Seed Beads are Like a Drug

Long time, no post! Those of you who follow me on Facebook and/or Twitter know that I was in New York City over the weekend. I had to go see my favourite band, Porcupine Tree, play at Radio City Music Hall. I also went to the Museum of Modern Art, Carnegie Deli, McSorleys Old Ale House, and I even got the chance to do a little more bead shopping! :)

This time, I went shopping on a Saturday and I finally got the chance to stop in to Margola! Margola is located at 48 W. 37th St. in New York. Margola sells primarily wholesale, and they carry tons of Czech glass seed beads. Beads are displayed in the window like candy, but they are sold by weight like drugs - by the kilo (1000 grams) or half-kilo! Here is a photo of the seed beads so you can see. Prices per half-kilo are worth it if you do a LOT of beading or need a lot of one colour. It would probably take me a lifetime to go through this many seed beads, but that doesn't mean I don't want them. Who wouldn't want this many seed beads?! ;)

After browsing around Margola for quite awhile, I decided to pick up some opaque 13/o Charlottes. These are sparkly seed beads with one facet. These are sold in large quantities, but since they are so expensive, they are also sold in small quantities. I also picked up some vintage bicycle reflectors! These looked like old car headlights to me - they are way cool! Also, I don't usually buy stones, but I saw a few I couldn't resist. These are dichroic glass, Red Creek Picture Jasper, and Cuperite / Chrysacolla.

After ultimately deciding the I didn't need 4-lbs. of seed beads, I went over to Beads World at 1384 Broadway (between 37th & 38th St.).

Beads World sells good quality Japanese seed beads in smaller quantities. They mostly sell size 12, but there are also size 15 - perfect for me! Here are the beads I got - several different blacks, a couple of oranges, and a dark red. I find it very difficult to shop for seed beads sometimes because I need & want them all. It seems I can't really control the urge. When this happens, I usually just purchase a lot of one colour that I know I really need.

If you were buying seed beads, what colours would you have picked out? :D