A recent bead shopping expedition netted a swag of gorgeous beads from Off Beat Design in Ashgrove. The owner of the store, Lesley Marshall, told me of their stockist in the U.S., who came across a warehouse full of crates of forgotten beads, and sells them as she opens them. Dating back to the sixties, some of the beads are like nothing I've seen before. Fantastic plastic, wild colours and designs, there are some real vintage sweeties among them too. A girl could get into trouble in a store like that!
Personally, I can't go past faceted semi-precious stones like garnets and chalcedony. What type of beads really get your creativity flowing?