Gem Shows Shutting down

This is this year's Gem Show treat for myself.... and it's not beads.

The parking lots are almost empty -- posted Motel prices are about half of what they were last week -- Big shrink wrapped pallets of things are sitting waiting for a truck. -- trucks are being loaded up .... it's time for Tucson to return to a semi-sleepy, Southwestern existence.

I stopped by the Pueblo show today while I was out and found a bargain.  I'd been admiring the Crinoid fossils since I saw the first huge panel of them 3 years ago.  At that point they were too big (5' tall) and out of my price range ($900 - $1,000).  This vendor was packing up and offered me half price, I countered and got it for 1/4 the marked price.  It's beautiful and quite detailed. Now to find a place in my little adobe to put it.  The colors will go quite well on a wall here.

Kino Gem Show

I  need to do a Blog post,   but.....

Oh look, Beads..........I'm easily distracted by new bead shapes and colors.

This will probably be my last show visit this Feb.  I spent a couple of hours at The Best Bead Show visiting with a lot of my beading friends.  It's a shame that we have about half an hour only once a year to catch up in person.

The nice thing about the Kino Show is that it is a small slice of what all of the different shows are like. It's a table (or two), Medium sized tents plus small tents or a couple of display tables of just about everything you'd see at all the other shows.
Today in Tucson was chilly, but not winter coat cold.  It was overcast with a 30% chance of rain.  Everyone was ready with their tarps in case it did start to rain.

It was a good day to poke around this smallish show as it wasn't too crowded.  You see, the Holidome opened today and I bet there were lines of cars several miles long waiting to get in there.  The Holidome is probably the biggest of all of the shows with over 740 booth spaces.





Today I looked, touched and saw what was new.  Shibori ribbon - beautiful, but not for me - too fragile and fussy.  Two-holed triangles, "O" beads -- Oh yes...  they need to hurry up with more production.

Beads, lots of Beads in Tucson

 Two Tucson shows in one day is almost a bit too much.  I had a list of vendors to see and didn't dawdle to look at every booth..... however, there were more than a few instances of, "look...BEADS!"



There's a couple of kilos of seed beads and other bead goodness in those bags to be unpacked.  Looking at what I did dump out almost makes me think those are not my beads.  Lots of gold and muted baroque colors and only one bright red in the bunch.

But . . . . first . ..  My new drawer unit is fixed, re-glued here and there and thoroughly cleaned.  I'm told that the glue is now set up enough to load those drawers.  So I need to do a bit of organizing before I have table space to spread out my new beads.  Already I've found one surprise as I was sure I had bought a dark sage green dagger and find it's a chocolate brown in the sunlight.

 Now these.... What was I thinking and what am I going to do with them?  Do I call them beads or buttons?  Do I file them with the buttons I use for clasps or do I look at them as a really different design element.  I do know they won't really work for bead crochet.









They felt so good and the matted colors were so calling to me that I bought two bunches of them.

How often do you buy on impulse with no clue as to how (or when) you'll use something?

It's feeling like a total PJ day - sorting old beads, fondling new beads and trying to figure out how to reorganize part of my AZ studio into new spaces.

Tucson Gem Show - 22nd St Fossils

Spent the nice warm afternoon with a good friend oggoling fossils and minerals at the Tucson 22nd Street Show.

So starts the several weeks of the biggest Gem and Mineral show in the world.

The show isn't quite as good as it was the first two years.  Favorite vendors were missing and there were lots of empty spaces.  For a show that said it didn't want bead vendors this year, it did have a lot of Chinese crystal beads.

My overall show impression = FEET.

It seemed as if almost every booth had fossilized feet.








and more feet.

New Beads ~ Duos

 I had a few of the new Czech Twins and Duos last year and had some time to try working with them.  At the Tucson Gem Shows I did take the opportunity to stock up on a lot more colors.  Don't you love the shock of the neon brights and the subtly of the Picasso colors?

These beads work up quickly into beaded beads to slip over a bead crocheted rope or as a button shape.  I need to do a couple more rope beaded beads but will continue the Delica edging through the center as a tube to help stabilize the overall shape.









