Storing lampwork beads

Dec 08, 2003 10 Replies

OK, all you lampworkers out there or those who have a huge stash of lamwork beads, how do you organize your beads?



I just spent 3 hours trying to organize my lampwork beads, with no luck. I've been making beads for over a year so I have a large collection of bugger beads, misplaced dot beads, yucky color beads and some really cool beads. I've tried organizing by shape, color, bad beads, good beads (I find lots of people like my "bad beads" so they get moved to the good beads bin). Then I wonder why in the world do I have this need to organize my beads?



Right now I use one of those plastic boxes that Hobby Lobby sells. It has lots of little compartments to make life easier but of course it has stressed me out. Help, please.



Regina


Right now I use one of those plastic boxes that Hobby Lobby sells. It has lots of little compartments to make life easier but of course it has stressed me out. Help, please.>

basically - I had those plastic boxes for a long time - most of mine are sitting empty now, because the ones I first bought were grey, with only semi-clear tops... I then bought some of the large flat cases with flocked dividers - and the glass lids... from Rio Grande. I keep them in those because I can see them better..... also - if you have to many oddball beads..

it's time for a sale.. LOL

string a bunch and sell them as a group on ebay.... I try to whittle my stock down at the end of the year -- so I have less to inventory for tax purposes....

Cheryl of DRAGON BEADS Flameworked beads and glass

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I second this. A couple of years ago I bought "2 Pounds of Beads" on eBay. I'm pretty sure they were a lampworker getting rid of practice and imperfect beads; they were cheap, warranted handmade by the seller but that was all. They varied from pretty awful (which I threw out) to decent (which I repackaged in reasonable groupings and resold as loose beads off my table) to pretty good (which I used, or put aside to use later). I got enough of the latter 2 categories to be comfortable with the price I paid for the grab bag.

Celine

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Regina" :

]or those who have a huge stash of lamwork ]beads, how do you organize your beads?

lampwork i keep sorted by artist.

other beads, i sort by color. but i may have to re-think this one, as i miss some combinations.

what i WANT is a huge pegboard [got it, but it's still not up] on the wall behind my desk where i can hang ALL my strands of beads in plain view. it's gonna be a while before i get there. part of the problem is to make sure the wall can take the weight!

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

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(Jewelry)
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----------- It's not what you take, when you leave this world behind you; it's what you leave behind you when you go. -- Randy Travis

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Kandice Seeber" :

]Then you'd have your own bead store!!! :D

which is EXACTLY what i want . . .

[but don't say it too loudly! i'm trying to disguise it!]

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

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(Jewelry)
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----------- It's not what you take, when you leave this world behind you; it's what you leave behind you when you go. -- Randy Travis

That is what I should do for sure. I did a show several months ago and had a bowl of beads maked for $1 each. They sold like crazy, although it did take away from the sales of my higher priced beads. I'm still not sure if that was such a good idea since some of the beads were pretty good, I was just sick of looking at them. I may give eBay a try though.

Thanks for the good suggestions.

Regina

another thing you could do with the "lesser quality" beads... I'm using some to make these christmas ornament hangers. I know that some of these might get lost or broken over the years, so i definitely don't want to use first quality, expensive beads, but i still want them to be pretty. I have a few lampwork beads, and tried one on a hanger, and it's sooo cute. I'll get pix up soon when i'm feeling better. You could probably sell them, too. I dunno, just a thought from a feverish brain...LOL.

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Kandice Seeber" :

]LOL - "it's not a store, I swear!"

EXACTLY!

[shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!]

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

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(Jewelry)
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----------- It's not what you take, when you leave this world behind you; it's what you leave behind you when you go. -- Randy Travis

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