I often see commercials for Shipwreck Beads, ‘The World’s Largest Selection of Beads’. OK, I get that a lot of people use beads. But I associate people buying beads (as opposed to manufacturers buying them) with arts-and-crafts that people make in their homes. A hobby. This place has a building of more than 80,000 square feet, and they do enough business that they can pay for a lot of commercials.
I didn’t know that the retail bead business was so big. Most people I see aren’t wearing beads. And yet this retailer seems to be doing very well. Are beads a ‘thing’?
Have been for several years. And some of the damn things cost a fortune.
I know one small boutique that sells beads in the $50-$75 per bead range. Women buy them up for bracelets and whatever. Not my thing, but hey, who am I to judge?
Are you sure you’re not seeing people wearing beads? Sometimes a piece of jewelry is so well made that it doesn’t just look like a bunch of beads strung together on a string. If you look on Etsy, something like this is considered bead work. They don’t all look like this.
Beads are most definitely a thing. I think there are quite a few dopers who work with beads. I did wire wrapped rings for a while, but on a low amateur level. Even then, the different choices of beads bring wildly different results, and that’s not to mention the different techniques one can use.
Well, a lot of the people buying beads and making things in their homes are manufacturers. They’re making jewelry in their homes and selling them to boutiques or at art fairs.
And I agree that you’re probably seeing a lot of beads you’re not readily identifying as beads. Thisis beaded jewelry. So is this. And all of this.
Last commercial bead purchase I made was for about a half pound of seed pearls I used to embellish an Elizabethan dress I made for a customer. Don’t know if you want to count that as a little arts and crafts project, it took 286 hours of very painstaking beading on top of about 35 hours for actually making the damned dress … but I made a fair amount of money for my aart in making and embellishing the dress.
Shipwreck Beads is an awesome place. I was a kid in a candy store when I went there.
Beads are most definitely a thing, and many times, a very expensive thing. I can easily spend hundreds of dollars on beads and supplies on Etsy, eBay, or vendors like Shipwreck or Fire Mountain, and that is while exercising restraint. I am not at all surprised Shipwreck can afford floor space and air time.
Making jewelry, which involves a wide variety of beads, has become a trendy hobby in the past few years. Portlandia made fun of it (“she’s making jewelry now”).
I always wear a bracelet on my left wrist, sometimes several, and I have quite a collection of bracelets. Many were made for me by my girlfriend, and have some sort of sentiment or theme, such as my school colors, or the colors of the Italian flag (for Vespa riding). So beading might be bigger than you think.
