This week I have a special treat for you lovely beaders.
To kick things off, I have an exclusive review, featuring beads from the renown Potomac Beads Company.
Allie and Nathan Buckman founded the Potomac Beads Company in 2005.
Their company is built on the premise that creativity helps to build better lives for their customers and followers. Not only do they sell jewelry making supplies, but they also offer wonderful learning resources as well as, a huge offering of exclusive products.
Check out these exclusive categories from their website, Potomac Czech Glass,
Potomac Crystals, and Potomac Metals and Findings.
Potomac Beads also offers a vast selection of resources for all skill levels.
If you are new to beading, head over to How to Bead University.
And don’t forget to check out the Potomac Beads YouTube Channel. As you must know by now, I am a firm believer of advising others to check out as many great channels as you can. What you may not understand from one person, you might grasp with ease from a different teacher. And Allie and I have a fervent desire to teach and share knowledge.
Now that I have introduced you to the company, let’s look at the gorgeous sampling of beads, I received from these wonderful folks.
First up, I have the exclusive Potomac RounDuos. These lovely, pearl-like beads are two-hole beads that offer an incredible range to bead weaving and stringing designs that were never possible with single- holed round beads.”
RounDuos are made of machine pressed Czech glass and come in many colors and finishes, ranging from basic opaques, shimmers, and pastels to high-shine metallics, picassos, and magics.
My sweet sampling included the rich metallic Aztec Gold, as seen above, as well as the lovely White Lilac Luster beads show here.
Potomac Beads set out to create their own line of crystals, due to having limited access to certain crystal rivoli and bicone sizes from leading manufacturers.
Stay tuned for an upcoming tutorial featuring these lovely Fuchsia Navettes.
Developing their exclusive line of Potomac Crystals allowed them to develop a broader range of crystals in various sizes, shapes, colors, and finishes. Many of which are exclusive to their company and are not available from other retailers.
I also received a pair of these stunning 13×88 mm pear crystals in the Light Rose color.
I plan to have another tutorial out in October using these beauties.
As of you may know, Swarovski Crystals have been ended production of many elements used by beaders worldwide. I would say to you that the quality of these crystals makes them the perfect alternative to Swarovski.
Finally, we come to the crystal beads in my sampling.
This photo does not do justice to the fabulous AB finish on these Gold Champagne disco ball beads, in the 6 mm size. The finish has superb hues of pink, violet and subdued blues. I can’t wait to make something with these lovelies.
Last, but certainly not least, are these tiny 2 mm Apricot AB crystals. The first thing I noticed about these beads was the wonderful uniformity of the size and shape. If you are familiar with beading with cheaper 2 mm crystals, you will understand the importance of uniformity.
Once again, the finish on the rich apricot color is astounding. You will soon see these babies in the Autumn Flame Earrings tutorial.
Check out my video review below to get a closer look at my sweet sampling of Potomac Beads.
I have planned a beginner bead embroidery project series, which features some of the beautiful crystals and beads from this sweet sampling of Potomac Beads.
Be sure to follow this blog and The Alluring Bead Boutique’s YouTube channel and you will be notified when latest content is available.
