Vintage Bead Box is a monthly subscription box providing you with beads and findings manufactured between about 1930 and 1970. Choose from a themed box (limited numbers available) or a surprise mix.
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 Surprise Mix subscription ($25 a month).
The Subscription Box: Vintage Bead Box
The Cost: $25 a month. Save with 3 and 6-month subscriptions.
The Products: Beads and findings made from a variety of materials (glass, wood, semi-precious stones, metal, acrylic, etc.). Most were manufactured between 1930 and 1970.
Ships to: US (free), Worldwide (additional shipping charges will apply)
Check out all of our Vintage Bead Box reviews and the Craft Subscription Box Directory for more great craft supply and DIY project boxes!
Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!
There isn’t a traditional information card with this box because owing to the nature of the contents, every “Surprise Mix” box could be a little different.
A note on prices: Because these beads are vintage, they can’t be purchased separately from any sources. Further, materials, country of manufacture, and more can be a little difficult to determine precisely. Thus, I have opted not to provide prices in this review.
Please note that no directions are given and you have to supply your own needles, stringing materials, tools, and findings.
Acrylic Beads
One of the first things I noticed this month was how color-coordinated everything in this package was. Based on past packages I have received from Vintage Bead Box, I think even with the Surprise Mix boxes, they do strive to give you items that go together in some way, which I definitely appreciate. Anyway, these were the first of two types of acrylic beads I received. They are super lightweight and I think they will go in a necklace because my wrists are too tiny to look right with beads this size.
Glass Beads
These have sort of a faux turquoise look to them. I think they would look nice with some black glass and a few metal accents (though I keep going back and forth on whether gold-tone or silver-tone would look better with them).
Glass Beads
I’ve been making a lot of pendants and bracelets with Czech shaped beads lately, and those often call for rounds of various sizes. I always seem to be short the correct size of round beads but I will be better prepared with these in my stash (and these will match a lot of what I already have).
Metal Beads
You’ll usually get one type of metal beads with Vintage Bead Box. This month, I received these tubular hollow silver-colored beads. I used some of them in a necklace. They are not all shiny and smooth like new beads would be, but I think that adds to the charm.
Jasper Beads
I think these are cool mostly because they are an unusual shape for semiprecious beads. I can easily see stringing them into a simple bracelet with some brass spacers in between.
Acrylic Beads
Here are the other acrylic beads for the month. They are a little smaller than the first ones and could go in the same piece as the other ones if I decide to go that route. These are also lightweight and I like that the coloring is a little different than with the first set.
Mother of Pearl Pendant
This is a bit big for my personal style but I wanted to challenge myself so I did use it in my necklace this month. I thought it looked really nice next to the bone beads from this same picture.
Bone Beads
These were cool. I love the textures and the subtle colors (and how the colors go with the teal/aqua theme of this box). I used quite a few of these in my necklace this month.
Seed Beads
You’ll often get seed beads or bugle beads with this subscription (just one or the other per month, generally speaking). Amounts are comparable to if you purchased new seed beads, so there is definitely enough to do something with. I’ve been playing with seed beads a lot lately, learning herringbone stitch and doing various types of spirals and netting, and these will be great for that (and also, they go with a lot of other beads in my stash).
Here is a three-strand necklace I made with the metal beads, bone beads, and mother of pearl pendant. I find I often turn to chain and headpins with this box, but the beads are unique and I feel like this is a good way to showcase them.
Verdict: I did not calculate a value for Vintage Bead Box, as explained above, but if you divide the total cost by the number of items, you are paying about $2.78 an item. This seems quite reasonable to me. If you browse Etsy, you can find similar groupings of vintage beads and findings for prices ranging from $2-$7 (and beyond). I opted for the surprise mix so there is an element of randomness, but I felt like there was a definite color theme going on here, and everything coordinated really well.
For what it’s worth, everything arrives clean. I suspect at least some of it is from deconstructed vintage jewelry (but honestly, that is OK by me – I get fun beads and things stay out of the landfill). It is all clean and, so far, manufactured pretty well. Plus, a lot of the items are unusual and you’d have a hard time finding equivalents made from modern materials.
What did you think of the September 2017 Vintage Bead Box? Do you subscribe to any beading or craft boxes?
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