Here at For the Love of Beads, we want to offer you the best selection of beads from all over the world, and you can be sure that you are gonna find the highest quality beads in each and every one of our sections. In our gemstone beads department, for example, we have a great selection of semi-precious stones. Turquoise is one of them. We have this beautiful stone in 11 different striking styles and shades and 12 sizes for your jewelry designs at the most incredible prices.
But, have you ever wonder where this mesmerizing stone comes from and why it has been so appreciated throughout history? One could think that because of the name, the stone comes from Turkey. But it´s interesting to know that actually it came from Persia (now Iran) and Egypt, but because was traded mostly in Turkey´s ancient bazaars, people thought that it was produced in that country.
Even more interesting is the fact that during the twentieth century, the biggest producer in the world was the United States. According to this site Arizona, Colorado, California and Nevada are the states that have produced the highest quality stones in great quantities in the past years.
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Because at For the Love of Beads, we think everyday should have a bit of love in it, we are proud to present these gorgeous hearts in 8 different colors (+ some rustic designs)! Sure to match any outfit or jewelry style, these carved vegan ivory pieces are a great way to add some love to your designs! Pick out the heart you like best and then use ![]()
our handy color wheel to find beads that complement and match your choice. With these colorful pieces you can have Valentine’s all year round!
From now until Valentine’s day, any order including one of these pendants will get a small, free, surprise for your beading pleasure! For your convenience, I have linked each one of our vegan ivory hearts right here, in amongst these little Valentine’s jewelry ideas.
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Hello! While Antonio keeps the blog up-to-date with useful tips and interesting interviews, I have been working away in the background on some upcoming changes to the store as well as gettng in new products and spending some time on actual jewelry-making! Isn’t it nice when we have time for the things we love?

Fancy Background & Props!
As much as I love all things steampunk, (hence my deep love for the Wunderkammer blog) I have never really done much of it myself so I took the opportunity to change that when I found these wonderful antiqued copper and brass jumprings. Paired with some gunmetal rings I already had lying around, they were just begging to be made into something pretty. I dug around in my stash and came up with some brass wings as well and that’s when I suddenly had an image in my mind of what I wanted.
Really this necklace took very little time to make once the sudden inspiration moment hit; well as little time as opening and closing all these tiny rings can! Of course, the effort and time put into something doesn’t always equal the results and I am fantastically happy with this piece despite its relatively simple construction.
Have you ever seen one of those artisans who sell their beautiful jewelry on the streets? These guys are in the streets of almost every large city in the world and yet you can´t help wondering why they prefer to be selling such nice things outside rather than in a store.
Well, today we are going to present to you an interview with one of those enigmatic guys. He lives in Mexico City, but you can find him almost anywhere. He´s that kind of artisan who likes to travel around the country selling his stuff at the main public squares or in the Zocalos. I met him one particular weekend when he came to my hometown. His name is Pedro Lopez and he sells semiprecious gemstones hand coiled in silver wire. He likes to use amethyst rectangles, black agate coins, coral beads, lapis lazuli beads, turquoise beads, jade beads, among other stones. Sometimes he mounts the stone in a silver frame with a loop at the top for stringing. He sometimes uses chamois leather or silver wire when he adds more little stones. His prices range from a few pesos to hundreds and despite the simplicity of his designs they are made with good taste. He seems to balance perfectly the color, size and quantity of stones.
So, we approached to ask him a few questions about his work.
One day, my wife and I had decided to expand our beading business and we came up with the idea that the best way to do it without neglecting our booth, or our jewelry making was to approach to a retail store. We soon found out that it was more complicated than we thought; putting your things in another place where you are not going to be selling them personally requires from you a lot of organization, even before going to talk to the store’s owner or the manager-in-chief.
For starters, you need to realize that you are going to attach yourself to a big promise that, in some cases, could involve legal liabilities. Therefore, you must be very serious about this. First of all, it´s very important to establish what kind of jewelry you are making and its potential market. From this, it decides what kind of store you want to approach. Once that´s settled, go to pay a visit and look around, but don´t make any appointments yet. Your goal here is to check out if they already have similar items to what you are trying to sell. Store owners always want to sell originals products.
Displaying jewelry is always a process as creative and fun as the jewelry making itself. There are so many possibilities doing so that we need to determine several factors beforehand. What kind of market do we want to target? Are we selling on the Internet or at a craft show? Are we going to start selling among friends and family or delivering to a local retailer?
Whatever the case might be, we need to look for a big contrast between our jewelry and the display case in order to accentuate the beauty of our work. This is not a moment to be shy, rather be bold and audacious.
Since my wife and I started working in this craft we have found out that either you are selling at your own booth or you are delivering to someone else’s. The way you display your jewelry is a very important issue. We are always looking for that eye-catching and sometimes dramatic look. The other day we delivered to a very important local retailer and we had a display case made to exhibit our merchandise. That case actually turned out to be more attractive by itself than the products exhibited in it. But it worked out perfectly in selling the goods. Unfortunately, we don´t have any pictures of it.
You can also make a statement through the way you display your own products. Say you are concerned about global warming and want to avoid buying necklace and bracelets in plastic displays and packaging. In this case, going green and getting an organic and earthy look would be your best option. Grab some dry sprigs to hang up your necklaces and your bracelets and you can even use branches like fingers for showing off your rings. Here is a picture with the same idea by sculpture-design.com
We came across with this idea, when we went to sell at the beach in Puerto Escondido, Mexico and we weren´t able to carry our cumbersome display case. We figured out that the best way to show our products was using what Mother Nature had in that place.
But, if you think it´s more suitable to have commercial displays, our advice would be to wrap them up with contrasting colors and fabrics to bring out the colors in your jewelry.
If you are selling by Internet then the options are unlimited. Of course you need a good camera but mostly a great deal of imagination. Taking pictures using members of your own family or friends of yours is a lot of fun and you can create the appropriate environment for specific items.
Take for example this picture of man´s best friend modeling a nice necklace by http://amberstonepets.com/
Take a look at these sites for some more great ideas:
http://jewelrydisplayideas.com/
http://www.jewelrybyannalea.com/Jewelry_By_AnnaLea/Home.html
We hope these ideas are useful for you and send us pics of your own ideas about how to display jewelry.
Let´s first talk about how to organize the stash. This is a problem we all come across when we decide to start beading whether it is as a hobby or professionally. Some people find creativity when they are immersed in a big ocean of beads and like to have them all over the house, inside whatever imaginable, even old shoes. (I don´t wanna think about the smell of that jewelry). Others prefer to store their stuff in plastic bags sorted by type, which by the way, is a method we don´t recommend. Plastic bags are prone to snag and rip at times, not to mention how much of a hassle it is to pick them all up when it eventually does break.
Another way to store your beads is to put your stash in glass jars. We see two big inconveniences with using glass containers. Firstly if you need to work on your project somewhere else you can´t take them with you easily since glass is just too cumbersome. Secondly there´s always the possibility you drop the jar and it breaks to smithereens. What a drag! Some people use old mint or candy tins in order to avoid breakages. That´s good, but you can´t see what is inside so you have to label them which is double the job and no fun at all.










