Jewelry supplies are a special challenge to organize, because they’re so small, and there are so many different kinds of things to keep track of. I know… I have quite a lot of jewelry supplies. (What can I say, I’m a sucker for new beads!) I’ve tried a lot of different storage solutions, and I’ve finally got on a system that’s working well for me. Today, I’m showing you how to organize beads and jewelry making supplies.
Being organized is tough for artistic types, I think. I know I struggle to put things back in their correct spots when I’m done with them, but now that I have a system, it’s a lot easier to do! Plus, it’s so nice to know exactly where to find exactly what I want, to see at a glance if I’m out of anything or low on anything I use often. And the big money saver? NOT BUYING the same thing over and over, if I can’t remember if I bought it last time!
I’m not going to give you a tour of my whole craft room, mostly because (as I mentioned) it’s so hard for me to be organized, and you don’t want to see how true that is! But, my jewelry station is the one area that’s pretty tidy, now that I have a space for everything.
How to organize beads & jewelry supplies:
- Bead Storage Solutions Bead Storage Boxes
- Bead Storage Solutions Tool & Spool Bins
- Darice 15-Drawer Rolling Craft Cart
- 4-Drawer 4-Shelf Scrapbook Storage Cart
- Label Maker
First things first… I love these carts. I’m not kidding, I have 6 of them in my craft room. They work especially well for me because I’ve got a basement room with that odd half-shelf that runs around the bottom half of the room. They’re the perfect height for storage, then I can use the shelf as overflow, and room on the walls for hanging storage, too.
I added labels to most of my carts. For jewelry, I’ve got categories like wire and chain, cord, connectors, and metal stamping supplies. My beads and findings I store in the Bead Storage Solutions boxes, and they tuck right in on the scrapbook shelves for easy, at-a-glance access.
For how to organize beads, I find the best way is by color – not necessarily by size, shape, or material. Quite often, when you’re going to make a new piece, you’ve got a color scheme in mind, or you’ve picked a special focal piece or new beads and you need something to go with it. The best way to find it is by color!
The average 7-inch strand of small to medium-sized beads fits great in the tiny storage boxes, and the tiny size is also perfect for about 10g of seed beads (the small tube). Larger tubes of beads fit well in the small boxes, and findings are all sizes, so a good variety is the way to go.
I love that the boxes all come out, so instead of having to reach in and retrieve what you need, you can open the box and tip your supplies out. They snap close really securely. I can’t tell you how many times other bead storage I’ve tried resulted in mixed-up beads, or spills. This is the first system I’m actually excited about.
Bottom line is that while everyone feels good to be organized, you need to find a lasting solution that works well, or you won’t use it for long. If you’re a jewelry aficionado like I am, you need to find lots of small storage that’s EASY to use – or you won’t stick to your system! My cart and bead box combo has saved me lots of headaches (and now, I’m off to find inspiration to tackle the REST of the room to find great ideas!).
I hope this how to organize beads and jewelry supplies post has motivated you to get organized.
What’s your favorite way to organize your supplies? Share your tips below!
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Adrianne is a writer, artist, designer, wife, and mom of 2 kids. She blogs at happyhourprojects.com where the theme is tutorials and recipes that can be made in an hour or less. Her favorite projects are jewelry-making, paper crafts, and recycled crafts. She participates annually in ArtPrize, an international art competition, and she’s the author of the book DIY T-Shirt Crafts: 50 Ways to Recycle a T-Shirt (August 2015).
I love, love, love the bead solutions storage system, it was an expensive outlay due to my bead addiction but well worth it. Instead of using their drawer system however, I use the 12×12″ 3-drawer storage containers, they stack on top each other and I can pull the drawer out when I’m looking for a particular color (yes, storage by color is a must!). I also label the tops with what material, size, where I purchased them and break the beads down to price per bead, this makes it easier when calculating price point.
I have one of the Darice 10 drawer multi colored storage units, but my drawers always fall off the tracks very easily with hardly nothing in the drawers, help. I would love to use this piece instead of it standing empty and gathering dust.
