The Interweave Party...

One of the annual traditions we partake of while we are in Tucson is the Interweave Party.  We've been going for almost ten years.  The venue may have changed over the years, but the same positive atmosphere that this publishing company has pulled together has persisted.  (It used to be at the Botanical Gardens, then at the Art Museum, and now at the iconic Hotel Congress.)  With the recent acquisition from F+W, we didn't know if they would have the party again.  We were pleasantly surprised when we received our RSVP.

Nothing quite says a good party like grainy cellphone pictures.  Here are Mel and Lisa Niven Kelly of Beaducation and Heather of the Trinket Foundry.

This picture is of Julie Young of TierraCast and Kieu Pham Gray of the Urban Beader.

This picture is of Lisa Kan and editor extraordinaire, Danielle Fox.  Danielle is also the author of Simply Modern Jewelry and Mixed Metals.

We had a wonderful time talking with everyone and seeing familiar faces.  I hope to go to keep going for another ten years!

Beads of Courage Party...

The idea of going to a party after working all day can sometimes be not so appealing... especially on a very chilly evening.  But this particular party was for Beads of Courage and their 10 year anniversary and the cause was really great!  They do so much and make such an impact on the lives of children going through very hard times.  As a cancer survivor, their mission is very near and dear to my heart.  So we got our coffee, donned our heavier coats and made our way out to the Metal Arts Village for the celebration.

When we arrived, we were greeted by the soulful music of The Tryst.  They were playing in a pavilion in the parking lot and provided a pleasant auditory backdrop for the evening's fun.

One of the many reasons that we attended was that Beads of Courage commissioned my family at Green Girl Studios to create their new Courage Tiger bead!  The fine pewter bead captures the fun and fierce spirit of their mascot.  It has a nice size and weight to it, and is an awesome way to show your support for this amazing cause.  If you'd like to get your own Courage Tiger Bead, CLICK HERE.   (Photo courtesy of Brian Arnold.)

It was a really fun event and there were so many friends from the beading community in town for the Gem Show that were in attendance to show their support.  Featured in this picture are: Katie Hacker, Kristal Wick, and Kate Richbourg.  The night was studded with all kinds of talent, including one of the residents of the Metal Arts Village who just happened to be Greg's estranged sculpture teacher from college!  What are the chances?

We had a wonderful time and feel fortunate to be able to participate in such a worthwhile activity.  Make sure to swing by the Beads of Courage Facebook page and "like" them.  You can visit their page by CLICKING HERE.

Postcards from Tucson...

It seems that with every event and every show, there's another creative friend to be made.  Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to add many to my circle of friends in the community. It is always nice to see these familiar friendly faces and catch up with them.

Here are a few more pictures taken during the shows:

Anne Engelhardt of Craft Fantastic.

Debbi Simon of Swarovski.

Bob Burkett.

Heidi and Jodi of LillyPilly Designs in front of their NEW cork board, slate, and micro-suede!

Amy from The Bead Goes On.  (She'll be in town for a few more days, so stop by the Gem Mall and see her and Sally if you're around.)

Renee from Ashes 2 Beauty.

Joyce Rooks, Pamela Hawkins from Bead Design Studio, and Anna Draeger.

Peyote Button Bracelet...

While I was at the Best Bead Show, I kept my hands busy while talking with customers and created this peyote stitch button bracelet.  I used the new Pantone color of the year: Emerald!  I also used a NEW pewter fox button from my family at Green Girl Studios as the clasp mechanism.

More Tucson...

Our time in Tucson has been speeding by.  I thought that I would give an update including some pictures from some friends from the shows!

Prisicilla Marban of Priscilla Beads.

 Susan Hanson of Heartsong Beads, Andrea Guarino-Slemmons, Dave and Jolene Star of Bazaar Star Beadery.

 The lovely "Fusion Girls": Katie Wall, Lindsay Burke and Mari of Fusion Beads.

 Leah Fairbanks, Francesca Aiello of the Whole Bead Show, and Heather DiSimone of the Beadin' Path.  (Check out the necklace Heather is wearing!  It has one of my new porcelain pieces on it!)

