This picture only accounts for about half of the size 11 seed beads that I acquired this year, but it gives a pretty good idea of the sort of colors I was leaning towards. Lots of metallics, metallic irises, and matte metallic irises. I wanted colors that will make my work more lush and rich. I wanted different finishes, to add depth and contrast. And because I had about $600 trade credit saved up, I didn't have to pass beads up due to high price tags. I had quite the little shopping spree!Oddly enough, that tube of powder blue marble luster appears to be the one of the two blue seed beads I purchased in any size. I like blue, I wear blue, I bead in blue... but I almost never gravitate towards blue beads when I'm shopping. The vast majority of my blue seed beads are in the aqua-capri family and I have to make a mental note to look for true blues, or I just don't buy them at all. This year I was so captivated by the greens and earth tones that I never even looked at blue. Of course, I bought no reds, oranges, yellows or pinks at all. But I did get 5 yummy purples.
I noticed a lot of shoppers in our booth were also gravitating towards metallics, whether it was the new-ish Permanent Galvanized, the new Platinum and Palladium electroplates (yum! How did I manage not to buy any?), or the electroplated size 15 24k gold charlottes. I think that even though times are tough financially, a lot of designers are still willing to invest in the luxurious beads that elevate our weaving to the point of rivaling fine jewelry.
Great stash you have there! I gravitate to blue beads, but love yellow and browns. Go figure :)
ReplyDeletesalivating over here.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful beads! I don't understand not buying any pink at all, though. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat lovely colors! As a wire worker, I tend to gravitate toward larger focal pieces...quite frankly- seed beads terrify me! They are pretty, though!
ReplyDeleteWe have mutually exclusive mixes!
ReplyDeleteAh, those expensive, but oh so wonderful metallic seed beads! What would we do without them? And those equally fabulous permanent galvanized beauties!
ReplyDeleteGood haul!
you know i love the metallics - it's almost all i work with now.
ReplyDeletelove your selection! can't wait to see what you do with them...
Yummy colors, AJ. Reminds me of the stash I got from Whim at BABE in November. Waaay too many new colors all at once. Can't resist the seedbeads, however.
ReplyDeleteWow, you guys love seed beads! ;)
ReplyDeleteCharlene, I guess you need to come back to the show next year and help me find blue beads! I'll help you with browns... can't help you with yellow, though, I dislike it almost as much as pink.
Julie, they are pretty yummy colors, aren't they? ;)
Christina, I just don't like pink! I almost bought some pink marble luster ones, because they would be nice for Victorian stuff. I'll probably get them later this year.
Shannon, the gem show is great for large focals! I usually buy a lot of them, but I have more than I can store right now, so I focused on seeds this year :) You could probably incorporate large seeds into your wirework, though!
Marilee, I'm now imagining some sort of explosive reaction if our seed bead collections mixed!
SaraBeth, I am so excited about the permanent galvanized beads! I bought two colors last year but haven't used them yet... hopefully now that I have more colors, I'll remember to look for them when I'm starting a project.
Amber Leilani, I usually just use the metallics as accents, but now that I have so many, I can see myself using them more heavily.
Arline, every time I think I have enough seed beads and I have all my color bases covered, they come out with some new exciting combinations!
After Swarovski, seed beads are my favorite type of beads. I can never have too many!
ReplyDeleteI bought a few colors of the permanent galvanized seed beads last year from Betcey and haven't done a darn thing with them. I'm waiting for just the right project. ;-)