What's your passion ~ glass, stone, or polymer? Vintage or modern? Czech, Venetian, Bali, or Hilltribe? Do you like teeny little seed beads, or big honking lampworked beads? Do you like 'em all?
All is a really good choice!
Here you'll find the links to the makers and suppliers of the best beads available.
Lampwork Glass
- Nancy Tobey
- Abstract borosilicate beauties!
- Barbara Becker Simon
- Barbara is famous for her fish, but see what other wonders she creates.
- Mavis Smith
- Mavis calls her beads "Small Wonders"...and they are! Her mermaids and storybook figures are truly wonderful.
- Blue Iris Designs
- Joanne Morash's subtle and elegant beads.
- Leah Fairbanks
- Gardens of Glass ~ beautiful beads and vessels, "painted" with glass.
- Sharon Peters
- Bright and wacky, nothing but silly stuff!
- Blue Heeler Glass
- Subtle colors, wonderful shapes.
- Dichroic, Inc
- Carol Fonda and Monty Clark do both lampworking and fusing. Lovely unique beads.
- Dustin Tabor
- You won't believe the colors and patterns! Astounding...
- Mazel Tov! Jewelry Treasures
- Glass bead pendants you can incorporate into your designs.
"All the Daughters of Eve"
Lampworked glass beads
Fused Glass
- Lacy Glass Studio
- Fused dichroic glass beads by Gail Lacy.
- Janet Wolery
- Two-holed fused glass beads.
- Sara Creekmore
- Beautiful dichroic kiln-formed glass beads.
Fused glass heart
Bead by Gail Lacy
Furnace Glass
- Fire Designs
- Beautiful hand-blown cane, or furnace, beads.
Venetian and Murano Glass
- De Roma Venetian Glass
- Imported Venetian glass beads.
- Venetian Bead Shop
- Imported Venetian and Murano glass beads.
- Gems 2 Behold
- Wholesalers of Venetian and Murano glass beads.
- Via Murano
- Imported Venetian glass beads.
Seed Beads
- Caravan Beads
- Complete line of Miyuki products, including Delicas.
- WhimBeads
- Delicas, other Japanese seed beads in all sizes, fancy shapes.
- Empyrean Beads
- Many antique and vintage seed beads.
- Kawahara
- Seed beads with dichroic coating ~ fantastic!
- FusionBeads
- Great selection of Japanese seed beads with quantity discounts.
- All Seed Beads
- Czech seed beads.
"Winter Sunrise"
Seed bead embroidered neckpiece
Swarovski Crystals
- The Beadin' Path
- Many vintage and hard-to-find styles.
- Best Buy Beads
- All the contemporary shapes and colors.
- Rainbows of Light
- Incredible selection!
Czech Glass
- Exclusive Imports
- All shapes of Czech beads ~ pressed, lampworked, firepolished, and rhinestone
- Czech Beads
- Lots of handmade beads as well as molded and machine cut.
- Wild Things
- Many hard-to-find specialty shapes.
- Purebeads
- Arranged by color and sold in lots for good prices. Helpful articles too!
"Bling!"
Czech glass beads
Polymer, Clay, and Porcelain
- The Spirited Bead
- Beautiful polymer beads by Karen Lewis, aka Klew.
- Clayfulmingles
- Mia Rox's polymer cane beads.
- Beyond Beads Gallery
- Porcelain beauties by Jean Christen.
- CF Originals
- Spectacular critters and more by Christi Friesen.
- Columbine Beads
- Raku beads and pendants by Linda A Hendrix.
Antique and Trade Beads
- African Accents
- Beautiful handmade beads available from a number of African nations.
- Rita Okrent
- Ancient and ethnographic beads. Sadly, Rita died in 2005, but her website is remaining open.
- African Crafts
- A wide selection of African trade beads.
- Crazy Crow
- Native American and mountain man syle beadwork supplies.
"African Fish"
West African trade beads
Vintage and Lucite Beads
- Estate Beads
- Unique stylish beads, in glass, lucite, and even bakelite!
- Talisman Associates
- Vintage German glass beads, arranged by color.
- BeadRoom
- A huge selection of vintage glass, arranged by color and size.
- The Beadin' Path
- Lots of vintage glass and lucite.
- Costume Jewelry Supplies
- Unique beads and pieces that you won't find elsewhere.
- Splendor in the Glass
- Some of the most beautiful and unusual beads available anywhere.
"Shulamite's Garden"
Vintage lucite embellishments
Semi-Precious Stone
- ArtGems Inc
- A huge selection with an easily searchable website.
- Trash City Beads
- Low prices, no frills. Website or mail ordering only.
Metal
- Hands of the Hills
- Glorious Hilltribe silver and Khmer gold.
- Nina Designs
- Bali, Indian, Thai, and Hilltribe silver.
- Beads of Bali
- Wholesale Bali silver, direct from the producers.
- Rishashay
- Huge selection of exquisite silverwork.
- Anne Choi
- American artist with an international background, Anne creates silver beads like no others!
- Green Girl Studios
- Silver and pewter fairy-tale beads. Wonderful!
- Tarak High Karat Gold
- Wholesale only ~ beads, chains, and findings.
"Elegance"
Onyx and Bali sterling silver
Other Materials
- Red Horse Ranch
- Carved tagua nut beads.
- EastWest DyeCom
- Anodized aluminum beads.
- Natural touch
- Lightweight beautiful resin beads.
Full-Service Online Catalogs
- Rio Grande
- A comprehensive selection of raw materials, findings, chains, gemstones, beads, stringing, art jewelry supplies, display and packaging.
- Fire Mountain Gems and Beads
- Huge assortment, aimed at uniting the world, one bead at a time!
- Rings and Things
- This wholesale catalog is your one-stop source for beads, jewelry findings, charms, cord, polymer clay, Swarovski crystal beads and prisms, Czech glass beads, jewelry display items and other jewelry components.
- Ornamental Resources
- An enormous selection of beads and other decorative materials, with many hard-to-find items.
- The Bead Babe
- No license required for this on-line wholesale catalog.
Books and Magazines for the Bead Fancier
- Beads of the World
- By Peter Francis
A must-have if you want to collect beads and know what you have! - Collectible Beads
- By Robert K Liu
A beautiful must-have reference book the collector. - The History of Beads
- By Lois Sherr Dubin
Do you think history is boring? Think again! I really do recommend it if you're at all interested in the materials you claim to love! - Ornament Magazine
- The rolls royce of wearable art. Often features beadwork of other cultures.
- 1000 Glass Beads
- By Valerie Van Arsdale Shrader (ed)
Innovation and imagination in contemporary glass beadmaking. Stunning. Beautiful. - Beads of Glass
- By Cindy Jenkins
Get ready to enjoy a wondrous journey into the fascinating world of glass beads. - Bead Book Shop
- A comprehensive list of beading books.
Guestbook ~ reader feedback
The place where you can share other resources that you think we all need to know about!
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