Hobby & Craft Forums

Yes - me, I have one. I have had it for many years, and actually take after my dad, he too has a bead fetish. He uses his beads to make lace bobbins, he either turns the bobbins himself or buys antique ones that are beadless and rebeads them. That is fine, he has always had a purpose for his bead fetish, I however havent.

I have been collecting beads for about 15 years. I have only started mking jewellery recently. I started off buying beads tht I liked from antique fairs, jet, hand painted beads, amber beads, beads with unusual findings etc. Then I moved on to beads from charity shops and car boot sales. Never with anything in mind to do with them, just because I liked them. I knew one day I would find something to do with them, and at one point I started to make dolls house miniatures with them, perfume bottles and ornaments.

Oddly enough, even though now I like to make jewellery, still after years of collecting, I find it hard to use what I have as it wasn't bought with a design in mind. When I do, often the holes are too big for head pins or with most of the beads being reclaimed or antique they show signs of wear and tear, so I still find myself buying more and more.

Does anyone else have a bead fetish? If so, do you buy for a purpose or buy because you 'have' to have the beads you see.

(I also have a fabric fetish too - don't do much with all the fabric I collect either ).

Oh yes definately me.

Oh Karen....it seems we have another thing in common...I spent about 6 hours this morning just trawling sites for beads lol! Car boots I hadn't thought of though- I shall be there next Sunday lol! I pick up my tools everytime I sit down and am always running out. A good way around the holes being too big for head pins is to wire wrap them into a necklace or bracelet like this link here!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUtWMZLiJ3k

Wire is defo the way to go...as soon as I've got the time to photograph the stuff I've made I'll post it here for you to have a look at! I've just had a quick go at it with the camera on my phone and they're awful, all blurred and not worth posting lol!

oh i most definatly have a bead fetish,lol, you should see all my beads ...i have 14 big plastic drawers full of them ! not to mention the massive stash on my work table and like you karen i never have the beads for the design i've just thought of...just had a brill idea while i was cleaning the bath which ment another bead order
I'm not much of a wire worker , it never turns out looking quite right.We don't get to many carboots now but we do do the auction houses and i do the charity shops..i have my whole family on bead alert when they go carbooting,lol, my sister picks up some fab ones where she lives,only trouble is she can't bear to part with them,lol

(i'm a secret fabric hoarder as well ....i have the best intentions to make something when i buy it but my sewing machine has a grudge against me and won't do as it's told )

Ooh Nickie, smashing, didn't realise you too had a bead fetish. We shall have to get together with our bead collections and do some swaps or something.

You too hey Beckyboo and fabric too, there must be a connection then bead collectors hoard fabric too. Unless we are just 'collectors', that might be closer to the point.

Come on, fess up - what else do the fetish people collect then?

makeitbig wrote:Ooh Nickie, smashing, didn't realise you too had a bead fetish. We shall have to get together with our bead collections and do some swaps or something.

You too hey Beckyboo and fabric too, there must be a connection then bead collectors hoard fabric too. Unless we are just 'collectors', that might be closer to the point.

Come on, fess up - what else do the fetish people collect then?

Kind of a fetish in a different way.. Card and papercraft "supplies"! I don't buy them because they are so expensive.. and I make too few items to justify it.. but when you see lots of different ink pads and accessories in nice colours.. I could spend £500 and still not have enough stuff to make a card!

At the moment, I limit myself to what I can do with photoshop, my printer, some sticky foam, Mirri card and white cardstock.. plus one "extravagance" per year..!

Sadly car boot sales and the like are not good hunting grounds for basic suppiles of craft stuff.. folk are too wise to the value, and put it all on ebay!

I do like beads and fabric too by the way.. bad news is having a fabric mill 150 feet behind the house.. I resist.. but it is futile.. I keep seeing something and then have to find something to do with it!!

I have started saving all the o/h's worn out shirts now, with the intention of using the fabric to make stuff with.. though some have already made cushions! - the button front makes a nice feature opening for the cushion pad and saves me trying to work a zip - yet to sew one properly!

Actually thinking about it, I have made more cushion covers than we have ever bought! some were only meant to last a few months!

Diode H. Decry wrote:I've got a load of beads too. I love crafty supplies. I'm such a hoarder. sometimes I don't like to use card as I don't like to chop it up - it defaces it!

Ha, I am sometimes like that too with card, in fact I bought myself a kit off create and craft - it all looks so nice together in the pack, its a shame to use it, it has loads of beautifully decorated Christmas ribbons and corners with matching card and embellishments - all in victorian style. I can see its still going to be sat there after Christmas, I don't think I could do it justice.

Me too! Do you by any chance have any liquorice allsorts shaped beads? Someone ese on this forum was asking for them and I wondered if you may know where to get them or have some yorself in, what must be, an extensive collection.

try here kaya the sell allsort of sweets and thinga

http://www.beadshopscotland.co.uk/