 Nir of Nirvana Beads, Stephanie Ann, and Diane Fitzgerald.

 Gretchen Schueller of Piece of Mind.

 Denise Peck and Karen Keegan.

Tonya Davidson of Artful Success, Jeannette Cook of Beady Eyed Women, and Leslie Rogalski of Sleepless Beader.

The Best Bead Show...

Today I was at the Best Bead Show!  We opened today and it was the late night... which made it a very long day.  Even though it was a lot of work, we had fun seeing everyone.

Check out all the people I saw:

Isis Ray, Ask Sara of Soft Flex Company and Bernadette Fuentes.

 Kate Richbourg author of "Simple Soldering: A Beginner's Guide to Jewelry Making", Molly Schaller, and Kristal Wick of the forthcoming "Foxy Epoxy" book.

 Brenda Schweder, Patty Lakinsmith, and Pam and Heather Wynn.

Paul and Candice Wakumoto, Marilyn Koponen and Danielle Fox of Interweave Press, and Maureen Henriques of Pumpkinhill Beads.

Tucson, So Far...

Normally I try to do a daily report of each day, but we've been so busy that there hasn't been any time to update.  I've tried a couple of times, but found myself nodding off in front of the computer.  At the urging of Lisa Peters Russ though, I have taken a few moments to add pictures from the past few days.

Ashley and Heather of the Beadin' Path.

 Carter Seibels Singh of Gypsy Temple/Beadtrust.

Cathy Collison of the Trinket Foundry, Eleanore Macnish of Elile Mac, and Tony and Irina of Eclectica.

 Jill Wiseman of Tapestry Beads, Marianne Kasparian of Maku Studio, and Christi Friesen of CF Originals.

Linda Kast and Julia Gerlach of Kalmbach Publishing.

 Diane Hawkey, Gail Crosman Moore, and Kia.

 Kelly Angeley of Beadologie.

 Eva Sherman, Devin and Cynthia of ArtBeads.com, and Heidi Woody of the Beaded Frog.

 Cathy Jakicic of BeadStyle, Stephanie Dixon of The Dixon Chick, and Jean Campbell.

 Joan and Lana of Off Center Productions, Fernando DaSilva, and Abbi Berta of The Bead Place.

Sara Lukkonen of C-Koop Beads.

One In Amelia...

1,671 days ago, my friend Amelia died.  She was hit by a car while riding her bike.  That day the world lost a daughter, a sister, an artist, a friend.  Her family has come together to celebrate her life by creating THIS website.  It's their mission to honor Amelia's memory by helping other artists further their education through the Amelia Geocos Memorial Scholarship Fund.  To this means, they're hosting an art show and fundraiser on June 27th, 2013.  Please consider attending this to show your support.  If you can't attend and would still like to contribute, you can visit their online shop that has gift items featuring Amelia's work by CLICKING HERE.  You can also show your support and keep up to date with the latest developments by liking their Facebook page HERE.

Tucson...

We arrived on Saturday and hit the road running as soon as we got off the plane.  We did a little shopping and bought some amazing things to bring back to the shop.  I want things to be a surprise, so here's a teaser picture of just a few of the things we found.

The next two days have been filled with work!  We've been at my family's booth at the To Bead True Blue show.  Here are the new Green Girl Studios pieces in fine pewter.  Lots of buttons this year!

I will post more pictures that I took on day one and day two, but at the moment, I'm so tired and can't wait to jump in bed!

If you get a chance, make sure to stop by and say hello!  It'll be nice to see some more friendly faces.  Also, we'll have a small selection of porcelain pendants that I made before we left.  I'll take a picture of them tomorrow when we're back at the show.

Beaded Links...

A Bead A Day
Have a favorite piece of jewelry inspired by winter?  Stop by A Bead A Day to share your design.

About.com Jewelry Making
It's about time to get some hearts going, the kind you incorporate into Valentine's Day jewelry.

Beading Arts
Cyndi's readers have been weighing in, sharing their best pieces of advice with each other!

Snap out of it, Jean!  There's beading to be done!
Just in time for Valentine's Day, or ANY day, Kim Miles, Vegan Ambassador, is reopening her Etsy shop with her lovely new name and perspective!  See Jean's blog for the details.

