Full fab weekend: Demo at Innovative Bead Show & workshop at Beads Mosaic

Amy accompanied me to Edison NJ for the annual Embellishments edition of Innovative Beads Expo. Wish I could tell you more yummy details of this show but, I didn't get around much. Leslie Pope replenished her supply of Tulip beading needles for Twisted Sistah Beads first thing. I had a chance to say hello to exhibitor and fused glass jeweler Marcia Moore. (I have a collection of her cabochons that I intend to use in a new design soon.) It was lovely to be situated near Moggie Moyer's Bead My Love booth. There was great shopping at this show in addition to classes taught by my friend Pat Riesner, Marti Brown, Adele Recklies, Meg Fillmore (the daughter of well known mother-daughter bead embroiderers of Bead My Love.)
We had a booth in the corner of the main ballroom, allowing plenty of space for observers to gather around for my demonstrations.

Sarah, to the extreme right in the shot, not only gave me her rapt attention during the Felted Bangle to Bead demo, she also came to the workshop yesterday at Beads Mosaic in Nanuet NY to create her own felted beaded bangle. (in next post)
Innovative Beads Expo has 30 shows scheduled for 2012 in the northeast, including one in NYC in May. I will be at the last show of 2011, in Fishkill, NY at the Ramada Inn on December 3rd. Here, rather than doing demos, I'll be teaching 2 classes. One is a necklace I designed especially for this event that is new-beader friendly and also offers new technique to seasoned beaders!

I call it Painted Desert. I'll also be teaching Treasure Bracelet.

This was a very popular bracelet I taught at all 8 Sewing & Quilt Expos around the country, the year I taught for them. I love that over the past couple years, a few beaders have come up to me at the Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee, to exclaim that they took Treasure Bracelet class at the quilt show and it was their gateway into beading.
Hope you can come bead with me in Fishkill in a couple weeks. Pat, Meg and Marti will be teaching there too! Innovative Beads Expos classes are always 8 or fewer students per class. What an amazing opportunity to enjoy individual attention from the instructors. At other shows classes max out at 16 to 24. Take advantage of this intimate learning venue.
After the show Saturday, a few of us met for a "nosh" at Harold's New York Deli at 3050 Woodbridge Ave, Edison NJ. What an experience! I'm recommending it. Pat had warned us that the sandwiches are intended to be shared by 3 or more people. Pat, Amy and I ordered a combo pastrami/turkey. They almost finished the pastrami half and I had my fill of delicious turkey on chewy perfect rye bread, plus 2 more meals from it Sunday!! Their concept of portion size is an interesting gimmick, and the place was packed with families. and parties. We passed the dessert showcase. The cakes were easily 14 inches tall and at least that wide. A slice occupies a platter rather than a plate, and again is meant to be shared. I was thrilled that the food was so very divine because I feared they were counting on quantity rather than quality to draw the crowds. Au contraire. Try not to be grossed out by the grotesque portions and go there with 3 or more folks that have similar palates. Enjoy the pickle bar. Yum. You WILL want a "doggy bag".
Sunday I taught Hand Felted Bangles to Bead at Beads Mosaic in Nanuet. Sarah found her way there after just a brief gps glitch that put her in Spring Valley first.
I'll start a fresh post about this after I dash to the post office...

Last weekend at our Bead Blast, in addition to beading, eating, and laughing, everyone generously participated in "show and tell". Terry made brilliant use of the new long magatama beads in spiral stitch.

Marcia Moore bead embroidered several necklaces and this pendant shown here. It features her dichroic glass cabochons.

A few happy beaders: left to right are Louise, Denise, Anne, Terry, Pat and Phyllis. If you would like to bead with Pat Riesner, she will be teaching next weekend, July 10 and 11 in Fishkill at the Innovative Bead Show.

Pat shared how to make her Tennis Bracelet with several "blasters" and Terry made a couple.

Janet (right in photo), back from Florida, came to the studio class tonight with Mary Ann (not in photo, and was my computer mentor who initiated me into blogging). It was fun to see what they've been beading since we last met. Check out Janet's earrings and cool (Pat Riesner) heart pendant. The white framed Japanese design before her is needlepoint she rendered in size 15 seed beads, using a hand painted canvas. It is exquisite. Ellen (left in photo) is a painter and the notion of painting needlepoint canvases intrigued her, at least for this moment. If you check out her wrist, you'll see the wonderful beaded snake bracelet.

