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 full Dollar Bead Box, which is $19.50 a month.
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. They are really promoting the Facebook stuff hard lately. I don’t have a Facebook account so I can’t offer an opinion of that.
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!
Please note that no directions are given and you have to supply your own needles, stringing materials, tools, and findings. Lately, they have been showcasing some tutorials on their Facebook page if you are interested in seeing some things you can do with the items, though.
7 x 11 mm Czech Glass Oval Medium Blue (17)
I don’t have plans for these yet but I think they are pretty and I certainly have a lot of other jewel tones in my collection. I haven’t been much into simple stringing lately (it’s not much of a challenge for me) but these would certainly work in a strung bracelet or necklace.
3 mm Czech Glass Rondelle in Light Aqua (100)
These are soooo tiny. But that is fine since I prefer delicate jewelry. I used a few of these in a necklace this month, which you can see below.
28 mm Thai Hill Tribe-Style Pewter Butterfly Antique Silver Plated
I made something last month using some of the one-off beads, so I opted for a different strategy this month. But I have actually collected a fair number of butterfly beads and charms lately so I will probably make a necklace using them with this as the focal.
4 mm Pewter Cube Antique Silver Plated 12
These would be great as spacers or could probably be substituted in for some 4 mm glass cube beads in a pattern.
28 mm Pewter Flower Pendant Antique Silver Plated
You’ll get a mix of metal finishes in each month of Dollar Bead Box. There was a lot of silver this time. I don’t typically work with silver-tone items because silver is expensive (copper and brass or not) but I have accumulated some “pewter” items from past Dollar Bead Boxes that will coordinate well with this pendant (which is not too big for my taste!).
0.7 x 23 mm Flat Head Pins Antique Copper Over Brass (100)
Having no other direction this month, I let these guide me to using an antique copper finish in the necklace you will see below. I found some nice chain in my stash and attached dangles made from beads and headpins and a few of the tassels (see below).
6 mm Czech Fire Polished Beads in Vintage Hematite (25)
I have tons of 3mm and 4mm firepolished rounds from Dollar Bead Bag, but in Dollar Bead Box, you sometimes get larger versions. I like these because they’re black, but a bit different than your average shiny jet finish.
6/0 Czech Glass Seed Bead in Silver-Lined Hyacinth (14 x 40 mm tube)
I was putting beads away today from a couple of orders and I found a surprising number of 15/0 and 11/0 beads in similar colors (which I did not realize I’d been buying as I don’t often go for orange), so I can pick some seed bead pattern and use these in it!
32 mm Pewter Key Antique Brass Plated (2)
I have gotten quite a few key charms, pendants, and dangles lately. I’ll have to figure out a way to use them all together. Maybe in a bracelet? I just bought a lot of chunky chain that would be good for charm bracelets, just waiting for it to come in.
5 mm Czech Fire Polished Beads in Light Sapphire Pink Lined (25)
These are unusual. I think it is the pink hole color showing through the light blue of the beads that throws me off a bit. But, when I started thinking about what to make this month, these ended up being useful!
3 x 5 mm Czech Glass Rondelle in Pastel Pink (25)
These are a bit bigger than the blue ones. They have a look similar to rose quartz. I used a few of them in my necklace this month, too.
4 x 6 mm Preciosa Spacer Bead in Crystal (6)
We got this bead or one very much like it last month, as well. I’m cool with that because clear spacer beads are useful in lots and lots of applications, and Preciosa is a great brand.
32” Silk Cord in Evergreen
I love getting ribbons and cords like this. Sometimes I buy pendant patterns on Etsy (or find them in beading magazines) and they look so nice strung on a length of ribbon for a change from the usual chain. (As an aside, I have decided to take up silk ribbon dyeing so I can make stuff like this on my own.)
6 mm Czech Glass Roller Bead in Jet (28)
Subscribers could have received jet or crystal. I haven’t decided how to use these yet but I think they might look nice offset by some brass rounds in a bracelet. (I’ve been buying a lot of brass lately.)
14 mm Czech Glass Table-Cut Bead in Opaque Green with Travertine
This is right up my alley, although I typically buy beads like this as strands instead of as singles (they are great for simple strung bracelets or necklaces, or on headpins in earrings, etc.).
3” Cotton Tassel in Assorted Colors (6)
Tassels! I’ve been using tassels more often lately but usually have to resort to making my own. These look better than the ones I make. I noticed the white, blue, and pink ones coordinated with a lot of beads in this month’s box, so I set them aside to use for a necklace. I’m saving the green and black ones for later.
3mm Czech Glass Spacer Bead White Vintage with Crystal Accents (14 x 40 mm tube)
These are really just big seed beads (around a 7-8 size or so?). The “crystal accents” ended up being like four silver-lined clear beads that were mixed in. Regardless, these were useful for the necklace I made this month.
Here is a long-ish necklace I made with actually quite a few different items from the box (probably the most I’ve ever used from one box in a piece). You could’ve received different tassel colors, in which case you might not have been able to color coordinate as much. (I saw someone else’s unboxing with some warmer colors.) I also used the headpins (which is what directed me to make this in antique copper finish).
Here is a close-up of the side so you can see some of the smaller beads I used.
Verdict: I did not calculate a value for the November 2017 Dollar Bead Box, for reasons explained above. There were 17 items (if I counted right) so if you divide the cost of the box by the number of items, it is about $1.14 per item. There was an unusual amount of color coordination this month (partly due to the tassel colors I received) which enabled me to use six different items (four types of beads, the headpins, and the tassels) from the box in the same necklace.
What did you think of the November 2017 Dollar Bead Box? Do you subscribe to any beading or craft boxes?
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