Dollar Bead Bag is a smaller box from Dollar Bead Box and delivers Czech fire polished beads every month. During a given month, reorder your favorite items from Dollar Bead Bag shop for just $1. (This deal is only available to subscribers.)
This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About Dollar Bead Bag
The Subscription Box: Dollar Bead Bag
The Cost: $8 for the Dollar Bead Bag; free shipping with 3- and 6-month subscriptions (plus get an additional discount on 6-month subscriptions)
The Products: 4 strands of 3 mm Czech Fire Polished beads and 4 strands of 4 mm Czech Fire Polished Beads
Ships to: US
Dollar Bead Bag November 2018 Review
This is a subscription where you know what to expect every month, only the actual colors of the beads are unknown. The information card lists the color names for reordering purposes:
The bag included a list of items.
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!
3 mm Czech Firepolished Beads in (from top to bottom): Matte Purple Velvet AB, Green Opal Vitrail, Siam, and Opaque White Bermuda Blue
One thing I really like about this subscription is the mix of classic (like “Siam”) and newer finishes (like “Opaque White Bermuda Blue”). I spend rather a lot of time bead shopping and I still learn about new finishes and colors from Dollar Bead Bag. Anyway, since one strand of 3mm and one strand of 4mm beads were the same color this month (matte purple velvet AB), I used those in a bracelet. Siam will just go nicely into my collection of reds, and the green opal vitrail and opaque white Bermuda blue actually work well with some shaped beads in my stash, so this is a useful set of colors this month.
4 mm Czech Firepolished Beads in (from top to bottom): Matte Purple Velvet AB, Matte Hyacinth, Light Garnet, and Matte Light Aqua
Light aqua is great for a particular color palette I’ve been building up, and I’ve had this obsession with hyacinth lately that I can’t quite explain. Garnet looks nice with Siam since it is similar but not identical. And, of course, matte purple velvet AB matches with one of the 3mm strands I received.
Here is a bracelet I made this month using the purple beads in both sizes. This is a modification of Deb Roberti’s Ophelia pattern, which you can purchase here. I know I’ve used this one a few times before, but it is an easy one for me to follow and it works up quickly, and there are really a lot of possibilities depending on whether you choose to use the same or different colors of 3mm and 4mm beads, what color of seed beads you use, etc. I had to change the ends a little bit because I used up every single one of the 3mm beads, but that part doesn’t really show when I wear it.
Verdict: I did not calculate a value for the November 2018 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.
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No, but if there is a color that appeals to you, if you become a Dollar Bead Bag member, you can order items from the past two Dollar Bead Bags from the Dollar Bead Box shop for $1 each (plus shipping).
Value Breakdown: At $8.00 for this subscription, you are paying $1 per strand.
Check out all of our Dollar Bead Box reviews and the Craft Subscription Box Directory!
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What did you think of the November 2018 Dollar Bead Bag? Do you subscribe to any beading or craft boxes?
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