Bead weaving is one of the many joys of life, but organizing all your materials can be incredibly frustrating. From losing a package of glass beads you know you had to spilling tiny seed beads all over the floor, storing beads can be trickier than you think.
Fed up with the mess and the chaos, AllFreeJewelryMaking asked our Bling Buzz readers, “What is the absolute best way to store your beads?” Their genius responses didn’t let us down! Every DIY jewelry maker should check out this list of storage tips and tricks.
Ziploc baggies.”
We heard this one over and over again, so it must work! Sandwich bags are clear and flexible, making them great for holding beads of all different sizes and colors. You can keep them in a larger storage container or bag for on-the-go projects, or you can hang them up on a cork board in your craft room with a thumbtack.
Old pill bottles. Recycling at its best.”
Hundreds of readers suggested using medicine bottles as a bead storage solution. It makes complete sense, when you think about it. The bottles are inexpensive (since you can use them as soon as you finish your prescription), translucent (so you can see what each one contains), and secure (hello, childproof caps).
Save your money by buying fishing tackle boxes. I use these for all my beads.”
Clear tackle boxes are a great way to keep your beads organized. There are so many little compartments to separate your materials, and it packs up nicely for space-saving storage and travel.
I find that the clear storage cases with multiple drawers at multiple sizes meant for nuts and bolts and such work great. You can easily see the contents and they’re very inexpensive.”
Ah, yes. Every jewelry maker knows that the hardware store is her friend. Like tackle boxes, hardware drawers are compact and designed to hold various types of small materials. Plus, hardware drawers are often clear with a space for labeling, so you can quickly find exactly what you’re looking for.
Baby food jars!”
Small, lidded, and clear—baby food jars, canning jars, and other glass jars are a good-looking option for bead storage. Glass jars are a timeless decorating idea, and you can see the colors of your beautiful beads inside them! Place a row of them on a shelf in your craft room for both design and function.
Keep like colors together. Simple but good tip.”
There is a lot of wisdom in this idea. No matter what funky organization system you come up with, it’s hard to beat the tried and true method of separating your beads by color.
I like the round containers that screw into each other.”
Listen to this: apparently, there are clear, round containers that screw together to make a stacked tower of bead storage heaven. We had never heard of this magical solution until reading these responses, but now we must have them. One reader described them as “twist off, stackable, pill containers, where each twist off section is the size of a tealight candle and you can stack them as high as you want!” Some say they can be found in craft stores, and others found similar containers at the dollar store. We will definitely be on the hunt for these.
As a bonus, here are a few of the most unique storage solutions we saw:
I like to hang my strings of beads on clothes hangers with binder clips.”
“I bought a package of empty travel containers for makeup and hair products to use for air travel. I use these for small amounts of color/style beads.”
“I use containers that Crystal Light powdered drink mix comes in to store each color of beads. The container is plastic and semi clear, about 8 inches high and 2-3 inches across so you can see the contents, and several will fit into a container.”
Hopefully, there will be something in this list that gets you out of the dark place of bead chaos and brings you into the organized light of day. When inspiration strikes, your storage solutions should help you—not hinder you!
Thank you to our spectacular readers for all these wonderful tips and tricks! For more ways to organize your beads, check out AllFreeJewelryMaking’s complete list of Bead Storage Tips and Tricks.
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I found that the large “twizzler’s twist ” containers which is 2lbs and 1.3 ounces holds lots of tubes of beads flat or rounds ( 8 grams and even 30 grams of bead containers ); also the mixed nuts or covered chocolate peanut containers that are 2.5 pounds is also great for holding flat or round containers of beads. I have my beads sorted in these containers by color and it works out great. Wherever you shop at example Cosco’s, drug stores and other food chains that carry nuts and candy have these large sizes. I got most of mine from my daughter-in-law who has four kids .There may be other products that carry these large containers that may be useable for your beads needs. I looked all over the internet for these containers and couldn’t find any for sale. With candy containers its free after the candy is gone! The only issue you will have is where you will put the containers once you fill them up. I have a cabinet that holds my bead books 2 shelves and my stero which has 3 shelves so I stack them inside there. Also since I have a separate room I also have them stacked side by side on a table I used for beading and sometimes for sewing. It’s my entertainment room / bead room.
I use ziplock, compartment boxes, and a tackle box. I have a lot of Temptation cat treat boxes but not sure what I’ll put in them just yet. I may end up turning them into plant pots.
The small twist together containers can also be found at Wal Mart as well as the craft stores like JoAnns and Hobby Lobby..
Thank you! Really great ideas!
Tic tac boxes are good for small amounts of seed beads and they stack well inside other boxes on their side for easy viewing. Also I got lucky and bought a huge case of those beanie baby storage boxes at a thrift shop and they are tall and square and have been awesome on my beading bookcases. Thirdly I used a carved wood room divider and the cut out areas and tiny nails on the frames both allowed me to hang strands of beads and I did it in ombre color division and it was an art statement in itself. Finally, I agree with an earlier poster about the little drawer tool, nuts bolt chests in plastic. I was able to print out labels for each drawer.
Fishing equipment stores have boxes for spools of fishing line. These work wonderfully for the large spools of thread. There are small holes for the thread or wire to come out so you don’t have to remove spool to get your thread.