Glass Bead Pressing

Second tour added to Czech Button and Bead Tour.

Due to popular demand and an overwhelming response to our Czech Button and Bead Tour for the May 13 through 20 tour, we have added a second tour to immediately follow after the first tour.

The dates have been set for May 20 through 28th, 2014.

So if you weren't able to come with us because the dates didn't work out, or there was no room on the bus - now you have a second chance this upcoming year to join us for our wonderful Button and Bead Tour.

If this is your first time reading about it, scroll down through this blog to find out more, or email us at beads@wildthingsbeads.com. Tel: 530 743 1339

May 13-20 or May 20-28, 2014!!!

Button and Bead Tour - 2014

E-mail us, or call us at (530) 743-1339 if you're interested in future bead trips! This tour will introduce you to the wonderful area of the world in Czech Republic and open the door to exclusive bead and button factories you might never be able to otherwise see. Day 1 ~ We will meet you at the hotel lobby in Prague. We will all load up into our bus and drive to Jablonec, the heart of the famous Glass industry, where many beads, buttons, vases and jewelry are made. We will all check into the hotel and then go see a wonderful warehouse on the edge of the forest. We will be able to go thru many floors of beads to find many treasures. He will have beads, buttons and more for us to peruse thru. Many Vintage items for your pleasure! We will have lunch in a quaint town. Day 2 ~ Go to an exclusive Studio Tour with several talented glass artists, where you'll be able to see how beads and their special jewelry are made from beginning to end. You will be able to purchase some of these precious items from the artist themselves. Have lunch at a very exciting restaurant. Spend the rest of the afternoon seeing many very special buttons. Day 3 ~ Go to a bead showroom. You will be able to purchase beads from the bead showroom. In the afternoon, we'll go to one of our favorite Antique warehouse, run by gypsies. This is where you will find many vintage beads just waiting to go home with you! You never know what you might find. Be prepared to get dirty! Then go roam around the town to go antique shopping. We know where to find the best stuff! Guy even found some vintage glass eyes. Day 4 ~ Today we will be going the only button pressing hut in Czech Republic. See how buttons are pressed. We will then drive over to the stock room and office where you will be able to purchase buttons or have them custom made for you. The afternoon will be spent going to several bead factories; watching pressing, faceting and coatings. You will want to pile up on more great beads!!! Day 5 ~This day we will meet with a showroom who has those itty bitty pressed beads with two holes and more small beads you will love. In the afternoon, we'll go to a small Antique shop, where they always have more great buttons and beads for us. Later we drive to where it all stated Preciosa Palace (formerly Jablonex Palace). You will be able to see many styles of beads, and jewelry here. Day 6 ~ Sunday-The town is closed down, however the Famous Museum of Glass and jewelry is open. We will spend several hours going thru the ancient treasures. Then you have the rest of the day to relax or tour more of the city of Jablonec site seeing the lovely architectural facades--Art Nouveau at it’s best. One of our very good friends will be coming by later inthe day to show us some vintage treasured buttons, which she has collected over the years. She might even let you buy a few. Day 7 ~ We wake up early to go to the oldest button factory and building left. You will get the chance to buy some very nice buttons here. Then we go to a glass blowing factory to see beads being made. They also make glass vases, cups, and flowers. And if we have time today, we will roam around town to find more antique stores. You never know what you might find. Day 8 ~ All good things must come to an end; we'll check out of our hotel and bring you back to Prague, where you can relocate to the next hotel. Enjoy the old city center and walk over the Charles Bridge before your plane leaves or stay a few days more to enjoy Old Prague. This is an example of what your tour will be like. Some days might change around a little bit or we might add another place to go see. We are limiting this tour to 14 people. It will be a fun and rewarding tour without feeling overcrowded. The price of this tour will be around $3,200. Please contact us for more details. Prices will vary due to the airfare from your location. Please realize this is not some slick guided tour, but in fact will be a working tour with some fun thrown in between friends. We really are going on a purchasing and buying trip to working factories that you would otherwise never get to see. For those of you who are interested in buying large quantities (ones that will not fit in your suitcase), we can also help you through the steps to arrange for shipping and figuring out the customs fees back to the USA. You will need to be healthy and fit. We will be walking on cobblestones, up and down stairs (there are not many elevators). These are truly old world factories and buildings that have been around for centuries. You WILL NEED to wear comfortable walking shoes! And by the way . . . Beer is less expensive than water in Czech! Hope to see you on one of our Trips! E-mail us, or call us at (530) 743-1339 between 10am to 6pm PST. We look forward to hearing from you! J-ME & Guy of Wild Things Beads

Working Bead Tour of Hong Kong.

The dates have been set for our 2013 bead tour of Hong Kong - Nov 30 through Dec 8, 2013.

