Spring Cleaning!

I spent an evening a few weeks ago going through all of my stock after a major gem purchase and weeded out two large bins full of beads, findings and buttons. I started listing them today after photographing and photo-editing the pictures. It's a lot of work listing things, something that I used to enjoy very much. As I was doing this I remembered how I came to own these beads and where I bought them, and what I was thinking of doing with them at the time. Some have been with me for a generation, but most are much more recent. Much of my "newer" stock when I first started on Etsy came from York Beads on West 38th Street, happily still there. Many of our sources in the Garment District for fabrics, notions and embellishments have vanished due to high rents. When the New York Times decided to expand to West 40th Street, many shops closed due to extreme rent hikes. One used to literally be able to shop at every store on both sides of the street, which saved a lot of time, even if the quality of the goods was inconsistent.

Here's a small sample of what is available starting today, and I will be a busy bee in he next few weeks listing more and more items. Happy looking and hopefully, shopping!