Now with hind sight I wished I had. I have just been rummaging behind my beading desk to see if I could find the wire knitter that I have.
I pulled out a box and in are 31 vintage crystal necklaces with a total of 48 strands. These were antique fair finds. I got to be known as the lady who was always looking for crystal beads. Stall holders would keep them for me and I felt compelled to buy. I hated to disappoint them by refusing. The prices were always good, only a few pounds each. I have not been to an antique fair now for about 2 years,
In the first instance I started to collect them because I wanted to make a beaded lampshade. Never did make one apart from putting a beaded fringe round a plain cream lampshade.
All the other beads I have are in drawers and boxes. I did at one time have drawers labelled with colours, crystals, delica's and so forth. Alas though some drawers got too full and other beads were pushed in. It is a mega search for some of the beads.
How I wished I had kept a record of where and when and how much the beads cost when I got them. Also where I put them. Memories plays tricks as one gets older.
There still a lot of beads that were in my BFNR still in the drawers. In another box are the beads that I bought in Amsterdam when I met Bart there. He took DH and I to shops that we would never have found If we had been on our own. Still think of you Bart if you are reading this.
Since I inventory everything else craft related, I am surprised I never thought to do it with my beads. (ok the Mill Hill packs that I've bought for projects are listed with my specialty items)
It would be fun to know how other people store and inventory things.
I have done most every kind of craft over the last 40 years (I am older than dirt!) and the room where I have all my supplies is such a mess I call it my "crappy room". As far as my beads, I do keep my seed beads somewhat organized, all red shades are in one plastic box , all blue tones in another and etc. All cabs are together but other than that, nothing is really organized and doubt things will change at this stage of the game. Marilee
Nope, and I should before I get overwhelmed. I turned my dining room into my bead workshop and no longer invite people over for dinner, lol. Method in my madness, that.
I have small open baskets and I keep everything in those in resealable plastic bags. DD bought me a fancy case with a gazillion compartments and I haven't put anything in it yet. From eons of experience (old as dirt too), I threaten anyone with death if they move one thing.
I know pretty well exactly where stuff is and it would drive me bonkers if I changed it around. But I am working on it. I really should have kept a record on here of what I paid and so on. I think Sterling does that. Me......I just guess. But not into much selling yet. My problem is I started out with base metals and stuff from Michaels. Now I buy the better stuff, so have to definitely keep those separate.
After determining that I had more beads that I thought I did, I went to Dollar Tree and bought lots of plastic shoeboxes with lids. I spent several days seperating tubes of seed beads by color, findings, thread & needles, glass beads, metal beads, crystals, lampwork and UFPs. Everything is now neatly labeled and stored on a six foot, five-shelf stand.
I'm not OCD about putting things back immediately after use, but they do find their way back into the proper container eventually. Makes finding that certain shade of purple or those butterfly spacers a lot easier.
OMG! I must be OCD cause I do keep inventory. Several years ago, I broken down and bought Jewelry Design Manager, and it was the best money I have spent on my beading/jewelry business.
Every time I make a bead, crystal, silver purchase, its all entered into the JDM program. There is a lot of work involved, but it is something I love to do. Such as counting each individual bead on a newly purchased string - no matter how small the bead. In my last order, I bought 3 strands of 2 mm peridot beads. I had to break apart the strands and count each and every bead. But, I know exactly how much an individual 2 mm peridot bead costs, and how much to charge for a jewelry item that contained that same bead. Yeah, its very time consuming, but on days you just don't want to bead but you want to be doing something with your beads, this fills the spot.
Once you enter into the program the bead, color, size, shape, date of purchase, location of purchase, total cost of the bead, how it came packaged (single, strand, pack of 12) how many to a strand/package, then the program keeps all that info for you at the tip of your fingers or mouse. You can have the program tell you when you are running low on a particular item so you can order more. Its really a great program.
Then in another part of the program you enter in the components that make up a particular piece of jewelry. The program will store a picture of the piece for you so you can remember which one it is, and then it gives you pricing for the piece. You tell the program you want to charge a specific amount for wholesale, direct, and retail and the program calculates the price from each individual bead or component you used to make that bracelet, then gives you wholesale, direct, and retail prices so you don't have to do any bookkeeping or try coming up with a legitimate price for your jewelry... the program does it all for you.
An example would be: you tell the program you want to charge 2x for wholesale, 2.5x for direct, and
3x for retail. The program will tabulate the price of the beads used to make the bracelet, then calculate the wholesale, direct, and retail price using the formula you gave it. So, if the bracelet was made with $12.00 worth of stuff, then the program will give you $24.00 for wholesale, $30.00 for direct, and $36.00 for retail. You get to choose which price you want to use depending on the person who is buying it. Like, we all give our family a discount of sorts, but other people get to pay retail price.
And I cant forget about the reports you can generate with the program. It can tell you exactly how much money you've spend on beads and components since day one, or on a specific date. It can give you a list of all beads and components you bought at a specific store, it can even break it down to specific component types bought at a specific store. It can list all the jewelry you've ever made, and give you pictures with it too. Every report can be printed so you can keep a log if you want.
How I store my beads: My local craft store sells these great 18 compartment clear plastic locking containers. I use these to store my beads. I also found larger 6 compartment clear plastic containers at Wal-Mart where the compartments are much bigger and I use those for pearls. And of course I have those white, almost opaque large plastic box containers that hold a lot, and I use those for my larger beads and large quantity items.
Everything is color coded to the extent that I have all pink type beads in a box, all green type beads in another, etc. Some specific types where I have mass quantities have their own boxes, like the aquamarine, turquoise, citrine, etc. All my crystal is kept in color coordinated boxes too. Are you starting to see a pattern here?
Suffice it to say, I know and remember every bead, crystal, sterling silver piece that I have ever bought. But, if I ever forget, I could always go back to the program and it would tell me exactly what I want to know.
My bead room is a utter mess right now and I want to bead, but I cant until I clean up some of the clutter. What do you think I am doing? Sitting here on the computer cause I don't want to clean. BWAHAHAHAHAHAA
I don't keep an inventory, per se, but I do label the bins with my beads and include prices either on the bin or on the strand where applicable. I have one of those handheld label makers and love it.
Shirley - I still have the strand of old crystals you sent me, as well as a spoon and the lovely card you made me one year.
I wonder about Bart and all the other old-RCBers, too. Many are now on Facebook. You should join us there!
Barbara
Bead & Polymer Clay Habitué
There is a very fine line between a hobby and mental illness. (Dave Barry)
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