Guest Blogger Lynnea Bennett: Beady Eyed in NYC

Guest blogger Lynnea describes her post-Bead Fest Philadelphia activities in NYC at wholesale shops. What better way to spend a few days since she was "in the neighborhood" anyway? -Jen

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So what’s a jewelry artist to do after spending three days at Bead Fest?  Go shopping for more beads in NYC! Every time I am in Philadelphia a few of my beady eyed friends and I plan a bead binge in New York.  This one included my friends Heather, Rose, Lee Anne and Bobbi. We grabbed an empty suitcase and jumped on the train.

We had our plan of attack and a map:

Our first stop is always CJS Sales.  Who can resist 5000 square feet of beads and metal and chain? It is like an archeological dig for treasures.  It is wholesale only so bring a copy of your license to get in. You’ll get to meet employee of the month David...and you’ll understand why this is funny when you get there.  Be prepared to get dirty and climb mountains of boxes.  

Next on our list was York Beads.  If you love Czech glass this is the place to go.  No single strands here, you buy by the hank.  We also stopped at Beads World on Broadway.  They have chain and seed beads, semi precious stones and glass beads by the strand.  I got lucky and bought some chain from the clearance section. If you use ribbon in your work expect to spend some time at  M&J Trimming.   

Toho Beads would make a seed beader think they died and went to heaven.  All those tiny treasures in one place almost made me pull my bead loom out of retirement.

No trip would be complete without a trip to Metalliferous .  Anthony was happy to see us and answered all our questions, searched for anything we might need and somehow took care of other customers since the place was packed on a Monday afternoon.  

I think Rose got the best thing in the store when she got a hug from Anthony on our way out.  He also gave us a lead on a place to stop the next day.

Woke up the next day and tied on our walking shoes.  We had a train to catch at 2:00 so we had to make the best of the time we had left.  We went to Taj Company another wholesale only place. We couldn’t have asked for a better visit. They even passed out water since we were parched from all the walking.  The selection was great and they pointed out the sale areas and helped us search for anything we still thought we needed.  I got some beautiful strands there and can’t wait to create with them

I couldn’t go to NYC without stopping into Mood Fabrics.  

No we didn’t see Tim Gunn but we got to meet Joe who helped me with my purchases.

I got to have my own Project Runway moment since the clock was ticking and we had to get back to the bus.  We made it just in time and settled in to rest our weary feet and start to plan what to make with our bountiful stash.  If you ever get the chance to go to NYC to bead shop as Tim Gunn would say “Make It Work”!

-Lynnea