Okay, now I can share the insanity that helped lower my bank account and rebuild my bead supply.
In late March and late April of this year, I was lucky enough to buy the combined bead troves of two amazing women. I know their names but am protecting their privacy and legacy.
One is in her seventies, and chose to give up beadwork in favor of quilting because fabrics and sewing machines are more forgiving of her (in treatment) macular degeneration. It’s a loss to the world, because I cannot equal her skill with colorways and intricate beadweaving.
The other woman was in her mid-nineties when she died last year after a short illness. She left behind a house full of art supplies and a bereft, bewildered family. Her beadwork, quilting, knitting, lapidary, and other crafts spoke of a lifetime of experimentation in the arts. One wall of her workshop was covered in the most amazing tassels, tiny devotionals, mirrors, beaded flowers, and other little marvels. From all over the world.
Both groups advertised on Craigslist, and I was the fastest to answer. Courtesy of dayjob, I had a bit of cash.
I’m still working with the second group, trying to help them place/find qualified buyers for a trove of gemstone beads that I’m just not capable of using (or affording) right now.
My part of the haul concerned the #11, #8, and #6 glass seed beads seen above, Czech pressed-glass beads, lampworked beads, and some smaller gemstone beads. Each of the photos shows shoebox-sized plastic bins filled with bags of beads in plastic tubes. In most cases they are packed to the top of the box, about 5″ deep. It took me a month to sort, catalog, and get a basic replacement cost estimate for tax purposes.
I’ve been seriously collecting beads to use since 1985. I recognized some packaging and labels that had been vintage even then. These two women spent over $3400 gathering these beads, from several dozen bead stores across the US, Canada, and Europe. In today’s prices, factoring in replacement costs for some hues not being made today, I have between $8,000 and $10,000 in glass beads. It almost most doubles my own gathered stock.
Not yet shown: the $1000 (estimated) in #15 very small glass seed beads, $150 in teardrop glass beads, $30 in semiprecious Amazonite beads, $25 in old-stock turquoise heishi beads, $15 in Swarovski crystal gems, and assorted freshwater pearls, frankincense beads, mini glass perfume bottles, and $60 of gold-foil jewelry-sized gift boxes.
All for around $500 in cash and a 5x5x5″ box of mother-of-pearl shell buttons I’ve had for two decades and probably wasn’t going to use. The daughter of the world-traveler intends to make a statement tote bag with them.
I’ve written before about my mix of greed and wistfulness whenever I spot craft supplies in thrift stores. In this case I was lucky to meet the original owner or their children. It’s the sad truth: we craft maniacs buy this stuff, but there’s little intrinsic value to most of it. I could maybe recoup my $500 slowly by selling these beads lot by lot on Etsy. The only way they’ll turn back into serious income is if I make some museum-worthy pieces with them.
I have so many amazing things to make. And a will to update.