Philadelphia BeadFest 2010

When I booked this trip months ago, it seemed like it would never get here.  And then it was gone in a blink of an eye.  Cas came over Thursday night and we hung out while I made Mississippi Mud Cake and then video chatted with Lorelei and Nancy.  We left the house early Friday morning for the airport.  And of course we had to have our cameras out to document every moment. 

As I was refilling my water bottle that I always carry with me, I spilled and soaked my jeans.  So not only did I look like I peed my pants before getting on the plane, I was damp for the next four hours.  But that didn't put a damper on my excitement!  There was our plane :)

And here we are before we even pulled out of the gate :)

Goodbye Atlanta!

Hello 33,000 feet!

And hello Philadelphia!

Lorelei had her little Flip movie camera out as we met in baggage claim and I was shooting from my waist.  It was only two weeks since I saw Lorelei, but it felt like longer.  Always so good to see good friends in person.  And this was the first time Cas or I met Nancy.  I think it's fair to say we liked her right from the start.

After we got checked into our hotel room, we headed to the other side of the building and down the stairs to BeadFest!  There were hundreds of vendors lined up in row after row after row.

Who doesn't need gaudy, plastic roses in every color? :D  I think they would be perfect for the top of birthday cakes!

Not sure if that green is rhyolite or just dyed stones like the rest.  Hard to tell on so many, since they were not all marked.

I don't know what I would do with these big beads, but I loved how they looked.

Cathy Collison of Trinket Foundry had these fun bottle cap beads.

I lurve turquoise!

Sara of C-Koop beads didn't disappoint with all of her beautifully enameled pieces in every color of the rainbow.  I still have some of her beads and clasps from last year, so I restrained myself from buying any this year.

There were cabochons galore, which made Cas happy.  I think she bought a ton and can't wait to see the gorgeous rings she makes out of them!

We had barely walked into the show when we bumped into Marsha from Marsha Neal Studio and talked for awhile and took pics.

Then Kerry Bogert of Kabs Concepts joined us and we had to take more pics :)

Then it was back to shopping.  There were many cool little stamps.

And all kinds of bottles for finishing metals, but they were all considered hazmat materials which I would not have been allowed to bring on the plane.  Bummer.

Here are Diane Hawkey, Melanie Brooks, Kerry and Lorelei cheesing for me.  We all went out to dinner Friday night, along with Cas and Nancy.  It was a fun girls night out!

I thought these white beads looked just like ice.

Sunday morning we met Mary Jane and she was wonderful.  We all wished we could have spent more time with her, but she had to run into a classroom.  And just as we were leaving for the airport later, she caught a 90 minute break.  I'm sure Lori and Nancy were wishing Cas and I had our own car at that point.  Maybe next year it will work out better.

I finally got into a pic with Diane and Melanie!

Before we left the hotel, we did another turn with our cameras.  Check out the ring Cas made and gave to Lorelei!

I wasn't ready for the weekend to end.  I had so much fun with my girlfriends and spent so much of the time laughing.  It was good for my soul.  It was fun shopping with fellow artists and hearing their opinions and experience regarding different materials and also vendors.  This weekend sparked my creativity and has inspired me to break out in some new directions.  

This weekend has also solidified my feelings that it is time to end the wait list on the eggs.  I have been making them for over 6 months now on this custom request line.  While it has been extremely fun and I have been pushed to find new combinations and perfect my technique in shaping beads, it has also stopped me from trying new things or making other beads to put in my shop.  I don't want to come to a point where I hate eggs and never want to make one or look at one again, so I am stopping now.  The people who are on the list will still get their eggs.  After that, I am taking a break.  But don't get too upset.  I know someone who is going to be making her own eggs soon and can't wait to share more on that with you after she is ready. :)

Everybody's Workin for the Weekend!

I am so glad the weekend is almost here.  I have spent too many nights working until midnight and last night was another.  For this reason, I'm ready for fall to come (whoever thought I'd say that?  I freeze when it goes under 85F) to help bring a close to summer storms and construction that wreak havoc on phone company networks.

This time next Friday, I will be headed to the airport with Cassandra to fly up to Philadelphia.  Lorelei and Nancy will be driving down from New York to pick us up before heading to BeadFest 2010!!!  I know there will be tons of vendors and I'm really looking forward to meeting so many new people and folks I know only online.  Give me a shout out if you're going to be there next weekend.  I would LOVE to meet you!

