Dollar Bead Box Subscription Box Review – October 2017

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.

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.

8 mm Swarovski Cube in Air Blue Opal (1)

You’ll often get small quantities of Swarovski crystals with Dollar Bead Box. There’s not a lot I can do with one cube, though I would imagine I have a lot of other cubes (either single or leftover from another project) in my stash that I can use in conjunction with this. Alternatively, it could be a centerpiece in a dainty bracelet.

30 mm Pewter Antique Silver Drop/Chandelier (2)

You could do the obvious thing and make earrings here, but I also like to use this type of finding to change from 1 to 2 or 3 (or 4 or 5, as the case may be) strands in a necklace. Lately I’ve been very into that, and that’s probably what I’ll do here.

9 mm Pewter Antique Silverplate Filigree Bead Cap (6)

This is a nice number of bead caps for a simple strung bracelet. Or you could use them with the chandelier findings in some earrings since the metal tone matches.

3 x 5 mm Czech Glass Pinch Beads in Jet Hematite or Purple Iris (25)

I hoard pinch beads. I am pretty sure the finish of these is the purple iris finish (subscribers could have received either/or of the colors listed).  These have gone into my stash to be used in a pattern in the future.

22 mm Pewter Antique Copper Flower Pendant (1)

This is quite simple.  It could be strung on some chain to make a necklace for layering, or I actually think it would be nice as part of a beaded keyring.

14 mm Swarovski Octagon Pendant, Jet (1)

I love beads in unusual shapes and you don’t see octagons a lot. I used this in a necklace this month since it coordinated (easily) with a few of the other beads in this shipment.

18 mm Czech Glass Tabular Square, Peacock Finish (1)

This is a fun finish. I have a lot of beads in my stash that coordinate nicely. I think this will become a focal bead in a bracelet.

Peacock Pendant (1)

I think this is pretty. I am debating whether to make a fancy spiral chain for this out of seed beads (there are a few techniques I’ve been wanting to practice) or just make a simpler strung piece.

3 x 5 mm Czech Glass Gem Cut Rondelle in Opaque Olive Green with Travertine (25)

I probably already have like 10 matching or coordinating styles of bead in my stash for this one. This is a color I’ve been buying a lot lately (I think it looks good with copper and brass, and I’ve been working with copper and brass quite a bit).

4 mm Czech Glass Druk, Turquoise (50)

I’m also collecting 4mm glass rounds, and this color will fit nicely into the color palette I’ve been working with for most pieces lately. 4 mm glass rounds are great in patterns with some of the newer Czech shaped beads so I always like to have some on hand.

18 mm Vintage Style Czech Glass Heart, Jet with Gold Wash (1)

We received this in white in a past month. But, since there were a few other black beads in this shipment, I used this as a focal bead in a necklace (see below) for a color-coordinated look.

18 mm Vintage Czech Glass Button in Blue with Copper Edging (1)

I am never sad to see a button with a shank in a bead box. This is most likely going to end up as the clasp in a wrap bracelet. If I can keep track of it long enough (I have a bad habit of losing buttons; I can’t explain it).

4 mm Czech Glass Druk, Jet AB (50)

I used most of these in a necklace this month, but I have a few left for patterns. This is a nice, basic bead to stock up on.

6 mm Czech Glass Cathedral Cut in Topaz and White Opal (30)

I am never sure how to use beads like this because I don’t do a lot of simple stringing, but I think these call out for stringing. I just need to mine my stash for a few coordinating beads and I can make a stack of bracelets without much effort.

15 mm Czech Glass Table Cut Tabular Square in Opaque White with Travertine (1)

Like the other table cut square we received this month, I think this will become the focal point in a bracelet. Or I could always order more of them and make something more complex.

8 x 12 mm Czech Glass Vintage-Style Twist in Green, White, and Crystal (16)

These are cool, and a shape I don’t have much (or any?) of in my collection. I don’t have any good ideas for them yet, but there are enough that I could probably make a necklace/earring set with these and some coordinating white beads and maybe a few brass or goldtone beads and findings.

4 mm Preciosa Deco Round Crystal (6)

It’s hard to see the cut of these, but it’s a little different from your traditional firepolished round cut. I actually think it might be fun to collect a whole bunch of different 4mm, generally round and clear beads, but with different cuts and finishes, and use them all together. I coordinate colors a lot, but I’ve never put much thought to working with slightly different shapes.

Here is a necklace I made with some of the beads from the box.  I saw three different types of beads in black, one which had gold-tone accents, and had this idea. My hands are sore from pliers use now, though…

Verdict: I did not calculate a value for the October 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 were a lot of one-off beads this month, which can be a bit of a design challenge (you see that I did manage to incorporate a couple of these). But there were also a lot of beads in the color palette I’ve been working with lately (generally speaking, “things that will look good with copper and/or brass” like greens, aquas, ivory and off-white, etc.) so a lot of what I didn’t use in my necklace will go great with other beads in my stash.

What did you think of the October 2017 Dollar Bead Box? Do you subscribe to any beading or craft boxes?