Fire Mountain Gems was founded in the early 1970s by Stuart and Chris Freedman, as a bead shop in California. After discovering that there was very little information available about the craft of beading, they researched and wrote the “Beademaker’s Handbook”, which also acted as their first catalog. The business moved to Oregon in 1986, and expanded into the mail order business in order to reach a larger customer base. Today, Fire Mountain Gems imports jewelry-making supplies from various countries, and resells them to customers all over the world. http://www.firemountaingems.com/encyclobeadia/beading_resources.asp?docid=98V1

Fire Mountain Gems offers many types of jewelry supplies, including beads, stringing material and wire, as well as other products such as gifts, books and videos. They also have a significant library of resources on their website, including reference material, design templates, tutorials and tips. http://www.firemountaingems.com/ Since it was founded, Fire Mountain Gems has focused on providing a positive customer experience, which is reflected in their tag-line—“Friendly service since 1973”. On top of this, Fire Mountain Gems claims to have lower prices than the vast majority of companies, and also offers discounts for larger quantity orders. http://www.firemountaingems.com/customerservice/csdocs.asp?docid=CSTMRSRVCFQ#whole Fire Mountain Gems releases catalogs of their products on a regular basis, and these catalogs are substantial—usually over 400 pages. While all of their products are also listed on their website, the paper catalog is a common way to browse their extensive collection.

Swarovski crystal products are imported by Fire Mountain Gems from Australia. A variety of Swarovski products are available, including: http://www.firemountaingems.com/swarovski.asp?navsrc=2

• Beads: Bicones, cubes, rounds and marquerites
• Pendants: Heart, teardrop, cross and baroque
• Rhinestones: Flat and round
• Components: Headpins, clasps and butterfly links
• Pearls: White, cream, black and Bordeaux

The Swarovski products are also offered in a variety of colors and shapes, to further customize the resulting jewelry. http://www.firemountaingems.com/swarovski-innovations/default.asp?navsrc=2