I had wanted to get on the torch last night, but it was thundering and that made me nervous about having my kiln turned on.  So I skipped torching and got those two focals above listed in my Etsy shop.  Since I was already up so late for work, I thought I would sit outside before going to bed to look for the Perseids.  But all I saw was tons of stars and a coupla of airplanes flying low.  Maybe I will be luckier this weekend.

I plan on being on the torch tonight after I get the kids in bed.  Onto Gigi's eggs!  And hoping for more torch time this weekend to make even more eggs.  My goal is to get caught up on that wait list before I leave next Friday, but I think that might be unrealistic....we'll see. :)

With that, I will leave you with this 80s music video of Everybody's Workin for the Weekend.  It gets me jumping and dancing, full of energy and ready to start this weekend!  Tomorrow night I am having dinner out with my Mom and then we are going to see Eat Pray Love.  Woot!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  I should have lots of new egg pics to show you on Monday!

How My Weekend Was Made

While I did run many errands this weekend, went to a rollerskating birthday party for a seven year old and zipped around the rink clicking away on my camera, the highlights were really bead related.

First:
Keirsten Giles of Lune Designs posted about my beads that she received as the surprise tundra recipient.  She had already emailed me her reaction in chronological ordered steps.  I LOVE this! 

1) (get package) mild bewilderment (what did I buy?) 2) (look at return address) deeper bewilderment (I bought that?). 3) (open package, read note, drop jaw.) Get out. GET OUT!!! OMG!! GET OUT!!! 4) (open box, look at beads) SCORE!!! I SCORED!!! SCORE!!! (stand up, do a little dance) 5) (sit down again) Awwww!!! She likes me! She really really likes me! 6) O. M. G. 7) (very) brief moment of stunned silence. 8) dawning admiration for sly and very effective crack dealer marketing scheme. 9) bead fondling. 10) Repeat #9 as necessary throughout the day.

Second:
Between the two days, I made over four dozen new beads. The sun peeped out on Sunday, which allowed a little photoshoot. I got more than a handful of new sets listed last night. Lorelei scooped up the nuggets before I even got them all listed.  To make sure no one else could snatch them out before she got them, she had me change all the listings for nuggets to RESERVED just for her.  :)

Third:
Lorelei left this feedback for me in my Etsy shop on these beads:

When I opened this box of beads, the bright and beautiful colors just about knocked me on badunkadunk. Gorgeous beads, one of the best lampworkers on etsy. thank you for your fast shipping and your willingness to create custom work. I thank you from the bottom of my beady heart.

Lorelei has been one of my regular customers from the very first month I opened my Etsy shop over a year ago.   Her blog and jewelry designs using my beads have most definitely generated extra traffic to my own blog and shop, as well as new sales (so cool!).  In the process of doing business, we have become friends.  She makes me laugh and I count on her as a sounding board for ideas and honest feedback.  Her feedback enthusiasm was part of what inspired me to sit down at the torch to make dozens of new nuggets this weekend.  But it also meant alot to me to hear that my beads were valued by a good friend.

Fourth:
I booked the hotel room for BeadFest 2010 in Philadelphia this August.  It will be filled with the major talent of Lorelei, Cassandra, Nancy and myself.  I'm so excited and CAN! NOT! WAIT!  I booked my flight and am waiting on Cas to book hers.  I'm hoping she can get the seat next to mine because her company on the planes will be FUN.  She's already talking about stuffing our pockets with earrings to use as bribes so people will move for us to sit together if that seat is taken when she books her flight.  A weekend away!  With GIRLFRIENDS!  AND BEADS!  WOO FLIPPIN HOO!!!!

Take Aways from BeadFest 2009

I normally stick to the local bead shows that come through Atlanta, although I did hit many bead shows in Tucson in February 2008. I never would have gone to BeadFest 2009 in Philadelphia had Lorelei not invited me a month ago. She has been one of my loyal customers since near the time I opened my Etsy shop in early 2008 and has always given me credit for my beads in her designs, which is so outstanding of her.

This year we have become friends. I enjoy chatting with her every day, which is awesome at helping the day go by soooo much faster. She often makes me laugh so hard that I cry. When she invited me up to Philly, there was no hesitation in my mind that I would go. I absolutely wanted to meet her to see if she was as cool in person as on the phone or in emails or instant messages. Before we had even made it out of the parking garage at the Philadelphia airport, I knew she was all that AND a bag of chips. Or beads. :)

My buying goals for BeadFest were to find some small, delicate chain and a few cool clasps. I had no intentions of buying much at all.

