Our first stop was Charleston, South Carolina and I found Beads on Cannon just before we headed out of town. If you're into strands upon strands of beads, this is a great place. The downstairs was glass, and tons of new styles of beads that have been coming out (including spikes, which I bought a ton of). The upstairs houses all of their precious metal findings and millions of strands of gemstones and pearls. They were very limited on seed beads and the place was tight. With the two women working and 3 customers plus 2 husbands in there, it was a bit hard to move around, but I bet it's not usually that busy. It's a fun little store to visit if you're in the area.
Our next destination was Savannah, Georgia. I couldn't find a bead store via walking around or Google, but I did find The Frayed Knot, which had a little bead shop area in the back. I loved the array of yarns they had, and instead of organized by the brand of yarn, it was organized by color. This is how I organize all of my beads and yarns, so it made it easy for me to shop. They also had cones of cotton for weavers too, which I was impressed. The owner was out of town, but her husband was there building her a new cash wrap and he was very helpful and informed.
Naples, had The Bead Boutique. I think I spent two hours in there. I am always looking for more interesting seed beads and this place was awesome. I have been on the hunt for more 3-cut size 11 and 12 seed beads. They're not carried as often in the bead stores I shop at here in Michigan. I'm not sure if it's because they're costly to carry and also they don't sell quickly because of the price, but the Bead Boutique had them, and yes, they can be around $25 for a long tube (below), but they are beautiful and I re-stocked while I was there. I also was convinced to try out a "better" beading needle. I go through needles pretty quickly, so I figured they were worth a try. The way I pack thread into seed beads is not conducive for these expensive needles though. The plating on the needle started to shred off on the first project I used it on. Oh well, they were worth a try. The woman that was talking to me was trying to sell me on using different thread too, but I've tried everything she was suggesting and I prefer to stick to my nymo. I also purchased a few delicas that I don't already have for colors for the first bangle that I'm making for my Halloween costume. They had quite the selection of delicas too. Always the sign of a good bead store for me.
On this trip I also happened to be looking for fabric stores. I find it really unfortunate that there is usually just a Joann's, even in larger towns. I struck gold though when we were in Orlando. The Sewing Studio is just outside of Orlando in Maitland. It doesn't look like too much from the outside, but walking around in there was amazing. I don't collect fabric, and if I did, my pocketbook would have been in trouble. I stuck to my task at hand, looking for the perfect gold base color for my Halloween costume and I lucked out, I found a gorgeous sale fabric that had plenty of yardage for my project.
So now I've been spending time making jewelry to complete groupings to send to Angelwood Gallery and I've re-set at Grove Gallery with some fresh pieces.
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