Bead Fest: A Feast For The Eyes

Bead Fest was held over the weekend.  It's one of the highlights of my year and I've been attending since 2004.  I've even been a vendor at it 3 times (and might again in the future).  This year I went for fun; to see friends and do some (lots) of shopping.

Welcome to Bead Fest

You need to be careful at Bead Fest.  It's easy to go waaaaaaaaaay over budget in a short period of time (ask me how I know).  I told myself to lay off so many art beads this year...hahahahahahahaha!  Ok, yeah that didn't happen.

Gardanne Enamel Components

Explain to me how I'm supposed to do that with such fabulousness like Gardanne Beads enameled pieces?

Thornburg Bead Studio

Nikki/Thornburg Bead Studio brought some of her gorgeous lampwork urchins with her.  I ended up buying a bunch of lampwork headpins from her though to assist me with our AJE headpin challenge.

Penn Avenue Pottery

Tracey/Penn Avenue Pottery had oodles of fun ceramic beads to choose from.  I found myself trapped (totally against my will) at her booth for awhile, with my hands stuck (yes, I couldn't pull them out) in those trays.

Staci Louise Originals 

After my escape from Tracey's booth, I ended up at Staci's booth (that's a lie, I'd been there probably 500 times already by Saturday morning...my apologizes to Staci).  Her booth looked like a magic unicorn had visited with all the beautiful rainbow colors.  I added more beads to my gigantic Staci-collection.

Staci's bags

In addition to her beads, Staci also brought some of her hand-dyed and stamped bags with her.  I own a luna moth bag and it was perfect for shopping the show.

In fact, several bead-makers brought other art with them in addition to their beads...

Diane Hawkey

Diane Hawkey had some of her whimsical pot head planters and house sculptures for sale in her booth.

Beaded Chic Fused Glass

Donna/Beaded Chic has been playing with fused glass lately and brought some new pieces along with her table full of lampwork!

Marsha Neal

Marsha Neal had beads, tiny pottery and her needle-felted creations at her booth.  

Jenny Davies-Reazor

AJE's own Jenny Davies-Reazor had some of her gorgeous tiles and needle-felted/bead-embroidery pieces for sale at her table.

Firefly Design Studio

Michelle/Firefly Design Studio had her beach-inspired dishes with her!

And of course there was gorgeous jewelry at the show...

Marcia Balonis and Pam Garbig

Marcia Balonis and Pam Garbig had a table full of beautiful samples and kits for sale.  I brought home one kit and will be writing about it on here in the near future. 

There were also great tools for sale!

Lucet

New AJE member, Cooky Schock had a booth and I came home with a lucet and some cord from her. You might recall the recent blog post that Cooky wrote for us about the lucet.  This great little tool helped make my 5+ hour car ride home go much quicker!

Xuron

Treated myself to a new Xuron plier.  Soooooo comfortable!

Funky Chain, ParaWire, Gemstones

This was just the tip of the iceberg of what was available at Bead Fest!  You're probably wondering what I brought home with me, right?  Let's take a peek...

Pottery Purchases

A bunny pot head planter from Diane Hawkey, a ring holder from Marsha Neal and a dish from Michelle/Firefly Design.

Tools and Kits

The lucet, cord for the lucet, some dyed Stiff Stuff (Bead My Love), spiffy new XBow Series Xuron pliers and a fab kit from Marcia Balonis.

Art Bead Haul

And this is the art bead haul.  So many beads, pendants, headpins and cabochons!  

Bead Fest 2016 was fabulous as always and while I hate to see it end, my wallet requires a year to recover.  See you in 2017, Bead Fest!

Happy Beading!

The Best thing about Summer is Eating...and Beads

I've been thinking about our June theme challenge: Summertime (FYI-it's not too late to join in the fun. The theme challenge is open to all jewelry designers and component makers. Click this link to find out how to participate.)

For me, nothing means the start of summer more than the first lightning bugs (aka fireflies) making an appearance and s'mores around a fire. However, I chose fireflies as a theme a year ago and don't want to repeat-even though building on my original design would be a fun challenge too. 

