Mashed Potatoes...

Right now I'm in Williamsburg, Virginia for the Bead Mercantile show this weekend. As you may remember, I was just across the country in the Bay Area. (Needless to say, after many hours on the plane and just about as many in the car – my brains are mashed potatoes.) My concept of time was never very good to begin with, but after traveling back and forth between the coasts, I'm even more at a loss.

Luckily, I had an excellent time at BABE (Bay Area Bead Extravaganza) and that made up for it. I just love all the customers who stopped by to say hello and all my fellow vendors. You can't imagine how happy it makes me to see familiar faces and to hear about their lives and what they've been making. It is a profound source of inspiration.

The weekend in the Bay Area was sprinkled with all kinds of delightful encounters, but here are the highlights:

Catherine Witherell of HappyDayArt! stopped by and chatted. She's just delightful! I love her blog and admire her busy hands, always seemingly creating! Bob Burkett and Barb Switzer also happened to drop by the table to say hello at the same time. Bob has been making some incredible work lately and Barb's new book, Four Seasons of Beading, is due out at the end of the month. (Check out the cover with some Green Girl Studios pieces on it! And some of my jewelry designs in the book!) I didn't get a chance to escape the booth very much to look around, but along the route to the bathroom, I stopped at Beth of Kabela Design's booth. She had some lovely new finishes on her filigree and some really cool shapes and designs.

Another visitor to the table was the very talented Sarah Shriver. She's a hoot and a half! I don't get to see her very much, but whenever I do... she has me in stitches! I first met her years ago at a show in Tucson. The middle picture is of my stash from the show. It's not very big, (because I didn't get a chance to walk around much), but it has some of my favorites and even a new owl friend made by an artist named Tera Belinksy-Yoder who goes by BeadyGirlBeads. The owl friend was a gift from Cathy Collison of Glass Garden Beads. Cathy has expanded her selection of found and recycled glass components. The shibuichi skull bead is from Bob, the PMC focal is from (my delightful and witty neighbor at the show) Kelly Russell of Beadfuddled, the sugar skull buttons are from the talented Anne Choi, and all the lacy filigree is from Kabela Design. The polymer lion head charm is from Christi Friesen of CF Originals. Speaking of Christi, to the right is a picture of her hamming it up at her booth (which was also along the route to the bathroom). Christi is coming out with a book called, Steampunkery, which is due out December 9th and available for pre-order now!

I only wish that I had more time to look around and more money to support my friends and fellow artisans.