Friday, July 3, 2009

Storing beads.

This photo and storage method is from Floor Kaspers, a bead collector and frequent contributer to Bead Collector Network.

She took plastic cylinders used for buttons they have small holes in the cap of each. With wire she attached one bead to the outside end of the cap, she then filled the tubes with that particular bead.

You can also hot glue the bead on the end, this works much quicker and is great for inexpensive beads if you aren't worried about needing that last bead on the end cap.

"My collectible beads are not in there, but my more common beads are. A good thing compared to boxing them is that I can see exactly which ones I have at a glance"

She has a fair amount of her smaller beads colour coordinated in this picture with her larger focal beads in a separate spot.

She says it took quite some time but in the end the convenience was more than worth the effort. She stores the tubes in inexpensive CD shelving.

You can see some of her larger beads in this shot. What a great way to be able to quickly survey what you have to work with, especially when you have as many great beads as Floor does!

I don't know about you but I am totally rethinking my boxes of beads in little ziplock baggies...

19 comments:

  1. OK, I'm on the edge of my seat about this one.........!!!!!!!!!

    Great blog!


    Karen

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  2. So gorgeous!! I bet those beads on the ends sparkle nicely in the sunlight too *smiles*

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  3. Wow. I really need to get my studio fixed so that I can do this with my beads!

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  4. I'm so impressed. i wish i could be like that. but with 5 cats and lots of unfinished works - i'm not able to be in control in my workspace.

    springcolors.etsy.com

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  5. This is my bead collection, and I have to say......it's the only organised part in my house.
    I just had too many great beads I could never find, or I forgot I had. And with two cats running around, too many containers got knocked over. I had to find a solution.

    However, after going shopping at the bead shows in Tucson, I have a huge amount of beads still waiting to get put in the tubes. Something to do on a rainy day.
    Floor Kaspers

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  6. Floor - where do you get the tubes? This is such a great idea!

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  7. These photos made me drool! They also made me very jealous!

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  8. LOVE this idea! Where did you get those GREAT containers! Oh, such a wonderful idea for my beads! I have got to fond some of these containers! Thanks for sharing!

    Warmly,
    Leslie

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  9. I get the containers of a Dutch website that is like a mix between craigslist and Ebay. They are discarded by sellers of buttons who stopped selling the buttons or displaying them this way. I have no idea if these are available in the US........

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  10. Well, then Flora you could make a business at selling them to us here in the US...who knows? Etsy shop with bead container supplies?? I know I would be a frequet visitor and BUYER!!! :)

    Warmly,
    Leslie

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  11. over the years, i've looked for those "button tubes" without any luck. wouldn't you know they come from the netherlands. lol!

    leslie, that's a SUPER idea for flora to buy a bunch of the tubes and resell them!!

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  12. This is such a great idea! I think I will do this also! But where to get those button tubes?

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  13. you could hang you little ziplog baggies on a peg board and get the same results!

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  14. What a wonderful idea. That is amazing.

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  15. WOW! That looks amazing. If I had the space I'd LOVE something like this. Though definitely not for my higher end beads as I usually use the very last bead on every strand. :) Great idea!

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  16. OOO this is a great idea! I've been trying to think of ways to organize, but we're in an RV so it gets a little tricky...

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  17. That is a great idea, this post is getting me think about bead storage in an other way than what I was thinking. Thanks for sharing!

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