September Best Bead Purchases

You'd think with how many tribal necklaces I already have, I wouldn't even think about buying more... but I had to have this one. I love those green dangles, and in fact, I'll probably eventually cut the necklace apart and use the dangles in a new necklace, or attach them to a bra.
And yes, the title says purchases, plural! After spending the weekend working next to Janice Evert Opals, I had to have an opal. The only reason that I didn't get one during my shopping on Friday is that when I walked by the booth, my eyes were naturally drawn to the nicest, flashiest, most expensive opals which were way out of my budget, so I assumed that they were all out of the budget. But this one was very beautiful, and very affordable... and you'll hopefully get to see what it gets made into in a month or so!

I had a nice time at the show, working for Anne Mitchell. I don't like having to run an entire booth by myself during the February show, but the September show is laid back enough that I was able to handle everything myself without feeling overwhelmed. Besides, I got to spend the entire time looking at Anne's gorgeous jewelry.

But the most interesting thing about the show was definitely watching a shoplifter get apprehended... and not a small-timer, either. The police found $10,000 worth of beads and supplies in her purse and in her car. Bravo to the vendors who caught and detained her and called the cops.

NY Bead Purchases

As you can see, I did a lot less bead shopping in NY this year than in previous years. I have an excess of beads waiting to be put away right now, so I didn't feel like making the problem too much worse. I only purchased things that caught my eye.

There's a strand of imported lampwork that reminded me of trade beads, some neat flowers that look almost like gears, some really cool faceted drop beads, some apatite (the strand was longer, i already used some. I'll post the necklace on Wednesday), a filigree stamping I liked, and two pretty strands of freshwater pearls.

The drops will definitely be part of my Wings of the Morrigan collar, which I'll have to start soon if I want to have it done in time to wear it to the February gem show.

Exciting new stone beads!

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!

It's gem show time!

The wave of gem-mineral-fossil-bead shows hit Tucson this weekend. When I drove home from belly dance class Thursday night, I saw tents all over the place. One vendor even looked like he was doing business at 10:40pm, but I suspect he was probably just chatting with fellow vendors after a late evening of setting-up.

I'm actually taking a more low-key approach to gem show this year. I haven't even touched a lot of what I purchased last year, and right now I'm a lot more interested in investing my spare cash into belly dance costumes and accessories than in more random beads. As such, I decided to completely skip Gem Mall this year. I may come to regret this if I have a sudden rush of crystal bracelet sales, but oh well. If I have a sudden rush, I can afford to restock from a slightly more expensive mail-order source.

But that's not to say that I'm skipping the shows entirely! I'm just being more judicious in what I purchase. Today I went to To Bead True Blue, because I wanted to get the new Green Girl designs before they sold out. After chatting with Andrew and Greg and getting what I came for, I browsed the rest of the show, where the only thing I purchased was an $8 boxwood netsuke for Chris. I was tempted by some unusual jingly rings, but I'm not buying any jinglies until after I've been paid for my Best Bead job.

While at the show, I ran into frequent blog commenter Jolene, of Funky Monkey Girls! She recognized me from my profile picture and introduced herself and her Mom. This encounter reminded me that I really need to stop being so anti-social, it's silly for me to live in the same city as someone and only see them at gem show!

I'm going to try to make daily updates during the show, for those friends who are living vicariously through me, but it may be hard. My schedule for the rest of the week:
Monday: Gym, grocery shopping, finish "Luna Fae" necklace, string three packages of crystals, do laundry.
Tuesday: Show set-up starts at 10am. Beadwork magazine party afterwards.
Wednesday: Working Best Bead Show, 10am-8pm. Oh, how I hate Wednesdays! Afterwards, gaming at my place, finish "Luna Fae" if I failed on Monday.
Thursday: Work Best Bead, take off early at 5 to go to dance class in Tempe.
Friday: Work as usual, followed by Swarovski party. Probably grab food on the way home, if last year's party is any indication.
Saturday: Work, then awesome dinner!
Sunday: Show closes at 5, possibly stay for tear-down.
Monday again: Run over to To Bead True Blue, except it's called Tucson Bead Show, and hope that Christi Friesen has a bead left with my name on it. Possibly also hit "metaphysical row" in search of jinglies. Technically I should also go to the gym, and go grocery shopping -- any bets on whether that actually happens?

