How do you store your beads?

[turtleclaninc]

Sekoh
I was just wondering how you other Beaders like to store your beads?
I use wooden army grenade boxes (3 currently) and junior baby food jars. the boxes will hold 9 rows. 5 jars in each row thats 45 jars per box. each jar will hold 2 1/2 to 3 hanks of 013's. I lined the box with cardboard and put a cardboard strip inbetween the rows. The lid has secured hinges and that tamper proof lock with padlock loop. nice to lock up when house is full of visitors kids know what i mean? lol ..the boxes have thick rope carry handles and the bead jars are so secure inside i carry them by one handle like a suitcase all the years i have used them i never had a jar break ,Honest... i took a sharpie and wrote on jar lids, size color lot#. and sorted by color shade. at a glance i can grab an odd size or different shade quickly. Grenade boxes are cheap at army navy stores and lots of new crumb Snatchers around lol...i keep needles in labeled jars and all threads. matterials and my work in progress in another. when im beading i just take out colors needed. rest stays safely tucked away ..and my wife really likes the tucked away part. LOL.....whats your method? please share..onen

[tigger]

i've started using clear soda bottles. and putting them on a book shelf in color order. you can get get just alittle bit under a kilo in 1 bottle and if you ever drop the bottle the plastic will not break.

[Blackbear]

Well I don't buy my beads in kilos like Tigger does.. can't afford it.. but i like the bead tubes for a hanks worth of beads and I like both the gladware minis and tupperware midgets for larger amounts. I especially like the midgets cause the top can be used as a small bead tray when working on a project. I pack all that into a big sterilite lidded container so that I can take them up or down stairs and store them on my shelves. Ok that's just the size 11's. The size fourteens and 15 hex are in tubes in a great big Kaboodle box. The 12 and13 cut beads are in tubes in the drawers of a small organizer and all others are scattered in various containers all over the craft room.

[sokoki_wolf]

ive moved quite a bit in the last ten years and for me using zip lock bags works the best...beads i buy generally come in small zip locks and i put all of one color in a larger one and then they all go in several of the big zip locks...i got a good deal on some tubes of cuts a few years ago and ive left them in the tubes and then stored in a big zip lock...im looking for a good big plastic tool box to keep all the other stuff in...i have 4 boxes of supplies and have to go thru this one or that one to find one thing...

[wyo_rose]

Hmmm, I guess I don't have that many beads. I look for plastic boxes with divided sections (like fish hook boxes) that have lids that fit snug and don't let the beads slide between sections.

I need to get some more. And I like the looks of the big fishing box that holds lots of these little boxes, but I'm cheap and don't want to pay much. Shoe boxes hold most of my other stuff, as well as the beads that I"m using at the moment.

I'm going to try to pick up some of the XL Zip Locks to hold my buckskin and sewing projects.

[miss_shense]

I use the baby food jars too, as well as old pill bottles (WASH THEM FIRST, lol, or you'll end up like a 14yr old me - pink beads all white from old tylenols, LOL!)
And I use the tupperware in the exact way as BlackBear, cool huh.

[Singing Otter]

I use baby food jars too (like to bead out of the lids) , old spaghetti sauce jars, ziplock baggies, the porcelain bead trays (those puppies are great when you don't wanna bead off the hank) and baby food holders (plastic kind you get from the dollar tree). I keep all of my beads in one of those big plastic bins. I lucked up and got a buttload of beads and didn't realize until I went through them that I had alot of antiques (yay).

[Blackbear]

I used to store mine in the little zip lock baggies too till I started finding bead leaks... after opening them so many times or just from age, the corners tend to wear away at the seal. I'm really liking the glad ware mini containers though.. and the sandwhich ones are great for large amounts of beads and stack up REALLLLLY good! And on top of that, they're inexpensive.

[saponi]

OMG....I have so many beads!!! I just took a trip to NYC 2 months ago and bought more!!!