Then I bought my first watermelon this summer and it got me thinking about one of the best things about summer...the fruits that come into season. Nothing says summer more than the first *good* strawberries showing up at the grocery store and signs for U-pick berries popping up along the road. 

Watermelon might be one of the last types of produce unavailable year round. Not only is it delicious, but it's so pretty to look at. JC Herrell shared the below photo of her lampwork beads a few days ago on her instagram account.  And while all the beads are stunning, that watermelon bead won my summer loving heart.

Lampwork beads by JC Herrell. The watermelon bead caught my eye as quintessential summer while scrolling Instagram a couple days ago. 

This started my obsession with finding handmade watermelon beads. They are more difficult to find than you might guess, so perhaps a subject worth exploring before the end of the month. 

The ceramic bead below was made by Kylie Parry. It is currently sold out, but I love it so much, I wanted to show it anyway. 

This adorable watermelon bead by Kylie Parry is sold, but maybe she will make more some day?

These handmade polymer clay watermelon rings and earrings popped up in one of my several searches. They look so juicy! 

Super cute polymer clay watermelon jewelry by LaNostalgieJewelry

If you want to try your hand at making your own polymer clay watermelon beads, here is a tutorial for buttons that might be a good place to get you started. 

Here's a tutorial on making watermelon buttons from polymer clay from the Repeat Crafter Me blog that could be altered to work for your project. 

More popular than watermelon are berries. There are all kinds of hand crafted berry beads out there. They vary in realism and whimsy, depending on the artist's style and attention to detail. 

Cute blackberries by MidgetGemBeads

Izzybeads created this whimsical strawberry beads.

JewelryBeadsByKatie made these delicious looking blueberry beads. 

I've seen the work of lampwork artist Elizabeth Johnson, who created the bracelet below, in person. It is incredible. These berries look like they have been plucked directly from the plant and are ready to eat. You can purchase by the berry from her etsy shop. 

GlassBerries created this Fruit Bracelet using her lampwork fruit beads that you can't even tell are not edible fruit. I would love to do an entire post on her fruit beads, but not today. 

Have you ever heard of, seen, or eaten Gooseberries? I have not done any of those, but this summer I am thinking that needs to change (since I now know they exist). The below gooseberry necklace is a riot of lampwork berries. I admit I really love the photo with the sun shining through the pretty glass too. Polina (MyGlassBerry) sells her berry beads in finished jewelry and also by the bead.

MyGlassBerry created this stunning Gooseberry necklace using her own beads. You can purchase several different types of berries, by the bead from her Etsy shop.

Mary Harding is another favorite beadmaker of mine. Her attention to detail in the natural world is stunning. Here she shows some beads she made to look like peaches after being inspired to create them  through a book she read for book club. You can read more about that here. 

Mary Harding created these gorgeous peach beads. 

What symbols define summer for you? Why? Think you can convey it in beads or in jewelry? Then join the summer theme challenge. The big reveal is set for June 30th and we would love to have you join us! Click here for more details. 

A Quick Trip To Bead Fest Spring

Back on April 9th, I took a trip out to PA for the final Bead Fest Spring (don't worry, the August show isn't going anywhere).

Snow...in April

When we crossed the NJ border into PA, it started snowing.  As we got closer and closer to the show the weather got worse.  Mother Nature was not kind.

Scenes from the show

In my short 2.5 hours at the show, I was fortunate enough to see some friends including Jenny Davies-Reazor, Staci Louise Smith, Leslie Rogalski/Sleepless Beader, Greg Ogden/Green Girl Studios, Claudia Warszawski, Linda Escobar Panagopolus and many more!

MyElements by Yvonne

It was also great to see Yvonne Irvin-Faus/MyElements back vending the show!  She brought a TON of her YUMMEEz with her!  I couldn't resist them!

The Haul

As you can see, I wasn't lying when I said I couldn't resist them!  I also came home with goodies from Jenny and some Green Girl pieces.

Ezel Findings Beading Pal

This was the big purchase though.  I FINALLY got an Ezel Findings Beading Pal.  My friend Meg at Bead My Love was at the show and she had a nice selection of them for sale.  I decided to go with hot pink.  I love this thing!  It makes traveling with your bead project so easy and convenient! I'll be taking this on the bead cruise for my bead embroidery/weaving class.