Come along with Guy and J-Me of Wild Things Beads on their 7 day tour of the pearl, stone and button districts of Hong Kong to buy new, fresh product ahead of the February Tucson Gem Show. Explore the streets and markets of the Kowloon Peninsula, ride the cable car up Victoria Peak or explore the mid - levels on the worlds longest out door escalator. Eat really good Chinese, Indian and Japanese food in exotic locations. Become an importer and control your own destiny by going to the source. Hong Kong is the sales capital of Asia.

You can buy large or small volume  wholesale in pearl and stone salesrooms, or retail  at the jade market or the button district. Negotiate like a pro for wholesale prices on stuff you will never find back home.

Either way, you will be in for a shopping experience like none other.

Contact Guy and Jamie at (530) 743 1339 or on the web at wildthingsbeads.com for prices and more information.

Czech, Germany and the Perlen Poesie bead show

We're packed and ready to go to the airport to begin our next adventure - The 2012 Perlen Poesie bead show in Hamburg, Germany. This will be our secong year attending the show, with 3mm and 4mm firepolish, pinch beads, leaves and flowers, buttons and 13/0 charlottes. We will also be repping Unicorne beads, which we did last year as well.

J-Me will be teaching for the first time at the show, her button bracelet with kits for sale as well. Not only that, but she will be a runway model during the show displaying fabulous necklaces that are on display for the show contest.

Guy will be selling beads at the booth.... bringing in the money!!

Prior to the show we will be bombing around Jablonec nad Nisou and the surrounding mountains buying beads and buttons, then driving all the way to Neugablonz in Bavaria to see a factory that we used to buy from in the 1990's which is closing its doors forever. The owner has been trying with our help to sell the contents of the factory(beads, raw glass, machinery, tools, molds) for about a year with no sucess. Her ancestor began making beads in 1776 as a lampworker and it grew into a large factory. According to a German freind of ours who has seen it, the attic is full of vintage beads covered in dust. I can't wait. The owner is giving us beads to sell on consignment at the Perlen Poesie show, which we will pick up while at her house,  then we will drive to Hamburg to set up the show.

Finally. after the show we will drive back to Prague and fly home.

J-Me and Guy are the owners of Wild Things Beads, a small family run import business specializing in Czech glass beads and buttons and finding the unusual to bring to their warehouse. They also run working bead tours to Jablonec and Hong Kong. Their warehouse is located deep in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Northern California, and can be reached by phone at (530)743 1339 or on the web at www.wildthingsbeads.com. They are also open by appointment at their warehouse.

Thinking about new Philippine tour

Before our February/March bead tour of Hong Kong, we explored the Philippines to see if we could find bead factories there to buy beads and lead a bead tour in the future. We flew into Cebu City where most of the Philippine handicraft industry is located and spent 4 days meeting with several different factories that produce beads of different kinds. We found 2 wood bead manufacturers, 2 resin bead makers and a snake skin bead and bangle maker. Also a shell bead manufacturer. They were all small cottage industry factories, mostly located at their homes, with anywhere from 2 to 10 workers.

Prices were really good, and the factories were very easy to work with and willing to meet low minimums and any stringing or production requests to land the business from us.

Hotels and transportation costs were low, and with a 43 peso to $1 US exchange rate making us feel rich, dinners and any other expenses were easily affordable. The people were wonderful. The weather was hot and fabulous, a little humid, so we realized that we would have to take it slow during a tour with lots of time off to relax by the pool between factory visits.

We have done a lot of research into US Fish and Wildlife permits and import requirements from the Philippines and so will be able to assist any one who goes with us on a tour in the future when shipping their goods home.

Keep watching for future dates of a working bead tour to the Philippines.

J-Me and Guy are the owners of Wild Things Beads, a small family run import business specializing in Czech glass beads and buttons and finding the unusual to bring to their warehouse. They also run working bead tours to Jablonec and Hong Kong. Their warehouse is located deep in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Northern California, and can be reached by phone at (530)743 1339 or on the web at www.wildthingsbeads.com. They are also open by appointment at their warehouse.

back home

Well, we made it home from Hong Kong via Tokyo, Japan. Only missed one connecting flight(San Francisco to Sacramento) and so we came in 2 hours late. Our son Rob was there to meet us.

J-Me hand carried the Tahitian and South Sea pearls we purchased, along with really heavy crystal rhinestone buttons, and everything else was shipped by post or will be shipped once we wire transfer the money.

It is so good to be home!

J-Me and Guy are the owners of Wild Things Beads, a small family run import business specializing in Czech glass beads and buttons and finding the unusual to bring to their warehouse. They also run working bead tours to Jablonec and Hong Kong. Their warehouse is located deep in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Northern California, and can be reached by phone at (530)743 1339 or on the web at www.wildthingsbeads.com. They are also open by appointment at their warehouse.