The most interesting discovery is that you can use the BCPD Software to help design patterns for Duo Ropes. My Computer Partner has this bright idea and tried it out.  He needed a bit of help with getting his thread paths sorted out, but overall is pleased with the results of the experiment.

 If you want quick gratification, these beads are just perfect.  Due to their size, a project works up very quickly.  However they also have some elegance to them and are not just a bunch of large chunky big beads.

Tucson Gem Show Report 2013

I didn't have the stamina to walk all the aisles of the shows I normally visit.  This year I made a list and went and saw individual vendors.

Of course one still has to walk by a lot of very pretty things to get where one needs to go.



If I had my way, every sphere I saw like this would be in my back yard.

 Fish, seems as if everywhere I looked there were fish -- fish rock sculptures, fish fossils, fish beads.... lots of fish.

 The 22ND Street show is just three years old now and has some of the most interesting & beautiful fossils.  This show has become one of my "must visit shows" for pure enjoyment.

 Forerunner of a Giant Stag and possibly Moose

Giant turtle













Then there are the beads.....  at $1/strand these might not be the best quality, but there were a lot to pick from and some decent strands could be found.

I indulged in a few strands of Amber.  From the price and the look I'd say they are copal not amber.   Copal is not the fossilized, hardened resin that is known as amber, but rather an immature, more recent tree resin.





Oh, I did a goodly job of spending my budget this year.  I specifically went looking for examples of the newest 2-hole and other Czech shapes. Two-hole lentils.... now just what can one do with such a fascinating bead shape?

Neon-bright, florescent colors seemed to be the theme this year.  Anything from 2-hole Czech Twin beads to oriental rubberized larger beads.  I'd turn around and there were the flashes of the overly bright colors.

Bead Buying in Tucson

 I've had an idea for a necklace made with a diverse selection of different beads for some time now.  Something like this photo grouping.


 However I really don't want 20 to 30 of each bead.  If  I got 12 to 15 strands, that's one heck of a lot of leftover beads (300?).  I was wondering if anyone else might want to join me in a sort of bead buying co-op?  The Gem show runs from the last week of January through the first two weeks of February.

I shop the Tucson Gem Show every year and here are three strands that I've picked up in past years.  Unfortunately the red beads are dyed MOP and I take them out just to play with every once in a while.  I knew they would fade if I used them, but they were so nice feeling in the hand that I couldn't resist.


I'm pretty sure I can find unusual and different beads for between $8 to $12 per strand wholesale.  I'm thinking that 12 people could split 12+ strands and have an eclectic mix of beads that nobody else would have. That is if you would trust me to pick the bead strands.  If there are about a dozen people who might have an interest, (click  to contact me)=email me and I'll figure out how this would work and what a total cost would be.

Bead Fest Santa Fe & Trip Report

 I made it to Bead Fest in Santa Fe, but got so excited that I forgot to take my camera with me.  It was so much fun to immerse myself in all of the glittery beads and visit with old and new beading friends.  After all of this time I finally got to put a face with the names of Mary Tafoya and Laura Zeiner.  It was fun meeting both of them and I'm sorry that there wasn't time to sit down, have a cup of coffee and swap beading stories.

I took a workshop, "out of the Box Resin", and was a bit disappointed.  Half of the teacher's supplies were lost in the mail and she couldn't go into resin molding.  Unfortunately, that was the only reason I signed up for the workshop.  I have a page of notes from her recommendations, but didn't get to have any hands-on working with the materials.

 I want just one sheet of this copper shipment for my front yard!  Driving to Santa Fe we passed several truck loads of copper ingots.  The flat sheets are neat, but the thicker ones with handles or ears on top are what I really want.





In the motel parking lot, we wondered why someone would put a stuffed toy out on the ground . . . . then it moved!  I have friends who might dye their hair this color, but have never seen a entirely pink dog.  Wondering if it's like the old nursery rhyme of the "Purple Cow"?












On a very narrow back street, very hard to find and get to, is this adobe house that dates to 1647.  It's billed as the oldest house in the USA and I'll have to check with an archaeologist friend.  I think there is a 1616 house on the grounds of Strawberry Bank Museum in Portsmouth NH.

