Where do you get your Gems?

[Diamond]

Okay I have a nice stock of 3MM and up, I have some left from 20 years ago, which are supposed to be 2mm & 3mm but they seem smaller then the 3mm I got from the local craft chains.  I have a bunch of sites bookmarked but I am looking for 1mm and 2mm gems and there is not much.  Did find one or two sellers on ebay, but it is hard to judge the sparkle from there photos.  So where do you guys get your jewels and anyone have a good supplier for the super small sizes?

[blackestbird]

Mine aren't super small, SS5 & 7 or however they label them, 1.7/2.2mm, but I got them from ooakartistemporium.com. I like this place if you want to get different supplies. Flat-rate shipping, so I wait until I can order a bunch at once.

artbeads.com They have as small as SS5 size. Again I wait until I want to buy enough to get the free shipping - spend $10 or more; if I remember shipping is sort of pricey if you don't take advantage of that.

firemountaingems.com I haven't used this site myself; I always end up using one of the others I listed instead because it seems certain colors are only available in certain sizes, but it's another non-eBay option.

[Diamond]

Thanks I did find one ebay listing for smaller but they are acrylic and those just do not sparkle like the real ones. 

I really need to get down to about an SS2 or SS3 for some of the scales I am currently working in.

[rybett]

Amazon. 
I wandered the sites BB gave you and found silk hair.  Should not have looked!!!

[kezrob23]

I recently bought some 2 and 3mm from eBay, seller was crystal-wholesale. They are supposed to be Swarovski, but I'm not convinced due to some of them having imperfections - like no faceting!! Unless they are seconds... $30 for 720 mixed colours. The smallest they had was ss5, 1.8mm. My wholesaler here doesn't have any smaller than 2mm.

Post Merge: May 21, 2013, 05:06:04 PM

Edit to add - preciosa is another alternative to Swarovski, I've used their crystal octagons and chandelier pieces before, and they are quite good

[sd_dreamcrystal]

I use Artbeads, but I generally don't buy too many of the same color gems at one time. I mostly got them for G2 eyes. Shipping i think for me was about $2 but I will have to look again when I order.. I generally wait till the 20% off on all items sales

[Diamond]

Thanks ladies, shall check those leads out.

[z2000]

Hey there - I actually purchased from firemountaingems.com recently and it was a good experience. They had more of the smaller Swarovski sizes I wanted. The order came with their big fat catalog which actually was nice because it has lots of pictures that show the gem sizes very well. Just my 2 cts ...

[Pythia]

I buy from artbeads. I used to use firemountain, but their international shipping is RIDICULOUS, and they only sell in packs of certain sizes, whereas with artbeads you can choose exactly how many you want.

[Diamond]

Good to know because I want more of a multi color assortment then a 100 of one color.

[pop-girl]

I order from Tami's Place http://www.tamisplace.com/default.asp
I just get the mixed bag of 5ss - I think they're a good size for ponies and I just pick and choose which colors to use.
I have no idea how competitive the pricing is... 250 gems lasts me for quite some time so I've only reordered once.

[Diamond]

Thanks Pop.  I finally found one ruler that had mm so I could measure my old gems which I used on LadySatine carousel swap pony.  They measure in at 2mm so they are about a SS6 or PP13, so if I can find some SS4 that should help me out with my pony work and my Breyer Stablemate and Little Bit/Paddock Pal scales. 

These are my old 2mm gems -

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