The small, but prestigious, Bowers Museum of Santa Ana.
10 AM and getting crowded already...
10 AM and getting crowded already...
A couple of great lampwork vendors - I could only get pics of their banners because their booths were so crowded I couldn't get in. I bought two gorgeous sea-themed sets from Jujee Beads last year that I am still hoarding so I decided to see what else I could find.
Harold Cooney lampwork glass. These are center drilled and kinda look like jellyfish to me. I thought they might make fun closures for bracelets with a loop of seed beads around them or something.
Speaking of jellyfish - I got this amazing dichroic glass fused pendant from Mingo and Asho of Glasscapes. While they are mostly known for their incredibly beautiful furnace glass (and trust me, this ain't your run of the mill furnace glass - you have to see it to believe it), they've been branching out into fused pieces more and more lately. This one told me it wanted to come live at my house.
What? Your beads don't talk to you? Um...there might be something wrong with you. You should get that checked out.
Some pretty earring pair options from Unicorne Beads.
Cool frosted resin beads on the left and bright resin "nuggets" on the right - all from Natural Touch resin.
And now it's time for the first major SCORE of the day:
Dan Eisner was selling his boro lampwork beads for....$1 A BEAD! And yes, there WAS a feeding frenzy going on.
I mean, really, $1 a bead. I defy anyone to resist that. I certainly couldn't.
I first discovered Lumina Inspirations years ago at the L.A. Gift Show. I became an immediate fan of their marvelous porcelain designs and Russian lacquerwork. I think I'm pretty much topped off on the porcelain for now, but I had to get more lacquerwork and this butterfly was just amazing. I love that it's signed by the artist, too.
Had to get the dragonfly, too.
And I always search their booth for anything with pansies on it. My favorite flower!
Sometimes they're kinda picked over on pansies, but I got lucky and got quite a few - even if I did have to root through a whole tray to find them all.
Second major SCORE of the day came when I found Margaret Zinser's booth - MZ Glass:
Margaret was kind enough to take me at my word that I am not a crazed Internet stalker or a foreign wholesaler looking to rip-off designs and she let me photograph her booth.
Her stuff is just so beautiful and the details on those butterfly wing pendants are to die for. And, since I had promised myself that I would get ONE splurge item at the show if I found something REALLY special, I did.
I bought a pair of butterfly wings.
There are a few more things to post, but Blogger is being slow as molasses today. I don't know what's up, but each picture is taking a good 5 minutes to upload and I just can't stand it any more.
I'll be back with the rest tomorrow.
Edited to add: Okay, so, I lied about "tomorrow." Who knew the kid would come down with tummy trouble and interfere with my blogging schedule? Will get the rest posted soon, I promise!
KJ
7 comments:
Wow! I couldn't be at the show, but I feel as though I was because of your great coverage, Kelly, cub reporter!
Oooh. What fun!
Those butterfly wings are gorgeous and totally worth a splurge. And $1 a bead? That is insane! I know I would have had no restraint at that booth. And pansies are my favorites too ;-)
Great scores! You win!
Enjoy the day! Erin
Wow, thanks for sharing. Quite the gorgeous beads. And I love the butterfly wing!
what amazing jewelries!!! they are just awesome! hope I was there to buy some stuff...
Beautiful things, you are so lucky to have so many great resources in your area.
Great finds Kelly! I love that you got all those lampwork beads for $1/each! Holy cow, that's a GREAT deal! Looks like you had fun and you got a great stash! Good for you!
That is a great bead show! Have you checked out the Santa Monica one? It is EVEN bigger! Woo hoo. Next on my list is Pasadena in August. Can't wait -- have you been to that one?
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