Q. 7. What do you love the most about owning your own bead shop?
Definitely the people. It feels like a family at our
shop. There are always new people joining in.
Watching them begin to build friendships because of a mutual love of beading is so rewarding. Also, watching a beader complete a piece
that was a challenge for them and seeing the
pride on their face. Whether it’s a new beader
who just finished their first bracelet, or an accomplished beader who just tackled cubic-rightangle-weave
successfully, it’s
a great feeling
when you know
that you participated in some
way.
Q. 8. Quite
often, it seems,
store owners
are so busy
offering help
to their beading customers
that they don’t
any have time
to focus on other things. Have you been able
to win any awards or recognition as a result
of your beading and related jewelry making
skills?
I had a piece featured in Beadwork Magazine’s
“What our Readers Did” section and also have
been featured as Sova Newsletter’s “Eye Candy”
a couple of times. I have several original designs
available for free download on our website, and
it’s always wonderful to hear from other beading
groups around the country when they are making
one of my pieces as a group project.
Q. 9. Have any of your beaders won competitions or received recognition for their beading
or jewelry design work?
We’ve had some ladies receive ribbons at the
state fair for pieces they’ve stitched. We also did
10| April-May | RitzyToo! | RitzyToo.com
our own “Design Star” contest at the shop and
had our customers submit their original designs.
We had a panel of judges made up of long time
beaders who didn’t know who stitched each
piece. They selected winners who received gift
certificates and were featured on our website.
The top winner even taught her design at the
shop in a special class. It was a lot of fun!
Q. 10. Using feedback from your loyal customers, what do you offer in your shop that
has been the most fun?
Our “Weekly Beading Circle” is our most
popular event. Each
week we select a
piece to stitch as a
group by taking feedback and requests
from our regular participants. We choose
designs that are from
the current beading
magazines or online
so it’s easy for everyone to have their own
copy of the pattern.
We actually make
the selection several
weeks in advance so that we can order any special beads that might be needed and be sure that
all the supplies are readily available at the shop. I
run through the selected pattern ahead of time so
that I’m familiar with it and can answer questions.
I am able to give guidance along the way, as well
as have a sample or two stitched up that can be
viewed at the shop. We post the project on our
website so everyone knows what’s coming up
and can reserve their seat in our beading room
ahead of time. We’ve been doing this every week
since the day we opened!
Q. 11. Does Laura’s Beads sell products on
line?
Not yet, but this is something that is in the works,
so definitely check back on our website in the
future. In the meantime, many of our seasonal
customers, while out of state, simply call and