No. No resale licence, no tax ID, no proof that you already own a store. Tell us what you make and where you sell it — a market booth, an Etsy shop, an Instagram page or a storefront all qualify — and we approve most accounts in under one business day.

No minimum, and no per-style minimum. You can buy one strand. That is deliberate: makers should be able to test a stone before betting a month of cash flow on it.

Here, from an Ontario warehouse, in Canadian dollars, with no border costs. We stock 131 bead and chip strand lines in 4, 6, 8 and 10mm plus loose chips, tumbles and points, and ship to most provinces in 2–5 business days.

Yes, to 40+ states, and free shipping over $300 CAD applies there too. Current rates show at checkout.

Roughly every two months for the strand line; the rest of the catalogue restocks weekly. Stock levels shown on the site are live, so what you see is what is on the shelf in Kitchener.

Both, and they are different products. Chip strands are pre-drilled chips on a 32-inch strand, ready to string. Chip bags are loose, undrilled chips sold by weight for wire wrapping, resin and clusters. If you want to string it, buy the strand.

Roughly 95 at 4mm, 64 at 6mm, 48 at 8mm and 38 at 10mm. A standard 7-inch bracelet takes about 44, 30, 22 or 18 beads at those sizes, so one strand makes about two bracelets at any size. A 32-inch chip strand makes about four.

Standard gemstone bead holes run about 0.8–1mm, so 0.8mm clear elastic is the usual match and we sell it in 10-packs of 7.5m rolls. Large-hole (2mm+) beads are the exception in this trade, not the rule — if a design needs them, check the listing first.

It is a trade convention, not a certified scale: higher grades mean better colour saturation, fewer inclusions, more even banding and cleaner drilling. Our titles say A or B so you can match grade to price point — B-grade tumbles are perfect for cages and wraps where character reads as natural.

Yes, and it is the fastest build in the shop. Coil cage pendants (20 to a pack) take any tumble without drilling, and macramé and wire wrapping both hold undrilled stone. We also stock some drilled tumbles and drilled points if you want to skip the wrapping entirely.

Mohs 7 and up — quartz family, agate, jasper, tiger's eye, black tourmaline — survive rings and daily bracelets. Between 5 and 6.5 (lapis, labradorite, moonstone, amazonite) is pendant and earring territory. Below 5 (fluorite, malachite, selenite) should never be a bracelet.

Cage it or frame it rather than trying to drill it. A wrapped bail around a point, a coil cage around a tumble, or a woven basket for a slice all hold the stone mechanically. Drilling quartz at home usually ends in a cracked stone and silica dust you should not be breathing.

Check for repetition and temperature. Real stone varies bead to bead in pattern and shade; glass and plastic repeat, often with bubbles or a mould seam. Stone feels cool and heavy for its size. Dye usually gives itself away by pooling in fractures and drill holes.

Usually yes — dyed agate is still agate, it has just been coloured. The problem is not treatment, it is undisclosed treatment. Dyed howlite and magnesite sold as “turquoise” is the most common example in this trade.

Yes. Treated material carries (Enhanced) in the product title — dyed agate slices, electroplated aura pieces, heat-treated citrine. You can pass that disclosure straight through to your customer, which is what protects your reputation.

Most commercial citrine is heat-treated amethyst, yes, and it is sold that way across the whole industry. It is still quartz and still perfectly good material — describe it as heat-treated citrine on your tags and nobody is misled.

Two formulas cover most makers. For retail only: (materials + labour + overhead) × 3. If you also want to sell wholesale to shops: (materials + labour) × 2 gives your wholesale price, × 2 again gives retail. Price the labour even when the piece is fast — especially when it is fast.

At listed prices, about $5.50 of beads in an 8mm bracelet and about $3 in a chip bracelet — and your wholesale price is lower than listed. If your bracelets sell and you are still broke, the gap is labour and markup, not materials.

Work out stone cost plus wire cost plus your time at a real hourly rate, then apply × 3. Most makers discover their $45 pendant should be $70–$90. Market-day psychology is real, so keep a range of price points on the table rather than discounting the work.

Standard is half your retail price, so your retail has to support it. If your retail was built at × 3 from true costs, a 50% wholesale tier still leaves you a margin. If it was built by feel, it will not — which is the real reason most makers cannot say yes to their first stockist.

No. Wholesale pricing here is a status on your account, not a quantity break. One strand at wholesale is fine, and volume discounts stack automatically as you grow.