[UPDATE] can't wait for my beads to arrive!

greeniegrave 5/22/2024 08:16 pm 206

last night i got a bunch of beads for a STEAL!!!! yesterday i got some amazon gift cards from work and immediately used them to buy beads; i feel good investing in kandi because i've already made lots of bracelets and some are pretty intricate, i have another one in the works, and i've made a few stars and some charms. and it's just an awesome hobby and super fun and i want to go to raves so bad and learn more about rave culture! but anyways, i just had to share my haul!

so i went looking for normal pony beads in a good variety of colors, some glow in the dark beads, clay beads, and i let myself buy one set of miscellaneous funky beads. i added a bunch to my cart and then whittled it down to the ones i was going to buy, and then clipped the coupons that amazon puts on things sometimes, and then put in my gift cards, and i added up the beadcount listed on each one, and i purchased a grand total of....................

7,682 beads!!!!!!

all for the low low price of..........................................

32 cents!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i'm so so so excited!!!i really want them to get here because the beads i've been working with are from my mom's old craft stuff, and i'm trying to make an xbase but i don't think i have enough to do that. oh also i'm super duper pumped to have all the boxes and storage ???? i LOVE bead storage, i'm looking forward to when these are empty so i can organize my letter beads because right now they're just in the bags they came in, which reseal thankfully, but they're just circle and square. i just want to organize things by letter i think, i don't need to separate all the shapes and colors.

eep i'm thrilled!

????????? ? ?????????

UPDATE 4/28/2024: so i got my haul, and i've made a bunch of cool stuff but i'm slightly disappointed. figured i'd put my thoughts somewhere so maybe it can help someone looking to buy massive amounts of beads to get started. this is just me musing on things i wish i had or i wish i'd known.

the huge 4000+ bead kit had great variety, but almost none of each color. there's 30 of each, give or take. for reference, it takes 31 beads to go around my wrist comfortably. i tried making a 1 x-cuff and ran out halfway through. the letter beads also have a great variety: round and square, black and colored letters, and colored beads with black letters. i think for beginners variety is important, because as a beginner i really appreciate having lots of colors to work with, especially ones that i wouldn't have thought to use/buy. i used colors i wasn't fond of for my groot single, and i ended up really liking the color palette. but the worst part is that the boxes are so tiny. the compartments are maybe two fingers wide and super shallow. maybe you could fit enough beads in there to do a 2 x-cuff or a thin multistitch. after they're empty, i'll probably use them to divide out my alphabet beads by letter/style.

my clay beads are wonderful! i bought the bigger kit even though it had superhero beads which i didn't think i'd use, but i've already got an iron man bracelet in the works! and getting beads you're not super in love with is a blessing in disguise, it forces you to do things other than catering to your exact taste, and it makes it easier to make things to give away. it also came with a few pearl beads and letter beads, and the most underrated thing: clay donuts! that's what i think people call the thin little round ones. regardless, that's what i'm going to call them. i LOVE them. i think they add interesting texture and pops of color to pieces without taking up too much space. and they can keep smaller beads from sliding into the pony beads, which is something i've had problems with in the past. i'll probably be ordering a giant bag of just these in the future.

the glow in the dark beads are nice, i haven't seen them glow yet but i think they have a good color assortment and they're pretty even when they're not glowing. i have to get up the gumption to use them, i'm just not sure what for yet. i want to use them to make some sort of pattern, probably in a cuff, but it's hard to do that when i don't have enough beads to make a decent sized cuff. they'd probably be really cool scattered in singles too, i'm starting to percolate some ideas now...

the pastel beads i'm not as happy with as i thought i would be. i really like the colors, i just don't feel like using them? and not because i want to keep them and use them in a good project, but because i feel like they don't really fit anywhere. and as i say that, i just got an idea for them too.

what i would have done differently: if you're ordering a kit, pay close attention to the dimensions of the boxes!! and read the description to see how many of each bead you get. if you already have storage, you're better off buying a mixed bag and sorting them yourself, or buying individual colors in bulk. i visited beadtin's website and i'll probably buy from there next time. i'm happy with my clay beads, again i went for variety and that's starting to pay off. i think it's worth it every once in a while to get a specific pack (glow in the dark, pastel, etc) and sort of try them out and see where you find yourself using them. kits look nice because they're usually pre-sorted, but i think it's much more worth it to get a humongous mixed bag. like maybe 1-2 lbs of beads, as many colors as you can get, would give you a nice amount of each color to start with. or just buying single colors in bulk. whatever you do, always buy bulk because it's cheaper.

if you're willing to do the math, i think knowing how many beads you need for a project is important. if you know how many beads a given project takes, then you can get a better idea of how far a certain number of beads will get you; like maybe this bulk bag will make 10 x cuffs. i can do a whole post on how much math i do for projects later.

also, get cloth elastic string!!!!!!! all i have is plastic stretch string that's decades old. it's okay for charms because you don't need them to stretch that much, but i tried to make a flower cuff tonight and it snapped when i tried to put it on for the first time. cloth covered stretch string, whatever you call it, will make your kandi last longer because it won't get brittle as fast as the plastic stuff. another thing to buy in bulk because buying in bulk is always cheaper.