Best Bead Today!

It was a small show today, and not very crowded at all. There were no cheap Afghani coins (I really should have bought several strands last year!), the cab guy from last year wasn't there, and Jane's Fiber and Beads did not have the seeds I need for Cthulhu.

That said, I still had fun! Chris talked me into buying a glass ring as my first purchase. Then I purchased the beads on the right, a mini-focal and four spacers in black and raku. Lousy picture, so you can't see the beautiful rainbow colors. They'll make a nice goes-with-everything necklace. In the center, some new beads from Green Girl Studio (well, the Medusa coin isn't a new design, but I like mine so much I decided I should make one up for sale, too). On the left, three gorgeous lampworked cabs from Dolly Ahles. The top two are for me, hopefully I'll have time to make them into something before Tahoe, because I have the perfect dress to go with. The bottom one is for the brooch swap at Tahoe.

I'm very happy that Best Bead has moved the September show to the same location that the February show is held in. It's more convenient, the perfect size, and the vendors who I spoke to all seemed to be happier with it. Now if they could just attract a few more awesome vendors for my shopping pleasure!

Best Bead Tomorrow!

Tomorrow I'm going to the Best Bead Show for a little shopping. Only a little, because the Tahoe retreat is less than 3 weeks away, so I really need to save my money for kits, souveniers, oh yeah, and food. I guess I'll need some of that.

I'm looking forward to the show, not only because I'll hopefully score more Cthulhu-green beads, but because Green Girl Studios will be there, and of course, awesome local lampwork artist Margaret Zinser. I'm sure there will also be lots of other great vendors to tempt me with their wares. After all, last year I came home with gorgeous cabochons and a strand of Afghani coins (most of which went into my bra, so if I get the chance to replenish my stash, I will).

Cthulhu hitches a ride.

Cthulhu hitched a ride in my purse today, accompanying me on a trip to Long Beach to meet a friend. It's hard to tell in this pictue, but I've finished the top of his head, finally. I didn't get a chance to work on him during my flight out, due to the tight space in the airplane, but I've stolen a few minutes here and there to work on him.

However, Cthulhu didn't get to come bead shopping with me today, because I didn't trust him not to escape my purse and wreak untold havoc on the sanity of the bead store employees.

We went to three stores today. Wherefore Art Thou, a small shop where I found nothing to buy, my usual standby of Ace Handicraft, where I bought a bunch of key pendants, some vintage beads, and a couple of neat focals, and Beads and Stitches, where I found some matte pearl Czech glass and other neat things.

Tomorrow we're off to NYC for shopping, site-seeing and Wicked!

Gem Show Pictures

Many people have been asking me for pictures of my gem show purchases, so here are a few highlights. Above is my steampunk dragon from Christi Friesen. She said that he didn't have a name yet, so it was my responsibility to name him. So I'd like to introduce you to Thaddeus P. Gearsmith, gentleman inventor. Don't let his rakish good looks throw you off -- he's really quite brilliant.
A selection of the strands that I purchased at Gem Mall. Some of them aren't even green!
Christi also had some new molded beads that she's calling amulets. I was going to buy a dragon, but ended up getting a phoenix instead. And then there's this yummy glass cab, but I forgot the artist's name. It's purple, instead of green. I have a purple top that needs a necklace to go with it.
Margaret Zinser now offers miniature versions of several of her bead styles, so I got a miniature talisman (left) and a miniature maze (right). And I met Margaret's new roommate, JC Herrell, who made the yummy mendi-inspired bead in the center.

More pictures, along with stories, coming throughout the week.

