Bead News

Decorating our homes with lots of festive décor has to be one of our favourite parts of the Christmas season. But as much as we love unwrapping a new box of baubles and draping the tree in fairy lights, buying decorations rather than making them feels like cheating. After all, we’re a creative bunch with a crafting toolkit that is overflowing at the seams. We recently shared 8 of our favourite handmade Christmas trees, but today we’re sharing some of the best decorations from elsewhere on the web.   Threaded... Read More

We would like to introduce you to the latest new exciting product that has come into the bead world, Super duo beads,a  seed bead with two holes. As with a lot of new beads and beading products that come onto the market, many people struggle to know what to do with them, so we thought this would be a perfect opportunity to hold our first ever demonstration in The Bead Shop in Afflecks Palace Manchester and show our customers how to use Superduo seed beads. The Demonstration will take place... Read More

We are delighted to announce that The Bead Shop has won the Make Jewellery Magazine Blog of the Year award! Make Jewellery Magazine is a leading publication dedicated to the art of jewellery-making. The magazine features step-by-step guides to create unique pieces of jewellery and includes a wide range of projects suited to both beginners and more advanced jewellery makers. It really is an honour to receive such an award from Make Jewellery Magazine and we could not have done it without the help of all our bloggers and customers. To... Read More

We are very excited to announce that we have been nominated for a Blogger of the Month Award! Make Jewellery magazine has contacted us to let us know they are very impressed with the blogs we have written. We invest a lot of time in ensuring we keep all of our customers up-to-date with what we are doing whether it is in our shop or at the academy and we wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to all that have been involved. Especially to our customers who... Read More

The Blue Peter crew came to our academy in February to film a special Mother’s Day feature with our friend Fatz Kassim. She is an independent fashion and jewellery designer in Manchester who has some amazing ideas when it comes to making jewellery. Fatz likes the idea of reusing broken jewellery and transforming it into something you can wear. It is a great way to reuse an item of jewellery that has something on it that you love such as a certain style of bead or charm. The Blue Peter... Read More

We have come across a new social media network that we think is great for ideas and inspiration for new jewellery making designs. For those of you who have never heard of Pinterest, it is a social network that allows people to create online displays of their likes and interests. Users can create their own virtual moodboard by “pinning” images or videos they like and share it with their friends. Pinterest has become hugely popular with women and has been dubbed “Tumblr for mums”. It is almost like an online... Read More

Piccadilly Gardens launched its new artisan market on Saturday 4th February and it will continue to trade on the first Saturday of every month from now on. The new market will showcase local independent designers and artisans that will sell handmade jewellery & clothes and other bespoke products. If you are currently exploring ways of how to sell your handmade jewellery this market is a great opportunity. Stalls that took part in the first market last Saturday included vintage inspired handmade jewellery, handmade household goods and original mounted photography. The... Read More

Whilst the high street is facing another tough year, Afflecks Palace is starting the year with exciting news. The Manchester Evening News has reported that the popular Northern Quarter landmark had a record-breaking Christmas, welcoming more than one million shoppers over the festive period. Independent traders have noticed an increase in first-time customers visiting Afflecks Palace including older shoppers. People are often surprised when we tell them that most of The Bead Shop’s customers are in their 30s to 50s. Many assume the shop would attract mostly teenagers but in... Read More

Did you know our shop has been in Manchester since 1993 and over the years we have met some very inspiring people. We have shared all of our jewellery making ideas with our customers and learnt new designs and tricks from them. We have gained a lot of experience over the years and our shop has grown to become known for its vast range of jewellery making supplies. We have all the supplies you need to make jewellery including tools, beading boards, glues and adhesives, storage boxes and jewellery gift... Read More