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I have found a few, but thought maybe some of the veteran beaders/jewelry makers may know of a few good sites for a beginner in need of ideas and tips. Thanks.
By CDJ516 from Burlington, NJ
There is a site called Artbeads.com which has a Learning Center which gives instructions for many techniques, as well as project ideas. They also sell beads, and they always have free shipping.
I don't know what kind of jewelry making you're interested in (bead weaving, stringing, wire work, etc.). Here are a few sites with some general information on the basics:
http://www.fusionbeads.com/beadingfaq/bead_techniques.php
http://www.artbeads.com/learning-center.html
http://www.firemountaingems.com/beading_howtos/default.asp
When I first started out I went to the Bead & Button message boards a lot. I seem to remember it was a pretty helpful community:
http://cs.beadandbutton.com/bnbcs/forums/
Another site is http://www.jewelrylessons.com/
There are lots of tutorials. Some cost, but there are plenty of free tuturials, too (esp. at the beginning & easy levels). You can ask questions, and in my experience, someone tends to answer quickly.
Best of luck. It can be very addictive! Right now I'm doing an inventory of my stash (my husband and I came up with a new "system." Ugh!). And I'm going to a bead show in a few weeks, to add some more! The more you work at it, the better your results will be. Practice makes perfect! If I think of any other particularly good sites, I'll come back and post. Enjoy your new hobby!