A great (and cheap) bead tray idea

 Inca, I'll send you a large piece of my vellux blanket.  I have way more than I'll ever use! It'll make great padding for the challenge piece and beads I'm sending you.

ok thank you =)

 That was so kind of you to offer to send some vellux  you guys are all terrific.

The velcro tip lead me to another idea.  I often like to bead while watching tv, so there is no table top.  I have tried snack trays but the height is never quite right.  So how about the picture frame velcro'd to a pillow?  A cusom made lap table!

That sounds like a great idea plus you could use it if you were sick in bed that way too...

Have a Great 4th of July Weekend!

Inca,

Vellux is the brand/trade name, like "teflon" or "Xerox". If you have a fabric or quilting store near you, they might have it. Here in the US, motels often use vellux blankets. It's not like velvet, per se, because it is woven and it has a nap on both sides. As Kristin says, it is somewhat stiff, but I've found it gets softer after being washed a couple of times. Unless it's stained with coffee or something, it cleans up nicely when it gets grubby.

Hope this helps explain Vellux to you!

Deb - AZ Bead Depot

Melinda,

I discovered that felt isn't a good idea the hard way. I got nice oblong tin of chocolates at Christmas and thought it would be a neat little beading kit (fits nicely in a purse for travel) and I thought lining it with felt would work. Tried it out at one of hubby's Dr. appointments. I was NOT happy when the needle caught in the felt and sent beads flying at the person sitting next to me! (Neither was she! LOL) 

I think Ultrasuede and Vellux are probably the best choices.

Deb - AZ Bead Depot

Deb :

Inca,

Vellux is the brand/trade name, like "teflon" or "Xerox". If you have a fabric or quilting store near you, they might have it. Here in the US, motels often use vellux blankets. It's not like velvet, per se, because it is woven and it has a nap on both sides. As Kristin says, it is somewhat stiff, but I've found it gets softer after being washed a couple of times. Unless it's stained with coffee or something, it cleans up nicely when it gets grubby.

Hope this helps explain Vellux to you!

Deb - AZ Bead Depot

I like the idea of the home made lap desk, and using multiple-pic frames for sorting.  You could even get a piece of mat/poster/cardboard and cut out some holes for an extra layer so you'd have mini-areas to put different sized beads in without them mixing together.  You'd just sandwich the fabric layer between the 2 pieces of cardboard.

WOW..what a lot of good ideas...you are all sooooo inspirational....

For my bead trays I use the little soft platic lids that come off the top of yogurt pots and for larger ones I use the lids off oatmeal tubs.  They are great because they bend in half for you to pour beads back in the tubes and go right back to their original shape. 

My beading mat is the liner you use for drawers and shelves...(don't know what it's name is) but it comes on a roll and is about 18" wide and beads don't roll away on it and you can hand rinse it.  Plenty on a roll to last for years to come.

As for my needle holder, is is a couple of corks from wine bottles I got at my son's wedding and I glued a couple of sheet magnets to the underside edge of my bead shelf to hold large head pins and bead stoppers. (The magnets are the 'free' ones that people use to advertise themselves and they are about the size of a credit card).

Finally, I shop my dollar stores for bead storage tubs as they sell the multi stacking tubs that have nails,screw etc. in them and are in clear plastic.  (Usually 3 large round tubs or 4 smaller round tubes for $1).

Jeni, thanks for sharing! And for reminding me of a great idea. I saw it somewhere and read about it thinking it is a great idea. And then.......FORGOT about it!

Jsmaz:

I like the idea of the home made lap desk, and using multiple-pic frames for sorting.  You could even get a piece of mat/poster/cardboard and cut out some holes for an extra layer so you'd have mini-areas to put different sized beads in without them mixing together.  You'd just sandwich the fabric layer between the 2 pieces of cardboard.

Pam

      Thanks for sharing - I have several frames just sitting in my "projects to do" baskets.

BeadBarn:

For my bead trays I use the little soft platic lids that come off the top of yogurt pots and for larger ones I use the lids off oatmeal tubs.

An American Indian lady gave me a plastic lid which she had modified by removing part of the rim, making it even easier to bend and use to pour the beads into the tube.  If you were to also cut straight across from one side of the cut off rim to the other, you would have a handy "bead dustpan" for sweeping beads off your mat, to pour into the tubes.  [or off the table, or off the floor]

Hi Deb ~

I guess I didn't think about needles sticking because at my house we string beads needle-free 

You are definitely right about the UltraSuede and Vellux if you do use needle... maybe someday we will progress to that point

I like the idea of using the plastic lids as bead trays and that's a very cool idea to cut the soft plastic lids and use them as bead scoops! Wow what a collective brain we have. 

Pam