Once a year I get the urge for a creative undertaking. Usually sometime in the months leading up to Christmas, when it's cold outside and there is more pleasure to be had staying in. With the winter taking as long as it is this year, I am now on my second creative urge. This time I had a great idea for a bracelet for my girlfriends and I went shopping for charms and leather in Amsterdam today.
First I went to Lucie's in the very centre of Amsterdam, where I've been a few times before. The girls there are friendly and they have a nice (albeit modest, but the shop is very small) selection. Lucie's was however unexplicably closed, eventhough I checked the opening times twice.
I then visited Beadies in the Nine Little Streets. I spent quite some time selecting different charms. Seven was the magic number and the symbols I picked include hearts (love, joy and protection from evil spells), keys (luck, ability to look ahead, improve judgement), stars (success and health) and more.
Beadies is a small, but charming shop. There are beads and charms everywhere, in jars on every surface, and in big drawers in old wooden cabinets. There is a table where you can spend time assembling your purchases into earrings, necklaces or bracelets. It is not a bad idea to do this, as the shop provides tools for the purpose and if you've forgotten an item, you can buy it at the spot (it's easy to forget to buy a clasp for your necklace, when you're rummaging through the drawers for the perfect bead).
The selection of cords and leathers is small at Beadies. So after I paid my king's ransom for the charms I'd picked, I visited Coppenhagen on the Rozengracht. This store is about three times the size of either one of the previous shops. There are hundreds and hundreds of jars filled with beads in every colour. The selection seems dizzying. But I came for the basics, and here I was able to get the leather and the cord in the colours I wanted.
I'll post a picture of the end result when I'm done with the first one!
Lucie's
St Luciensteeg 22
1012 PM Amsterdam
http://www.kralen-enzo.com/home/
Beadies
Huidenstraat 6
1016ES Amsterdam
http://www.beadies.nl/
Coppenhagen
Rozengracht 54
1016 ND Amsterdam
http://coppenhagenbeads.nl/
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