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Top Tips for Traveling with Your Beading Supplies

jewelry artists' tips for saving money on jewelry business travel
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Whether you’re headed to visit friends and family for the holiday, or just taking a weekend trip, bringing your entire beading studio can be difficult. What if inspiration strikes and you need to create? What should you pack and how should you pack it for safe and easy travel? Your friends at Interweave are here to help! With summer just beginning, make sure to check out these tips for traveling with your beading supplies before you take off on your next adventure.

Above: Image source – Getty Images

Travel Tools Beading Supplies

1. Always Pack Your Beading Supplies

I bead a lot for work, and I also travel a lot for work. I never travel without beads or my tools, even if I’m going on vacation. This is a lesson I learned a long time ago when the urge to bead struck while I was on the road. I was visiting a bead store and while in the store, I decided that I needed to take on a new project. Sound familiar? Then you won’t be surprised when I tell you I had to buy all new supplies right then and there! Don’t get me wrong—I don’t mind shopping, not at all. But when you find yourself buying a third beading awl, a third pair of good scissors, and seed beads you know you already own, you eventually realize that you should just pack all the beading supplies you might need, then throw in some more for good measure.

—Tammy Honaman
Interweave Director of Content

Travel Tools Beading Supplies

2. Find a Good Beading Tote

I carry my beadwork back and forth between home and work a lot. For a while, I was just using a small beading pouch that held my needles, thread, scissors, and in-progress work. But sometimes I have multiple projects going at once, and I’m not sure which one I’ll have the time (or energy! or eyesight!) for in the evening. I came across a collapsible tote that resembles a grocery basket. It’s the perfect size to hold a couple of issues of Beadwork; my Bead On It Board; the pouch with my needles, thread, and scissors; and a few in-progress projects in separate zip-top bags. The tote even has a separate pocket that holds my high-powered reading glasses (a necessary tool at my age!). Some people might prefer a beading tote that closes, especially for travel. But my basket works great for quick trips between home and the office.

—Lavon Peters
Former Managing Editor, Beadwork magazine

Travel Tools Beading Supplies

3. Keep Your Beading Tools Protected

My beading tools are an extension of my hands, and I treat my tools well in my studio. In order to feel good about taking my tools with me, I needed to find a way to take care of them, even while they’re stowed under a plane and out of my care. I also wanted the solution to be reusable and easily stored when I’m back in my studio. Now, I place flexible tubing (found in hardware stores) over the tips of my tools, then put the tools into their own zip-top bags. I gather the individual bags inside a larger zip-top bag so they’re confined to one area and they don’t rattle around. Now, as long as my suitcase shows up on the luggage belt, I know my beading supplies will be ready for use. When I get home, I store the tubing inside the zip-top bags and collect all the bags into the larger zip-top bag until my next trip.

—Tammy Honaman
Interweave Director of Content

Travel Tools Beading Supplies

4. Know the Airline Regulations

I recently flew to my parents’ house for a quick visit and only brought a carry-on bag. At the last minute, I threw in my beading supplies, not even thinking about what was allowed on the airplane. Unfortunately, I had to throw away my Fiskar’s Scissors in the security line. The airport security personnel wouldn’t even let me donate them! After that incident, I carry shorter scissors (any scissors with blades less than 4 inches from pivot point are allowed) and an addressed and stamped envelope in case I do bring something that I need to ship back to myself.

—Marissa Bouska
Former Assistant Editor, Beadwork magazine


Where are you traveling? Do you have any tips for us? Leave them in the comments below for all to enjoy and use. 


Originally posted 6/29/2018. Updated 11/2022.


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Join the Conversation!

  1. I don’t fly often, but for road trips I use a scrapbook case, lined with a beading mat. It will hold a couple of weeks’ worth of projects. Like the author, my small tools are also covered in flexible tubing (also call airline tubing or aquarium tubing) and my larger ones with leftover-something that I think came from our RV water system. These go into a small box that fits in the scrapbook case. Needles are in another case. The needles also have beading/ tatting thread on them that is color coded for use and size – just remove for actual use and replace (It also helps me to painlessly find the needles if the case is bumped). I use silicone muffin cups to contain small quantities of beads. The cups stack nicely even when something is in them, which also creates a lid. Balls of tatting thread fit into a tennis ball tube. I make a Ziploc’d d kit for each beaded project that I’m bringing and always make sure I’m bringing at least one more kit than I can possibly finish during the trip and of at least two different styles or difficulty of craft (peyote project and kumihimo project or tatting project and RAW project, for example) for when I’m restless and I don’t know what I want to work on.

  2. Even small scissors can be confiscated, especially if you are traveling overseas. I’ve learned the hard way to pack them in checked luggage!

  3. Even small scissors can be confiscated, especially if you are traveling overseas. I’ve learned the hard way to pack them in checked luggage!

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