Blueberry Cove Beads is a beading subscription from Canada. Every month they ship beads and supplies and post a challenge incorporating one or more items from the box. If you choose to enter the challenge, you share photos of your project and may win your next month’s box free!
My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
The Subscription Box: Blueberry Cove Beads
The Cost: $27 ($22 for the subscription + $5 shipping)
The Products: A curated selection of beads and findings centered on a theme.
Ships to: US and Canada
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There isn’t a traditional information card with this box. This month the challenge is to make a necklace using the black and white heart beads. I am never done with my pieces in time for the challenge so I opted to make something else instead.
Also, this is a review of the May box. This takes awhile to get to me because they ship from Canada, and then I had to find a little time to make something using some of the beads.
A note on prices: Items like this can come from a variety of different suppliers at many price points depending on how many you buy, etc. Even different colors of the same size and shape of glass beads are priced differently due to materials needed to make the colors! So I have opted not to provide prices in this review.
Carved Black Roses (3)
I’m not sure what these are made of but they are delicate and I like that. I have a bracelet idea in mind for these.
Faceted Carved Gray Stone Beads (3)
I’m also not sure what these are made of, but they have the weight of some kind of semiprecious stone. The picture doesn’t really do them justice, but they have some nice facets on them.
Lampworked Glass Focal Bead
This was an easy choice to use in my final project.
Flat Shell (?) Centerpiece
I thought this one was pretty neat. I would love to find some more in the same style, maybe with 2 holes. I think this is shell because you can see a little iridescence.
Ceramic (?) Black Glass Barrels (10)
I used these in my final project. The material is an educated guess. I thought they made for nice accent beads. They were pretty heavy, for what it’s worth.
2-Hole Domino Beads (6)
Blueberry Cove beads usually includes some beads I’d call “novelty” beads and this month it was the dominoes. I tend not to wear jewelry with beads like this, but I have a couple of young nieces who would enjoy something incorporating them.
Strand of Gray and White Stone
My semiprecious stone identification skills are lacking today, but these are nice accent beads and they do have the feel and weight of some kind of stone.
Strand of Gray Stone
Based on some beads (and a description) I received in Bargain Bead Box this month, I think these are some kind of frosted hematite. They certainly have the right weight for hematite.
Hollow Lampworked Glass Tubes (2)
I thought these would work well with the large glass centerpiece so that’s how I used them. They have very big holes on the ends but I remedied that with some little silver spacer beads I found in my stash.
Lampworked Glass Rounds (5)
These were a good size for me, personally. I contemplated using them in a bracelet, but ultimately they went into a necklace instead (see below).
Black and White Porous Stone Hearts (1 of each)
These are lightweight. I would be interested in knowing the material these are made of because I would like to work with it to make larger pieces, since they would be easy on the stringing material and they wouldn’t be too heavy to wear.
White Ceramic (?) Birds (2)
These are a bit big to be used in earrings (at least, for me). But I am sure I will have an idea for them soon.
Here is the necklace I made. I don’t know why Blueberry Cove Beads always inspires me to make these multi-strand affairs with chain. I have decided I need to get a second pair of round-nose pliers to help with working jump rings (after I cut myself…).
Verdict: I did not calculate a value for this box, as explained above in my note about prices. I am sure that if you are buying wholesale, you could get a better deal. But then you would end up with pounds of the same type of bead. I liked the black-and-white theme and especially liked some of the glass beads from this month. It works out to a little over $2 per item if you do the math, and that’s not bad at all, considering the stone beads and some of the lampworked glass would probably cost quite a bit more than that.
Please note that no directions are given and you have to supply your own needles, stringing materials, tools, and findings.
What did you think of the May 2016 Blueberry Cove Beads? Do you subscribe to any beading or craft boxes?
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