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Andrew has been playing with polymer clay!  He made a mountain of beads and samples to show how the polymer beads can be used in jewelry.

Clock Tears...

The origin of these pendants came from an odd and somewhat random thought.  I was looking at various Steampunk art and saw a lot of characters with gears embedded in their eyes.  I wondered what it'd look like if they cried.  Would they be regular saline tears or something... different?

I decided to make, "Clock Tears".  Basically they're layers of resin in teardrop shapes that have watch parts, gold-leaf, and copper screen embedded in them.  When I first popped them out the molds, they were super translucent and very shiny.  With the watch gears, it looked a little too mechanical... a little too slick.  So I made the decision to rough them up a bit.  I used my Dremel tool to carve them down and make them a little more organic.  I also buffed them with different grits of sandpaper (which I got a particularly nasty paper-cut from) to give the pieces a slightly foggy, frosted look.  I wanted them to resemble pieces of amber... except instead of trapped bugs, they're captured gears.  I'm quite pleased with them and will probably but them on bronzy chain necklaces in the shop.

A Steamy Window...

I wrote about My Steampunk Lady a few days ago.  When I made her, I had intended her to be a display in the shop window.  Since we'll be leaving for about two weeks in Tucson, I wanted to make sure that we changed the window before we left.  I wanted to get people's gears turning for the Steampunk Party on February 22nd!

So here is the Steampunk-themed window display at Allegory Gallery and Second Chapter Books.

One of the things that I love about Steampunk is that it is totally a DIYer's genre.  You'd be hard-pressed to walk into a Big Box Store and find something readymade Steampunk... well... at least for the moment, according to THIS article.  Soon we'll be able to stroll into Walmart and pick up gear-studded aviator goggles without having to get our fingers stuck together with Super Glue!

In any event, most of the items from this window are a marriage of Goodwill finds and hardware store retrofitting.  The cabinet is a perfect example.  I found it at Salvation Army for $2.50!  I cleaned it up, removed the innards (it was formerly used to store vinyl records), and painted the doors.  It took awhile to paint all the gears on it, but I think they look quite nice in the metallic gold paint.

Here's a close-up of my sculpture in the window.  I think she looks pretty good.  The sheer drapery in the background looks very theatrical.

Do you see the T-Bar in the window?  That's another example of DIY.  I wanted to make a jewelry display out of copper tubing.  I thought it would really look nice and have a very industrial feel.  The copper would keep it warm in tone and not get too cold and surgical feeling.  The snag came when I dropped by the hardware store and saw just how much it'd cost!  Holy cow it was expensive!  So, I bootlegged the look for less.  I got the copper fittings (like end caps and jointing), but used dowel rods instead.  I had to copper-leaf them and do some creative painting, but I think it looks pretty convincing that it's a totally metal jewelry display.

I think that the window turned out nicely and hopefully it'll inspire folks to participate in the Steampunk Party and give them ideas for costuming and creating their own Victorian-Mechanical-Futuristic-Fusion goodies.

The Little Things...

I have been a little stressed, overworked, and just plain worn out.  Preparing for Tucson, hanging a new show, doing a new window display, getting things ready for the Steampunk Party, and planning a major event with lots of teachers and students (on top of all the "normal" everyday activities) has all contributed to many sleepless nights and a few extra gray hairs. (Yes, I actually did find a few new ones.)  My mother-in-law found out about my current plateful of busyness and she surprised me with this little amigurumi owl!  Isn't it adorable!  It totally made my day.  She knows that I love owls and have been collecting them for over twenty years! I will add this new owl friend to my hoard... I mean... collection.

Creature Comforts...

Too cold to come out and brave the elements?  On the other side of the globe?  Couldn't find a sitter?  Dinner run too late?  NO WORRIES!

You can view the pieces in the current exhibition of Jen Tong's work ONLINE!  That's right, from the comfort of your own home, you can see the new show at Allegory Gallery, "Creatures of Ghost Island"!  You can even purchase a piece if it strikes your fancy.  The pieces start at $20 and go up to $300.    CLICK HERE to see the show!  (You don't even have to put your coat on!)