The Genuine Article

This is probably the last place in all of Wheaton I would have ever walked into but due to my lovely sister who arranged my entire bachelorette party from morning until night, this was one of our stops along our way.
We made jewelry. Yes, myself and a group of my closest ladies came here for an hour or so and made ourselves each of piece of original jewelry. From earrings to keychains, we made it all.
To start, this is the coolest thing I have ever done. I made myself a necklace. A beautiful necklace that I actually wore for our rehearsal dinner two nights before our wedding.
They have an inventory of beads made of metals, different stones, glass and Swarovski crystals along with chains and all the hardware needed to finish off a piece of jewelry. It was a little harder for me because it was a surprise, so I didn’t know what to make at all. I had picked up a variety of different Swarovski crystals I liked and then I found some other stones that I thought were pretty and eventually I found a string of beads already put together that I found to be something I would wear repeatedly, so once I found these, I located one of the very helpful staff to help give me some ideas, so I ended up finding some other sparkly circular beads that I used as accents to my necklace.
It was a very fun and different thing to do. I can’t wait to go back soon to make another necklace or maybe a bracelet. Very cool place!

The Genuine Article was the perfect pre-​dinner spot during my sister’s bachelorette party day!
I was originally planning a day of all-​ages events in Geneva, IL. After a lot of research, I found that the best spot for a few hours of jewelry making would be at The Genuine Article in Wheaton. I don’t think that anyone in our group had done it before and we really had a great time!
They regularly plan parties and I can see why. They have very helpful staff members with knowledge about the products and can ‘dumb’ it down for us novices. They had a wide variety of beads, crystal, glass, metal, etc. Keep in mind that this was my first such outing, so I don’t have a basis for comparison, but I didn’t feel like we were left missing anything.
I had some trouble finding the pieces to use for my ‘findings’, but the girls were willing and able to help. I wandered around aimlessly for a while just checking things out. I was okay with that because it gave me time to look at pre-​made pieces to get ideas. I made some decisions and eventually worked on my piece. I went with a black, metal, white and turquoise necklace. It was perfect for me!
Everyone did something different. The prices were reasonable and everyone was able to find something they liked in their price range. They even had some half price beads on the wall!
Thanks to AJ and her staff for a great evening! I’m coming back to make a bracelet soon!

I LOVE THIS PLACE! My mom and I took a Wire Class here a few weeks ago, with Betty, just to try something different. Betty was extremely friendly, patient and great teacher. She really took the time to show each student one on one different techniques.

This little art and bead shop has a lot of cool stuff to check out. The front ¹⁄₃ of the store is glass sculptures, jewelry, and art pieces. Lots of pretty things to decorate your house or give as a gift. The back ²⁄₃ is alllllll beads.
They don’t have the largest selection of beads in the area, but they do have some very very nice ones. My sis in law and I spent about at least an hour looking through the beads for our latest craft craze: beaded jewelry. I found some gorgeous beads hanging by the register and thought «ooohhhhh, these would be perfect…» then I saw the price, $ 100! US Dollars! That’s slightly ridiculous. Had it not been for the crazy overpriced (yet gorgeous) stones by the register, I’d have gladly given them 5 stars. I picked out 4 strands of beads to make a couple bracelets.
The Genuine Article also offers beading classes, along with a few other craft classes. The beginner beading class is $ 50 for 3 hours. Seems like a pretty good deal to me.
There was a nice selection of free trade certified jewelry at the counter. Between the sparkly beads and the necklace I’ve decided I want, I’m going to have to get back here soon.

This place is so cool! You can make earings, necklaces, braclets, and all these other awesome things!!! It’s so fun because you are in charge, and there’s sooooo many different beads you can choose from! AHHHHH I need to go there right now!!! Oh and they have these cool frog things. I’m not sure what they are but they’re cute! AND THEY DO BIRTHDAYS!!! ~scedules~

I LOVE this place, love, love, love. They are family owned — Betty is the artist and owner — she holds glass bead making classes, fine silver making classes, and more. I can’t wait to get back in town for the 3^rd Sunday Open Studio.
Her children help run the store and they are knowledgeable, friendly and artistic. All the beads and baubles you could need.

This is a fun place! They have lots of sculptures by The Frogman, Tim Cotterill. If you are not familiar with his work, his pieces are frogs, geckos and some other types of lizards.
But wait, that’s not all, this is also a beading place! You know, beading, like where you make your own jewelry. When I stopped by today there was a group of adults in the back working on stuff. They told me it was «adult daycare» and they were laughing their heads off about it. The back room has a table and LOADS of beads. I’m not hip on all the terminology, but they had tiger’s eye and some other exotic stuff besides the basics. They have a schedule and offer classes as well as selling some finished pieces.
The only reason I didn’t give 5 stars is because I haven’t taken a class. That is a big focus of this place, so I held off on that final star. I will update after I check out the classes.
So get some of your people together and go and make some pretty bling!