Worth the trip...

We sell a lot of items in our store in Raleigh, North Carolina, that will NEVER make it to the website. Take these vintage pearl dangles. We have about 28 of them, in a mix of silver and gold. We won't put them on the site, or even the etsy shop, because there are just too few of them.

To see them, you have to come to the store.

In this Amazon-everything world, this is a weird concept for some folks. They are confused by why we would sell ANYTHING that we don't have on our site.

Sigh...

See, we think we are worth the trip. Yes, we aren't the biggest bead store. Yes, we don't have EVERY SINGLE SEED BEAD in the universe. So what. We have things you've never seen before, or won't see very often. We have a red work table where you can sit and play with the items you find. I think those things, and the rest of the do-dads and gee-gaws make us worth the trip...

Our mix table is busy...

stir, stir, stir, pluck

stir, stir, stir, pluck

stir, stir, stir...

That's the sound of our bead mix table. This is a large, custom-built table that holds our various bead mixes. It's in the back of the shop, but it's one of the most popular places in the shop. Regulars visit it every time they stop in the store. We fill the compartments with a variety of mixes; glass beads from the Czech Republic, or wooden beads of all shapes and sizes, or a mix of chevron beads from India. It's the most cosmopolitan part of our shop, and one of my favorites. 

Because the table can be accessed from both sides, quick friendships form. 'What are you looking for? Blue? How about this one?' and 'Can you see if you can find any of these brown flat ones for me?' Strangers spend long minutes happily helping others find the perfect match. It's a place of social connection, I'll help you find what you need while you help me find what I need. If I don't find it, well, it's just a bead...The search is so much fun. 

It's also addictive. Even for me, the quick glance at the table can lead to minutes, hours? spent stirring and plucking beads. See that one gold and green one in the picture above? When I was taking this picture, I saw it and thought 'oh, those would be perfect in earrings...' and then spent a few minutes stirring through the mix until I found a match. While doing that, I found a pretty red one that also needed a match...

You see how it goes. We do sell a few of the mixes on our website, like the glass beads right here, but the real fun in the mix table comes from joining the group crowded around the bins...

stir, stir, stir, pluck