 I love looking at doors in the southwest.  This was a particularly nice one in a fence.











I'd eat at this Deli in a heartbeat.... what a happy looking place.

One of these days, I'm going to have to collect photos of places that have unusual combinations of things for sale.







The trip home was a nightmare.  We ended up traveling south along the huge storm front. Visibility was almost nil from blowing sand and dust.  What should have been an 8 hr trip, lasted 24 hours when we hit Interstate closings from Las Cruces to Lordsburg NM.  Then it was off & on snow whiteouts the next day driving west.

Ouch, my Element looks like it now has a matte orange bead finish

Tucson Shows - Final Trip

On Thursday, while having my morning coffee, I decided that I really did need to make one last trip back to Tucson.   I shouldn't pass up the opportunity to do photo research at the African Village.  Where else did I have that much material in one place at one time?

We started at the 22nd Street Show (new last year) as parking was ample and free.  It was just an overpass away from where we were headed.

I was so impressed with the layout, openness and variety of things at the show.  Wow, can you imagine a whole dinosaur skeleton assembled on the show floor?  I couldn't get far enough away from it to take a photo.

If you had $250,000 you could have had this skull, or for a cool $1,300,000 the whole skeleton.  It's beyond huge. 

This is what really caught my eye - stunningly simple, but beautiful.  I could imagine building a whole house around this large panel.  I'd never seen a full sized palm frond fossil before.

I did find Wild Things at this show.  They had moved from the old Rodeway show and had a much better set up. Jamie mans (or is it womans?) the booth at this show and Guy Lynn does the Gem Mall. They had a great selection of vintage Czech beads, buttons and oddments.  If you get a chance, they are the most delightful people with things you don't see elsewhere.  They've always pandered to my bead needs.

Then it was on to African colors and designs at the African Village Show: 

Simple graphics  

Primary colors

 Muted colors

My favorite, mud cloth fabrics.

I took a ton of photos that I'll need to go through when I have some uninterrupted time to myself.

I'll leave you with a shot of another motel lobby - all Mid Century Modern . . . .  before you walked into a room of Native American art and artifacts.  It was like walking from one time capsule to another.

The shows are now all shut down and the vendors are packing up today.

I've heard mixed reviews, both good and so-so.  Still not as much spending as in past years, but not as bad as some feared.  I did see a lot of empty spaces where favorite vendors had been in the past.

Tucson 2012 - Fun Day

Wouldn't this fossil make a great bead design? How and what are wide open, but oh, the possibilities.


Last Thursday was a pure fun trip to look at the rocks, fossils & minerals. I always look at the big spheres with longing - cost & size defeat my owning one of them.









Rocks & crystals, in their natural shapes as well as carved and polished for display are everywhere.








At first glance, I thought "pickles and olives" - "condiments"?


No . . . jars of fire agate rough in water so that you can admire the flash in the chips.

I was sitting in one of the courtyards listening to these beautifully sculpted water forms. Along came a couple of garrulous gentlemen who didn't know I was eavesdropping. I can't repeat their conversation, but their take on the form was hilarious and (ahem) fraught with sexual innuendos.

In between the rocks one tends to find bead surprises. This booth of vintage beads, findings and chain was a gem. I looked, touched, petted and in the end had to decide to not purchase anything. It's the vintage colors that I like so much. I asked all of my bead vendors (and then some) for opaque, primary colored beads. "Nope, not popular for several years" or "Nobody uses those colors today". I admire all of the intricate fantasies that many of the bead designers create, however I have a yen to work with matte primary colors, preferable in the vintage colors.


Turn another corner and there on the fence were some great oriental and African items. The tiger rug in wool and silk was a bargain at $225, but still outside of my budget. It would be such a happy piece to have beside my bed.








I've always liked the mud cloth fabrics; both colors and primitive graphic designs. I bought beads earlier in the week in colors that might end up as "African Stripes" patterns. Add these to matte black and a light cream (or white) and it just might be my summer String-Along.





I'm sitting here wondering if I should take one more trip back to Tucson and visit the African Village. If "African Stripes" becomes a reality, then where else would I have a whole show of design inspirations?