I'll try to be heavier on pictures and lighter on words because I know you guys just want to see the loot. So let's get to it. First stop for Bead Fest is always Artisan Alley. I tried not to go too wild because I shop so many of my favorite artisan Etsy sites throughout the year that I really just wanted a chance to meet many of the people behind the beads. It was so fun to see Linda Landig selling her beads this year - go Linda! And one of my favorite Artisans to buy from flew all the way from England to join the show; Lesley Watt. What fun to meet her! She is just as nice in person as I thought she would be.
I also have a tiny thing ... ok kinda a problem with findings. I am absolutely in love with the ball clasp thingies. Can you tell? And then there were these cute little fish and bird clasps ... the bird ones open when you push down the tail. How cute is that? My young assistant, aka The Bead Girl, just had to have those. My absolute favorites were the fish with hooks in that yummy patina. Can't wait to match those up with some turquoise or something.... hmmmm
Ok, where next? Oh right, seed beads! Oh the seed beads. I could spend hours upon hours just digging through the colors, and sizes and shapes! There are so many new shapes these days with tilas, and duos, and superduos and what have you. I picked up beads by the half tube, the full tube, the hank, the strand and cluster. Look at those ones in the center called Picasso (right next to the half tubes). Aren't those gorgeous!
I got completely distracted by the stones, as I always do. I lost my bead show partners in crime (Melinda Orr and Linda Younkman) more than once. You know when you try to call or text a serious beady lady at Bead Fest they don't pick up? whatsup with that? I absolutely HAD to check out the jasper again this year. I picked up quite a lot of it last year, and seriously didn't need any more, but I couldn't help myself! Look at the reds in that Red Creek jasper. Then I found a total steal on strands of stone at 75% off. Say what? I picked up some green turquoise, lemon chrysoprase and I think that was picasso, but I completely forgot what the others were. I just love those rich earthy colors! The pendants aren't stones, but they sure are sweet.
Ok just one more set to show you all. It wouldn't be Bead Fest without a little swapping. You can see all the people swapping in the pictures I posted over at Creative Bead Chat on my article Behind the Scenes of Bead Fest. I got these awesome closures from my friend Linda Younkman and that cool leather snap closure from Melinda. The rest of the swap items were The Bead Girl who was running around handing out beads to everyone. A beader in the making to be sure. Bead Fest can be a bit overwhelming, to say the least. We were all talking about the 'Bead Hangover' come Monday morning. But I wouldn't miss it for the world. It is so much fun to meet everyone in person.
That is likely going to be one of the things I remember most about my first trip to Bead Fest. All the laughter. It was contagious. I think leading up to the event there is so much anticipation, and then let all these lovely bead ladies loose in a room together and you get a rush of energy where the chatter is seemingly endless. Oh, and then there is all the giggling that ran late into the night. We even managed to be so loud in Melinda Orr's suite that the manager kicked us out and down to the lobby. I felt like college kids getting in trouble.
My daughter managed to snap this picture of Linda Landig, and I just love how it captures her smile. Yes Anne, my 10 year old, was hanging with the bead ladies for the weekend. And made quite a few friends. I went back through pictures and manage to find Anne photo bombing a few of them. There she is jumping in right over Genea's head ... that's my girl! Not that she was alone. There were plenty of other photo bombers around. I think the queen is probably Amy.
I love how I caught this action series of Linda Younkman unsuspectingly. She was snapping pictures, only to find I was taking pictures of her! Once she realized it, we did a picture of the two of us taking pictures of each other. As I said ... pure silliness when you get this many bead ladies in a room. Or a patio as the case may be.
It was great meeting people in person after only knowing them through blogging. Like Sandi Volpe. She was too much fun to hang out with and just chat about the events of the weekend. And then there was Genea and Staci (I'm not sure I ever saw one without the other all weekend long). And I met Lea Avroch, and Sue Kennedy, and Anne Gardanne, and Jan Onipenco, and .... just so much talent all in one place. Truly an amazing weekend.
Yes, the Mother Load. I don't think I've ever seen so many beads all in one place before. My poor friend Linda Younkman was looking frazzled and on overload when I found her Friday afternoon wondering around Artisan Alley. She had already been there since the night before, so she had hours of shopping in before I met up with her. I really don't think I was much help because, well I'd only just started!
I got my bearings on Friday, and saved most of the 'loot shopping' for Saturday. So here is how it went down. It's not pretty my friends. I can't remember the names of all the shops, it is sort of like that hang over after a college party where you have no idea what happened the night before but you find a card in your pocket. I have a stack of cards from various stores visited in my shopping flurry, but if you ask me which one I got at what stand of beads ... I'd be hard pressed to remember how to piece the events together. I did at least label the beads so you know what they are. I was simply in LOVE, and I mean BIG LOVE with these jasper focals. Look at the colors in the Red Creek, or Sonora Sunset ... or how about the fine details in the lace. What about those drilled rocks with the turquoise inset? How friken cool are those? Yes my little focal friends I have plans for you. What? you don't talk to your beads?
Ok, moving on. There were these amazing strands of matte druzy. Holy cow are they cool. And I found the charlotte cut seed beads tuck away in a far corner of a store. Score! I just love these seed beads that I bought by the 'hank' ... oh yea, look at me going all technical on my bead terms. I really loved the heshi I saw everywhere and I did pick up some great titanium ones. Who knew I needed titanium? I even found heshi beads in turquoise and lapis.
But then I could not forget about my first love. Seed beads. I spent quite a bit of time here. I even lost my posse as they gave up all hope of me making it out alive. I did eventually emerge with quite a large stash of new seed beads the likes of which even Sally Russick seemed impressed by. Ok then, job well done.
Bead Fest was an amazing experience. I've never been, and I was really looking forward to meeting all my friends in person. My first day I spent most of my time walking through Artisan Alley meeting all those amazingly talent people who make the beads I love!
I had my personal photographer (my 10 year old daughter) with me who was very politely going up to people and asking if she could snap their pic. She got quite a few takers. But I can see that she and I were distracted by all the beads and didn't take as many as I would have liked! To see the rest, try this month's Bead Chat Magazine where we pulled in lots of pictures from the event. Above is Staci of Staci Louise of Artisan Accents, Diana of Suburban Girl Studio, Sue from Sue Beads and Jenny Davies-Reazor
And for a little show and tell, these are just a few of the gorgeous beads that came home with me. There were these awesome Roku faces by Amy and Daniel Mealey of XAZ Bead, and these super fun beads by Genea of Genea Beads (which I actually won in a swap - yay me!). I love this cool octopus by Karen Totten of Starry Road Studio which my daughter picked out for herself. She reminded me yesterday that I better get crack'n on making her necklace with 'her' octopus. And I just love these little head pins from Sandi Volpe. She shared these with quite a few of us, which was so sweet of her. They are so cool, and I know exactly what I want to do with mine. I'm just still looking at them a bit longer before I do that!