Gem Mall Haul

Ok, clearly I need to stop taking lazy pictures on my desk, because they turn out all blah-like. Nonetheless, here are some goodies from my Gem Mall trip. From left to right: A green stone carving of a bug on a leaf; an opalized ammonite, a teardrop of some pretty green and crystal stone, a turquoise carving with a lizard and flowers, a boulder opal, and another turquoise lizard. I picked all of these up from Intrinsic Trading, and they're all drilled to be used as pendants. With the exception of the first two, they're also all flat enough to be used as cabs if I prefer. I love versatile components!

So. Gem Mall. Always a must-shop for me. Has been ever since my friend Schermo snuck Chris and I in because she wanted to go say Hi to her friend Marie (yes, Marie from East of Oz, my favorite vintage supplier!). It's a very nice tent show, with a real floor and solid-ish walls and climate control and good lighting and good parking, and lots of quality vendors whom I frequent year after year.

After waiting in a long line to register, we popped in to the usual entrace, which I always go in because it's right next to Lanshang, where I get my crystal fix. I only needed a dozen colors of crystals this year, and they had them all. Nice. Then it was around the perimeter. Hit Sandy Schor again for more vintage keys. There was someone already digging through the keys when we got there. She proceeded to move on to watch movements. Clearly, a competitor in the steampunk jewelry business. Luckily, she did not take all of the good keys. I found some beauties. Chris helped. We even found a couple big, manly keys.

Next stop, of course, was Raven's Journey, where I chatted and shopped for pretty glass. I got some firepolished, some leaves, and these weird little spade-shaped drops in a weird shimmery green color. Plus gorgeous buttons and a ceramic raven pendant. At that point, I had purchased everything that I went to Gem Mall for, and intended to just browse the rest of the show.

The flaw in this plan is that I had Chris with me, and he is quite the little arm-twister. That's how I ended up with half a dozen stone carvings that I originally had no intention of buying, plus some pyrite, green kyanite, and seraphinite from the same vendor. I don't normally buy a lot of stone beads, but these were very high quality for what struck me as a nice price, and the pyrite and seraphinite match cabs that I already had at home. The kyanite is just something that I've personally wanted for a while, and since it's green, it will get used.

The other impulse stop was Da Beads, where there was lots more Czech glass to be had. Because their beads were by the strand, instead of by the hank, I was able to pick up some weird beads that I will really only use a few of. Plus more nice Czech buttons, and a handful of made-in-the-USA dyed silk ribbons, which are nice to put things like rivoli pendants on (I've wanted some for a while, and the price was right).

After that, I was pretty much done shopping. I looked at some cabs, but ended up deciding that I would rather buy a few very nice cabs (like what I got from Gary Wilson at the September show), than a lot of < $5 cabs that had no real "wow" factor. We didn't even go to the second tent, as it was a lot warmer than I had expected and I was roasting alive in my long-sleeved tee and just wanted to take my heavy bag-o-swag home.

Tomorrow: To Bead True Blue!

Not quite white

Well, I went to start Snow Queen today, and it didn't work out because the Crystal Moonlight rivoli has a slight yellowish tint to it that looked bad against the white seed beads. Not to be deterred, brought up the Whimbeads website and ordered a plain ol' crystal rivoli instead -- as well as some chain, some Delicas, and some of those new-fangled size 15 Delicas. Because, you know, I had to make the order worth the cost of shipping (ok, I went beyond that. Maybe I felt the need for a little retail therapy...).

The annoying part in all of this is that I'm using the same color Delica and Japanese 11 for this project... and I accidentally dumped the Delicas into the 11s tube when I was cleaning up! Sorting them back out from each other will not be a fun task. I think I might save it for the Wednesday game, that way I don't have to worry about a cat jumping up onto my desk and mixing them right back up.

Anyway, in the meantime, I felt like I should bead something, so I made a green and green crystal bracelet, using some of the colors from the Turtle Talisman. I'm also going to make some earrings with a pair of the turtle beads and some crystals... That way if someone is so inclined, they could get a matching green turtle set. I'll list the bracelet and earrings on Etsy tomorrow or Wednesday, depending on when I get them photographed.