BeadStyle : Bead&Button Show 2009

Summer reading list

Cathy Jakicic — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:43:00 GMT

When I was a kid, I used to spend most of my summers planted in a lawn chair with a pile of books. I don't have the luxury of that kind of a summer reading list now, but I did get a chance to browse three great beading books recently.

The first is Krystal Wick's "Fabulous Fabric Beads" (Interweave $22.95) I picked it up after taking a class from Krystal at the Bead&Button Show. The book contains everything to need to know about making fabric beads (like Krystal's Sassy Silkies) and turning them into beautiful jewelry. It is a tribute to Krystal's creative and generous spirit that she shares for many of reative secrets. It's a beautiful book.

The second to close to BeadStyle's heart. "Jewelry in a Flash" (Kalmbach $19.95) is the book version of our special publication "Under 1 Hour." As the title suggests, the projects are quick and fun, and though we weren't really stressing it at the time, they're also very budget friendly.

Finally, lovers of wirework and earrings should check out Denise Peck's "101 Wire Earrings" (Interweave $19.95). It has lots of great design ideas and it beutifully photograghed. Denise is editor of Step by Step Wire Jewelry, so she knows her way around wire!

My Bead&Button Show loomwork – completed!

Stacy Hillmer — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:35:00 GMT

So how are you all doing on your Bead&Button Show class projects? Have you finished? Stalled? Decided that the technique you tried just isn’t your thing?

I took Naomi Sakuma’s Prima Rosa Lariat class, a beginner loomwork course, and completed my project at the end of last week. Here’s my completed lariat, featuring approximately 7,500 11/0 cylinder beads. I have to say I found loomwork to be very enjoyable – since it’s so repetitive, it’s very meditative. In fact, I took up my needle and thread in the middle of the night during a system of violent thunderstorms that passed through Wisconsin last week – the loom calmed me right down.

The other thing I loved about loomwork is how when you pick up a row’s worth of beads, they don’t look like anything but a bunch of random colors strung together, but when you lay them on top of your previous rows, you see a wonderful picture emerging!

I am looking forward to making smaller loomwork pieces, like bookmarks and little squares that I can attach to greeting cards or mount in my scrapbooks. Also, I want to try converting cross-stitch patterns into loomwork patterns. One of my coworkers found this wonderful site that converts DMC cotton floss colors into their Delica color equivalents. Scroll to the bottom of the page for the converter.

P.S., The Bead&Button Show Web site is already being updated for next year’s show, June 6 – 13. Start marking your calendars for all the important dates!

My favorites from the Bead&Button show

Jane Konkel — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:21:00 GMT

My favorites from the Bead&Button show

High Caliber Collar:
Rebecca Starry from Anchorage AK, entered her necklace in the Bead Dreams competition. She used a right-angle weave technique and huge bullets to make this stunning necklace.

Brenda Schweder, Cathy Jakicic, and Karin Buckingham:
Kalmbach book authors.

Robert Dancik:
Robert uses faux bone to make beautiful jewelry that reminds me of scrimshaw. He also makes crazy cool jewelry like the bracelet he is holding which is a series of plastic fingers. One of the fingernails is painted red. To view a trailer and clip for his workshop go to ccpvideos.com/r/dancik.

Celie Fago:
I am captivated by her work. And chatting with her was awesome. She has magnificent energy.

Bob Burkett:
The first time I met Bob was in Tuscon four years ago. I’ve admired his shibuichi pieces ever since. He’s got this unassuming personality and so much talent.

Spinner Rings:
These rings are Jill Erickson’s. I took her spinner ring class. I did not photograph the ring I made, because I didn’t finish it yet. Surprise, surprise.

Amazing View:
This photo was taken from the 8th floor of the parking structure attached to the Midwest Express Center. Milwaukee has some incredible views.

