Episode #92 wherein our intrepid author reveals old news

I can’t believe it’s taken me until Thursday to talk about the NEW BEAD STORE I found over the weekend. Right in my neck of the woods, too. It’s called OC Bead Store.

Now, I thought I was pretty up to date on all the bead-related doings in So Cal – stores, shows, etc. So, when I just heard about this place recently, I figured it must be new. After all, how old could it be when I, the great bead guru, only just learned about it.

So, imagine my surprise when I asked the owner if the store was new and how long they’d been in that location and she doubled over with laughter. The other customers in the store joined her in the laughingness which, really, I did not appreciate AT ALL. To be sure it’s perfectly odious to be laughed at by total strangers to whom one has not been properly introduced.

Ahem.

The kind owner then explained the reason for their laughter was that the store had been there for TWO AND A HALF YEARS!

Well, I am nothing if not totally well-informed and up on all the latest news.

Sigh.

But, I was, after all, in a bead store so I didn’t wallow in my misery for too long because I was distracted by all the bright and shiny things. The walls in this store are literally covered from floor to an arm’s length above my head with strand and strands of beads. All different kinds – stones, glass, crystals, pearls, oh my!

Then there are tables and tables of little dishes full of more yummy stuff – ancient Roman coins in silver and gold, chunks of coral dyed all sorts of colors, sea glass, etc. I was there for an hour and I don’t think I saw half of what they had to offer because I was just so dazzled.

The prices…could have been a bit better, but for an LBS, they were pretty good. They don’t offer much in the way of classes beyond basic beginning stringing. I think where this store stands out is in its incredible variety and selection. I had the hardest time deciding what to buy and definitely left some things I want to go back for…umm…next paycheck.

These are a bunch of strands of Czech glass that I got – stuck in my usual turquoise color rut, of course.

Then I just fell in love with this strand of Nevada lapis. Such delicate shades of lavender and moss green. There were other shapes, too, but I decided to go with the coin shape.

My pictures don’t show the colors really well, but the lavender is much more apparent in real life.

I'm still not sure why I bought these blue coral branches other than the color was so yummy and I never buy anything kind of funky like this so I thought it would fun to have something different for a change. I have NO IDEA what I'm going to do with them, of course.

Then, I ran into a bit of serendipity on one of the walls. A couple of strands of Czech glass – one gumball sized with a swirl design and one rectangular with an almost lava-like texture – happened to be hanging next to each other and the Muse saw them and went…HMMMMM….

The result is this necklace which I decided to call “Alien Earth.” I know, it’s kind of a weird name, but I watched a show on the Nat Geo channel with the kidlet over the weekend about how scientists are searching our galaxy (and beyond) for Earth-type planets. They’ve grouped the potentials into three categories – one of which has more carbon in its system than oxygen and is therefore going to have a surface bubbling with tar, oil and even gasoline. The soil will probably be thick with diamonds (take carbon, compress it and you get diamond) and the atmosphere will be fully of carbon compounds such as benzene and methane. They showed a computer-generated simulation of what such a planet might look like and these beads reminded me of that vision.

I had originally planned to put a pendant of black onyx in the center, but after playing around with it, I decided I liked it better without.

I kept the clasp simple and just used a Bali silver hook.

The Bali silver spacers help the other beads come to life and I really like the texture added by the faux-lava beads. I tried copper and brass in this necklace and while they were both nice, they didn’t pop as well as the silver does.

That’s it for today. Stay tuned for New Beads tomorrow!

KJ