Last night I worked on a new key idea. It didn't work. I think it was mainly that I was doing it late, in bad light and with a headache whilst trying to watch TV at the same time. I didn't mind though as I think it was mainly I just wanted to sit and bead and for once my mind wasn't just on the end result.

Once I decided to put that away for another time, I went back to my new necklace idea and beaded a clasp prototype to see if the idea would work. Thankfully it did. Next I wanted to move onto beading segments of the actual necklace but was thwarted.

When I started this necklace I used gold coloured beads but I then decided that I wanted to bead the whole piece in copper. It just seemed the right choice and then when I found just the perfect matte copper Delicas I was convinced it was the right colour and bought 50g of them in preparation for the masterpiece I was about to create. Then I remembered that I also needed some size 15s or charlottes to bead around the rivolis. But surely this wouldn't be a problem? I distinctly remembered buying loads of copper beads last year at Beads By Blanche and I just knew I had matte copper ones in there.

Except when I looked they were only in larger sizes. As were every other copper coloured bead I own. How did that happen? I own plenty of 15s in brown, gold, bronze etc just not the elusive copper colour I want.

"No problem" I though, "A simple web search will bring me what I want and I can get on with the necklace in a few days time". But no. Copper beads in the UK seem to be very hard to find. I did manage to track down some very, very shiny ones but a lot of what I do manage to find is out of stock and anyway I think now my heart is set on matt. So I ended up doing something I always resist and began searching outside the UK.

Do you know in all my years of beading I've never ordered beads myself from outside the Uk. I have bought beads on my travels, and once got some when a friend did an order from the US, but other than that I never have done so. Anything I have bought from outside the UK was something that I jut couldn't get here. For the order my friend did I choose some Delicas as the colours I wanted weren't then sold in the U, but now they are I buy them here. I have never bought simply to save money. Though I am often tempted, I am aware that down that route lies the destruction of local bead shops and I still love being able to go in, choose what I want in person, chat with the owner, flick through books and magazines, get advice and generally know that I can get some Nymo within 30 minutes of deciding I need it. But if you do buy from overseas, that's your choice and if it works for you then do it. As long as you're buying beads, beading and spreading beady love I support you!

I don't do so mainly as I would much prefer to support the bead shops we have here. When I started beading we had so few, and although the number has grown over the years, they face stiff competition from overseas supliers and internet based businesses that I want to make sure I do all I can to support them.

It's funny really, a few years ago when Bead magazine started I commissioned an article on buying beads from overseas based on absolutely overwhelming reader requests. I genuinely got at least 10 times the number of requests for that article than I did for anything else combined. So after a lot of umming and aahing and mass debates I decided to write it.

To make sure I supported UK sellers as much as possible I emailed all the ones who advertised in the magazine and asked them for their opinions, comments etc to go into the article. I also asked readers for feedback and comments. I wanted to give readers the information they had requested (they wanted to know about postage charges, customs, import duty etc) whilst enouraging them to buy local when they could. I got some replies but not many.

In the end the article went out and featured just over 450 words (1/2 page) on the facts about buying from overseas and just under 2,500 words (2 1/2 pages with polls and comments etc) on people's experiences and enouraging you to buy locally.

I even ended the article with these words: "As always, the choice of whether to buy from overseas is up to you. We at Bead Magazine are determined to support our UK suppliers. To do this we only feature projects using items easily purchased here, and in each issue we profile UK designers and makers so we can let you know all about the range of supplies and handmade items available to us all right where we are. However, we do recognise there is a whole world of beads and beading out there and, after many requests, we decided to look into the subject for you. Our poll results were interesting as they showed that the main reason you bought from overseas was that you were unable to get the same item here. However, through feedback we received, one thing that soon became clear was that often just asking your local supplier about a product let them know there was a demand for it. I personally have lost count of the amount of times I have not been able to find something in a shop and asked at the counter, only to discover they had it but either hadn’t yet put it out on display, or didn’t have room for it yet- so take a chance and ask! With more support the beading world in the UK will grow and grow- which can only be a good thing for us all. No-one wants to imagine a world where none of us can pop to a local bead shop (if you have one) for a reel of thread, instead having to order it from half way around the world."

It seemed pretty clear to me I was doing all I could to encourage buying here in the UK. But unfortunately some people didn't take the article that way and I got some vicious hate mail with personal insults which was not a nice time. But it was made amusing by the fact that some of the hateful messages also included words such as "I often buy from the USA as shops here in the Uk are far to expensive but you shouldn't be enouraging other people to". How does that work?

So 4 years on from the article I still haven't ordered beads from outside the UK.

So you can imagine the dilemma I had last night when debating whether to order from abroad. Did I not do so and settle for using colours I wasn't happy with and creating a piece I didn't like? Or did I put my own desires first and order what I wanted no matter where it came from? Was I going to let some vicious people influence my decision or was I going to do what was best for the project?

In the end the decision was taken from me as although my many (many) hours of searching meant I found the EXACT colour I wanted, it appears that I can only get them in size 11s and upwards.

But I will continue looking and hope that either I will find just the right bead or I realise that the ones I can get are the right ones, and soon, I am eager to get on with this project.

I guess I should have stuck with the easy to get hold of gold option. That'll teach me for playing with colour!

Anyway, less chat. I need to jump on the underground and go and support my local bead shop with some urgent purchases.