Charms and Found Glass:
I visited with Cathy Collison, owner of Glass Garden Beads. The tokens say things like, “Poughkeepsie & Wappingers Falls RY Co: and “This Token Awarded For Skill.” The glass pieces are cut a tumbled pieces from vases. You can see a project using Cathy’s bottle cap beads and found glass pieces in the July issue of BeadStyle.

Chain:
It was difficult to hold myself back when buying chain. Many vendors had a huge variety of really unique chain. The price was right on this chain from The Chain Gallery.

Green Girl Studios:
Each year I spend a few bucks with the Green Girls (Cynthia, Andrew and Greg). I adore them and their beautiful pewter pieces.

Master class mastered!

Cathy Jakicic — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:49:00 GMT

These picture are from the master class I took at this year's Bead&Button Show and the resulting graduation ceremony. I took Valerie Hector's Chinese bead weaving class. It was wonderful!! I though after three day my brains and all urge to bead-weave would just leak out of my ears when I went to bed, but I was completely energized by the experience and can't wait to do more.

Most of the credit for this goes to Valerie. She's a remarkable teacher. Intelligent, funny, patient, prepared, and very encouraging.

And her knowledge and curiousty in the area of Chinese bead weaving and culture was really impressive. I also have to give a lot of credit to my classmates.

As anyone who takes (or teaches) a lot of classes can tell you, the students are always the big wild card. I'm happy to say that every single person in the master class was delightful - creative, generous, and fun.

For those of you at the show - what was your favorite class?

Show and tell from the Bead&Button Show

Stacy Hillmer — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:38:00 GMT

Did you survive the Bead&Button Show? I did! And one thing I learned this time around is that beaders love to show each other their work, their purchases, and what they learned along the way. Here at Bead&Button, BeadStyle, and Art Jewelry, we’ve been doing show and tell all day long. Let me show you a few of my own creations and finds:

I took Naomi Sakuma’s Prima Rosa Lariat class to learn beginner bead looming. I got to buy my own Toho loom and I’ve completed about 1½ feet of this 4-foot-long lariat. I discovered that I love looming! It’s very meditative…

I also took Kate Richbourg’s Free-Form Wire Pendant class. The thin wire gave me some frustration – I’m as prone to kinking wire as I am to inadvertently knotting thread – but I finished my pendant and I love it! The best thing about free-form is that you aren’t trying to make the piece look like anything, so you have one less worry.

At the show, I discovered the mineral fluorite. Its deep purple and light greens are the exact colors I am planning for my wedding. I made the twisted necklace below (still in the finishing stages) for the rehearsal dinner. The beads are from Gems Ocean and the easy-to-use elephant clasp is from Star’s Clasps.

Speaking of weddings, I’ve been designing the last piece in my mind for months to wear to my brother’s wedding this summer. I found the perfect clasp from Star’s Clasps, and the grapefruit-colored gemstone beads (in this picture they’re reading a bit more Barbie pink than grapefruit) are from Eclectica.

I hope you had a safe, happy, and healthy time in Milwaukee and I can’t wait to see what you make with your purchases!

Your Bead&Button Show checklist – are you ready to shop?

Stacy Hillmer — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:24:00 GMT

I spent the weekend getting myself organized for the Bead&Button Show and thought I’d share my personal checklist. Do you have something to add? Leave a comment below!

• THE MOST COMFORTABLE shoes I own, plus spares
• A purse that won’t slip down my arm as I dig through beads
• Cash and credit card
• My show tote for purchases (you might substitute a rolling suitcase)
• My wish list
• Samples of the beads and findings I want to match, labeled as mine
• Program with coupons clipped, events highlighted, and booths circled
• Map to and from the Midwest Airlines Center
• Cell phone with friends’ phone numbers so I can find them in the crowd
• Show badge (you’ll get yours when you register, if you haven’t yet)
• Show class tickets

After taking the picture, I remembered another item that should be in my line up: Hand sanitizer and/or hand wipes. Digging through beads all day will get your hands a bit gritty! Also, don't forget to double-check your class supply list and bring all required tools!

