Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Bead & Button Part II - The Loot


Despite the fact that I had my camera with me for once, I'm sorry to say that it never occurred to me to take photos of any of my friends or colleagues on the floor of the show. Gah. Robyn Hawk (aka A Fly on the Wall) actually tweeted me to take some pics, so I did do one big video pan of the marketplace - but now I can't seem to upload it correctly to the blog. Double Gah. And I call myself a blogger. It's just shameful. If I manage to figure out how to get the video up, I'll add it to this post later.

Needless to say, I had a great time - met several friends from email and Internet correspondence for the first time this year and also saw friends that I have not had a chance to see since the last Bead & Button show. I still didn't manage to get through the short list I put together before the show, though. Anyway, since I didn't have the presence of mind to photograph all of these lovely people while I was there (triple Gah), what I do have to show today are photos of some of their beautiful work and the general embarrassment of riches that made it home with me.

Above is one of the special fine silver polymer and resin pendants that Cynthia Thornton of Green Girl Studios makes for her shows. I saw the batch for this year's Bead & Button on Andrew's blog right before the show opened and immediately coveted the bird girls. I feel very lucky to be able to add one to my collection of treasures - thank you, Cynthia!



I've been getting into scarab symbolism in a big way these days, and you know how I love cyberpunk and steampunk, anyway, so I pretty much knew I'd be picking up one of Melanie's scarabs. However, I didn't realize how completely fantastically her Toolbox Treasures turned out (she fired them right before leaving for the show)! Isn't that big center pendant just gorgeous?



I love Diane Hawkey's work. I used one of her Beastie head beads (pictured above left) in my current favorite necklace (that I wore to the show), and I picked up another one for a new design on Sunday. Also, her rough-cut faceted beads are staples in my bead box - I use them for everything!



Here's a small sample of what I bought from Gary Wilson. Anyone who's seen my Bead Dreams piece will know why I wanted these. Above right is a bit of coprolite (fossilized dung) - I'd been looking for a nice bit to use in jewelry for several months now. The drilled bead in the bottom left is a very nice piece of dinosaur bone.



I always stop by Joan Miller's booth when I visit Bead & Button. I have a tough time at her booth, because I love pretty much all of her designs, so narrowing down my choices is pretty difficult. I love that new skull bead! I don't know if this is a one-off or if Joan intends to add it to her catalog, but I think it has great character.



Joan had work from other ceramic artists at her booth, including a variety of Kristie Roeder's beautiful ceramic and glass discs and donuts. I have big plans for this donut!



The only real disappointment I experienced at the show was when I learned from Kathy at A/D Adornments that she has decided to discontinue carrying gemstone. While I realize that A/D Adornments is best know for its chain, she always has interesting stone in unusual cuts. Here's some hexagonal-cut amethyst, garnet, kyanite and rough cut ruby that I picked up from her bargain bin. If you have the good fortune to see A/D Adornments at a show in the near future, be sure to check out not only her astonishing selection of chain but her remaining inventory of stone, as it is well-worth the look.


Finally, as I was wrapping up, I stopped by Barbara Becker Simon's booth. Although I've admired her lampwork and metal clay beads from books, this was my first time seeing her work in person (which is always the fun part of attending Bead & Button, right?). She had the projects from her new book on display there, which I found very interesting, but I ended up walking away with this cute cocktail ring.

Well, that's it for me. Needless to say, I'm on a bead diet now, but I certainly have a lot to play with for the forseeable future!

Thanks for visiting.

10 comments:

TesoriTrovati said...

What fun! I am enjoying seeing what others found for treasures. I will be sure to post mine soon as I have just finished cataloging it. I did stop by Ad Adornments. Got some funky little alien beads I call them. There is just no way to see it all, and now I have been admiring what all my bloggy friends got, I will have to mark those booths for next time. And by the way? Your Bead Dreams piece was amazing! So fresh and inspired and DIFFERENT from everything else there. Really intriguing. I hope to see more of that stuff in the future! Enjoy the day! Erin

Cynthia Thornton said...

You are very welcome! Love the loot! I also hit up Gary wilson and loved, loved his stuff. I picked up some amonites which I can't wait to string up! It was a lot of fun talking with you, wish we had a little longer!

RupaB said...

So did you have fun seeing your piece in the showcase????

I will never forget the moment when I first saw my work displayed....it was FUN.FUN.FUN!

I do hope you took some photos of the piece being displayed :) I usually forget to bring my camera, but have learnt to put it in my bag first. I was at Michaels the other day and happened to have my camera in the purse and guess what I had great fun taking a pic of me with three books that I was on cover of....felt good as I had never thought of taking a picture of the books before! If you friend me on Facebook....I will post it just for you :P

SuzyQ said...

Aye, that's a beauty of a treasure Mate!
:):)
Best -
sue

Cindy Lietz, Polymer Clay Tutor said...

Love, love love the bird girl pendant! Fabulous combination of three great materials... silver, polymer clay and resin. Wonderful artwork as well!

Unknown said...

Such wonderful treasures...I need to get to one of the shows! Thank you Melissa for showing what beautiful things and Artisians are out there.

Andrew Thornton said...

It was lovely to see you as always. Seems so strange that we've seen each other twice so far and within somewhat close of a space of time. It's strange but good. I hope you are able to squeeze in some of the Lavinia between the PMC reading... some of the passages have been haunting my thoughts... in a good way.

Unknown said...

I love the loot! Lots of nice goodies. :)

SueBeads said...

Melissa - you got some great things! Lucky!

AFlyOnTheWall said...

I just found this post - WOW - love the Gary Wilson score - I can't believe someone put a hole in a piece of dino bone with all that color!

Robyn Hawk
http://facebook.com/aflyonthewallblogs