Here is a close-up. Ellen beaded this bracelet in the likeness of their pet snake Pocahontas, for her husband Hank. When she showed it around the class, having memeory wire through its core, it quivers so life-like you almost expect to see a tongue shoot out!
Jill finished off her Pat Riesner tennis bracelet with a magnetic closure and safety chain.

How many times have you read here about a beader married to a wood turner? Well, Janet, above, is yet another. She and her husband are BoomerangPro (comfortable and lovely turned wooden crochet hooks and beading looms).

I'd hoped to write this on my new iPad, having invested in it and in the camera gizmo so I could slide the photos from the camera right into the iPad. Hmm, couldn't make it happen. Had to send the pics to myself in mail and save to My Pictures in my computer. Wondering, how will I figure out how to make it work that I can download pics from iPad into Blog? Wish me luck.

I will not be teaching at Jubili Beads outside Philly as promised. They cancelled it today. I'll make the most of this time to figure out the new techy challenges confronting me, finishing up recipes and kits for Bead & Button Show next month and checking in with friends and family.

You've asked and Justine listened: a Felted Footwear workshop for Angelfire Studio is on our calendars for Sunday April 18. Add it to yours, and soon, as we're limiting class size to 12. We're re-arranging and adding tables so everyone has elbow room and packing it all into one long day. Justine is providing lunch right there. Expect to share some of the felting labor by taking turns; accelerate the fulling labor with a Turbo Felting Board (borrow one or take advantage of the sale until Ground Hog's Day Feb 2, just $25 includes free shipping!) and leave at 6pm with custom fitting, fabulous felted (and still damp) footwear.

Beatrice came to the studio class with this work-in-progress. It is that netting variation that we've seen rendered in pearls, as part of a necklace on a Bead & Button magazine, in round crystals by Gwen Fisher in Beadwork magazine and as the blingy bangles and gracefully knotted necklace we love by Pat Riesner. Beatrice's is solely size 6 seed beads, yeilding a textured and, frankly fascinating tubular beadwork! That Beatrice, she always sets off on adventures with each acquired skill. Love it!

Last night at the Beadzo class, Charlotte came very close to finishing the Dew Drop Diagonal Peyote bracelet. She had her copy of Mastering Beadwork close at hand, but I was delighted to talk her through it.

Terry is the first to bead the new design Aurora Borealis (I'll be teaching this at Beads By Blanche on March 30th).

New beader Chris chose to do another project from Mastering Beadwork: Joy Squared Cuff Bracelet. She chose several metallic cube beads for hers. It looks more like a jewelry store purchase than a bracelet composed of glass beads. Metallic beads are especially popular at this time.

This is Jilly Bead's Double ab Siam Pat Riesner heart. If you're on her Christmas list, guess what you're getting. She loved Pat's process for making this and intends to repeat it several times. Pat teaches this heart and a version that has the remembrance-ribbon symbol ( or whatever you would call it) woven into it in you color choice for ribbon. Click onto to site and buy one ready made!
Annette and her lovely daughter Naima came to the studio class this evening. Annette made this little pile of bezels after her last visit. She sells them as earrings. Her preference is for the clear ones rather than the mirrored ones with metallic coated undersides.
This necklace is one of Annette's original and one-of-a-kind pieces. It is bead crocheted and utterly fabulous. Notice the bracelets she is wearing. You can find her beaded jewelry at a most wonderful venue in Rhinebeck, NY on November 20, 21, and 22. It is a select assemblage of fine craftspersons at the Delameter House right there on Rte 9. To say the work is reasonably priced is an understatement. Represented last year, and I expect this year, are glass workers, beaders, jewelers, leather workers, fiber artists, paper makers, wood workers, ceramists...Gosh. I recall purchasing leather bound diaries, swirly striped tumblers and rocks glasses, a knitted hat that fits over my big dreaded head. Jane bought a metal and glass puzzle, one of Annettes beaded rings, and the same glassware...I want to say there were candles and ornaments and well, it had about everything you would want in a gift.
Same weekend is the Dutchess County Arts Council Craft Show. Selling her gossamer silk and wool scarves and beaded jewelry, Elizabeth Buchtman returns again this year. I sat on the jury last year for this show and I tell you, the other jurors gasped in amazement and delight when the slide of Elizabeth's saffron scarf came up. BTW, she and one of her saffron scarves is a chapter in HOW WE FELT. Last year several of us started in Poughkeepsie NY at the DCAC Show and headed north to Delameter House.

