Great Ideas for Finding Low-Priced Beads

A lot of people who are just starting to make their own bead jewelry get caught up in all the magazines and books and beading supply catalogs and begin thinking that the only way to actually buy beads and jewelry supplies are through specialized jewelry and beading outlets. To make beautiful bead jewelry you don’t have to spend a lot of money on your beads and beading supplies.

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 cheap beads for making jewelry.

Discount and warehouse stores: We have several different chains of stores in my area that specialize in over run items, dented and dinged merchandise and things that have simply been discontinued. Their stock rotates pretty regularly and one week they may have a pallet of coffee makers for $5.00 a piece while the next week they have room sized area rugs. I always check their craft sections because every now and then they have piles and piles of beads from a craft store or bead store somewhere that closed down. I usually end up filling a hand basket filled with beads and supplies when stumble across them because I know that they won’t be around next week!

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: I know you don’t normally think of hardware stores when you think of beads, but there are some amazingly inventive ways to use hardware and washers and fasteners of all sort that can be used when you’re making your own jewelry. You just need to have some creativity to create some truly unique and amazingly affordable pieces of jewelry.

All these types of stores are great places for finding amazing deals on unique beads and jewelry supplies. These are not the sort of places you would visit if you were searching for a very specific type of bead or jewelry item, but I find that my imagination sometimes runs wild when I visit non-traditional stores while thinking about 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.