Random: Finding the findings

I have been searching the internet for online beading and jewelry making resources for the past few days.

If you, like me, are a studio crafter based in India, then you would know the lack of good online supply shops (in India). Etsy and Artfire has the most vast and most beautiful collection of supplies and both these websites are based in the US. I also noticed that there were a good number of reliable supply websites in the US apart from Etsy and Artfire and was so jealous of all those who could order their beads and have it shipped to their doorstep for free!

http://www.etsy.com/

http://www.artfire.com/

http://www.firemountaingems.com

http://www.abeadstore.com/

http://www.potomacbeads.com

http://www.beadsdirect.co.uk/

http://www.beadsnice.com/

Whereas for crafters based in India, Calcutta in my case, the shipping and import duties become too expensive, sometimes the shipping costs are more than the actual cost of the product!

Got me thinking. India is such a huge treasure trove of crafts and artisanal skills, it’s a shame that we should have to import our supply from the US. But on the other hand, if you are not based in Delhi, Jaipur or Agra, the three main cities for beads and jewelry findings, you have no other choice!

Why you ask? Let me explain. There are a number of websites in India as well for beads and jewelry findings but the catch is, they are designed for the western audience. They only sell and ship orders above 500 Dollars! I wrote to a few of them asking them if they would ship me a small consignment of beads but none of them responded! They were not ready to do business with domestic clients since their profit margins won’t be that high!

It’s a shame really! So when someone like me wants to buy beads or other supplies, I will either have to depend on local shops which stock very low quality supplies or pay a huge amount to buy and ship beads and findings from the west, which for all you know, has been exported from India. I wanted to list some of the Indian sites here so that Indian jewelers like me could browse through all of them and maybe request them to start selling domestic.

http://www.balajibeads.com/
http://www.buybestbeads.com/
http://www.indianbeadssupplier.com/
http://www.beadsindia.in
http://www.indianbeadsjewellery.com/
http://www.musthavebeads.com

As for Etsy and Artfire sellers, I think even if I have to pay more I’ll prefer to buy from them. Reasons? 1) Huge variety 2) Good quality 3) Prompt and professional 4) Reliable.