When I turned around to see who had tapped me on the shoulder in the lobby of Beadfest, it was Ellen, wearing her Ostara's Emerging Blossoms necklace, from the workshopI taught at Beads by Blanche.
Once on the show floor, of course, I headed for Melek Karacan's booth to say hello and check out her beads. She has a line of them with holes large enough to wear on a crochet rope (and my locks!).

We missed Jane at the Bead & Button Show but caught up with her here in Beadfest. Wasn't I tickled beyond belief to see my MASTERING BEADWORK in front of her at the register and her working on Supple, Shiny and Shapely bracelet if time allowed. And just to give me goose bumps, she reported selling all but this copy today.

Hey, if you click on her website, be patient for a day or so. Someone attached malicious software to her site. Jane's staff is in the process of reconstructing the entire thing. Sounds daunting but, she is on it, and always cheerful, even so. Robin was working the booth with her and Tom, the newlywed, wasn't here this time.

Jane gave me a couple tubes of those new drop/magatama beads (LMA 250, clear with AB). Let me decribe them as: our standard magatama is to ziti as this new bead is to penne. Ya know, kind of leaning over. Like a splot of glass with the hole off center caught in a stiff wind. Got it?

York beads (my source for masses of Czech seed beads) is exhibiting here for the first time. I picked up a strand of each of several flavors of the daggers with geometric surface designs. When I head into Manhattan to buy bulk, I'll have stock numbers and samples on hand. Ah, such efficiency.

In the York booth I met Bert and Dana Freed, exhibiting their new interchangeable travel cases for beadwork (and other portable projects like knitting, wire, etc). This mother-daughter duo also sell couture beadwork under the name chicken and the egg.
More on this later when I've given it a test drive.

Friday at Beadfest concluded with Meet the Teachers. Phyllis Dintenfass, my bud and roomate for this annual event, presented kits for her projects in a vast array of color combinations. Shoppers had fun finding their special blend to create their Tri-Phyl, Tetra-Phyl or other popular designs.