Tips on Storing Beads and Beading Accessories

Beads are great to make beautiful jewelery and crafts. However, they are a little messy when it comes to work with the beads. You have to be extra careful about not spilling them. Moreover, you need to store them rightly otherwise you might not get your stash when needed the most. Here are certain tips for storing your tiny as well as large beads securely to find the right bead when you want to finish the exclusive piece of that beaded bracelet or the earring!

Vials- vials or very small containers are available in the market and through online shopping. They are perfectly right for storing your seed beads. These vials mostly come in handy bead case having a nice snap closure that keeps your vials secured inside. The vials have top for easy viewing so that you open just the right container and not the others and save the risk of spilling them.

Bead Cases- There are different varieties of bead cases with novel features for keeping your bead treasure secured. Some of these cases have slots for storing bead. Some other bead boxes have acid-free tacky surface on top and bottom areas. Beads can be easily placed on these surfaces and they don't slip from there. Needles are then used to pick up beads from the surface. Some of them even have magnets to hold the needles. It makes them perfect for travel or for using at home.

Bead Organizers- There comes these bead organizer cases that are made with the purpose of easily carrying beads. These are in fact collections of boxes of various sizes. The large box or the beads organizer has some medium sized, small and mini boxes to store beads of different sizes. They also have bead scoops and tweezers in them to make the bead artists' work simpler.

Bead Storage Drawers- Clear drawers are also very good for storing beads. They can be used individually for one type of beads or the beads and other accessories can be stacked in them. The drawers pull out for easy access to needles, beads, tweezers or other small items.

Plastic Tubes- Plastic tubes are good for storing seed beads. Bead stores mostly sell smaller seed beads and cylinder beads in plastic tubes only. They can even be used for storing smaller gemstone and glass beads. However, the tops should remain firmly closed while traveling or storing beads.

Plastic Bags- The strands of larger beads like those of gemstone or glass beads and even animal beads can be easily stored in plastic bags. However, loose beads that are small in size should be avoided to be kept in bags as they can spill over when trying to take them out.

How To Sell Crafts During Recession?

Tough times are tough for everyone- buyers as well as sellers. Fancy items like fashion accessories,  arts & crafts are certain things whose purchasing is postponed during recession or financial downtime. However, not all experience financial crunches at the same time. There are many who want to buy specific crafts, even during economic downtime. There is the need to find out those buyers. Here are some tips for marketing your crafts during recession to such buyers.

• Do a lots of personal networking- Keep in touch with friends, vendors, customers. Leave your business card at grocery shop counter, restaurants, in the envelope containing payments of bills and the like. You'll be amazed to get calls making inquiry about your products.
• Respond Quickly- Never take any business enquiry for granted. Immediate respond to client inquiries.
• Women crafts persons can be a member of some women's networking group, particularly if her target customers are middle to upper income group. Give presentation of your craft making process to generate interest about your crafts in the group. Male crafter can join recreational or some other groups to formally or informally promote his products.
• Join online craft artists’ forums and discussion boards. Follow peers, customers, gallery owners and even your competitors on social networking websites. If possible, make your own website, either for showing off your work or as a retail sales outlet. If you can't afford a website- make a blog to promote your business.
• Take help of auction and sale sites for selling wholesale crafts as well as for retail selling.
• Advertise on cellphones. Followers of many sites willingly let them advertise through SMS in exchange of some offers. Explore such more avenues to advertise your work.
• Design and sell handicraft for charity auctions or fundraising. Keep some share with you and give the rest as charity. Many people just buy things to help others. This way your business can help the needy too.
• Join institutes like Museum Store Association and get listed on their website as a vendor. This list is often referred to by buyers from museum stores, antiques or collectible stores, zoos, national parks, etc. You can even get listed on online business directories who offer a free listing to businesses. For example, if you are in making wood crafts, you can get listed on Wooden Handicrafts B2B marketplace. And if you deal in beads or beading craft, get listed on Beads Manufactures Marketplace. Just a Google search on net and you'll find many directories pertaining to your niche market.
• Leave a tourist brochure with hotels having large tourist traffic. They prove to be promising buyers of local crafts.
• Organize home craft parties at your and friends', relatives' homes and present your work there. Make arrangements for profit sharing with them for regular organizing of such parties.