Would shorten the bars at the top and bottom of unit but sadly I don’t have anyone to help me with this. That might make the drawers work better.
Anyway, thanks for listening.
Sincerely Becky B from Arkansas
I have a 8 drawer roll around cart for beads, which I have outgrown. I also have two 4 drawer roll around carts for wire working and polymer clay. I recently purchased 3 of the Elizabeth Ward Bead Storage Solutions trays. I have just finished putting my Swarvoski crystals in one, I didn’t realize how many packages of the same colors/sizes I had. I think this will definitely help with not over buying. As I type this I am looking over at the drawers of sizes 11/0, 6/0, 8/0 and some 3/0. Also have lots of delicas (both 11/0 and 10/0) and some 15/0. I think I will probably organize those by colors regardless of the size. I have organized the crystals by color but will leave them in their own tray. Any suggestions anyone can make will definitely be appreciated. I spend too much time searching for what I want to use, makes creativity too hard. Oh, I have ordered two more trays.
I too am crazy about beads and I like to organize them by color as well. When I started going by color I didn’t have alot of available cash on hand, so I recruited everyone I know to save their plastic peanut butter jars. Mostly because they won’t break and the mouth of them is large enough for me to put my hand in. I’ve used the largest peanut butter jars for almost five years now and they work great, especially since I love peanut butter!
Hi Adrianne
Plastic containers in South Africa are quite expensive and with a budget like mine not much affordable. I bought a few, but not nearly enough for all my beads. I used a plastic 6 pack muffin holder to organize some of my beads and thought that this was a very good idea to organize most of my beads. You can stack the holders on top of each other and keep the colours together and then stack the lot on a shelf. This is not the best way to organize it, because the holders are soft and you have to handle it carefully, but if you do not have money for all this great organizing ideas, this works really great.
When you want to use the beads, just take the hole stack from the shelf (about 5 or 6 on top of each other), pack the holders out on a table, decide what beads you want to use, take it out of the holder, or keep the specific holder nearby and stack the others again and put it back on the shelf.
Thank you for your great ideas. I would love to have a storage box like the one you mentioned.
Regards
Joline
Yes,I am a sucker for pretty beads as well,I have, so many bead boxes,and I cant stand my beads messed up and out of order,I mark my boxes as well,that way I’m not confused about where the certain beads I will be using are,
I want to find a storage system for beads. I have found the web site craftsunleashed but I have no information where I can purchase the boxes, Can you help?
Lou Stewart
Hi Lou! You can purchase the Bead Storage Solutions here: http://www.consumercrafts.com/store/browse/catalog/jewelry-storage-and-organizers/1/40?sw=ewc&o=0
For your convenience, there is a supply list towards the top of each post. Just click the orange text links and a window will pop up where you can purchase the product directly! Let us know if you need anything else!
I 100% agree with you re: organizing beads by color! I started off organizing mine by material (stone & natural beads in one box, glass and crystal in another, ceramic in a third, etc.) years ago… and every time I go looking for beads I tell myself that I NEED to take a day and just completely redo it.
Yes I find myself doing that as well,sometimes, it takes alday to get my beads color,by color,but it’s worth it,
Great tips! I’m not nearly so organized, but I keep working on it. Heck, I’m not even organized on my finished jewelry pieces!
Hi Adrianne;
I’ve been loving all your jewelry projects. I didn’t get any done for Christmas, but now that the pressure is off, I can start some projects for this coming Christmas, which will be here before we know it! I would surely like to get my beads organized. They are all over my craft room. This is a great time to get organized. I just finished organized my paper craft desk. It took me two full days.
So I will be checking out Consumer Crafts organizing tools and working on my bead storage.
Phyllisa
I agree with you about the cost of many of the storage containers on the market now. I have tried the muffins tins, but my biggest complaint about that system was that there no lid to keep contents in. Another system I created was to egg cartons. They are still not the best, but they do at least have a cover on them. I am still looking for something to work better for me.