The Big List of Bead Jewelry Message Boards, Forums and Chatrooms!

Sure, all the technology of the Internet is great, but it’s really all the people behind the technology that makes it so amazingly useful. And while there are lots of neat ways to buy jewelry online and build virtual jewelry and look up all sorts of useful information, there’s nothing quite like talking to a real person. This is especially true with the artistic and sometimes exacting craft of bead jewelry!

Where do I find all these “real people?” On message boards, forums and chatrooms, of course! If you’re new to these terms, I’ll quickly explain them…

A Message Board or Forum (they’re the same thing) is a website where you can visit and leave a message or “post” up for other people to read. Other visitors read your post and then leave their own posts or replies. Think of it as an old-fashioned community “bulletin board” where people can leave little public messages for each other. I might ask a question at 8am in the morning and when I check back around noon, I’ll see four answers from people all over the world!

A Chatroom is a little different. That’s a website where you can go and see people typing back and forth to each other almost instantaneously! I can type a question in a chatroom and get an answer in just a few seconds… Of course, if no one knows the answer then it may be a while before I get a response. Chatrooms can be a fun resource.

In my experience message boards and forums are a little more “focussed” and you’ll often get well-thought out answers and posts. Chatrooms are a little more “free flowing” and the conversations tend to drift all over the place. Most message boards and chatrooms require you to create an account (almost always free) before using them.

I visit a lot of bead jewelry message boards because I can often find all sorts of things and get questions to answers I would never normally be unable to find on the Internet on my own. I’ve decided to put together a list of some of the more useful bead jewelry message boards and forums I’ve found on the Internet. Enjoy!

The Art of Beads – This is one of the most active “independent” bead jewelry message boards I’ve come across. It’s a very active MSN Group with lots of different message boards, including challenges, swaps, a trading post and more. There’s a little bit of everything here and the people are very friendly. You are not allowed to “sell” your products or really promote yourself too much here, but there’s a lot of great things to learn and read about. They even have a chat room and list of “beady” events!

Michael’s Beads Message Board – This message board is run off of the craft store Michael’s website. it’s pretty bare bones, but there’s a fairly active readership with lots of good ideas and suggestions here. it’s a pretty open site where you can post about just about anything bead related (even if you found your beads at someplace other than Michael’s!) Whenever I’m looking for a particular piece of equipment or even specific beads, I look here first.

JewelryDiscuss.com – Here’s an entire site dedicated to jewelry message boards and forums. Yes, it’s jewelry of all kinds, but there is a fair amount of bead discussion here. It’s also kind of fun to read about how people who are familiar with other jewelry techniques are using beading. There’s a lot of good information here and they’ve recently added a chatroom.

Bead and Button Magazine – Okay, this is really “the” bead jewelry message board. It’s a professional operation with moderators and a very active community. There are places for showing off your newest creations, asking questions, sharing discoveries and just saying hello. This message board is actually the same message board used for a couple other bead and jewelry magazines (like Art Jewelry Magazine and others), all produced by the same publisher. This is a very friendly site and definitely worth visiting.

JewelryMaking at About.com – Run off of the About.com site, this message board actually gets a fair amount of traffic, though I personally find the user interface a little difficult to get used to. On most message boards you can scroll up and down to read one post and a bunch of replies, but with this system you seem to be limited to reading one reply at a time. That being said, they have a fair amount of topics and a pretty active community of people who are always friendly and willing to help!

Beader’s Message Board – This is a really small, simple message board that doesn’t seem to have much traffic at the moment. It may get more as time goes on.

One Red Bead - I think this is a great name for a message board, but it doesn’t seem to be very busy at the moment. There are a few posts, but it hasn’t been receiving much traffic lately.

There are a few others, but these seem to be the ones that get regular visitors at the moment. I hope you find this list helpful! Please let me know if you have other bead jewelry message boards or chatrooms that you find useful!

Keep on beading!

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