Bead & Pearl, Newton

Bead & Pearl's myriad jewelry-crafting classes illuminate the art of creating your own adornments as students learn a range of skills from basic stringing techniques to crocheting and wire stamping. The classes welcome even stone-cold beginners, and since classes are project based, instructors narrate every necessary step of the process as students create their pieces. This practice ensures that students don't have to come to class with prior knowledge from art camp or a past life as a ball of yarn that rejected a family career in kitten baiting to pursue its crafting dreams. Using the store's colorful inventory of beads, crystals, and gold and silver findings, classes give students the opportunity to create traditional bead jewelry as well as opulent rings and jewelry knitted from silk and leather. Customers can also purchase individual materials for at-home crafting or enlist the expertise of the staff to design jewelry or repair damaged pieces by heavyweights such as Chanel and Ralph Lauren.