Bead Fest!

I completely forgot to update you on my fun day at Bead Fest Philadelphia on August 22nd. I arrived at the Valley Forge Convention Center and met Lissa who was waiting outside. As we were waiting for Judy, I ran into a couple of friends who were on their way for a day of bead shopping (Hi Gretchen and Lindsay!) Judy made it just as Lissa and I were going to go in and leave her behind, and we made our way through the line to get tickets.

pink chalcedony, prehnite, amethyst spiral twist, multi-gems

We decided to go straight to our friend Sanjay of Shri Impex, whose showroom we got to rampage through in June. Judy met up with a couple of her friends and we spent a good hour chatting with Sanjay, in between squeals of “Look at these!” and “I want it!” While Judy was still deliberating on some final choices, Lissa went looking for lampworked glass and I discovered the pearl vendors across the aisle from Sanjay’s booth.

I found some great fall colors in pearls and some pretty light bronze large keshi pearls.

freshwater pearls for fall

I also got to see my friend Jerry of Singaraja Imports, who had my favorite filigree rectangles in vermeil as well as sterling, and T-Beads Glass – I showed her the earrings I made using her beads which are gracing my business card.

my design using T-Beads Glass floral beads

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All in all, I’d say all three of us had a successful day – Lissa’s top purchase had to be the lovely carved tourmaline leaves, the humongous crystal quartz faceted teardrops and (my favorite) amethyst slices of stalactite.

carved tourmaline leaves

faceted top-drilled prasiolite

Judy also had some amazing finds – my favorites were the white topaz and all of her pink amethysts.

white topaz faceted nuggets

pink amethyst in all shapes and sizes

There were so many great vendors at Bead Fest, I can’t name them all, you’ll have to see for yourself. I overdid myself, but I’ll recover in time for Intergem.

Stay tuned for the fantastic creations to come!

                                                                                  

i’m back!

Sorry for the lapse – I told myself not to skip more than a couple of days between posts, and it’s been almost two weeks. I will blame it on the craziness at the library as we prepare for the re-opening next week. Today I had some excitement, my earrings from Tiger Burning Bright Jewellry were picked up at the post office and they’re beautiful – I can’t wait to wear them. Luckily, I just happened to have my camera with me, so I could photograph the package in our new workroom at the library, which has lots of light…

package fresh from the post office

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

earrings and customs label

I plan on wearing them tomorrow – hopefully I’ll have someone photograph the earrings in situ.

Thanks Freya!

exciting weekend

It took me a couple of days to recuperate from my fun day at the Philadelphia Folk Festival. Two of my friends are big fans of the band Great Big Sea, so we packed up Jen’s CRV with her two-year old Emma, me and Sherri and headed for the wilds of Schwenksville (Her husband Matt had to travel separately with his buddy Mark). It was an amazing day, filled with wonderful music, good food (Thanks Wawa!) and sunshine. My favorite acts of the day were Beausoleil, a wonderful Cajun band, who had the crowd hollering and dancing, Hoots and Hellmouth, a Philadelphia band with a very devoted following – people were on their feet the entire time they played, and of course Great Big Sea. Emma knew a lot of the lyrics, Jen was amazed that Emma knew a lot more songs than she realized, and even I know the words to “The Old Black Rum”.

Beausoleil on stage

Emma dancing with Daddy

blurry Great Big Sea at night

I managed to make my way over to the craft booths and spent some time looking at the really cool and unique crafts available. My two favorite things were of course purchased right on the spot, and I can’t wait for you to see them – of course I bought a piece of jewelry first, a beautiful pair of tatted lace and seed bead earrings by Elizabeth Zipay, of Elizabeth’s Lace. Elizabeth learned how to tat from her grandmother, and found a unique way to integrate the lace into jewelry. She uses color very boldly, which makes the stitches pop even more. My second purchase was an amazing photograph by Armond Scavo of Earth Light Images. He has a keen eye and has collections ranging from his travels abroad and around his hometown of Philadelphia. He has a collection of photos entitled “Imaginary Landscapes” which immediately caught my eye, and when I talked with him about them, I found out why I was so drawn to the series. The images in “Imaginary Landscapes” are slices of jasper which he photographs, pulling scenes out of the colors and striations – perfect art for a jewelry enthusiast.

Everything about the day was great – we had perfect weather to be outside and the volunteers and staff have the smoothest running festival I’ve ever been to, even parking was easy and we got to ride on a schoolbus from the parking lot to the venue. Folk music is not usually to my taste, but I will definitely come back to Schwenksville.

rose pendant that matches my earrings

tree and rainbow from Imaginary Landscapes

no motivation

I told you all about the new beads I received this week, and I was so excited to come home and work with the beads, but when I got settled at my workstation tonight, I was completely uninspired. I looked at the hydro quartz, but I decided I didn’t have the right colors to make something with it, so I pulled out some pearls, but they weren’t the right size.

I then pulled out a couple of different sterling bead styles and – nothing. I’m feeling very discouraged, usually when I get new beads, I start working with them right away. I think I’m going through a design funk-I have ideas, but not the right colors/sizes to work them out. It made me realize that a lot of the beads I’ve bought lately were very special, but I’ve neglected my basic beads – I need to build up my basic shapes and sizes. Lucky for me, Bead Fest is around the corner.

the beads have arrived!

One batch arrived Monday, but I wanted to wait until I got them all to show them off. I was so excited that I finally got some smooth briolettes – I could never seem to find the size(s) I wanted, but would see them in other people’s designs. Of course, this doesn’t mean I won’t keep looking - Bead Fest in 1 week, Intergem in 1 month!

new beads!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

close-up of smooth briolettes