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| - When you're friends with someone who can make jewelry, you not only act as her enabler, but you exploit her for all the free handmade jewelry you can. Thus it was, on a trip to Madison, that I cleverly took my jewelin' pal into Tropic Jewel for a quick supply run, while secretly planning to turn her into my own personal one-woman sweatshop.
First I must tell you that Tropic Jewel is flippin' hot in summertime. It's on the second story of this weird strip mall, so you not only have to haul yourself up a flight of stairs, but once you get up there, there's no A/C waiting for you. Pause and catch your breath before heading in, because it gets stuffy in there when it's crowded.
If you have any interest in jewelry-making at all, though, is this ever the place for you. Shelves and shelves of bead trays, sorted by color, contain every kind of bead you could imagine and then some. One whole table is devoted to pearls, natural and dyed. In addition to smaller beads, they have large semi-precious stone pendants and even some metal pendants.
There's also a good selection of findings, tools, and kits. I especially liked the beginners' kits, which had everything you needed to make, say, a pair of chandelier earrings or a bracelet. Lots of times those beginners' kits are pretty lame, but these projects were actually cool things that you'd want to wear - or give as gifts.
We picked out some nice coin pearls, glass beads, and other beads for me, and with my friend's help, I ended up getting three pairs of earrings for less than what one pair would have cost in a department store. But even if you're not a jewelry expert, the staff is helpful and will answer your questions, and I believe they even hold classes there to teach beginners how to use their new purchases.
If you can take the heat (it's not called Tropic Jewel for nothing), this is a nice place to browse, plan projects, or pick up a piece of finished jewelry for yourself or someone else. It was almost enough to make me want to take up beading myself - like I need another time-sucking hobby in my life.
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