Support Your Local Bead Store Heroes

(Beads to Live By)

There is nothing easy about opening a bead store. It takes bravery, lots of determination, knowledge, passion and the ability to create a community that will support your business.

The best bead stores offer much more than beads. They teach classes, host special events and are always finding ways to inspire their local creatives. They provide inspiration in bead form and it's quite a bit of magic!

(Trunk Show Goodies)

I live in an area that is bead store poor. To go to my favorite bead shop I have to travel 2 hours way to the other side of Michigan! Even though it's a trek for us, we do manage to go visit several times a year. I'm fortunate enough to have made friends with the bead store owner and we've paired up for a few classes and trunk shows.

The shop is Beads to Live By owned by Cassandra Spicer. Cassandra knows the value of offering classes to her students to keep them busy with new projects. She listens to her customers requests, that's how we met! Every time I've been in the store she has helped students in the design process and with their projects. She is quick to share simple techniques on the fly and offers lots of encouragement.

(Holiday Workshop)

My next trunk show at Beads to Live By will be on November 19th. It will be a holiday themed trunk show with lots of new work and I'll be teaching a fun wire class. If you are on the east side of Michigan make plans to join us!

(Andrew Thornton)

My next bead store heroes aren't a local shop for me, but if you know Andrew and William you can't help but feel like Allegory Gallery is part of our community too!

Allegory Gallery is a bead shop in a very small tourist town that brings in nationally known instructors and attracts visitors from far and wide. They also operate an online version of their store on Etsy to help supplement their off season times. Allegory Gallery is a unique bead shop and gallery space, they offer a beautifully curated collection of beads supporting artists and makers!

They are another bead store that has created a space that brings out the best in their local customers offering weekly events, classes and even a book/jewelry club! I've been able to visit and teach at Allegory Gallery twice and both times I've wanted to spend hours pouring over their treasures and visiting with the staff.

(Andrew's Ceramic Pendants)

Andrew and William are in the middle of a huge crowd-funding project to expand their inventory and they are offering lots of amazing ways to pledge support.

It's been less than a week and they have met 35% of their goal but to reach the 65% they really need our help.

Support starts at just $8 for a pendant and Andrew's ceramic pendants are some of my favorites, they are quite captivating in their coloring and subject matter. There are events, publications, jewelry and other pendants available too.

(My Allegory Gallery Haul!)

So I'm asking three things of you today to support your local bead store heroes.

1. Visit a local bead shop at least once a month - more if they are closer. Make the trek if you are able. If there are no bead stores anywhere, find a local shop online to support! Tell your local bead store owner how much you appreciate them.

2. Check out Allegory Gallery's Crowdfunding offerings and treat yo'self!!!

3. Share Allegory Gallery's Crowdfunding page on your Facebook or Twitter account today.

Inside the Studio with Humblebeads

Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive, we offer a prize each week to bribe you to use that keyboard and tell us what you think. The following week a winner is chosen at random from all eligible entries.

Congratulations to Bijoux Gems Joy on winning a $15 voucher from Rebecca! 

Contact her to claim your prize! 

My trunk and art show at Allegory Gallery.

Welcome this week to Inside the Studio with Humblebeads. I'm away in Pennsylvania this weekend teaching a retreat hosted by Andrew Thornton of Allegory Gallery. We are having quite an amazing time.

A funny little thing happened on the drive over that has been churning in my brain all weekend, so I thought I would share.

I bought a magazine to browse during the long drive and when I pulled it to look over while we waited for our dinner, I mentioned how the magazine was quite a splurge. Rosanne asked if it was like a $15 splurge, which seems pretty high for a magazine. Nope, it was $22, quite a splurge for a magazine. And then a thought came to me and I asked Rosanne jokingly, "Well, really though what's the price of inspiration?"

The invaluable source of inspiration. 

And this is what has been running though my head all weekend. It's okay to invest in inspiration. In fact, I highly recommend it. There is a wealth of free inspiration. Take a walk in the woods or a garden, head on over to Pinterest or your local library, pull out your camera and be a tourist in our own town or join one of the many free blog hops or challenges online. This is no shortage of free inspiration.

But the kind of inspiration to invest in comes in the form of knowledge and experiences. Buying inspiring books and magazines to keep in your studio, paying for museum visits or memberships, attending bead shows, signing up for retreats and classes - these are all priceless sources of inspiration that are worth pulling out the credit card!

And then I started thinking and this is the big one, what's the price of inspiration that bead stores offer us?

I'm been enjoying picking though Allegory Gallery's beautifully stocked store and thinking what a shame that all the bead stores in my area have gone out of business. I know so many people think, well I can get a better deal online or a store may have a limited stock but what is the price of the inspiration that a local bead store provides? It's invaluable really and certainly worth the few dollars you may save by ordering something online. And unless you are ordering wholesale it really is only going to be a few dollars difference.

A good bead store will have beautiful examples of jewelry, displays of beads in creative combinations and store owners and employees that can offer tips and advice. A good bead store will offer inspiration in the form of classes, events and challenges. One store, Stony Creek in Ypsilanti, MI had color palettes printed out and hung next to color coordinated displays of Czech glass and seed beads. I wanted to buy everything!

Sue Kennedy of SueBeads and Rosanne shopping.

So I have a challenge for you.

It's a big one and it's a long term one. I challenge every Art Bead Scene reader to head to your local bead store once a month.

Get to know the owners, shop, take classes if they offer classes. Take an art bead and match up accents beads for it from your local shop. Become part of that bead store's community. If your bead store is a little lack luster, ask if they have thought about carrying a few of favorite products and share a resource or two with them. Now, not everyone has a local bead store. So for some of you a local bead store may be a 2 hour drive. Bring a girlfriend and make a day of it. I know I plan to start traveling once a month to one that is 45 minutes away that I have neglected.

Pendants by Andrew Thornton

If we stop supporting our local bead stores, we are going to lose out on something very valuable - and that will be the price of lost inspiration!

To enter this week's drawing simply let me know if you plan to take the challenge or what has been an inspiration splurge that you have invested in lately. The prize this week is a $25 gift certificate to Humblebeads.com.