Dollar Bead Bag Subscription Box Review – September 2017

Dollar Bead Bag is a smaller box from Dollar Bead Box, which delivers Czech fire-polished beads every month. During a given month, you can reorder your favorite items from the Dollar Bead 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 Dollar Bead Bag, which is $8.00 a month.

The Subscription Box: Dollar Bead Bag

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!

The bag included a list of items in the bag.

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 could mean 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!

3 mm Czech Firepolished Beads in (from top to bottom): Opaque Medium Blue, Crystal Blue Luster, Crystal Bronze Luster, and Opaque White Luster

These colors go together really well. I decided to use the 3mm beads this month to make a simple bracelet and I used both of the blues as well as the white ones. I didn’t use the bronze ones this time, but I think they do work with the other colors if you are going for a beach sort of vibe.

4 mm Czech Firepolished Beads in (from top to bottom): Jet Black, Transparent Citrine, Opaque Orange, and White Opal/Light Amethyst Combi Color

I got the impression from the booklet that came with Dollar Bead Box (review coming soon) that Halloween was a bit emphasis for the company this month (which makes sense), and I noticed that the first three colors shown would all work well in Halloween designs. Personally, I don’t wear holiday-themed jewelry but I can see where each of these colors would work with other items in my stash, and this is a really good stash-building subscription.

Here is a bracelet I made this month. I used a cheap craft store loom, a 2-strand magnetic clasp, and some Fireline. I glued the knots with G-S Hypo Cement because my warp threads were too short to weave in (oops, my fault). I may go back and add a seed bead picot edge to clean up the look a little bit. Anyway, my main point in showing this is that you don’t have to limit yourself to seed beads when it comes to loom work!

Verdict: I did not calculate a value for the September 2017 Dollar Bead Bag, for reasons explained above. This is one of those subscriptions where you know in advance what you are going to get each month (only the color is a surprise). It works out to $1 per strand, and I think that is reasonable. These strands are a little shorter than what you’d get at Fire Mountain Gems, for example, but the prices are also lower. This is a good subscription if you are looking to build your stash.

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 September 2017 Dollar Bead Bag? Do you subscribe to any DIY beading or craft boxes?