As planned, today I trekked up to Mesa for the Rings & Things bead show. I still find it weird that they have these shows mid-week, but I guess it allows them to do several shows a week and spread the beady love around, so I can't complain.These shows are great because they have table after table of quality stone beads, properly labeled as to what they are and how they're treated. If a stone is dyed and heated quartz masquerading as something more valuable, Rings & Things will make sure you know it. They're also good about dealing with stone suppliers who treat their stone cutters fairly, so I don't have to feel guilty about my purchases.
I don't think I bought quite as much as last year, probably because I still haven't touched quite a few of last year's strands, and I didn't have Chris twisting my arm to get me to buy things I was hesitant about, but I did get some nice stuff.
From top to bottom:
Black lava coins; dyed red lava; dyed cream lava; brown lava rectangles; dyed green lava coins; black labradorite; kiwi quartz; pyrite coins; faceted mossy agate; color-gradiated chrysoprase rondelles; green two-hole, flat-back pearls; rough cut black tourmaline; assorted glass skulls; black pyrite ovals; heated quartz matrix; big round black lava.
Clearly I did not really move far from my green/brown/black/metallic comfort zone on this trip, but hey... they're all pretty!
Nice stash, AJ. I especially like those double drilled pearls. Wish they had their shows closer to me.
ReplyDeleteThe lava lentils are very cool!
ReplyDeleteArline, they just did Albuquerque for the first time this year, so it seems they do change things up a bit. Maybe they'll make it your way next year :) And the double-drilled pearls seem like they will be fun to design with.
ReplyDeleteMarilee, they feel really cool, too! They have a surprisingly smooth texture because they're treated with some sort of wax. The red and ivory rounds feel like coral (which is why I bought them), and the rectangles are rougher, with bigger holes.