Suburban Bead Bazaar

I made it to a local bead show about a week ago, so I thought I'd flash my new stash acquisitions. I say "local", but it's just far enough away that this was the first time for me to make the trek out there, although I believe the show has been going on for a couple years. Two of my friends, Melanie Brooks of Earthenwood Studio and Diane Hawkey, were exhibiting this time, and I decided it would be nice to see them before the Bead & Button Show - and it was!

I came away with a cool ceramic lock, flower button and skully focal from Diane. The skull bead appears in BEADS2010, along with some of Diane's other beautiful work. The photo is not terribly clear, but I believe if you click on it you will get a closer look at the beads, especially the skull.

I also bought one of Melanie's gorgeous resin-filled ceramic bezels - Dawn, from Chelsea's Beads - one of my go-to local bead stores - spotted it while we were chatting and insisted that I take it home with me. So really, I had no choice but to add it to my stash. Right? Right?

I also managed to pick up several clasps at Saki Silver - I love their work, beautifully detailed yet clean in design. I was so inspired by one of the silver clasps I bought that I used it just a few hours later in a design I ended up submitting to Bead Star. The one in the photo is from their line of shibuichi.

Those green stone beads are actually tumbled emeralds, if you can believe it. Kathy at A/D Adornments has the best eye for stone. I was so depressed when she told me last year that she was getting rid of her inventory of stone strands. Nevertheless, I still found these at her booth last week (the exception to the new rule, perhaps), and I'm completely smitten by them. Being tumbled, they have a wonderful texture - they pretty much beg to be touched.

Finally, being the, uh, generous person that I am, I helped Robert Jennick destash. He had a wonderful basket of beads from his personal collection set out at his booth, and I couldn't help but drool over this very beautiful strand of natural purple spiny oyster spikes. The color is quite vibrant in person and the shape of each bead is gorgeous.

As you can probably tell, this was an exceptionally nice show. Although it wasn't large, all my favorite people and vendors were there. I am a little worried, as the show didn't seem as busy as it ought to have been, but I hope it continues to have success in the future. I will certainly make an effort to go again in the fall.

The next show I attend will be the big one - Bead & Button! How about you?