Home Again - return from Baltimore

Well, another show is under our belt - the Best Bead Show in Baltimore in Hunt Valley, Maryland.  Very beautiful area, the Marriott where the show as held was lovely and I got to meet some great new vendors with really cool stuff - more on that to come.

I feel like I had just recovered from the trip to Milwaukee only to be packing up and on the road again. But road trips are fun in their own way. So off Joy and I went, leaving Kathleen and her broken ankle at home to mend.

We battled torrential rain and road construction but made it safe and sound to our destination, only to discover (clue the creepy music) "the incline of doom" that served as the loading ramp for the lower ballroom where we were going to be located.

Pictures will not to justice to the 60 degree or greater slope. Add to this high, narrow concrete walls and a long drive, plus a line to drive down to unload and you have a nightmare in the making...


A decision was made NOT to attempt to drive down this monster so we used our dollies and hand trucks to move everything down... More to come...

Home Again

We are back from Bead and Button and it was wonderful to see old friends and make new ones.  Now to get ready for Baltimore next week - check out show listing on this page.

Will try to get some new things up on Etsy as well, as I promised some of the folks I spoke with at B&B.

And will have to post pics of some of the goodies I got. Copper, which was hot 2 years ago was almost impossible to find. Pewter seems to be "in" for now.  Some of it is just beautiful, breathtakingly so. It looks like it was molded from Hill Tribe silver. It is nickel and lead free, highly polished given a lovely patina. Can't wait to play with it!!!!

Getting ready for Bead & Button

The heat is on as the song goes... the torch has been humming and I'm trying to sort, price and organize my trays.  I will fret over this until the car is loaded.  In the great scheme of life, it's really not a biggie but always seems to be at the time.

Chef Pierre's sous chef will be at the show as well as a full company of 'accouterments'.  Doing this grouping has been a lot of fun I only worry no one else will get as much of a kick from them as I did making them!

But I have been doing something more sublime as well - I guess to counter the ridiculous, "Chef Pierre Monkee".

Here a a couple of simple tab sets that I enjoyed doing.  Love playing with frit.  For non-glass workers, frit is crushed or even ground color glass that is added to a piece to give it color and texture. It can be used as a background or simply on it's own.

Blue Hawaii

Hawaiian Sunset

Nothing fancy, but I like the colors and textures... I can see them in bracelets for sun wear...

So incase I don't get back to the blog, if you're there, come meet me at Bead &Button in Milwaukee next week, booth 1018, it's the Glass Act booth but we're listed as 'SE MI Glass Beadmakers Guild'.