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.)
About Dollar Bead Box
The Subscription Box: Dollar Bead Box
The Products: Beads and beading-related items including but not limited to stringing materials, Swarovski crystals, vintage glass, freshwater pearls, buttons, and more.
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)
Ships to: US ($4.50 on a month-to-month subscription, free with longer subscriptions)
Dollar Bead Box May 2019 Review
You’ll get a variety of different beads with this subscription. You can count on some strands and Czech glass nearly every month, but half the fun here is seeing what other random things show up. Let’s see what we got this month:
The box usually comes with an information sheet that has a letter on one side and an item list on the back.
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!
16mm Faceted Bicone in Jet Hematite Snake-Skin Travertine (1)
They really packed a lot into the name of this one. But it is a big bead so maybe it deserves all that? I sometimes make right-angle-weave bracelets with one or two focal beads near the clasp, and since I have a lot of black travertine/Picasso beads that will match this in my stash, that seems like a good way to use this one.
16-20mm Jade Butterfly (1)
This really appealed to me this month so I used it as the focal piece in a necklace, which you can see below.
28-30mm Porcelain Oval in Dusty Pink (1)
This is pretty big. I believe several colors were possible but I am happy about the one I got. When I get really large beads like this, I tend to use them in macramé pieces or occasionally with wire-wrapping (though I’m better at macramé than wire-wrapping). Not sure which route I will go here.
4mm Czech Glass Druk in Crystal (40)
This is a good, basic bead in a classic color that can be used in a lot of patterns. These are going straight into my stash for future use.
46mm Brass Eyepins (20)
Here is another basic item but one that is really useful. I have absolutely a ton of brass (stampings, sheet, wire) and always need findings to go with it. These eyepins are a thicker gauge so they are better for simple loops (as opposed to wrapped loops).
4mm Czech Firepolished Rounds in Matte Crystal AB (50)
Here is another really useful shape and color bead. When I have a pattern I want to use, and I need 4mm firepolished beads, all the Picasso finish and metallic hot pink ones I’ve purchased for myself don’t necessarily work, but matte crystal will go with almost anything.
6 x 8 mm Czech Glass Squished Oval in Olive (36)
I don’t think I’ve seen this shape before. (I think multiple colors were possible for this item, too.) This is a great color for me as it fits into my current color palette (basically “things that will look good with copper”) and I think it would also work with brass findings.
4mm Czech Glass Druk in Matte Jet (40)
Here is another one that, like the crystal druks, is going straight into my stash. It is wonderful to have basic colors on hand that have a lot of possibilities for matching because sometimes when I choose beads on my own, they’re not practical colors but just ones I thought were pretty.
8mm Czech Glass Druk in Alexandrite (24)
I used a few of these in a necklace this month. We also received some of these in a smaller size. You don’t always get a lot of beads the same color in this subscription, which forces me to think outside the box in terms of projects, but it’s nice to occasionally receive matching beads as well.
10-12mm Large Hole Potato Pearl (2)
These are quite big! The holes are large enough that you could string them on a leather (or faux leather) cord if you wanted. The holes in pearls are usually tiny and it is nice to have some large-hole ones for a change.
6-8mm Hand-Cut Faceted Smoky Quartz Beads (2)
These are cool. But I’ve been collecting gemstones lately and this is a shape I don’t have much of (I started with 6mm rounds as those are pretty widely available). I may have to order some more of these. I used these in my necklace this month; you can see a picture below.
3mm Czech Glass Pearl in Coral Luster (42)
Lately, we’ve been getting some Czech glass pearls in Dollar Bead Box and that is great, this is a type of bead I’ve been wanting to play around with more as of late. These are pretty tiny but can be used in any pattern that calls for 3mm rounds, or in loom work or right-angle weave projects or really whatever you want.
10mm Pewter Large Hole Slider, Antique Silver Plated (2)
Here is another large hole bead, though the holes in these are even bigger. These would fit over the cords of Pandora-style bracelets, or thicker pieces of leather or cording than the pearls.
4mm Czech Glass Druk in Alexandrite (50)
Here is the other size of alexandrite druk. I am trying to think of a way to use these with the larger rounds because alexandrite glass has a cool color-changing property depending on the lighting (I tried to show an example of this in the necklace photos below) that I want to play around with.
10-12mm Freshwater Square Coin Pearl (2)
I love these. I have a fondness for flat squares and rounds in general, and even more so when they are pearls! The holes in these are super tiny and I had to hunt through like five bead organizers to find headpins that were a narrow-enough gauge to fit in them. I used them in my necklace this month but I may order more.
3mm Czech Glass Pearl in Mint Tea (42)
Here is another glass pearl. We received these in a larger size last month so you could always do something with both of them together if you still have last month’s strand hanging around. (I do.)
Here is a necklace I made using the square pearls, the butterfly, the smoky quartz faceted beads, and some of the larger alexandrite glass rounds. If you’re wondering why photos two and three are almost the same, look at the alexandrite beads – this color of glass changes color depending on the lighting (I turned off my extra lights for the third picture).
Verdict: I did not calculate a value for the May 2019 Dollar Bead Box, for reasons explained above. There were 16 items so if you divide the cost of the box by the number of items, it is about $1.22 per item. There were a lot of possibilities this month and I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface. I loved the square coin pearls, of course, and some of the semiprecious beads, and I had fun holding the alexandrite druks in different lighting conditions to see the color change, and there were also quite a few handy basics that were wonderful for stash-building purposes.
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 an item that appeals to you, if you become a Dollar Bead Box member, you can order items from past Dollar Bead Boxes from the Dollar Bead Box shop for $1 each (plus shipping).
Value Breakdown: At $19.50 for this subscription, you are paying about $1.22 per item.
Check out all of our Dollar Bead Box reviews and our best Craft Subscription Boxes!
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What did you think of the May 2019 Dollar Bead Box? Do you subscribe to any beading or craft boxes?
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