Hello! My name is Doris Weinbaum and I am the owner of Bead in Hand. (I am on the right in this picture – Store Manager Kim Humphrey is on the left.) Bead in Hand is a retail bead shop in Oak Park, Illinois. Oak Park is just outside of Chicago, and easy to get to by car or by public transportation. Please come visit us! If you are a beader, you won’t be disappointed – we have an extraordinary selection of beads and beading supplies. We opened in November, 1993, so we have over 16 years of beading experience!
We have a wonderful, knowledgeable staff – Kim and Kate Linne are there most days and Laurel Wolff and Zena Paice fill in the rest of the time. The staff does it all – they work in the shop, teach classes and host the birthday parties, kids’ camp and school days out workshops. I rely on them as I now live in California, and I am not there for the day to day operation. I still shop for beads and come in about four times a year with new things! My next visit is August 19-26. Please stop by while I’m there.
The DAKOTA STONES TRUNK SHOW is over, but we couldn’t resist keeping some of them, so we now have an expanded inventory of semi-precious stones in unique cuts and shapes. Great prices, too!
I know that you have choices for your bead shopping and I thank you for your business. It’s our goal to make shopping at Bead in Hand your most pleasant bead buying experience. If there’s more that we can do toward that goal, please let me know! I always welcome your comments and suggestions, and you can reach me by going to Contact Us above. In the meantime, please look around our website for pictures of class samples, call soon to sign up, and keep on beading!
We sold or rewarded customers with 500 of our popular Bead in Hand recycled shopping bags since last December, and 500 of them the year before! If you are lucky enough to own one, remember that you get .05 off your purchase each time you use it at Bead in Hand. It’s a great place to store your discount card, too, so you’ll always have it when you come in to shop.
We thought it would be fun to see where else you take it – it’s a great little bag for both traveling and everyday uses. If you find yourself someplace fun with our bag, have someone take a picture, send it to us, and we’ll post it on this website!
For information about our classes, go to the Classes pages. 2010 classes through the end of the year are listed. We are very excited about our newest additions: Gretchen Amberg has joined our teaching staff to teach polymer clay classes – her students enjoyed her first two classes and we have scheduled two more for September 18 and 19. Carol Metzger will be teaching a new knitted necklace, the Scallop Edge Beaded Necklace, on July 19. Phyllis Kaplan and Zena Paice have come up with some really fun Wire Work classes – be sure to look at those – it’s all about the wire in contemporary designs!
We are also excited to be collaborating with Pamela Penney Textile Arts for a class on Felted Beadmaking. Students will make their felted beads with Pamela and then string the beads with us. This two part class will be scheduled again soon. As you can see, we frequently add classes, so check back often for additions.
For a quick look at the dates for the classes we offer, take a look at the Calendar. We no longer mail a flyer, but we do send a weekly email with the latest on upcoming classes, class changes, new inventory, and special events. Be sure to sign up for our weekly email if you haven’t already.
Our birthday parties and Celebrations for Adults are still lots of fun. Great for kids, but also for adults who just want to bring friends together for a fun evening. Celebrate a birthday, a bridal party or just being friends. We can schedule a two hour class and you can make some jewelry; if you want to make the event extra special you can order food from the Buzz Café.
We offer beadwork repairs – we are happy to help advise you on how an item can be repaired and what you need to do it yourself, but if you prefer to have us do the repair, we will charge a repair fee plus materials.
Our ninth annual bead challenge was BEADED CALENDAR PICTURES. Participants were invited to create an artistic beaded piece that has been inspired by any picture from a calendar. We had just two participants, and Kim from our staff made a sample, and you can see all three at Beaded Calendar Pictures. We had 12 entries for our 2008 Going Green Bead Challenge. I posted the winners and put pictures of all the entries on the 2008 Going Green Challenge page. Participants in the Going Green Bead Challenge used their imagination and created an artistic beaded piece that represents what GOING GREEN means to them. Take a look – they are, as always, extremely creative. Many thanks to all who entered!