Recycled and Fair Trade Beads
Autumn recently posted The Eco-Crafters List of Demands, asking green crafters what they would like to see stocked in the craft store of their dreams. Katherine Cota of Spindle Bell had quite a few suggestions:
My ideal craft shop would have EVERYTHING! I love it all. I would especially love a great supply of pretty recycled papers and unique recycled beads. Non-toxic glues/adhesives, glass etching solution, paints. Unique synthetic yarns AND more stylish (affordable) knitting needles/crochet hooks.
Katherine also mentioned that she had stopped shopping at mainstream craft stores, but had concerns about the independent online retailers as well. How do you know their business practices are any better?
I can definitely sympathize with Katherine. In my fantasies, I can walk down the street and shop at a grocery store where everything is organic and either local or fair trade. Anything I see that I want, I can have without worrying if I’m doing something bad to the planet or people. Put a craft store next to that grocery store and I would be in heaven.
While we wait, though, I thought I would round up some recycled and fair trade beads we can all feel good about:
- » See also: Earth Love’n Paper Products Perfect for the Holidays
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- EcoButterfly Organics sells recycled glass beads. They belong to the Organic Trade Association and Co-Op America, and their website stresses their commitment to fair trade.
- eShopAfrica sells various sizes, shapes, and colors of recycled glass beads. eShopAfrica belongs to the Fair Trade Federation. Cool thing: you can see the process the artisans use to make the beads.
- Bead For Life is a community development project where Ugandan women make paper beads. You can buy jewelry, but you can also buy loose beads. (Juliet showed us how in Junk Mail Love Pat II.)
- Cathy Collison of Glass Garden Beads makes fun recycled bottle cap beads with lead-free solder.
While this isn’t the same as walking into an all-green, fair trade craft store, it’s a start. If you have a favorite source for earth-friendly, people-friendly beads, please share it in the comments.
[Image from eShopAfrica.]
Thank you for sharing these shops Skye.
I don’t have another shop to share, but I have a question. Would you buy beads that have been recycled from old broken jewellery? I make recycled jewellery myself but am thinking about selling cleaned and sorted beads.
I would love to see a shop that sells recycled jewellery findings - I haven’t found one yet!
Great article - I run a lot of stalls for various events in the local area such as fetes and fairs and have started to get to know fair trade and ethical goods stall holders quite well. I would recommend the following site in the UK: http://www.yakanaka.com/
[...] this post? Subscribe to our RSS feed and stay up to date. A little while back Skye told us about Recycled and Fair Trade Beads and gave us a lot of good suggestions as to where to find them. One on her list was Ecobutterfly, [...]
Hi, I am the owner of a fair trade business in Charleston SC. i sell fair trade arts and crafts mostly from Africa. I was delighted to read your article about the fair trade recycled paper and glass beads, aren’t they cool? Just to let you know, i sell these online as necklaces and bracelets already made from women in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda amongst other things.
I also have my blog regarding Africa (and my pictures as a volunteer)and articles on Green issues within my website!
Check us out: http://www.muenda.com/
Thanks, i will definitely tag your website!
Susie
Hi. I make and sell jewelry and recently became interested in fair trade beads and pendants. I like to shop at happymangobeads.com and kazuriwest.com. Hope this helps!
As I explore ways to “green” my craft activities, I find it helpful to shift away from the notion that I want or need everything that is available to me now to exist in a sustainable, fair trade form. It is probably not entirely realistic to wait for this to happen. Part of the problem is that we have become spoiled by the feast of inexpensive riches available to us for a pittance. To contribute to the solution, for me anyway, involves dialing back a bit on the notion of what I need access to in order to create beautiful things.
I would like to recommend a truly Fair Trade Bead Site that has unusual beads from around the world with a huge selection of organic beads and recycled glass beads. The folks there are easy to work with, answered all of my questions, and my beads are a god price and always beautiful!!
http://www.happymangobeads.com
It is a family owned store that does all of their own trips/buying of their beads. It is family operated as well, so I feel good about supoorting a family business rather than a corporate store.