The 20th installment of the Great Bead Extravaganza is just around the corner. This is an incredible achievement for a humble beading event that began as a way to fight the pandemic isolation blues. TGBE was created to give people that were sheltered at home a way to feel connected to the community they loved. We helped build this idea. We missed the big bead shows of yesterday. We missed heading to a convention center filled with exhibitors and talented designers. We wanted to create a space, online, that felt like a virtual bead show. 20 installments later, five years of excitement and inspiration, and the show has never been better.  Save the dates. Midsummer Market 2025 is just around the corner!

Check out our Live Sales! Click the image above to visit our new sales platform. We have an exciting gallery full of amazing gemstones and beads. You can register to shop here - Register. And download our app here - Soft Flex App. If you would like to be notified when a sale is coming, sign up for our texts.

Grab our Midsummer Market 2025 Carnival Design Kit

Grab our limited edition Carnival Kit, especially made for our TGBE Midsummer Market 2025 presentation, while supplies last. Be sure to grab our Midsummer Market Carnival Bead Mix and Bead Strand, they are Soft Flex Company exclusives and will complement this kit beautifully. The Soft Flex Company's Midsummer Market presentation will be live on July 19th at 1pm PT. Check it out live on The Great Bead Extravaganza Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Midsummer Market 2025 Is The 20th Installment Of The Great BEAD Extravaganza!

TGBE Midsummer Market 2025 Carnival Design Kit Reveal

Check out this sneak peek! We are taking a look at the contents of our TGBE Midsummer Market 2025 Carnival Design Kit. This will give you an idea of the beading supplies we will be working with during the BIG SHOW! You are going to love this collection if jewelry making supplies. Make what we make during our TGBE segment or make you own unique jewelry! If you want to share your creations, make sure you visit our VIB Group on Facebook and share pictures of your finished jewelry!

Where Is Midsummer Market 2025 Taking Place?

Find all the presentations on The Great Bead Extravaganza page! Join us in The Great Bead Extravaganza Group as well! Many presenters stream to The Great Bead Extravaganza YouTube channel. You can also find some of the shows on the individual presenters' YouTube pages.

Miss a live show? No worries, you can watch all the videos on replays after the event weekend!

What Is The Schedule For All Of The Jewelry Making Demonstrations?

Clear your calendars July 19th and 20th and join us for The Great Bead Extravaganza Midsummer Market Virtual Bead Show! We are so excited to introduce you to what each of us have planned at Preview Night on Friday, July 18, 2025 at 2pm HST / 5pm PT / 6pm MT / 7pm CT / 8pm ET.

Join the Great Bead Extravaganza Group on Facebook!

Follow all of our presenters!

Candie Cooper
beadshop.com
Jill MacKay
Soft Flex Company
SilverSilk
The Bead Place
Humblebeads
Green Girl Studios
Star's Beads / Beadorea
Christi Friesen

The Great Bead Extravaganza Begins With Preview Night

Check out the Preview Night from our recent TGBE (Spring Fling 2025).

Every TGBE kicks off with a Preview Night. The show exhibitors discuss their plans for the show. We share stories and have a good time. If we have a special guest for the show, we invite them to share their passion for jewelry making and introduce themselves. Check out the Preview Night from the Spring installment of TGBE if you missed that show and you can see how fun this crew is!

What Is The Great Bead Extravaganza?

The Great Bead Extravaganza began almost five years ago. The world was a very different place. We were all sheltered at home and weathering a terrible storm. As a small business, we focused on trying to stay active on social media and keep up with our friends and community. We held beading parties and invited designers we admired to make jewelry with us. After the shows ended, we would talk about the industry. We discussed how much fun trade shows were and how much we missed those big events. Eventually, the conversation turned to staging a virtual bead show. We helped spearhead a movement. We helped organize exhibitors that wanted to share the experience. We helped turn an idea into the World's BIGGEST Online Bead Show. We did not anticipate how big this event would be. And we are incredibly GRATEFUL to everybody that has attended these shows.

Special guests that have joined us for The Great Bead Extravaganza

What fun would a show be without a little variety? Over the years, we have brought in terrific guests and innovative designers. Check out the preview night, above, when actress Emme Rylan joined us. You might recognize her from General Hospital. We had Francesca Watson, of The Makery, join us. Lauren DeVous, of The Needlepoint Clubhouse, inspired us. We got a little Beaducation from Lisa Niven Kelly. Katie Hacker discussed her amazing organization, Beads of Courage. We spent time with Crafty Chica, Kathy Cano-Murillo. We learned about Wearable Sculpture with Gail Crosman Moore.

The Great Bead Extravaganza follows trends and styles to keep you informed!

What fun is wearing jewelry if your designs are not on trend? Not all of us follow the latest fashions. But it is always nice to find inspiration from a trending look. At TGBE, we all want to make the most amazing jewelry we can. We check out the trends. We explore colors and shapes. We look into classic gemstones, like pearls. We think beading is a creative adventure. Come join us for a look at the colors and styles that are going to make your next necklace a masterpiece!

