Pasadena Bead Porn

Everyone has waited so patiently this week through my hermit crab stories and shameless jewelry self-promotion posts - I'm really impressed. So, I won't torture you with a lot of chit chat today, but instead...it's straight to the Pasadena Bead Show Porn!

Um...I will mention that you might want to get comfortable first. Y'know, hit the restroom. Grab a drink (and maybe a snack). Put your feet up and grab your favorite blankie.

This could take a while.




I'm not saying for sure, but it's POSSIBLE that Julie and I finished early at the bead show and I cajoled (forced at gunpoint) her into heading to the Pasadena Bead Company shop afterwards. Y'know...allegedly. Which is where I allegedly picked up a bunch of new colors of waxed linen.

Speaking of stringing materials, there was a vendor at the show who had a great deal on every different color and gauge of Parawire you could imagine. They are really trying to give Artistic Wire a run for their money. I really like their "gunmetal" color because it's more of a true gunmetal than AW's version which is more brass/bronze-colored. I got some deep midnight blue and some aqua, too. I just didn't take pics of it (duh).





My selection of nice clasps has been running woefully thin lately so I picked up a few at a vendor called "Angel's Tears." My original plan had been to buy some from Claspon-Claspoff, but while their clasps are truly outstanding (every kind of stone or glass you could imagine set in sterling silver box clasps of all shapes and sizes), I just flat out couldn't afford 'em. Or rather, I could've afforded ONE vs. the FIVE I was able to get here. That's always the dilemma for me - spend the budget on a single fabulous piece or get several really nice pieces. Since my stash was running so low, quantity won out this time. Also, I always wonder about the final price of a piece when you use a REALLY expensive clasp on it (on top of the cost of all the expensive art beads that are already in the design). Generally, it ends up with a final price that no one is willing to pay. At least, that's been my general experience.

I'd be interested to read what you all think about this particular topic.

New copper chain from You & Me Findings. Last time I bought a bunch of brass and gunmetal chain from them, so I thought I'd go for the copper this time. These two styles are brand new for them and I thought they'd be great with some of the copper pieces I bought from Patricia Healey (see Monday's blog post).

A couple of styles of brushed silver chain - I liked the finish on these! I would tell you the name of the vendor, but I managed to misplace the card here in the bomb crater that is my office/studio. All I remember is that it was manned by two very polite people with lovely Australian accents. I will update with their company name as soon as I find the darned card!

Especially because, now that you've seen this other chain I got there, you're definitely going to want to check them out! This chain is aluminum so it's incredibly lightweight. I have no idea how the colors and patterns are put on, but I loved it. This one reminds me of the colors of an English country garden.

Oh, and did I mention it was only $2.50 a foot? Such a deal!

Which is nice for people like me who can't decide which color they want and so have to buy some of everything.

I'm so excited to play with this - I'm already getting ideas for it!

This one is tied with the "country garden" chain in the first picture for my favorite. I see a lot of steampunk/industrial chic possibilities for this chain - it has silver, brass, copper, and rose gold tones to it.

The last few times I've gone to this show, I've spent most of my budget in the main ball room and then in a side room, there's this great Czech glass vendor that I want stuff from, but have no $ left to spend. So, this time, I made sure to visit Fireweed Beads before I ran outta money. I just liked the unusual design on these glass teardrops.

These beads have a great texture plus that lovely AB finish on them.

Pretty Czech glass flowers in a nice larger size.

Etched pink and white stripe vintage glass.

These are the same as the yellow sunflower beads I used in the necklace I posted earlier this week, except they are a transparent aqua with the Picasso finish.

Did I mention that everything at the Fireweed booth was 50% off? I even bought some beautiful vintage glass flowers from them which you'll see later on in the post.

Okay, I know these beads are kinda weird, but I have a reason for buying them (besides the fact that they were $1.00 a strand).

They came in brown, too. They're glass. The background is kind of pearlized and then they have these splatters of metallic colors all over them.

I was in the middle of trying to decide whether they were cool or horribly tacky when I realized that they are the perfect color palette to act as accents for my resined surfer-themed beads! I thought it would be fun to package up a few to ship with these beads when they sell.

This was purely a color purchase. Deep pink, green, teal, light blue and gold nuggets all together on a strand? I was completely sucked in.

This is a craptastic picture. I just couldn't get a good shot, but these brios are all different shades of Easter Egg pastels - pink, blue, lavender, yellow and green. The colors show up fine in real life, but every picture I took, the yellow and green just faded out totally.

