I was nominated to be an "Elite" member early last year and have been a featured Yelper a few times - but this week it was for my series on LA's Jewelry District! If you haven't checked out *Yelp, no matter where you live, I suggest you give it a try - it's addictive and really, really amusing (and free!)
That said, this weekend my end of LA (the Valley) has been plagued with crazy amounts of smoke thanks to harboring wildfires, so on Saturday morning the Hubs and I needed a reason to get outta the area. I could think of nothing better than to finally cowgirl-up and make the adventure to the Jewelry District. After facing a fair amount of traffic and not finding the exit Google maps suggested, we drove into the first parking lot we could find and figured we would find where we hoped to go on foot.
That said, we didn't really know where to begin when we started our trek around the hood since every store claimed "Wholesale" and "Unbeatable" prices. The majority of stores seemed to sell jewelry itself rather than jewelry making supplies (no surprise here). We finally found a hole in the wall little bead store (oddly called SSMAGR & MB, so good luck finding it in the phone book! The owners are from Egypt so I assume the name means something having to do with Jewelry in Coptic!) on 7th near Broadway. I had a great conversation with the lady behind the counter, who told me a bigger shop was just down the street a bit. I left with only a strand of emerald glass crystals that cost $12 - my kind of deal. (note: You can click on the name of each store I mention to read my Yelp review on the business). I tried my luck at the next little hole in the wall store next door but only found rude sales people and overpriced beads. Blah.
I finally found a store that I have heard alot about - Bella Beads. This place was a little trippy but I left with some good finds, including some gold chain (for which I have been searching high and low for months) and some great rare gemstones and headpins. The location itself, as stated in my Yelp review, is more of a factory store for people with a business license than amateurs like myself, though the lady working there made me feel semi-comfortable! The husband helped me pick out some items for what he is calling my "fall line" and even encouraged me to buy more than I had planned. My kind of guy!
At this point, though I had purchased a few good items, I was itching to discover where the real goods laid hidden, and suggested we find the 8th and Maple intersection Yelp deemed as the heart of the Jewelry District. Of course we got lost, and of course I didn't want to bring my Blackberry out to help me find the place since stood out as it was. After about an hour of circling the district in the 100 degree heat, the mecca was in sight: 8th and Maple! According to Google Maps, this intersection is home to about a dozen jewelry supply stores, many of which claim to be the biggest in the city.
We started by visiting "Beads and More," which at the time I thought was the best jewelry supply store I had ever seen in my life. Aisles and aisles of gemstones, pearls, glass, Czech, fire-polished, porcelain, wooden, seed, and rare beads. Not only that, but they were all reasonably priced, well organized, and well marked. The only downfall was the sneudy staff who at one point had the nerve to come up to me and ask what my husband was doing sitting in the corner. You can read all about it here :) I left with some really funky gemstone beads, yet with a really bad taste in my mouth thanks to the crappy and intrusive staff. (Haha, note the google maps picture. Wasn't about to whip out my camera in this hood!).
The poor husband at this point was dehydrated and ready to melt, but I pushed him enough to visit just one more store (with a little puppy-eyed action and a "pleeeeeeeeeeease!"). We walked down the street and stumbled on a non-marked building that looked promising. I walked in and gasped in disbelief. Poked myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. An actual bead heaven! This store, Athenian Fashions, had it ALL! Aisles and aisles of well organized, thematic, and color coordinated findings galore. The store is divided into three sections: findings, chain, and children's. The findings room: We're talking every size of headpins, spring rings, clasps, etc, and in 4 options - gold, silver, brass, and copper! The stuff literally is stacked from ceiling to floor. They have TONS of charms sold in bulk at SUPER cheap prices - featuring everything from religious charms (sectioned by religion rather than all jumbled together, and including rosary materials!) to a huge selection of skulls! The chain room: is basically my heaven. I have been looking EVERYWHERE for some gold chain and found it BY THE AISLE here! AND - it's all perfectly priced and organized! They not only have silver, gold, yellow gold, copper, and brass colored chains, but also pink, blue, white, green, etc. They also sell them by the ream in addition to by the foot. Amazing. (Note all the gold chain options in a super organized fashion!). The last room was full of what I consider "children's" beads - wooden, plastic, funky, brightly colored, etc. A perfect resource for a teacher or parent! If all this amazingness weren't enough, the staff here were 100% cordial and interactive. I had some great conversations with the gals working there and even gave some of them my card. They also have beautiful sample pieces on display and put your purchases in a nifty reusable jewelry bag! I have found my main jewelry source in LA - and now know how to best get here without getting lost :)
Overall, my adventure into the heart of LA's Jewelry District was successful, but not without the blood, sweat, and tears (ok, fine, blood-curdling heat, sweat, and Gatorade) it took to find it's gems. I bought lots of cool items and now know what resources are at my disposal. Now longer do I need to reply on Michael's! Go figure, though, that the next day we swung by the chain craft store for something un-jewelry related to fund that they had just re-structured their whole bead section. There goes that idea! (note my Hub's glee in the newly renovated section - there goes our next paycheck!). 
My first award! Thanks so much, Cherry Tart - I am honored! Make sure you check out her blog, too = she does super cute graphic design and even features yummy looking recipes, too!
So the rules now are that I have to list 15 other blogs that I dig and inform them that they have won the award, too :) So here they are, blog of people that I already know or have met along the way that I dig. And in no particular order:
Beading clearly makes me happy :) Here I am in front of "Happy Beadium" in Chicago (and yes I am aware that I am wearing clashing colors!). I had hoped to get pictures in front of every shop we visited, but got so caught up in the moment that I forgot!
That said, I plan to bead for the majority of the weekend and have lots of new things to post next week. I had hoped to finish more items this week, but I ended up selling several items I WORE TO WORK to some co-workers (they had to force me not to just hand them the items right off of my neck!) and spent my evenings filling their orders (while watching So You Think You Can Dance, of course). The only thing that might get in my way is that my parents are arriving tomorrow for a 3 week (yes, that's 21 days) visit. Riiiiiiight. So I might not get much work done after all. Fingers crossed.
Here's to a great weekend!
Needless to say, I am going to have some fun this week! I'll of course keep you posted on what I make and how certain pictures I took in BMore and Chi-town correspond to my jewelry! :)
Next, I hurried home to finish two of the three items due this month. First I made Elizabeth's earrings for her Body Building show to match her bikini. I like how they turned out. She told me today that she was so inspired that she ordered, for her next show, a plain swimsuit in addition to hundreds of Swarovski crystals that she is going to glue on herself! My kind of swimsuit!
Next I finished Courtney's prom ring and bracelet. I braided three strands of beads and ended the bracelet with a brushed silver clasp. The ring was a bit harder, as I have never made one before! (pardon my ugly hand modeling!) Good thing Courtney wanted chunky, cause that's what she got! I used a really thin silver wire (32 gauge) which made the process more like hand stitching than wire wrapping. Next up will be pictures of these two events - both happening this weekend :)
Lastly, we have a giveaway winner! Thanks to everyone who entered 
and left such beautiful feedback. I took it all to heart and have saved it for a rainy day. I numbered every entry and didn't use a hat method but instead used a computerized random number generator and it came up with the number 17, which belonged to REGINA! Congrats, gal!
I liked this giveaway so much that I think I am going to do another one again soon!
Well, I better get back to creating new things! More to follow soon!
