Heavy Beading -- Before You Plop Down Big Bucks For Jewelry, Consider Visiting A Local Shop And Making Your Own

You've bought the ruffled, flowing things, the flared, platformed, crocheted things. All that's missing from your updated romantic, '70s look is the jewelry - long strands of love beads, ethnic glass beads, chokers.

But before you head to the stores (and go into sticker shock), try making your own. Bead stores and collections have been popping up in Seattle for the last two years, and experts say the cost of making jewelry is low, and the advantages great.

Stringing little doo-dads may seem too tedious, grannyish, too much like living out the musical "Hair," but consider this: You get exactly what you want - no compromising on color or texture. It's easy to learn. It's a portable, forgivable art. And handmade jewelry makes great gifts.

"Anyone with a decent eye can do this," said Sound City Bead Gallery owner Lily Morda. "I mean, you don't have to be Leonardo da Vinci."

For some, making jewelry is a therapeutic hobby; for others, stringing beads on wire, clothes and hair is a creative outlet.

Bead lovers say the passion often starts with a few beads and grows into an obsession with Japanese seed beads, Venetian glass, Chinese porcelain and Indian silver. It turns into jewelry acrobatics, into dreams of designing one-of-a-kind pieces, of wearing the Sistine Chapel.

For 26-year-old Stormy Marquiest, her long, whitish-blond hair is a canvas to which she adds bells, beads, coins, springs and thread. It all weighs about 5 pounds, and there are drawbacks.

"I avoid water at all costs," says Marquiest, manager of vintage-clothing store Nine Lives. "Swimming would just be ridiculous. I'd drown." She also gets headaches from the beads, can't get through metal detectors, and gets burned when the silver heats up in the sun.

But she loves the look and has been threading and weaving her dreadlocked hair for six years.

For neophytes, many stores offer beading workshops. For old-timers, the textured world of beads is absorbing, with rows of spheres, ovals and squares; sparkling magentas and indigos; and glass, wood, clay and bone.

"When I first got into it, they (the store) asked me what do I know about beads," said Beadworks manager Jodi Neal.

"I said, `Well, they're round, they have holes.' But now, I've turned into a total fanatic."

Many shops to choose from

Sometimes dubbed the "McDonald's of bead stores," Beadworks is part of a large national and Canadian chain. Its stores at 233 Broadway E. on Capitol Hill and at 98 Virginia St. near Pike Place Market carry basic, mainstream seed beads (small, glass beads), Peruvian clay beads and metal charms.

The Broadway store tends to be pricier than other bead shops and caters to a mainly young, alternative crowd. You're likely to hear Stone Temple Pilots or Queen booming from the stereo, and the most popular item made is a leather choker with metal charms and glass beads - for less than $10.

Down the street is The Bead Factory, 621 Broadway E., which opened in September. Its similarity to Beadworks is not coincidental: Owners Mark and Viki Lareau used to work for the Worldbeads/Beadworks chain. The beads are cheaper here, the atmosphere calmer, and you're likely to hear Billie Holiday when you walk in.

For a more family-oriented atmosphere, try Beadworld, 1028 N.E. 64th St. in Roosevelt Square. Beadworld sells seed beads in a large variety of sizes, shapes and colors, and offers beading classes for kids ages 7-15.

It pays to compare costs

Beads here are slightly cheaper: A 15-cent glass bead here was found at another store for 29 cents. And miracle beads - Japanese beads with an opalescent finish - sell for 8 to 35 cents at Beadworld. At the Capitol Hill stores, the same beads sell for up to 50 cents. Comparing prices can lead to big savings when you're making a $20 to $30 necklace.

For unusual and rare beads, check out Sound City Bead Gallery, 1311 N.E. 45th St., in the University District. Owner Lily Morda stocks whimsical, glow-in-the-dark fimo clay "moon" beads and tiny glass corns and carrots. She also sells Japanese and Czechoslovakian foil beads, batik-dyed horn beads, and beads made by local glass artists.