Bead Fest Recap

I am so sad it's over! I drove down on Friday morning, dropped my stuff off at the hotel and ran over to the show to enjoy some shopping time before it closed. I love walking through the show and saying hello to all of my favorite vendors and seeing fellow shoppers!  I did most of my shopping on Friday afternoon.  Here is some of the loot. I did forget to photograph the Green Girl beads. And I am not showing some other great artwork because it's touted for some publication submissions.... but here is the gist of what I brought home with me.

 Polymer from Second Surf- It was so fun to meet Barb Bechtel for the first time in person. She is drop dead gorgeous and a fun girl to chat with! I picked up some of her faceted rounds, and another Elephant.

 Stocked up on my Elaine Ray beads from Ornamentea. Got a bunch of a rounds, some double drilled rectangular beads, some flower beads, and small rounds (not pictured) I also got this set, and have so many cool ideas for it!

 My splurge beads at this show were these 2 sets from the uber talented Joan Miller Porcelain. LOVE THESE! And will most likely hoard them for an eternity!

 Finally got to meet Sue Kennedy of Sue Beads! She is such a doll, and her beads are some of my favorites. I picked up some ribbed rounds, sugared spacers, and cutie eggs!

 Got to see Sara of C-Koop Beads, and we chatted a long time. One of my favorite booths at the show and what made it even better was her booth partner, Kristi Evenson of CB&Co. My gosh, I wanted EVERYTHING at her booth, including the finished jewelry! It was amazing stuff! I did get a few pieces that I plan to use in an upcoming magazine submission! They are a lovely pair, and I do hope they pair up again for future shows!

 Anne of Gardanne Beads was at this show for the first time! She had a lovely display of both her enamel and her lampwork glass, I picked up a little bit of both! I love Anne, and wish so badly that we lived closer to each other. She's such an inspiration, and I love getting advice and talking shop with her.

These Raku beauties came from a new booth/vendor that I hadn't seen before. Xaz Bead Company offers raku beads from Amy Mealey. I loved the sets, and singles and their shop is definitely on my radar from now on! Check out their site!!!

 These were the only strands I bought, some small coral rounds and faceted rounds from Holy & Pure Gemstone Inc. I just love the color and they are tiny! The price was great too, all the strands were like 75% off.

I actually had a shopping list this time, and beading wire was at the top of that list. I stocked up on some beading wire from the Soft Flex Co. booth! Got some of their cool colored wire, and a few spools of the bronze and silver.

On Friday night we went out for our annual bead fest dinner at Legal Seafoods.  The food is always amazing there. Had a good time chatting with everyone. Amy Freeland and her husband came all the way from California for the show. I adore Amy and we had fun shopping together and hooting it up at the show. She is quite funny and I was in stitches, most of the time.  Her husband is a doll and I totally wish we were closer- I know we would be attached at the hip.

photo credit: Andrew Thornton

Got to see my co-author and friend Erin Siegel again. She brought along her mother in law, Nancy Siegel. Erin taught a class on Saturday morning and from what I gather it was a total success!  We signed some books at the Primitive Earth booth on Saturday afternoon. We were so thankful that they hosted our signing. It was a fun time.

While there, I roomed with new friend Karen Totten of Starry Road Studio! Loved chatting with her and brainstorming new ideas for beads.  We got up on Saturday and headed back to the show. I did a bit more shopping that day but most of my bead budget was blown on Friday so it was more about networking and chatting with people. Got to see Andrew Thornton for a short while which was nice. He wants Erin and I to come down to his shop in Ligonier P.A. to do some jewelry classes and maybe a book signing. Excited to talk more about this soon.

(head pins from Gardanne Beads booth)

On Saturday afternoon we all got together in the concession area for our annual Art Bead swap! I had two partners for this,  Karen Totten and also Jan Onipenco. It's always fun to swap beads, and get something new to play with.
Karen gave me a baggie full of her own beads, and some of Joan Miller's porcelain beads, and I also was a lucky recipient of some of this fiber coated wire from Karen's daughter's shop, Yarn Sweet Yarn. She doesn't have any of this awesome handspun Fiber Wire listed but if you want some, let Karen know!

 above: Starry Road Studio bronze charms and ceramic components

 above- Joan Miller Porcelain

Fiber Wire from Yarn Sweet Yarn

Jan Onipenco is a lampwork artist. Check out her shop, Molten Mayhem when it reopens. Her work is lovely and I had a great time selecting beads from my stash to give both of these talented girls.

Here is our fearless Bead Swap leader, Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl Studio.  Diana pulled some great prizes together for a giveaway at the end of the swap. I won a wonderful copper component from Kristi Bowman Designs. Of course, I forgot to photograph it but it looks a lot like this.

On Saturday night we all got together again at the Marriott Courtyard for some drinks and appetizers. It was a nice warm night and we chilled out on the patio in the courtyard. It was a great time. Here are a few candid shots that I took with my phone that evening.

As always, I am looking forward to next year. I missed having my partner in crime with me, Nancy Schindler so hopefully next year she doesn't take any last minute trips out of the country. :)

If you ordered any jewelry from my Etsy sale this weekend, I will be shipping these out tomorrow morning, Tues Aug 21. Sorry for the delay, but this blog post took forever to write and now I have to race to work!