PRODUCTS...the good, the bad and the ugly...

The market for beading products is almost as overwhelming as the beads themselves.  There are hundreds of containers to organize your product, threads, glues, mats, scoops, cutters, needles, etc.  I think I could write something about each product and blog for about a month.

I will give you my opinion, and hopefully many of you will write back with your likes and dislikes of certain products.  This helps beaders buy, so let your voice be heard.

I like things simple.  If you have ever been to my house, I have 2 appliances on my kitchen counter.  A coffee maker and a toaster oven.  I don't particularly care for gimmicky products, so many times unless another beader says you "must" have this, I usually shy away from many products.

My favorites (and this is just my opinion...so please share yours) are:

#1, the metal triangle bead scoop.  One of my students bought one for everyone in class one day, and I absolutely cannot live without it.  I have to say, my bin of beads that I refused to separate after a project and just dumped them all together has not gotten any larger since receiving this awesome gift.  It makes separating and putting away everything you dumped out so easy!

#2, the foam bead mat.  This inexpensive product rocks!  I resisted this for some strange reason but once I used it, like the triangle sorter, I was hooked.  Round out the edges on the square ones to avoid your thread catching on the mat and dumping your product all over.  You can cut these to fit your storage and take along boxes.  A great, great product.

#3, the thread zapper.  Ok, I will admit I truly thought this was so gimmicky.  I poo-pooed it and being stubborn, continued to ruin 10 more pairs of scissors and  a few cutters.  Then when every student in my class one day showed up with them, I decided to give it a try.  Well, needless to say, this is a great product.  No more whiskers in my work!  That alone is worth a fortune!  And batteries are much cheaper than scissors.

#4, E6000 in the small tubes.  This glue is wonderful, but the large tubes have a tendency to glob up after a while and I find I waste a lot.  The small 0.18 oz. tubes are perfect as you actually use all the glue before it gobs up.

Many of you have shared your favorites with me personally, please post them and tell everyone!

Oh, ugly products?  Right now, cannot think of any...You?