Welcome, Mandi! I’m so glad you stumbled across us. You can see lots of ways people stash their beads and other jewelry supplies, here in our Jewelry Studios section.

Sketches don’t have to be fashion layout worthy. They can look like your 4 year old’s drawing, as long as you have a basic, representational reference of materials and colors you want to put together.

Diana, great tips – and I especially love the part about our problem being as old as beads themselves. 🙂

I have a stash of Swarovski crystal bicones and rounds of every basic color and sizes, which has accumulated from many leftover projects over the years. I consider that stash a necessity as I save shipping fees on purchasing crystals on a regular basis. However, in your case, Fusion Beads may work out for you as they let you purchase by the bead with a reasonable shipping fee. Etsy also has many shops, which sell beads and crystals for smaller quantities.

Anyway, I recall being frustrated not having enough variety when I wanted to build and as a result I was turning out designs that looked a lot like one another.

Trying to maintain a sane approach to building an inventory I decided to focus for one year on acquiring, identifying suppliers, and paying as I go so as to not overwhelm our financial resources.

As my stash grew, I added compartment storage containers. I like clear plastic so I can see what’s inside. I also keep every style, color, and size of bead and finding in its’ own plastic ziplock. My materials are easily identified, safe from scratching and tarnishing and reasonably organized.

Oh, and I’m just enough on the right side of crazy to have also created a Raw Materials inventory system wherein all of my materials receive a number, description, unit cost and supplier reference. The ziplock baggies get little notes that identify part#, unit cost, supplier reference. This helps me to create a Bill of Materials for each item that I make, which provides the overall material costs and a record for inventory reduction. Then of course, I have to name and number the new jewelry creation in the Finished Goods inventory log, and make a groovin’ label to put the piece up for sale. 🙂

It’s beautiful, but then again I sometimes gaze at “all of that stuff” and feel a little embarrassed, or overwhelmed – almost as though I’ve over done it. But that’s me, I want to be organized so I can function and hopefully grow a decent business.

I think it’s better to have a decent variety of materials at hand, my designs are so much more interesting that way. Best wishes to you.

I also purchased a lot of poor quality beads, etc. when I started out (which wasn’t very long ago.) I’ve donated it to girl scout and church groups, and am a member of several facebook destash groups. Warning about the latter: unless you have a LOT of self-control (more than me for sure) you’ll buy more in the destash group than sell. Hopefully they’ll be better quality items, though.

My beads are sorted by colors. And crystal en freshwater pearls are sorted for themselves. Other stash are sortet by silver/gold color and by theme.

But it is a lot of stuff. My husband dosen’t like it in here *lol*.
“To much stuff” he says.
I love it! 🙂 (I in love with beads and stuff. So I always find a reason for bying some more. I now have startet so sell out some of it).

Dianne, thanks for suggesting a tutorial on how I go from sketch to finished piece of jewelry! I demonstrate that in detail in my wire jewelry class, Design and Make Artistic Jewelry Components. In Part 4 of that class I show how to go from inspiration to sketch to making the finished jewelry.

I’m now getting ready to sell off most of my materials, and my mind boggles at the task of photographing, cataloging, and posting it on my online store.

Lissie—How do you store so much? Do you have a large work space? I have 2 overhead cabinets almost filled with plastic trays. The beads are sorted by colors and the findings are sorted by type and color. I am running out of space.

Hi Autumn, I’ve been drawing since I could hold a pencil – it’s something I’ve always loved to do. 🙂

But in my jewelry sketchbook, I don’t worry about making things look pretty or perfect. In fact they’re usually pretty messy. I’m really the only person who sees my sketches so I’m more focused on just getting my design ideas jotted down in a combination of pictures and words before I forget the idea.

I also leave extra blank space around my sketches so if I have further ideas for the design, I’ll have room to add more notes or drawings.

Then when I make the piece I sketched, I have my sketchbook open to that page so I can work from my drawings and notes. Also so I can add additional notes about measurements, design changes, etc. as I create the piece of jewelry.

(1) My sketchbook is full of jewelry designs and ideas – and when I want to make something, I often pick one of my sketched designs that I can make with supplies I already have.

(2) I keep an eye out for sales and clearances of things I might want to use in my future jewelry making. Then, after I’ve bought those interesting new supplies, I often sketch new jewelry designs that will use them. Or I find ways to use the new supplies in jewelry from my existing sketches. 🙂

As for an inexpensive place to buy supplies, I’ve been converted to Fire Mountain! I buy most of my gemstone beads there. I buy when they’re on sale, knowing I’ll use them eventually. My wire and thread come from different online/on ground stores, depending on the pricing. Shopping around online can save you a lot! It can be frustrating, but once you’ve found reliable suppliers for materials you repeatedly purchase, it gets easier.