You know Janet Rosenberg for her gorgeous ergonomic wooden handle crochet hooks and bead looms, shown here wearing the fabulous jewelry she made using a beaded bead recipe Valerie Hector had published in a winter issue of a beading magazine. Janet made a black pair plus a smaller silver charlotte pair for earrings. The necklace is a silver one enclosed in a right angle weave square cage she designed herself.
When she arrived for class at the studio she wanted to be reminded of the recipe used to make the polygon bezels she did for these rivolis and buttons. Shown here is their beautiful underside.
I had the chance to play forensic beader, which I realllllllly love doing, to tell her how these were done. The dragon fly button was a gift from fellow beader Marianne. If they ever ask for expert bead testimony in court, I'm there.

Pat Riesner teaches this crystal heart pendant (and sells them finished) and shared the recipe with Janet. Tonight in the studio class Janet wanted to work on hers so everyone joined in. Thanks Pat for sharing your heart with everyone.

The flat corrugated beadwork that I have been developing is reversible and, well, last night they called it magical, when I taught it at Beads by Blanche in Bergenfield NJ. The project for the workshop is called Two Sides to the Story and is a reversible bracelet. A button works well but I found these magnetic tube closures that are perfect for this.
Before everybody got away, I remembered to take a shot to share with you. These happy beaders are Ann, Allison, Jolene, Wendy and Pat. (Yes, you recognize Pat Riesner from previous posts.)
It was fascinating to see each beaders take on color. Sometimes I have to admit to occurances of bead envy.

Last weekend's Bead Blast was the best ever! By request, Janet brought a trunk of her beautiful wooden-handled crochet hooks that her husband Bob turns. He also makes the beading looms, behind Janet's arm above, that have captured hearts worldwide. They ARE BoomerangPro and are appearing everywhere, including magazine articles.
Everyone shared techniques and show and tell. Pat Riesner shared how to make her crystal heart. I shared a spikey sparkling pendant I'm proposing to teach at the Bead and Button Show next June.

At previous Bead Blasts I would bead 5 rows and unbead 8, bead 2 more and rip out 4. This is not a complaint. Its the socializing, shopping, dining and laughter that I come for, and I don't expect to get any "work" done. But, this one was full of creativity and production along with all the rest.
The cabochon on the left is actually a glob of glass I purchased in Seattle last week. The turquoise peace sign was a gift from Carole and Mary from Voices of the Stones. During the weekend I actually completed the bezels using stiff stuff, gorgeous deerskin leather and the technique I taught for bezeling any-shaped item, at Beadzo (Tivoli NY -see my calendar) last week.

In that class Terri Pullaro bezeled a carnelian cabochon and strung and framed it with Swarovski pearls. It is so typical of her classic and feminine style, and is so evocative of an antique cameo that you can almost see a face in it.

Here at TNNA, Pat Riesenburger is a first time exhibitor. We first met a couple years ago at Tucson when she represented her company Access Crystals . Here at TNNA she is a wholesaler to the trade, Aussie Threads and Fibers , supplying fine, elegant Merino wool and felting supplies.

She is also a blogger and from what I saw on a quick read, she is chock full of marketing advice for the retailer.

The "Great Wall of Yarn" was a tactile feast for us on our way into the TNNA exhibit hall.

Each evening after dinner, Naomi, Kazue, Mayumi, Kang and I beaded in the lobby. For their first beading project ever, they made everyones' favorite: Pat Riesner's sparkling bangle, whose recipe she so generously shares.

After packing up the exhibit, printing out my boarding pass and a celebratory dinner, we are together for the last time...until we meet again.