Part of the appeal of making bead jewelry is the ability to create wearable artwork and actually get paid to do something fun and creative. Many bead jewelry artists treat their beading as a hobby, but for every hobbyist there are those of us who would love to take our beading business “to the next level” and really try to make a living at it.

Here’s a chance to turn that dream into a reality! Halstead Bead Inc. is offering a $5,000 Jewelry Business Grant (along with a $1,000 Halstead Bead gift certificate) to one lucky jewelry artist who fills out the application and can demonstrate the skills, the desire and the creativity to really start a jewelry business!

The application must be postmarked by June 15th, 2006, so you’ll have to hurry! The four page application really makes you put together a short jewelry business plan and makes you concentrate on what you need to do to start a viable business. This is for the person who is serious about turning her bead jewelry hobby into a bead jewelry business!

There are actually three categories and you can apply once for each one. The categories are Fine Jewelry (gold, silver, and platinum mostly with expensive gemstones and castings), Bridge Jewelry (high quality metal, semi-precious stones, could be bead jewelry or castings), and Costume Jewelry (mostly base metals, rhinestones or lower quality material put together quickly).

Halstead Bead Inc. says they are putting together this contest to encourage creativity and help the independent artist and jewelry designer who is facing increased competition from overseas labor and markets. They’re really looking for someone who has both creativity and business sense! I have to admit I’d never visited their site before this, but now I’m going to browse around and see what sort of interesting beads I might be able to find there.

So stop reading this and go work on your business plans! I’m dusting off the bits and pieces I’ve put together over the years and I’m hoping to get my application in the mail this weekend!