So this may have been one of the quickest trips to BF Spring ever, thanks to the oddly-timed spring snowstorm.  I'm just glad I got to spend a couple hours with my bead friends.  Looking forward to spending a weekend with them at Bead Fest August!

January challenge: Buried Treasure

Buried Treasure aka "Use your stash!"

Dig into the treasure you have been hoarding... 

We all have one. Call it a treasure, or a bead stash. Call it loot or inventory. It most likely does NOT look like this: 

Keeping your beads safe? Paranoid? 

It probably looks more like this: 

ONE of my 4 artist bead treasure boxes. Can you spot all the pieces by AJE team mates? LOL

What could be better than starting the year off right with new creative ideas? Using a treasures bead or component! Last year we started what may become a tradition here at Art Jewelry Elements - the "Use your Stash" challenge. (Granted, thats not a very poetic name, but it gets right to the point.)

Here is how it works: 

• Gather your beads and components by any and all of your favorite artisan bead makers. 
• Fondle. Think. Plan. Design. Dream. 
• Create! 
• Sign up here! Leave a comment with your name AND your blog address. 
• Blog! Buried treasure reveal date is January 31st 2016. 

**Please — only leave a comment if you can commit to creating a finished piece and blogging about it on the reveal date.
**Pull out those pieces you love from your stash and ENJOY them. What are you saving them for? 
** This Buried Treasure challenge is NOT limited to AJE artists - but we DO love you see what you create with our creations. 

Until then - Happy Holidays! Happy New Year! Happy Creating!

We interrupt out regularly scheduled posts....

... because we are nearing a milestone!

Our Facebook page "Art Jewelry Elements" is hovering at 1993 "likes"! To mark this milestone and thank all of our loyal readers, old and new... we are planning a giveaway. The numbers snuck up on us a bit - what with BeadFest, classes, travel, new jobs... its been a busy summer amongst the team.

So - without further ado: 

Facebook 2000 followers giveaway prize bundle!

We gathered pieces from nearly all the team members! I'm sure you will recognize individual artists work here. This ONE prize bundle will go to ONE winner. Its a true treasure.

How does it work? Watch this space! When we DO hit 2000 there will be a giveaway post. Then and only then will comments enter you to win. Today? We're just teasing you!

Don't forget! 

Tomorrow is the COM reveal with Linda's fall oak and acorn!
Friday is the launch of our latest Theme challenge!

Stay tuned!
Until then...
Jenny and the AJE team.

Bead Fest 2015 - our views

Bead Fest 2015 was spectacular. Beads, buddies, buying, bartering with artist friends in trade.

The day after.

Those of us that were there are a bit hungover from the bead bounty, and sit fondling our loot, planning, imagining... But let me take a few minutes to regale you with images from the weekend! Thanks to all my AJE team members for the pictures, this post is a team effort! 

Sue sends in the group shot from our annual AJE dinner! Sorry that Francesca had to miss due to a snafu with class kits... 

Jenny:  1. the view from the "inside"... 2. Meeting AJE reader and friends Melissa Trudger in from Australia! 3. Vintage treasures from my neighbor Echo Artworks. 4. Harry Boardman - artist and sometimes "bead slave" to Heather at HMB  Studio. 

Diana: 1-2. Class sample from chainmaille daisy class- and classmate Sue. 3. Finally meeting Francesca! 4. Photo ops with friends and AJE readers!

Francesca: 1. First class, all serious. 2. Last class, true colors. 3. Rockhounds and metal smiths - R. Salley, Francesca, G. Wilson. 4-5. students at work! 

Linda: 1. Anne of Gardanne Beads. 2. Michelle McCarthy and her ceramic beads. Linda and me at my booth.

Lesley: 1-2. Assisting Cooky Schock in the Braided wire bangle class, Sandi V. at work. 3. The delightful Mak of Maku Raku. 4. Wire bangles from Cooky's class. 5. Maku Raku treasures. 6. Cooky at work. 

Saturday night's all right for bead friends! 

Now I'm off to unload the car, and look at my loot! Have a great Monday...