Hi Folks, first time of posting (tho I have been 'lurking' for some time)  lol:).      I just love swarovski bicones and usually buy from Ebay but wondered if any of you folk can recommend a cheap, but good, online place to buy?.  Oh, and the best thing to use for making bracelets and necklaces with said beads.  I have been using nymo but wondered if this is the best thing to use. I live in the UK so postage is also a concern.       Any help gratefully received. 

Hi,

I purchase Swarovski crystals from Artbeads. The 6mm bicone  costs around 13 cents and the 4mm crystal bicone is around 6 cents, with colors a little higher. If you are buying Swarovski crystals for around the same price through Ebay you are doing well.

I always use a thin stainless steel wire such as Beadalon .013 in 49 strands. That works very well for me. Stainless steel doesn't break as other threads and wires do; that is, as long you use a good quality crimp and crimp properly.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Carol,  I'll take a look at that site and maybe order when I need my next lot of beads.  Oh, and thanks for the info about stringing, will use the 49 strand I think, just to be on the safe side.   Happy beading.  

There are several online stores where you can get good quality crystals. As you are in UK, you can try placing a small order on websites based in UK. Gemmall.com has a good collection of crystals and beads at wholesale prices and reasonable shipping costs. It also allows its customers to check the shipping costs before processing the order and debiting your card.

Blue Mud has a great selection of Swarovski Beads. Discounts are offered. You will need to check there shipping rates for outside the U.S., but they seem pretty reasonable across the board.

You can find them at www.bluemud.com

Thank you ladies, I'll have a look at the sites next week

I also use Blue Mud or Artbeads for smaller orders.  Another place to try is rainbowsoflight.com - I know they ship overseas.  If you can buy in quantity, Fire Mountain has pretty good prices and you can mix-and-match colors, shapes, and sizes for discounts.   Rings & Things is pretty competetive on factory packs.

I buy all of my swarovski crystals from bestbuybeads.com. They have good pricing,excellent service, and beautiful idea pages. I'm not sure what their policy is for shipping overseas....it might be worth checking out! I use Beadalon 19 strand nylon coated plated stainless steel wire for creating with the crystals. The wire can also be purchased at the above mentioned website.

Best of luck!

        Erin

 Thanks, Rustie, for mentioning Swarovski Factory Packs at Rings & Things. They are very competitively priced if you can use that quantity.

For most of this year Swarovski has held their currency surcharge even though the Dollar has dropped against the Euro. Recently they raised the surcharge. You can expect to see small increase in Swarovski prices as vendors receive new shipments at the higher price or as the increased prices ripple through the marketplace. Swarovski will probably introduce an increase early in 2010,