Friday, May 17, 2013

Confessions of a Bead Hoarder


I primarily use seed beads in my work. I live about 30 miles from the nearest bead store. (And its a small one!)  So if I need a specific bead, I usually need to order it online and wait.  Well, there you have the excuse I use for having such a big inventory of beads.  Nothing worse than being in the middle of a project, running out of a certain bead, and having to wait a week or 2 to get an order and continue. Of course it still happens, but not terribly often.

When I was first setting up my studio, I decided I wanted to have the seed beads out where I could see them, not organized and put away in little drawers. It is nice to be able to hold up a component next to a wall of beads and see how each color works with it.  Besides, standing in front of a colorful wall of beads is a beautiful thing!  So I used pegboard, painted white.  I have a section for each size- size 11 has the biggest area. Within these areas, they are organized by color.



wall of size 11 and delicas

*one* of my walls of size 6 and 8 beads




 My size 15s are in little plastic drawers, because they take up less room, and
I ran out of wall space.  I also like to have them within easy reach of my work table.




As I work on projects, I put the beads that I am finished with in this container under my work table,  then take care of them all at once.  Someone once suggested that this container should not be too big, so that you are forced to empty it more often.  Good suggestion I think!!

time to take care of these!!





Now for the RV storage. Remember in the last post I showed you 2 closed cabinets in the RV?  Well, taadaa!  Here are the bead cabinets opened.






Aren't they awesome??  The beads are hung in Beadsmith bead towers- they have elastic loops to hold the tubes.  They are attached into the cabinets with wing nuts, so they can be removed and taken in the house when we are not traveling, or taken with me to a class etc.   My scissors and tools are within easy reach.

I also take small amounts of various colors in these cases.  They take up very little room, latch securely (which from experience is important in an RV) and are good in a bead emergency.




Speaking of small amounts of beads (remember, I am a bead hoarder), here is  one of the ways I store those tiny amounts of leftover beads.  With an old pair of scissors, you can cut right through the plastic bead tube and shorten it.  You can store a lot of these little buggers in a small box!  When I am making small earrings or a small pendant, I go to this box and use up those lil bits of extras. 




So that pretty much covers the seed beads. For some reason, I really enjoy sorting out beads into tiny tubes and arranging them.  And really, is there anything prettier than a wall of colored beads?! 






17 comments:

  1. My husband thinks I have a lot of beads.....but you have a mini store at hand! Wow! I envy your storage and supplies :)

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    1. Thanks Bobbie- I only hope I live to be 150 so I can use them all!!

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  2. Thank you for talking about your studio supplies. I showed this to my spouse and now he no longer thinks I'm crazy for having a continual parade of furniture to repaint in the living room with a box of paints for it nearby! Now I'm "normal"! LOL

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  3. Wow!! I'm without words here... You really have your own beads' shop!! Your storage is just great!!

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    1. Thanks Efrat. It keeps evolving- just when I think I have the perfect setup- I decide to change something!!

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  4. I think I need to have my husband see your photos - it will help put my own bead hoarding into perspective. ;)

    I LOVE the RV storage system!

    KAte

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    1. Thanks Kate. It seems I am providing a great service here. I can see everyone at their dinner table tonight, saying to their husband, "yes, I have lots of beads, but you should see how many SHE has!" Put it in perspective!!!

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  5. Very impressive and well organized. I especially love your RV set-up.

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    1. Thanks Grace. It is usually a bit more disorganized- but cleaned up for pictures!! (in fact, I am surprised nobody has remarked on the dirty socks on the floor in the background in the RV pic!! I didn't notice them until after I published the post!!!)

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    2. LOL I didn't see the socks until you mentioned them, BUT I did see the little roll of toidy paper!! :)

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    3. Ha ha ha- man- you guys pick up on everything. note to self- clean up more before posting pics!!

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  6. Wow. I have a tiny corner of my kitshen to bead in and I know it needs to be better organized, but you have the most extraordinary set up! I am so JEALOUS! Thank you for sharing.

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    1. Well, it definitely has evolved (and spread) over the years. It started in a little corner of the living room and now is threatening to take over the whole house!

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  7. oh my. My long lost sister at heart... I love it mine are all in boxes I must use your organization love it....

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  8. What a wonderful set-up. The cut down bead tubes are a brilliant idea. Now if I can only bring myself to actually cut them...

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  9. Just love the RV storage but I am afraid hubby will not let me move the TV that sits in that spot in our RV will just have to look for some other wall to use.

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