Seriously.

These are the cool donut beads I bought from Kristie. I would love to see Kristie in action while she's burning wood and Lord knows what else as she makes these smoky donuts. When I play with fire at my torch, it is totally controlled with a stationary flame because the torch is screwed to the table. When Kristie talked about her process for making fires and smoking out these cool beads, I had the evil scientist laugh going on in the back of my head. Because that's how I would be laughing if I was making big fires. But that's just me.
Or Marsha's pendants that completely captivate me with their scrollwork designs. I bought these with the intention of putting one at my torch table for added inspiration and sending the other as a gift. But I might need to hang on to both. At least for awhile.


Lorelei did squat to help rein me in and not buy beads. In fact she unknowingly encouraged me to spend a ton of $$$ by introducing me to all of these wonderful artists that she already knew through buying their beads. At one point, there may have been a little clapping combined with jumping up and down as she said "I'm so excited you are buying ART BEADS!"

Here is some very cool Rhyolite that has wonderful colors coming out in different patterns on every bead (thanks Lorelei for splitting this strand with me!).
Cool magnetic clasps and toggles. Lorelei also bought some of Sara's beads...can't wait to see what she does with them!

I bought these two silver rings that I thought were really neat. I have been wanting rings for my thumbs for a long time, although not with the intention of wearing both at the same time.

Lorelei also introduced me to the Bello Modo shop that had tons of cool Vintaj Brass beads and toggles, although I fought hard against the impulse to buy any since all of the metal I use is sterling and I really don't need to get into another metal. Really. I'm sure my husband would agree. But it was sooo hard. They had turtles. Turtles! Reminded me of my Aunt Judy's turtle collection from when I was a child.

And humblebeads made out of polymer clay by Heather Powers. Such great color combinations! The set on the left perfectly matches Van Gogh's Starry Night painting, which I have hanging in my daughter's room.

LOTS of silver bead caps and cones (the cones are wonderful for finishing the ends of multi-strand necklaces!) that I loved for their carved designs and geometric shapes.

Beads and charms from Green Girl Studios and two copper bezels that Andrew threw in as an added bonus if I promised to slump some of my broken beads inside them to make super cool pendants. I promised I would try. Please Lord, let me be hit with beginner's luck for glass slumping in my kiln and make him proud!

And the flip side of all these lovelies. I really like the inspirational words or quotes on each one of these!

And the last of my loot are a few cabs that I purchased from Gary. He was a knowledgeable guy and most friendly. If only all vendors were so congenial. although these are not for me, but for my friend Cas. Happy early birthday and merry Christmas, Cas!

Cas, I'll be getting these in the mail to you this week. :) Cas makes the coolest rings ever....I can't wait to see what she does with these! Check out her Etsy shop and click on the Rings section over to the right.

Besides going to BeadFest on Saturday (ALL DAY LONG and boy were my feet sore!) and Sunday morning, we made it out to dinner on Friday night and saw Julie & Julia on Saturday night. Beth joined us for our evening activities, as well as returning to the hotel with us for wine, Mississippi Mud Cake that I made the day before I left and bead/jewelry talk.

I don't remember the last time I had a Girls Weekend, but I was long over due and this weekend could not have been any better. Aside from sitting on the tarmac for over an hour before taking off in Philly or the hour and a half on I-75 coming home because a really bad accident closed all four lanes. But at that point, I didn't even feel the smallest amount of frustration with either delay. I had had a simply fantastic weekend and nothing was going to take that away from me.

Nothing.

I feel rejuvenated from the weekend. I am filled with inspiration to make new beads. I'm excited about making jewelry again after taking a year off from making ANY jewelry. My store of patience, which had felt rather low before the weekend, seems to be overflowing now. I feel more at peace with my life, my husband, my kids, my work and my torch.

Amazing what girlfriends can do for the soul without even knowing it.

Take Aways

1 hotel room
+
a flight to Philadelphia
+
weekend with Lorelei
+
new friends
+
TONS of beads
=
PRICELESS!

BeadFest 2009 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

This is the hotel/convention center where the BeadFest was held just outside of Philadelphia in the King of Prussia/Valley Forge area. The convention center was over to the left, but still attached to the hotel. Very large maze of hallways to walk through, which made me feel a little bit like I was in the hotel in The Shining.


