Hello everyone, I'm Emma
And I am a bead and charm addict
It is literally like the little kid in the candy store comes out of me when I walk in there and I don't think I've ever left a beading shop with empty hands. Oh who am I kidding...I know that's never happened! I used to buy beads online in job lots too so I have quite the collection of glass beads, all separated into their colours. I love making necklaces, chokers and the like.
Did you say charms? Don't get me started on charms. I absolutely LOVE the metal ones in all the different designs. They used to be so badly made but with the technological advancements of today, they are slick, neat, clean and the variety is awesome!
Luckily the closest bead shop is a good hour and a half's drive away from me now. I used the word good because it means that I can't go there very often and splurge. When I do have something that I need beads for, I make a day of it and really look at everything and I take my time. Maybe it is therapeutic for me in a weird way, I'm not sure, but my OCD loves the fact that everything is orderly. If I should happen to find a bead that accidentally found it's way to it's neighbour, I put it back where it belongs. It makes me grin and gives me a kiddy like sense of satisfaction when I do it.
There are so many different types of beads these days. If you think that originally the only beads were made out of stones, seeds, wood and the occasional smelted metal. They didn't have much variety but they were used in trade and I love the fact that people even back then liked to adorn themselves with colourful necklaces, rings and earrings. We really are a funky species.
So this little bead shop is quite tiny, the entire shop is probably not even 30m2 but it is jam-packed with beads on one side and charms and findings on the other. Necklaces of big, wooden chunky beads hang from cuphooks in every corner and there are strings of beads strung up high above all the little containers. They've put every square inch of the place to good use. There's even a mirror for trying on jewellery. I must have spent a good two hours there, even helping a lady choose out her wedding earrings! She was in such good spirits and the whole shop felt like a jolly, wholesome place to be. I went through the boxes of lampwork beads and fell in love with the amazing shiny colours on the insides of them. Some are the colours of an oil slick and some of them look like they encapsulate glitter.
I was after some specific beads but that only took me about 20 mins, the rest was literally just for my enjoyment.
So this is just another weird little quirky thing of mine. If you ever want to impress me on a date, take me to a bead shop, then a coffee shop, then one of your favourite places and we'll get along just fine. Thank you #MarketFriday by 