People who make jewelry....

[Velveteen Hare]

...crystal jewelry, specifically. I'm looking to get into making jewelry since...I really don't have too many hobbies. I really like crystal jewelry like what you see on Etsy and Deviantart and I would love to practice with that. So, I'm wondering, how do you guys find those crystals that don't look like they're made of plastic (mostly because they aren't made of plastic....)? Do you buy them in bulk or is that something that you shop around for? I've seen a few quartz crystals online for $30 a piece, which is fine if that's how one gets a nice item in the end (by actually getting nice materials).

Any help or advice?

[Albino Sea Monkey]

$30 is very excessive for quartz.

I never bought crystals specifically for jewelry, but I used to get some stuff from BestCrystals and never had a problem. I think their prices are great... but right now they seem to be out of a lot of stuff. See how cheap their quartz is?

This site seems to have a decent selection with fair prices.

[goldplatedsporkofdoom v4]

This.

Order the catalog before you actually buy anything. It's like, 500 pages, and totally fun to flip through. Amazing selection of gems and crystals.

[Velveteen Hare]

Thanks for the links, guys! I'm totally checkin' them all out!

[Albino Sea Monkey]

Velveteen Hare

Question.
Are you looking for raw-ish natural crystals, like this:



Or sparkly crystals like this:



I would highly suggest Fire Mountain Gems for glittery, shiny, bling-tastic Swarovski crystals, but I've never found natural, raw-shaped crystals and stones in their catalog.

[Velveteen Hare]

Albino Sea Monkey

Well, if the kind of jewelry I love oogling at on DA and Etsy are any evidence, I like the more raw, natural crystals mostly, but I have found a couple sparkly ones that I like. I did notice that there was mostly sparkly ones on that site, but it also looks like it has a nice assortment of other tools and materials too. <3

[Albino Sea Monkey]

Velveteen Hare

Albino Sea Monkey

Well, if the kind of jewelry I love oogling at on DA and Etsy are any evidence, I like the more raw, natural crystals mostly, but I have found a couple sparkly ones that I like. I did notice that there was mostly sparkly ones on that site, but it also looks like it has a nice assortment of other tools and materials too. <3

Well, I see a lot of swarovski stuff on both DA and Etsy so I wasn't quite sure. When you mentioned quartz I assumed it was natural looking kind... but I thought I'd ask and make sure.

Fire Mountain Gems is pretty awesome. I definitely suggest them for almost everything else.

[beckoneko]

If you're interested in swarovsky crystals, check ebay. I have gotten a big pack of them for as low as $.01 ($5.00 after shipping, naturally) but sometimes you find good deals of people cleaning out their stashes.
I've also found a variety of vendors and selection on amazon. If you learn wire wrapping, you can even go to like, farmers markets or anywhere they sell loose stones, and I have found some really good deals at places like that. Where you get like, 10 pieces for a dollar (and it includes things like jasper, rose quartz, amethyst, etc).

[Halo Fauna]

Rio Grande is good for your non-gem stuff (wire, metals, tools, etc) and they will send you two monster catalogs one for tools and stuff the other for metals and that sort of thing.

-Halo Fauna