Confessions of a Crystal Hoarder Blog

This past weekend I got the opportunity to help others take home their own little part of the hoard by helping Suzanne and Jean at the A Grain of Sand booth at a show. 

And yes, I did actually encourage shoppers to purchase items, rather than trying to shoo them all away so that there’d be more left for me!

Now, that doesn’t mean that “man, I wish I’d found that” didn’t cross my mind a time or two…or three…

I did have a shopping list in mind. I wouldn’t claim that I’m running low on chain, I do after all, have two overflowing Plano stowaway cases of chain, but that doesn’t mean that I always have the right chain. I like unique chain, most often small to medium thickness but what show goers were searching for was BIG chain- the bigger the better. We had some aluminum curb chain that was over an inch thick…for the first couple of hours. Any finish, any shape, so long as it was BOLD!

Another often heard request was for big beads. And big wooden and plastic beads were, well, a big hit. Shoppers loved that the big vintage beads from the Hoard, which appear in our boxes from time to time, are so much lighter than large glass, ceramic, or solid metal beads. They snatched up our strands of wooden disc beads, and one shopper bought out our entire remaining stock of hot pink, over 30 16” strands!

I picked up some large pinky-coral rice shaped wooden beads. I play a bit of a game with myself each month, trying to guess what will arrive in my Treasure Club box, so I plan to mix them with something faceted or with a hint of sparkle from a future box. But they might also be terrific with some of the corrugated metal beads from boxes past, I’ll just have to see how it goes.

I had hoped to amass a heap of vintage stampings bags from the vintage suitcases, since as we all know by now that I have an unreasonable desire for them. Alas, I had to leave for a business trip the next day, so I didn’t get to go back to the show the next day to fully indulge my vice by spending a few hours looking at each and every bag.

So, I’ll just have to take my chances when the suitcases are back out at Bead & Button and BeadFest. But I did get to share ideas for how to use them with shoppers. Flat hearts were perfect for someone looking for stamping blanks. A bag of shallow bezel cups in various sizes were the right find for a mixed media fan. I did get a few of what I’ll call half doughnuts, like the ones from our December boxes,(and shown in “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot like Brickstitch”) and bag of domes that no one was sure what their fate was supposed to be…I hope to play around with these soon. I think they'd be really fun to combine with dapped screen findings like #18434 and #18433.

There was one item that I should have gotten. I even took a photo of it when I saw it. They are constructed like fabric wrapped buttons, but they are glossy paper or plastic, and quite large. They reminded me of Easter eggs. They are so strange, yet oddly alluring. My thought would be to make antique brass colored netted bezels, and link them for a bracelet. Perhaps if the fates are kind they’ll still be available the next time I get to peer into the suitcase displays of vintage wares.

Of course the Hoard isn’t the only draw to the AGOS booth.

Clasps are probably what A Grain of Sand is known for. I’m a fan of the ever growing variety of silver-filled clasps. I love that in this world of high silver prices, I can now get two filled clasps, where the plating is more than twice the thickness of traditional silver plated clasps, for the price of one in sterling…’cause really, you’ve got to have whatever color on hand, in case that’s the color you feel like using that day.

I have a project that I will complete some day that I refer to as my Fourclosure necklace; I have all four clasps, but I’m still collecting vintage crystals. Hmmm, a few of the colors of those filled clasps would look good with those Easter eggs…

Many thanks to Suzanne and Jean for letting me share the day with them, and I’m looking forward to another chance to work on their side of the table in the future. If you see us at a show, come on by, there’s a lot to see, and if I’m there, we can come up with ideas for the Hoard together!

PS. There’s a rumor that a few of my Bead Hoard Curiosity Club creations may travel with the Hoard this summer, so it may be your chance to inspect them in p