BeadCrate Subscription Box Review – January 2018

BeadCrate is a monthly subscription box for beading enthusiasts. Choose from “The Enthusiast” for $15.99 a month or “The Collector” for $35 a month. You can also buy a single box to see if this subscription is for you.

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 Enthusiast, $15.99 a month, box. 

About BeadCrate

The Subscription Box: BeadCrate

The Cost: “The Enthusiast” for $15.99 a month or "The Collector" for $35 a month. Save with longer subscriptions.

The Products: A selection of beads curated around a monthly theme (or beads that are just cool and random)

Ships to: U.S. (free for “The Collector” and $5 for “The Enthusiast”)

BeadCrate January 2018 “Pink Elephants” Review

BeadCrate is great for stash-building if you are into seed beads and Czech glass, and you’ll also usually get some useful supplies. This month had a new and interesting theme:

This letter/information sheet accompanied the shipment. The theme this month was “Pink Elephants.”

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!

11/0 Toho Transparent Rosaline Seed Beads (15g)

Some subscribers received gray instead. This pink color works for me. I recently splurged on a lot of hot pink vintage beads from Etsy and needed some coordinating accent beads to go with them, so I have a lot of design ideas for these.

6mm Pink “M&M” Candy Rounds (25)

These are really just flat discs (not puffed like you might expect for something named after M&Ms), but I love flat discs! I don’t know quite how I will use these yet but I have numerous beads that will look great with these, and the right idea will come along one of these days.

6 x 10 mm Twisted Pink Barrels (25)

I used to buy a lot of twisted glass beads, back when there weren’t as many different possibilities for shapes. These remind me of purchases I’d make in my college days (eek, back in the late 1990s) from this bead shop just off Harvard Square. Small, transparent glass beads like this look great as accents with more complex focals.

Silamide Pink Thread (Size A, 40 yards)

You’ll usually get one supply-type item with BeadCrate. It’s thread every now and then. I have a lot of thread in my stash, but it’s mostly 20-year-old Nymo in black, white, and cream, so this is wonderful in terms of new color possibilities.

4mm Rosaline Rondelles (50)

These are cute, tiny, and are going to be great in some delicate pieces. I tend to make very delicate jewelry because I am small-boned and I feel more comfortable wearing it, I get a little lost in statement jewelry sometimes.

3mm Black Diamond AB Faceted Rounds

I used a few of these in a necklace this month. They’re a little hard to see in the overall necklace photo because they’re small, but I liked the effect they had when alternating with the flat squares (see below). The AB coating adds some nice sparkle, too.

6mm Luster Stone Amethyst Faceted Rounds (25)

This is an unusual finish, and one I don’t think I’ve seen before. This is going to look great with some black onyx I have stashed away, maybe with some gold-toned accent beads. I’d be interested to see what else is out there with this finish.

9mm Black Diamond Flat Squares (25)

I get even more excited about flat squares than I do about flat rounds. I used a fair number of these in a necklace, which you can see below, but I still have a few left to try some other things with.

12 x 13 mm Peruvian Ceramic Pink Elephant

This little guy is adorable and the inspiration for the theme name. I wanted the pink of the elephant to really stand out in the piece I made this month, so I used all gray beads with this.

Memory Wire (Ring Size, ¾”, 48 turns)

I have never actually bought ring-sized memory wire before because I didn’t quite know what to do with it. It is way too big to make actual rings for my fingers (I have small hands). However, I recently saw this idea online so I think I’ll have to try something similar. It’s definitely best to have special cutters and pliers made specifically for memory wire as this is a harder steel product that will damage your regular tools.

9 x 6 mm Black Diamond Vertical Hole Tear Drops (25)

I used a few of these as dangles in my necklace but I have a lot left. I am determined that this is the year I’m going to learn how to make a nice-looking wrapped loop with a headpin, and these will be great for practice. I also have a lot of tiny bead caps that can go on the bottoms of these for a bit of shine.

8 x 6 mm Flat Pink Ovals (25)

These go great with the other shades of pink glass this month. I like flat ovals almost as much as flat rounds and squares, and these match my buying tendencies for the past few months. They’ll definitely be put to good use.

Here is a necklace I made with some of the gray beads and the little pink elephant, as well as some chain and findings I had on hand. It’s sort of modeled after something I saw on Chan Luu.

Verdict: I did not calculate a value for BeadCrate, as explained above in my note about prices. If you divide the cost of the box plus shipping by the number of items (I counted 12), you get about $1.75 per item. I thought the little pink elephant was cute and I appreciate getting a themed collection like this because it is just so different from what you see in other bead subscriptions. The letter accompanying the shipment indicated a total retail value of $27.16 for the items and this seems reasonable based on the massive amount of bead shopping I’ve been doing recently.

Please note that no directions are given and you have to supply your own needles, stringing materials, tools, and findings.

To Wrap Up:

Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No, your subscription would start with the February box. Destash items and excess inventory (and sometimes whole boxes) may occasionally be available in the BeadCrate Etsy shop.

Value Breakdown: At $20.99 for this subscription including shipping, you are paying about $1.75 per item.

Check out all my BeadCrate reviews and the Craft Subscription Box Directory for more great beading, craft supply, and DIY project boxes.

Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!

What did you think of the January BeadCrate? Do you subscribe to any beading or craft boxes?