The Bead Fetish in Midtown is the perfect supply shop for beginning jewelry makers to learn the basics of creating accessories.

The bohemian-style shop, which was originally located in San Rafael, opened the Sacramento location in 2000 and sells an array of beads to create necklaces, bracelets and earrings.

By offering more than 35 jewelry classes to choose from, there are endless possibilities of creativity.

The basic stringing class, which teaches students how to make a simple necklace or bracelet with string, is recommended to newcomers with no experience. Classes are ranked from beginner through advanced to make it easier to find a that class best suited to the student.

Christina Mansour has been working at the Bead Fetish for about a year and likes to make jewelry that is chunky, trendy and high-fashion.

“I like to teach the leather ladder classes because they move quickly and customers easily get excited when they see the product they are making is almost complete,” Mansour said.

Not only are leather ladder bracelets popular and currently seen in fashion jewelry, wired words is also a popular class where students can create word necklaces or bracelets by using wire.

An endless amount of beads are available such as crystals, Chinese crystals, glass, lampwork, vintage glass ranging from the 1920s to 1960s, semi-precious stones, gem-quality stones, freshwater pearls, shell, wood, bone, horn, metal and seed beads.

Beads are sold either separately or by strand. The strands are a way the shop displays each kind of bead, but are also a better deal to purchase. Each bead is displayed and marked starting from 5 cents and more.

Sac State alumna Caterina Natale, 22, has walked by the store countless times when walking in midtown and loves how vibrant and colorful the shop is.

“I walk by The Bead Fetish a lot when I’m out and the place looks like it has so much character,” Natale said. “The bright colors always catch my attention, every single time.”

A variety of daily discounts and monthly Second Saturday sales are offered at The Bead Fetish. There are great discount perks for customers who take a class at The Bead Fetish.

If signed up for a class, customers save on class materials; for customers who sign up for the class, they receive 5 to 15 percent of on specifically labeled items. A discount card is also given to customers and lasts an entire week after taking a class.

Red tag items are typically sold as bulk items, which are already discounted and black tag items include most strands and loose beads, comprising about 95 percent of the store.

Specialty tools can be project specific, yet some tools will become an investment if jewelry turns into a common craft. Basic needle-nose pliers and wire cutters are necessities when creating jewelry.

The Bead Fetish can also repair damaged or broken jewelry and offer the materials and supplies to help fix a damaged product.

Store manager Kari Messerschmidt-Rogers is currently into bead weaving, which is her favorite class to teach.

“A lot of my friends are the people who I work with and we are all into it,” Messerschmidt-Rogers said. “I feel that crafty people gravitate towards crafty people.”

Mansour works only one day a week and is easily inspired during her shifts.

“[By] just looking at stuff, putting it away, touching it, feeling it, talking to customers [and] seeing what other people buy, I can go home and my creative juices are spinning,” Mansour said.

Classes usually last around two and a half hours with four to six students in each class. The classes are kept small so each instructor can work one-on-one with students.

“The fun thing about teaching the classes is how excited people get about making something,” Messerschmidt-Rogers said. “A lot of times, people come in thinking that they are not creative and wouldn’t be able to make anything.”

Sammie Moreno can be reached at [email protected]