Tucson Gem Showa - day 2

Today's impression was... Large, chunky & iridescent. I saw lots of large, freeform faceted beads that had various forms of an iridescent coating. Not my style at all. On the good side, the stones that are dyed shocking colors seem to have disappeared.

Got to visit with lots of old friends at the Best Bead Show. It has been quite a few years since I've had a chance to catch up with Jane at Jane's Fiber & Beads. Four of us NH snow birds met up and joked about having a Western meeting of the Bead Society of NH. It was good to see everybody.

Cameras aren't allowed in these shows so I couldn't take general photos of things that caught my eye. I almost got thrown out of the Gem Mall as I for got and whipped out my camera to take a photo of a sign.... Next thing I know this little Chinaman comes whirling at me yelling in Chinese & some English, "No Camera, No camera! You photo and policeman chop-chop you!" Anyway, the sign I wanted a picture of said, "Chinaworski - $1.50/strand." Chinese rendition of Swarovski crystals. The quality was very good and the colors were amazing. This photo just doesn't do the crisp sparkle and deep rich color any good. These are mine.... well I may share a strand or two of the deep plum with Bev over at No Easy Beads.
They are so her colors.




Found vaseline green leaves.

and a
Funky cross between a paddle and a leaf beads in pink & green.




Then some
great lentils in a matte turquoise and mottled purple/blue/pink


I wanted some 10/0 delicas, but refused to pay for 2.5 gram vials as I need a lot more than that. I also wanted to look at the permanent finish Miyuki galvanized seeds but nobody had more than a couple of colors.

Tomorrow the Holidome for some power shopping with my Sister. I'll look at more Chinese crystals and get needed supplies. Seeing as there is lots of blingy sparkle around I just may treat my younger female family members to some bling for their wrists.

2/5 addendum: These finds were all at the GL&W Gem Mall. Don't remember the name of the Czech pressed glass places, but it's one of 3 somewhere in one of the 2 tents. *sorry* They had a lot of lentils/drops, etc. by the mass. Should say that wholesale credentials are needed to get in and minimum purchases do apply.

Tucson Gem Shows - day 1

Monday I went to the African Art Village and where the large mineral specimens are to be seen. This is always my fun trip to just look at the beautiful rocks, minerals and ethnic stuff.



Lots of things to look at, but there really were not that many lookers. It did make for a leisurely day in the sunshine.




With the freeway project finished through downtown Tucson, the city shuttle buses were no longer running. Looks like some young men took up the slack.

I got a good giggle at this line up of painted wooden figures. Wouldn't it be a hoot to have a line of them standing at one end of the living room? You'd always have interesting company who didn't talk your ear off.

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This line up of brass cats were just so regal looking. I have a friend in Memphis that would love a couple of them for her sun room.

There were lots of African beaded objects. I saw clothing, accessories, furniture and these beaded panels. I found the white on white stunning. From a distance you couldn't see the patterns, but up close they were quite beautiful floral designs.

Some of these strands came home with me. They are heshi-like beads made from old vinyl records. Not only would they make a great necklace just as they are, but if you take them apart you have quite different looking sequins. The ones that I chose have stripes on them. The pattern is much more interesting as a flat disk than as a strung necklace. I need to see how they look in a bead embroidered piece.

Fossils, great fossils! They were all interesting to look at, but this specimen was outstanding. I don't know what it was and the vendor didn't speak enough English to tell me much of anything else than the price. Too many zeros for my pocketbook.

It was a great day in the sun, looking at what Mother Nature serves up. I'm glad I had that day for outside wandering as it's suposed to rain for the next 3 days.

Where the Cows Vacation

Down in southern Arizona, near the Mexican border I found the palatial resort where the cows go to vacation.


Driving down a dusty back road we rounded a large sized hill and saw this deserted hacienda in the middle of nowhere. It was in front of a limestone quarry/plant that didn't appear to be operational.


We had to stop as the scene was just surreal. Gorgeous architectural 30's estate with big palm trees, the remains of swimming pool, out buildings and what was left of another era's high style was now a cow pasture. We joked about finding a secret vacation spot for the cows. The gray bull just stood there and only turned his head as if to say, "what are you doing disturbing my peace?"
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To finish this little side trip......

I hope this man at Home Depot doesn't have any really huge building projects.

Dimensional Ropes - Book 3

I have finally come to the conclusion that the third bead crochet book will never see daylight as a glossy printed book. Ink and paper publishing has become prohibitive and I can't see charging over $30 for what is really a 20 page catalog. It's time to quit waiting for prices to come down and do something else with the information I have in my studio.


Now this old dog has to learn a few new tricks and start thinking about e-books. Designing with beads and thread is easier than designing with software and computers. I'm thinking through formats and what should work on screen and home printers. Is a Gallery important in an e-book or is it better to have more patterns? File sizes, photo resolutions, layouts, new graphing techniques and how fancy/interactive a pdf, are a few of the things running through my mind.

I have some different things going on with dimensional ropes that I think bead crocheters will find useful and different. I have a bunch of samples done up but need to do those creative pieces that use these sample techniques. These photos show some of what I will want to present to the bead crocheting public.


So, how does three e-books on dimensional ropes sound to you? Each would be around 10 to 12 individual pages with 8 - 10 patterns and 3 to 4 complete bracelet and/or necklace projects? One would be donuts and toggles, another square and triangular ropes and a third would be an expanded Caterpillar.