! Love them!!!!! They wouldn't be out of place in a high class boutique!
    Margaret P

    ReplyDelete
  2. JoMarch 31, 2016 at 7:40 PM

    Oooh, I don't really buy beads but I can see how addictive this hobby could be. I love that first set you've made. I wonder if this hobby is on the wane as I know of a lovely bead shop in Leeds which has also closed down, it's a shame to see any sort of craft shop close.

    ReplyDelete
  3. FrancesMarch 31, 2016 at 10:03 PM

    Su, your newly created necklaces and earrings are lovely, and are uniquely yours, too.

    I also love bead shops, and have many fond memories of visits to a London shop in the Covent Garden area, on Neal Street and was called ... The Bead Shop. I still have lots and lots of beads I bought there over the years, and quite a few long necklaces that I strung, and re-strung. Back then I had quite short hair, and liked dangly earrings that I'd make from beads and wire findings from TBS.

    There are lots of wholesale/retail bead dealers in a particular NYC midtown neighborhood, the west 30s, but they do not have the charm of that London source.

    xo

    ReplyDelete
  4. busybusybeejayApril 1, 2016 at 6:36 PM

    Lovely.Where in Cambridge is the bead shop?Our son lives there and we are down next weekend.When you next go to Cambridge visit Stir for a lovely lunch.My son and daughter in law have opened a coffee shop in CB 4 and it is doing really well.

    ReplyDelete
  5. CATHY DANIELApril 7, 2016 at 6:26 PM

    Oh, those are gorgeous. I suppose the fun is also that you can make precisely what YOU want, rather than settling for something shop-bought that's only nearly right. Gorgeous jacket too! xCathy

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yvonne MoxonMay 11, 2016 at 9:27 PM

    Lovely pictures Sue :) I one drove through Kings Lymnn on market day! that was an experience lol and what beautiful necklace and earring sets you have made! I particularity love the rose and green one x

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting my blog. I appreciate all your comments and I love to read them all. I will try to reply to each one, unless you have a 'noreply' blogger address that is, but this may take a few days if I'm busy!

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.