Dollar Bead Box is a monthly delivery of beads and beading products. During a given month, reorder your favorite items from the Dollar Bead Box shop for just $1. (This deal is only available to subscribers.)
My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
This review is of the $19.50 a month, Dollar Bead Box.
The Subscription Box: Dollar Bead Box
The Cost: $19.50 + $4.50 shipping for the Dollar Bead Box or $8 for the Dollar Bead Bag (4 strands of 3 mm Czech Fire Polish Beads and 4 strands of 4 mm Czech Fire Polish Beads in every bag); free shipping with 3- and 6-month subscriptions (plus get an additional discount on 6-month subscriptions)
The Products: Beads and beading-related items including but not limited to stringing materials, Swarovski crystals, vintage glass, freshwater pearls, buttons, and more.
Ships to: U.S.
Check out all of our Dollar Bead Box reviews and the Craft Subscription Box Directory!
Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!
You’ll always get a brief letter and an item list from Dollar Bead Box.
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. I couldn’t find a lot of these exact beads from common sources (e.g., Fire Mountain Gems) and it’s of questionable value to pick something similar because a slight difference in grading or size or material and you are looking at half or double the price (or an even greater difference). Even different colors of the same size and shape of glass beads are priced differently due to materials needed to make the colors!
10 mm Bead Cap in Antique Brass (4)
You’ll often get a couple of bead caps with this subscription. These would be good to accent a couple of beads, or you could always order more. (These may not have made it into the picture of all the items up above because I found them later, having slid under something else. Also Angus was running across the photo area, hence the cat hairs.)
10 mm Czech Crystal Waterfall Cut Crystal (16)
These are pretty and go with just about anything. I used a few in a bracelet but I have some left over to play with, as well.
10 x 18 mm Top-Drilled Chinese Crystal (2)
I believe subscribers could have received various colors. I like the aqua color I got! I usually use beads like this in earrings although I think these could also work on either side of a pendant in a necklace.
2.5 x 6 mm Czech Glass Dagger in Purple, Fuchsia, Pink, and Crystal (100)
These would make great flower petals in a larger pendant, say with a rivoli center, and I think that is what I am going to try to do with the ones I have left after making this month’s bracelet. They are on the small side for daggers but that is not a bad thing at all!
10 x 12 mm 1920s Vintage German Glass 5 Color Luster Mix (10)
I love vintage glass beads and it is great to get matching pairs of so many different colors. There are a lot of possibilities here!
8 mm Preciosa Vintage Czech Crystal Loch Roses in Jet (4)
I think these would be good centerpieces in flower motifs. They really catch the light nicely, as you can see (the flash from my camera hit one of them as I took this photo!).
29 x 34 mm Dragonfly Pendant in Antique Brass (1)
I’ve been accumulating a lot of dragonfly-related beads and charms lately. This will go nicely in the collection. (Sometimes I just collect beads of a certain type or theme, OK? You never know when you might need them. It could be next month or 15 years later.)
5 x 10 mm Czech Glass Teardrop Beads in Deep Pink (25)
This is a pretty bold color but I do have some of this color in my wardrobe and I also have matching shoes. I’m just looking for the right pattern and I will use these.
10 mm Hematite Lentil (25)
I love lentil beads. These are some of the larger lentil drops. I’ve been buying more lentil drops lately – they’re good as the petals in flower motifs!
12 x 14 mm Czech Glass Pillow Orange (4)
I love these. It is not a color you see very often in glass beads. I’m not sure what I’ll do with them yet, but they are just so bright and cheerful.
5 mm Vintage Preciosa Czech Crystal Bicone in Alexandrite Velvet (7)
I used these as spacers in a bracelet this month. The alexandrite color is quite pretty and of course it is fun to get more vintage beads.
20 mm Love Birds Pendant in Antique Silver
This is nice and small and could work as a large charm or a small pendant. I do have a preference for small pendants and I’m not sure which way I would use it yet.
17 x 31 mm Pewter Cross Pendant in Antique Silver
I don’t really go in for wearing religious imagery of any kind, but I sometimes get asked by other people to make jewelry for them and I have a few relatives who would appreciate receiving a gift incorporating this. I do like the pattern on it!
6 mm Czech Glass 2 Hole Square in Crystal Vitrail Light (25)
6 mm Czech Glass 2 Hole Square in Light Montana Blue (25)
I get very excited to get 2-hole Czech glass beads in any subscription box. These things sell for quite a lot (at least $2-3 per 6” strand, if not more) and I have been obsessed with 2-hole beads lately (they are quite trendy now, actually, based on books coming out and beadwork magazines). These are two great colors that will match a lot in my collection.
Here is a bracelet I made with some of the beads from the box (and some seed beads from my stash). I was going for a crisscrossing waves kind of thing, but when you actually put the bracelet on as opposed to laying it out flat, it kind of jumbled up. Oh well. Probably it would’ve worked better with some 2-hole beads. Live and learn!
Verdict: I did not calculate a value for the April 2017 Dollar Bead Box, for reasons explained above. There were 15 items so if you divide the cost of the box by the number of items, it is about $1.30 per item. Considering the number of vintage items in the box, as well as the presence of two strands of 2-hole squares, the really large number of daggers, and some other Czech glass like the lentils and teardrops, I feel like I got a pretty good deal this month!
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 April 2017 Dollar Bead Box? Do you subscribe to any beading or craft boxes?
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