Lorelei drove down from Upstate New York and picked me up at the Philadelphia airport. We chilled at the hotel for awhile before Beth Anderson picked us up and we went out to dinner together. Beth is a very kind and caring woman, I'm so glad I got to meet her. Check out her blog and etsy shop. Beth gave the best 'good-bye' hugs and I felt like we were family.

Check out Lorelei holding up the new ChainStyle book. She has NINE designs included in this book and her work is on the COVER of the book. How exciting to see it in print (finally!), but it will be another month or so before the publisher starts sending out copies to everyone who pre-ordered. btw, that's my ivory lentil bead on the right side :)

This is just one of many rows of vendor booths on the main floor of BeadFest. It was really overwhelming walking in and seeing so many shops set up with beads, Beads, BEADS everywhere!

There was a humblebeads section designated front and center at the Bello Modo booth. Very cool seeing Heather's beads in person. I bought two little sets to watch over me at my torch for inspiration. I love the colors and rings of color echoing each other all over the beads.

These bright enamel beads were made by Sara Lukkonen of C-Koop Beads. I bought several of her magnetic clasps which are the rounds in the foreground and also some of her toggles. The magnets are very strong inside the clasps, but easy to work. I'm excited to use them!

These were some Buddhist monk beads at Hands of the Hills, Inc. I bought two really cool silver rings from them.

Look at all the colors of Marsha Neal's ceramic beads. Delicious! Marsha was so full of upbeat energy and humor...I LOVED spending time in her booth. If she was my neighbor, I would probably be sneaking into her kitchen at night after the kids go to bed to talk over coffee. And I don't even drink coffee! Her beads were so cool with wonderful glazes and mesmerizing patterns.
Here are some very cool shards that had holes in the middle for use as toggles or at the end for focals.

I got many pics of Marsha and Lorelei laughing and having a great time, but I like this one the best. It makes me smile and wish I was back in Marsha's booth. You can check out more of Marsha's beads in her Etsy shop.

These donut beads were made by Kristie Roeder (pronounced raider, like Raiders of the Lost Ark) of Artisan Clay. I would like to sit in Kristie's studio and watch her work because the process sounded absolutely fascinating. She binds her donuts in string or twine and then sets fire to whatever wood or other combustibles she can find to smoke out her works of clay. They turn these beautiful shades of greys, browns, blacks and grey and look like they were dug up from the ground from thousands of years ago. I bought some of these, too. :)

Here is Kristie with Lorelei. I didn't think she was going to stand still because she was just jumping-up-and-down excited to be at BeadFest, and perhaps just to be alive. If I had one tenth of Kristie's energy, I KNOW I could get everything done in one day that I want/need to accomplish. She is another whom I wish I lived closer to so I could walk into her studio.

It wasn't too long ago that I became Facebook friends with Julie Nordine of Credit River Art Glass. She is an incredible lampworker (in spite of occasional 3rd degree burns on her thumbs) and it was a complete shocker to come upon her booth at BeadFest. I had no idea she was going to be there, but I'm so glad I got to see her work in person and just get to stop and chat. Julie was very cool and I might have to crash her studio next summer when we drive back up to Minnesota! I wanted to buy one of her acorn or birdhouse beads, but I was out of money. Something new on my Wish List. :)

Here is the Green Girl Studios booth with so many ultra-cool charms, beads and clasps. I enjoyed getting to sit down and talk to Andrew Thornton and Will while they ran the booth. Andrew traded me a few beads for some of my lampwork beads, which I thought was awesome! Will and I traded thoughts on iPhone apps and now I am addicted to Flood-It.

We got Will to take our picture and Lorelei ducked down so I wouldn't look like so much of a midget. Can you tell she was amused by playing the shorty?

So this little weekend getaway started a month ago when Lorelei asked if I wanted to fly to Philadelphia to go to BeadFest. I had no idea what BeadFest was, but I jumped at the chance to get to meet her in person and spend the weekend hanging out together. I booked the plane ticket and hotel room almost right away and then added the weekend to my countdown app on my iPhone. I am so thankful for this opportunity to meet so many extremely talented artists, make new friends and get away from the normal routine at home/work for a couple of days.

I'm glad to be home. Sleeping in my own bed (fyi - those sleep number beds or overpriced crocks of air mattresses!) and snuggling my kids.

I'm glad to be home. My levels of patience were restored with this little break. I'm filled with a new level of calmness and a feeling of being at peace with my life.

I am inspired.

p.s. Check out Lorelei's account of the weekend here.