I used to use baby food jars but dropped one one time and lost some expensive cut beads.

So now I use plastic peanut butter jars and plastic Welch's grape jellr jars. Like someone said earlier, you can keep right at a kilo in them!

[yooperbear]

I have used Skoal tobacco containers for years. Both my dad and my husband used to 'donate' their used containers. I could fit 2 hanks of beads in each. They are great for traveling too. I usually throw my labeled containers in a zip-loc bag to take with me. And the lids work great while beading. Unfortunately, I can't get new ones since neither of them 'chew' anymore.

[turtleclaninc]

[QUOTE=saponi]OMG....I have so many beads!!! I just took a trip to NYC 2 months ago and bought more!!!
Sekoh... if you dont mind me asking what part of the city did you visit?
i lived out on long island for a bit we have a lot of family all over the city. Did you meet any Skins? and WHERE DID YOU GET THE BEADS ,,,LOL, what flavors? if you ever get back there ..take the tunnel out to Queens head east on the L.I.E
thats the Long Island ExpressWay..(what a joke that was when they spent millions building )"this will ease all the congestion" at lease they named it right the.. big LIE... hehe
any way park on the right about 160th and follow your nose to one of the cities best homemade bagle shops..(if you like begals )lol onen

[Native 1]

I sort my beads usually by size..in plastic containers/the organizers..and those divided ones are useful for shells/earring hooks etc..and use the zip lock bags for traveling; or work in progress stuff..I have the crow bead/pony beads in one plastic container too...so when I have to look for beads I know where to look because I have so many..lol..probably never ever use em all but when I see a pretty color I just can't resist I buy it even if its just one hank...use the pill bottles too..lol..just about everything that will hold beads I use like the tupperware stuff is good...if I don't lose the lids lol..wish somebody would invent like a container where you can keep em all together..

[veritasxl]

I use the glad containers too and sterlite boxes. I try to keep them separated by type then color. I like the way one lady I saw uses muffin tins when she's workin on the same type of beads for a long time. Won't do that until I get moved, then I will be able to leave every thing out in a craft room too. Now stuff is in Sterlite boxes in the livin room so I can watch TV. My sewing machine is on the dinning room table. Can you tell I'm an empty nester?

V

[beading_4_ndnz]

A bead Workers Paradise

http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/cr_organizing_storage/article/0,2025,DIY_13769_2268247,00.html

you have to click on CRAFTS, then click on STORAGE AND ORGANIZING to get to the article, I just tried the link , it brought be to a home page, looks like

(here's an interesting article that outlines some good craft storage ideas)

a simple way I've found for a lot of hanks of beads, are simple large size nails, pounded in to several lengths of boards.....then attached to the wall....very simple yet functional! the beads hang there, in full view, ready to use
Or the boards with the holes in them, then you add the little hardware pieced (hooks), that works too, to hang many hanks of beads from
I save empty large size coffee cans, they hold all kinds of stuff, and I never throw away glass jars with lids! I have tons of them, just waiting to be used..............
I bought a huge box of baby food jars at a garage sale one time, good for little tiny quantities of beads, findings, etc
shelves are a must! plastic storgae units, the kind for kitchen vegetables are handy too....... craft storage bins, kids toy bins
plastic boxes with lids in all sizes are super handy too
i have a whole collection of "divided" plastic dishes, some were for baby meals, some for hors d'oevres, some others
these have the little ridges that divide up the plate in sections, perfect for beading!
Even jewelry boxes that have large compartments can be handy, you can hold alot of one thing for a certains kind of beading or project in one spot (bones, quills, beads, sequins, rhinestones, etc.)
it makes it so much easier to bead when you know where to find what you want quickly
everyone probably develops their own style of sorting beads too

[Blackbear]

Well for that matter Beadin', just get you some pegboard and pegs... then you can arrange and rearrange at will. And pegs come in many different lengths.