Find my beads at these Fine Shops

And other useful links

Florida:

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Michigan:

Missouri:

New Hampshire:

Texas:

The above sell my beads. If some of the other pages on the site have proven to be more an inspiration to try making, stringing, weaving or otherwise working beads on your own, here are some of my favorite shops I buy from:

Mountain Loom Company is the company from whom I've purchased my tama and marudai. They're great folks, and I think their products are outstanding---so much so, I've never bothered buying kumi equipment from anyone else.

Arrow Springs Craig Milliron is justly famed for his development of tools for the lampworker; he and Loren Stump developed the ``stump shaper'' my favorite tool. His wife Donna teaches a pate de verre class I am going to take some day, as well as being the judge in the annual bawdy silly bead contest at Gathering; and Lori, their manager is always cheerful no matter how badly I whine or how tired she is. There are many fine vendors of lampworking supplies out there besides Arrow Springs, most notably Wale Apparatus and Frantz Art Glass, but Arrow Springs is my favorite.

It should be noted they all have slightly different foci: Arrow Springs has a very complete line of glass rod (hard & soft), an excellent selection of dichro in both 104 and 90 coe, and, of course, given Craig's tool making genius, a great selection of those. Wale originally started out in scientific glassblowing, and it shows---this is the place to get lathes, for example. Frantz carries a particularly complete line of Effetre millifiore and genuine Italian lampworking tools (that cost the earth), as well as always being the first with new Effetre Colors.

Glass Daddy Yummy yummy lauscha glass, which is semi-compatible with effetre. Their service is very highly thought of, but last I checked, they didn't take credit cards or net 30, a bit of a pain.

Check Glass Yummy yummy czech glass, which is semi-compatible with effetre. Again, excellent service, and Jan Burrows does take credit cards, but will only ship individual colors in 1/2# increments. Thus, I prefer to purchase from him at shows, when I can pull individual rods. However, there are sample packs.

Abeada Corp The place for Taiwan semi-precious and findings. Excellent service. My kids still lust after the chocolate dispensing Hershey's kiss. Wholesale only.

Priya Imports More than anybody else, I owe Priya Imports for my re-introduction to the world of beads (and Frederich de Grunwald for my introduction to Dilip & Nidhi Bordia, the proprietors). This charming shop specializes in Indian cut and drilled beads and is the local source for Bali silver. Excellent service, closed Fridays, wholesale only.

GLW stands for ``Gem and Lapidary Wholesale'' show, and the name is pretty self-explanatory. Tax license required. Our local bead bazaar is put on by the Great Lakes Beadworkers Guild, which was foolish enough to change their old, short easy-to-remember url, www.glbg.org to some long inane thing I can't be bothered to look up. They have the biannual bead boner twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall, usually the first Sunday in October. I buy beads at this event---oh, and usually sell them, too.

Bead Gallery Another shop once legendary for its rudeness that has now made a real effort to become customer friendly. I can't honestly say I buy beads from them currently, but I haven't been buying beads much since I started making them, and I only went back recently, to accompany a friend. What a change 2 decades makes! The back room on the first floor has what I consider to be the best selection of high end semi-precious in Michigan, retail or wholesale. The clerk lovingly showed it all, even though it was obvious we weren't going to buy anything. They've got lots of other nice beads too, plus a very nice assortment of stringing materials, but if you're in the mood to get something really special---kunzite, ametrine or that greeny yellow stuff that looks like avocado turquoise and costs the earth---this is the place to go. Retail.