AMA (Ask Me Anything) - Ask your favorite jewelry designers the questions you want answered!

Everybody at TGBE wants to make sure you have all of the tools you need to make INCREDIBLE jewelry. We want to make sure you are informed about new products and tools. We want you to know how to finish your jewelry. We would love to show you how to wire wrap a stone and make a unique pendant. Do you have questions for us? Need a solution on how to make a mixed media design? Want to know where somebody finds inspiration to make a design? Let us know your burning questions and we will do our best to answer them!

Don't miss the exciting giveaways during The Great Bead Extravaganza

Every installment of The Great Bead Extravaganza has featured giveaways, prizes, and exciting opportunities to win some of your favorite beads. We have had swag bag giveaways. Swag bags are loaded with items from each exhibitor and given to a few lucky winners as a thank you for joining us. We have had shopping spree giveaways that give you the opportunity to shop at your favorite presenter's store with their money! Some presenters have spontaneous giveaways and deals during their live shows. Don't miss the fun! You can win some incredible prizes - just by watching the live shows!

Don't miss the jewelry kits and specials offered during The Great Bead Extravaganza

Make sure you visit the online stores and social media from the presenters of TGBE. Each show, everybody tries to make sure to have new items or inventory that is specifically tailored for the latest TGBE experience. At Soft Flex Company, we offer NEW beads, bead mixes, and a jewelry making kit that you can purchase before the show and make with us! The bracelet above was created with our TGBE Midsummer Market 2025 Carnival Bead Mix. Grab our kit and make what we make during the live show!

Meet The Midsummer Market 2025 Exhibitors

Candie Cooper

Candie Cooper is always adventurous and ready to create an unexpected design. We cannot wait to see what she has in store for us this time!

Kate Richbourg

Kate, from beadshop.com, is a master of many beading mediums. We loved this pearl necklace she made, using Soft Flex Wire.

Jill MacKay

Jill MacKay is a talented designer with a great presence. Attending her show feels like talking to an old friend. You are in for a treat when she starts making jewelry.

Kristen and Sara (Soft Flex Company)

Our two favorite beading gurus Soft Flex Company are Sara and Kristen. If you put these two together, you are going to have a blast. Come for the creative jewelry and stay for the belly laughs!

Nealay Patel

SilverSilk is the perfect enhancement to any Soft Flex Wire project. Nealay's knitted jewelry chain looks amazing with Craft Wire or beading wire.

Abbi Berta

Abbi, at The Bead Place, is always full of inventive and playful jewelry designs. From stackable bracelets to gallery quality Sundance style designs. We love her work!

Heather Powers

Heather, at Humblebeads, says that nature is her muse. She certainly knows how to translate this inspiration into radiant jewelry designs!

Cynthia Thornton

Green Girl Studios is a family run business has creativity and imagination coursing through their systems. Every presentation is a mix of beading media and always eye opening.

Kay Goss

Kay, of Star's Beads / Beadorea, is a Craft Wire master! She will teach you how to wire wrap like a pro. Kay will show you how to turn the blank canvas of a length of Craft Wire into a wire wrapped masterpiece!

Christi Friesen

Christi Friesen is always fun. She has mastered polmer clay and uses our beading wire in ways we never expected!

Learn How To Make Jewelry For Free

One of the best things about The Great Bead Extravaganza is that it is FREE. You can purchase kits and beads to be a part of the experience, but you do not have to pay a dime to watch the free jewelry making videos and learn tips from industry professionals.

Make sure you check out the live shows. Feel free to ask us about a technique you are curious about. We can tell you what kind of wire you need for a wire wrapping project. We can tell you how to finish a Kumihimo design and so much more. We are here to educate and have fun with you!

Thank You For Supporting Small Business

The designers that host The Great Bead Extravaganza are all small business owners or managers. It is a labor of love to bring this amazing bead show to life. We love sharing our inventory and striving to give you the best products possible. And we love to educate. We want you to be a better jewelry designer or crafter. We think being creative makes this life even more wonderful!

If you find value in a presenter's live show or love their style, make sure you visit their sites. Any purchases you make will help the creative community stay strong. As easy as it is to buy from a big box store, you will never find the expertise and love that you will find at a small business. Even liking and sharing our videos helps us out a great deal.

Thank you for being a part of The Great Bead Extravaganza!

Join our Facebook group – VIB. Stay in the know. Stay up to date. From our bead shows to our video shows and sales, you can stay in touch with us. The community is full of artistic and helpful beaders and crafty people. Inspire and be inspired. Share your pictures and get the beading bug from others!

Visit the Soft Flex Company YouTube Channel!

Blog contributor Thomas Soles loves Jazz Age writers and crunchy french fries. His favorite gemstones are Lapis and Pietersite. His favorite hobby is day dreaming. And his favorite mustache is Freddie Mercury's. As you can see, he has a healthy (or possibly unhealthy) sense of humor. You can write to him at Thomas@SoftFlexCompany.com