Let me share just a little of the fantastic time at Puget Sound Bead Festival.
The first day there I taught the Complex Cane Felt Beads necklace. The morning is devoted to building the cane and in the afternoon it is felted and fulled (amazingly fast thanks to the Turbo Felting Board (TFB) I keep telling you about!). When the cane is cut into individual beads it is very thrilling. These are Dianne's beads being cut from the cane. Gorgeous!

The workshop concludes with a necklace strung of the felt beads with other spacer beads. Dianne wore hers from class and was the center of attention everywhere she went. I mean, it was like she was a rock star!

My final workshop was a felted, beaded and wired bracelet. Because we used the TFB (turbo felting board), Roz, Karen and Cheri had ample time to elaboratedly bead their new creations within our 3 hours.

YOU TOO CAN HAVE A TURBO FELTING BOARD...send $30 plus shipping and handling $8 and I'll get one right out to you. PO Box 916, Port Ewen NY 12466

The Hotel Murano was just as elegant and superior as I recalled. And the glass art that is EVERYWHERE allowed us to feel we were residing within a gallery.

This looks down on the lobby and at one of several Chihuly pieces that decorate the hotel.

Sunday before flying home, I had the joy of spending the entire day with Marilyn Moore. She too, had been teaching at the PSBF. She shared her favorite places in Seattle. We had dim sum at Ocean City Restaurant (609 S. Weller St.) We shopped at Uwajimaya. My students had suggested I would like it. Oh, I was in my glory. I bought a sealable "bento box", an entire burdock root (gobo), a huge bag of bonita flakes, red beans and more powdered green tea. I could have spent two days roaming around in that store. (Tonight I cooked many vegetables in dashi to carry to class tomorrow.) They even had a Kinokuniya bookstore on site ...and a copy of my Japanese felting book.

Today I finish packing for the next week's Puget Sound Bead Festival . It is held in the incredibly beautiful Hotel Murano , whose guest rooms and public spaces are appointed with the work of 40 glass artsits. It is like living in a gallery. A visit to every floor is a must, because each floor features the works and stories of a particular artist.
I am teaching the felted and beaded wire bracelet like the one shown here (by permission HAND FELTED JEWELRY AND BEADS), a felted flower to wear as a brooch or to add to the felted lariat/belt : each of these offered as half day workshops.
This photo is a heap of complex cane felt bead necklaces. Create your own in a full day workshop on Thursday July 9. Choose several colors of fine merino wool to construct the canes. Then combine the canes into a single complex cane. Felt it until firm using my favorite new Turbo Felting Board ($30 gets you one of your own to keep!). Cut the felt cane into individual beads and string them into a necklace. This is the only Complex Cane Felt Beads Workshop I currently have on my calendar. Hope we get to felt this together in Tacoma WA next week.