String Bead — Local services in Chico

I have taken several classes with this organization at Pasadena Bead Show over several years. I keep thinking things will get better but every time I am disappointed and feel that I have wasted my time and money. Last year I took INTERMEDIATE Soldering - which you would think would mean students had soldering experience and we would work on more advanced techniques. Unfortunately that was not so. I’ve also taken a class where soldering was large part of the class but obviously it had not been cleared with the hotel/Fire Marshal because we had to hide our torches for nearly 1 1/2 hours out of a 3 hour class. I’ve signed up for a class and driven over 2 hours only to have String Bead inform me that the class was cancelled. Though they allowed me to take another class it was not what I was interested in. Amazingly, (I guess I’m a slow learner!) I signed up for another class this year and again was disappointed. This class was on Fused Glass. The instructor was totally unprepared and had no supplies ready for class. She had to have someone make several trips to another room to get needed items for the class. Even though one of the students was sitting next to her and repeatedly told her he was hard of hearing, she spoke so quietly that she was asked numerous times to speak up. She read the instructions to us but never gave us examples of what we were actually trying to learn. It was like pulling teeth to get information out of her - I really feel as though she did not know much about the art technique she was supposed to be teaching. These are just a few examples of the problems that arose in this class and other classes I’ve taken from this company. In writing this and reviewing what I’ve dealt with, I’m EMBARRASSED that I continued to take classes and give this company my business. But don’t worry - I’ve learned my lesson and will NOT be wasting my time or money...

Waste of time. Waste of money. I took a class glass fusing class at a Bead Show in Pasadena last night from this company. Class was supposed to start at 6pm. When the teacher finally arrived at 6:10 the teacher had a box of items but nothing was set up or ready for the class ( and I mean nothing!) She gave us a hand out and spent the next ten minutes getting organized. She then began reading from the hand out.... verbatim. She called the COefficient of glass (usually abbreviated COE) CEO. While she was reading off the handout she would mill through her box looking for the item or items she was talking about. She gave no example of successful pieces vs. unsuccessful pieces. The area around where she was demonstrating was so cluttered with her boxes and bags of supplies even the guy sitting directly to the side of her had to stand up to see anything. Not to mention she spoke so quietly we were constantly asking her to repeat herself. When we finally began working on putting our pieces together, we got one bottle of aqua net and one brush to apply it to our work between 6 people. ( was it too much to aske for six tiny paint brushes??!) The glass pieces were in a little blue wallet type thing which somebody finally dumped on the table so we could all access it. She had to go to another teacher to get paper towels for us to use and sent another person down the hall to get safety glasses and gloves repeatedly. I paid $79 for this class? This is the second year I have taken a class from these folks and I said last year I wouldn’t do it again because the class was so poorly managed. My friend and I shook on that promise after this class. Waste of time...

During COVID-19, I called String Bead in hopes of finishing a birthday necklace on time. The owner kindly did all of my shopping (apparently I am out of control even over the phone when it comes to beads) and took payment over the phone, offered to set up a phone appointment to send me photos, asked customers to all sanitize upon entry (we were on the phone for a bit so I got to hear the activities), all customers happily complied, and then she met me curbside with my stuff. She had on a mask (properly) as did all customers leaving the shop. And she threw in some extra beads for me because she couldn't decide which ones I'd love best. String Bead for the win! ❤️ Sidenote: this business was great before COVID-19 as well, always a great experience and...