Mitzi McCartha knows firsthand how working with beads can bring out and nurture
one’s creativity, can call forth peace and serenity, can expand one’s entrepreneurialhorizons, and, down through the years, can evoke memories – stardust memories. McCartha owns Stardust Designs Bead Shoppe in Nashville, a mecca for hobbyists, craftsmen and collectors. The two-yearold
shop, or shoppe, offers a splendid array of beads – gemstone beads, Czech glass and a host of other lampwork beads, seed beads in a variety of colors and finishes, wood, clay and shell beads – and plated, sterling, gold-filled and vermeil findings, including clasps, ear wires, bead caps, tube
beads, connectors, Bali beads, and a small selection of Thai silver. It carries freshwater pearls and Swarovski crystal, and an assortment of plated, sterling and gold-filled chains. It holds monthly classes for beaders. And above all, it boasts the presiding presence of McCartha, the Belle of Beads, as far
as her dozens of loyal customers are concerned “She’s the best,” says Sandi Chick, a regular visitor to the store who lauds it – and its owner– for the large variety and the prices that can’t be bead. “I visit bead stores whenever I travel
and hers is the best. I have friends who make their own stuff, and they ask me where I get mine. “And she’s sweet, too.” “I try to have unique and affordable merchandise,” McCartha says, scarcely missing a bead after the compliment.
McCartha drew a bead on a whole new career while working as a nurse. She was trying to get a bracelet made that no one would make, so she
determined to make it herself, despite knowing nothing about beads. “Once I got over the fear,
I got hooked,” she says.She took a couple ofclasses and started learning
on her own. She still takes classes even now, while also giving them.
“There’s a body of knowledge that goes with making bead jewelry,” she says. Her classes cover everything from beginning jewelry to advanced
bead crochet, wire artistry and glass fusing, a technique for making a gorgeous, shimmering glass called dichroic glass. (McCartha did jewelry design for three years before opening her shop, primarily for the bridal market.) She learned her art well enough to write a book about it; Bead Java: Your Hot Workbook
Guide to Selling Your Jewelry was released in October. She’s working on a second, also on the Bead Java theme. “I like beads and I like coffee,” she explains. “I like to sit back and enjoy both. Working with beads allows you to relax and let your creativity flow. “Beading is a great social outlet. At parties
that are project-oriented, a beadwork gives you a token of your gathering.” (The Beader’s Party Pail, new at the shop, is a beader’s kit in a Chinese takeout pail, with tools, diagrams and instructions for completing a project – a bracelet, earrings or a necklace, with more in the works. McCartha is beading the drum for the Party Pail as a gift at corporate retreats.) McCartha markets beads as singles, allowing customers to be selective and keep costs down.
With fierce competition from wholesalers, who sell directly to the public, and the Internet, she says it’s imperative to stay in tune with what customers want. Expertise and an affable manner – two other components of her stock-intrade
– come in handy, too. “This is a place to come to for answers,” she says. “You won’t get the same on the Internet or at shows.” Customers come seeking answers from all
over, and McCartha says that many of them won’t go elsewhere – if she doesn’t have what
they want, they’ll wait. (She gets her beads from all over, as well. She and her husband,
Phillip – he calls what she does “collecting little rocks” – go to two or three area shows a year.)
And she’s inspired and helped others to make beading a business, like Sharra Goslin, who sells
handcrafted beaded jewelry with a Viking theme (Viking Sales Jewelry) and who was in the store
when we visited (and consequently in the picture.) McCartha is amazed at the number of kids
who take to beading; she’s had customers as young as 8 years old. One girl who started at 13
is still going strong two years later, and is getting her classmates involved, teaching them techniques
and bringing them to the shop. Building Stardust memories. Stardust Designs Bead Shoppe is at
43 Brookwood Terrace, off White Bridge Road, across from Target and behind Mr.
Whiskers. Hours are 10:15 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Fri. and 10:15 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat.
Call 615-352-5355. Visit www.stardustdesigns.com, and the new www.stardustbeads.com, where you’ll
find an online catalog. The Beader’s Party Pail sells for $19.95, and as low as $16 in quantity.
Members of the Bead Buddy Club get $10 off for every $100 spent.