THE DALLES — A decades-old fascination with beading inspired the newest incarnation of Kelly Stark’s brick-and-mortar bead shop in The Dalles, filled with beads of glass, metal, coral, and many other materials and a rainbow of hues.
Stark’s passion for beading began in a McMinnville bead shop, which stood opposite her massage therapy business in about 2004.
“Sometimes it was real slow at the massage thing,” Stark recalled. “And right across the way was the bead store. And I started taking classes and learning, and I just kept buying more and more beads. And it was like, this plethora of beads and I thought, you know what? Maybe I should open the store.
Czech glass beads hang in rainbow arrays.
Flora Gibson photo
“Just being able to create anything you want,” Stark added, sparked her interest in beading. “There’s a lot of things to enjoy about beads. Color combinations are amazing.”
Stark particularly likes seed beads, in their many colors and kinds: “I can do Peyote stitch or Russian spiral or weaving, there’s just a ton of different stitches."
Stark’s first bead shop opened in Forest Grove in about 2006, and continued until 2012. “I tried to sell it, but I couldn’t,” said Stark. “I ended up keeping everything.” For a while, Stark practiced massage therapy only, breaking off for a time to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. She boxed up her inventory and continued making bead jewelry, selling online and through farmers’ markets throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. “I’ve always been kind of artsy craftsy type person,” Stark admitted.
Stark, who lived in The Dalles in her 20s, returned here to continue her practice as a massage therapist, and later opened The Garden of Beaden. Some of her older shop’s inventory is still on the shelves, she said, although a lot is new.
The tiny shop’s shelves and counters are swathed in colors. Asked to estimate how many species of beads it contains, Stark laughed and listed varieties of stone beads, seed beads, Indian glass and Czech glass, metal, bone and coral.
Handmade jewelry for sale at Garden of Beaden.
Flora Gibson photo
“It’s kind of like Christmas, every time you get stock,” Stark admitted. She also retails her own jewelry, and that of other local artists.
“I’m just gonna keep growing it,” Stark said of her hopes for the future. “See what happens. And I’m getting a few regular customers in.”
A brick-and-mortar bead shop faces a challenge, Stark said, but has benefits. “It’s a smaller niche, and this is a pretty small town,” she noted.
Handmade jewelry for sale at Garden of Beaden.
Flora Gibson photo
“The bead stores have really started disappearing,” Stark added. “Throughout the whole Portland area, they’ve just started to vanish ... and I think online played a huge part, in killing any kind of retail store.”
A brick-and-mortar shop provides a better opportunity to evaluate and choose beads, Stark said. “You cannot really tell the quality of something online,” she explained. “And a lot of times, it’s so much nicer to have the tactile feel of something, and to see the color and the sparkle of a different bead. Versus you order something online, and they’ve gotten the best picture... you get it and you’re like, that wasn’t what they were picturing!”
The exceptions are some artificial stones such as glass crystals, Stark noted, which always look the same.
Stark said she hopes to remodel a bit, making more space for beads.
She also tentatively plans to teach both basic and advanced beading classes in the roomier hallway next to her shop.
Handmade jewelry for sale at Garden of Beaden.
Flora Gibson photo
She hopes the shop will become a source for individual crafts, she noted. “People want to create their own unique items, because there’s a lot of people who don’t just make jewelry — they make beaded bags or beaded felt items. ... there’s so many different things you can do with beads,” she said.
Among all the beads in her shop, fire agate is Stark’s favorite. “I mean, they’re all beautiful,” she said, “how could you go wrong with beads?”
The Garden of Beaden is located at 109B W. Second Street, The Dalles. Hours are Wednesdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
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