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Each piece of my jewelry is designed using hand-picked gemstones, sterling silver beads, fresh water pearls, Swarovski crystals and vintage art glass beads, strung on professional grade jewelry wire.
The cracked bead is my story -- a life with cracks and fractures instead of perfection.   But as I’ve become transparent, letting light -- God’s light -- shine in on those fractures, I can see beauty beginning to reflect out of that imperfection.   Embrace the cracks!
I hope you’re enjoying browsing.  New jewelry pieces are arriving all the time. 
So as I say to my friends as they’re leaving my home,
“come again soon and come often.”  
Our start
A few years ago, while vacationing in Maine, my daughter asked me to take her to the bead store to get hemp bracelet supplies.

The moment we stepped foot in the store I was taken in by the colors and textures -- lavender, red, orange, green, blue beads.  I was hooked!  But it wasn’t until I returned home and couldn’t stop thinking about the bead shop that I decided I had to try to make something. 

Soon necklaces and bracelets were coming off my kitchen table faster then I could wear them and my husband, Jim, was muttlering each time he found the run-away beads with his bare feet.

Our name
While creating a necklace one day, I strung a pattern of several clear beads and then a cracked bead, several more clear beads and then another cracked bead.  The cracked bead caught my eye.  The light was reflecting off its fractures and it was beautiful.

The cracked bead is my story -- a life with cracks and fractures instead of perfection.   But as I’ve become transparent, letting light -- God’s light -- shine in on those fractures, I can see beauty beginning to reflect out of that imperfection.   Embrace the cracks!

Our jewelry
I design and string each piece of jewelry using hand-picked gemstones, sterling silver beads, fresh water pearls, Swarovski crystals and vintage and art glass beads .  Each piece is strung on professional grade jewelry wire and it’s workmanship is guaranteed.

Every bracelet, necklace or earring design is unique.  I like it that way, because each time I go to my work bench something fresh and new emerges.  What great fun!

Our photos
All the photos are taken in our yard in Connecticut by my daughter Emma (the same one who introduced me to the bead store).   She has found fences, stone walls, shutters, and trees to be her backdrops.  I love her creativity.

Our business
It all began with creating gifts for friends and family.  And then a few of those friends asked if they could buy some of my jewelry.   I admit to being a reluctant seller at first, but those early requests started something I never dreamed of -- from friends, to parties, to salons and jewelry shops, and now to a web site. 

I am grateful for the journey and I’m enjoying each step of  the way.   I hope that you’ll love wearing the jewelry as much I loved making it.



Stephanie Welty  -  The Cracked Bead  -  Woodbury, CT  06798  -  203/206-9984  -  StephanieWelty@TheCrackedBead.Com