This is another shot I couldn't get the color right on. Big, faceted gumballs of dyed jade, but the color is more intense and closer to blue than it shows in the photo. All of the above glass and stones came from African Gems.

The were also having a $1.00 a strand sale on Chinese crystal so I picked up a number of different colors and sizes. They make great filler and accent beads.

This was another vendor on my "must hit before I run out of money" list - Kabela Design. Really gorgeous filigree pieces in copper, brass and a new brushed gold finish.

This...is for an experiment I want to try with alcohol inks. We'll see how it turns out... The vendor was selling pots of Gilder's Paste in different colors than can be used on the filigree - and it looks great, but it was $10 for a single color. Well, you know I wouldn't have been able to pick a single color and each pot is pretty much a lifetime supply and I don't really need that much, so I passed for now.

However, they did tell me that they are working on developing "palettes" so that one $10 pot will have four colors in it (divided up like a pie) in the future. Now THAT sounds like a great idea. Their manufacturer is working on it right now and they will sell it through their website when it's available.

I love these 3-dimensional filigree flowers. And I also thought they might make good homes for all the Swarovski rivolis I bought a couple of years ago when I thought (because I was delusional) that I was going to have time to bezel all of them with peyote stitch and accent with crystals, etc.

Yeah, that didn't happen.

But gluing stuff? I might have time for that!

But here's the real reason I went to their booth. I had to get some of this incredible chain studded with Swarovski crystals. Yeah, that's right...with Swaros. Not rhinestones. It's hard to tell from the pic, but the chain with the circular links is brass and the one with the oval links is copper.

I have a design that's partially made just waiting for this chain to finish it off. Wheeeeeee!

Cute little butterfly buttons. But, again, with the missing business card, dang it! I'm pretty sure the vendor was something like Jul's Jewels or Jewels by Juls, but I'll edit this post with the correct info when I find it.

These were by far the best thing in her booth, though. Metal beads with lovely printed designs and copper wire stitching on them. I bought more than just butterflies from her, but those are going out as gifts and I wanted them to be a surprise ;-)

Oh, I have to also mention here that she was selling BOTTLECAPS with designs in them and resin over the top and she had the same problem I did with drilling through the resin and it looking, well, less than professional. But whereas I either gave my attempts away as freebies or threw them away (the REALLY bad ones), she plunked prices on hers and was selling them at the show. And people were buying them!

Just goes to show that sometimes the inner critic needs to shut the EFF up!

Darling vintage glass flowers from Fireweed Beads. I know the leaves are just Czech glass - only the flowers are vintage.

A different style of vintage glass flowers - these are a pale transparent moss green.

Montana blue with darker blue centers and metallic accents.

And, of course, turquoise.

These unusual glass disks are from Loot (most awesome vendor name EVAH!) I discovered her work at the show back in January and couldn't wait to get more stuff from her.

Of course, I'm still hoarding what I bought the last time, but I have this theory that if I get ENOUGH stuff from one vendor, then I won't mind using some of it in a design. Like I need a critical mass of materials to generate ideas or something.

How's THAT for a rationalization? If ever you need excuses for your bead buying...just e-mail me. I am the MASTER.

Now, I was gonna stop with the disks. Really, I was. But she had these new, cute hearts. I mean seriously...just NOT possible to pass these up.

She also had done butterflies in this same sort of open style - just the outline of a butterfly, but even she was a little concerned with their potential fragility.

So, I opted for this sturdier guy. Incredible colors, right?

Oh, and remember back at the beginning about the alleged trip to the alleged bead store? Yeah, well, there may have been a Bindy Lambell trunk show going on at that store and I may have fallen under its spell and bought this set of lampwork.

Maybe.

I'm innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

And on that note...happy weekend!

KJ

P.S. For those keeping score on the hermies and their shells, Summers switched twice yesterday and is now in a shell that's way too small for him so I imagine he'll be switching again soon. Talky was momentarily feared to have escaped because we couldn't find her, but eventually we realized that she had abandoned her pretty new shell and take up residence in Rocky's butt-ugly, crusty-looking old one. It's just that it's way too big for her so when she pulls back into it, she completely disappears from sight and the shell looks empty. I imagine she'll switch again, too, as she can barely drag that shell around.

I know, it's more exciting than "Shark Week."