Bead&Button Show demo ideas

Cathy Jakicic — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:48:00 GMT

Here at the magazine -— and all over the company — we're beginning Bead&Button Show prep in earnest. We've all signed up for the classes we're taking and getting organized for the classes we're teaching. We're meeting to organize the Bead Social (lots of new ideas!) and spice up the live and silent auctions to raise as much money for breast cancer research as possible.

One thing we're looking for now is a new idea (or two) for the editors' demos on the marketplace show floor. It's got to be relatively quick, but we'd still like to be demonstrating thing that people want to know about. Last year we made simple earrings - really fun and people got some good tips on plain and wrapped loops. Should we stick with that or do something new? Or maybe that AND something else?

What would you like to see? What great things have you seen at other shows or bead shops?

More crafts and creativity in 2009!

Stacy Hillmer — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:04:00 GMT

Last week, I gave you a look into the crafts I’ve completed since the New Year. Now, on to the projects I have simmering on the back burner.

With my wedding a year and a half away, I’ve come to recognize that now’s the time to start and complete any crafting projects I’ve been itching to do. This time last year, I was finishing my first T-shirt quilt. Now I’m ready to begin a second.

As a kid, I wore all kinds of cutesy, whimsical holiday sweatshirts that I loved to pieces until high school convinced me they weren't "cool." Luckily, the shirts managed to stay safe, packed away under my bed. Now I’d like to give the shirts new life by sewing them into a holiday throw in the same fashion as I did my T-shirt quilt.

I’m also thinking about the necklace I’ll wear for my wedding. Clearly, I won’t know the design for sure until I have a dress (and a neckline) selected, but I’ve been inspired by this necklace by Deb Huber (below) from the March 2007 issue of BeadStyle, also the featured project for the month of January in the BeadStyle 2009 calendar.

I imagine this necklace as a lightly twisted multistrand necklace (and you know I’m partial to multistrand necklaces) with Swarovski pearls, round gemstones, and perhaps a few stray crystals in shades of white, off-white, and beige. But it’s just an idea. I’m looking forward to hitting the Bead&Button Show to hunt for more inspiration as well as potential materials.

Other crafts I’m looking forward to: My fiancé bought me a big book of cross-stitch designs for Christmas, so I see some framed needlework or a decorative towel or two in the future. I'm also experimenting with embroidering greeting cards.

Of course, I think the joy of crafting comes from its spontaneity. If I don’t get to any of the above, I’m sure I’ll be doing something else creative instead!

January 18 Jewelry Gems of the Web

Linda Augsburg — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 01:24:00 GMT

It's warming up around here weatherwise. And it sure was warm on Tuesday when the Bead&Button Show class registration opened and all of you jewelry makers around the globe signed up for classes of all skill levels and interest areas. If you haven't registered yet, check out the classes and events. And trust me when I say, May and June in Milwaukee can't be beat! Speaking of the Bead&Button Show, Ann Dee Allen, editor of Bead&Button Magazine, invites beaders to enter the Bead Dreams competition.

Meanwhile, my jewelrymaking buddies have been keeping busy. Here's what they've been up to.

About.com Jewelry Making
Jazz up a necklace with a unique focal point or add it to a simple chain for an instant necklace. Pendants have lots of possibilities, and Tammy has some projects to get you started making them.

Art Bead Scene
Do you have a book inside you but not sure you could work with an editor? Consider self publishing. Take a look at the lovely results from one beadmaker who did!

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts
Barbe reviews Junk to Jewelry & Vintage Redux books

Carmi's Art/Life
Carmi stuffs some yo yos to make a fabulously light necklace!

Carter Seibels for Divali Glass Jewelry
Carter looks back at Divali Glass Jewelry designs come and gone, and sees the similarities in her creative style over time.

Jennifer Jangles Blog
Jennifer shows off what's new for Valentine's Day at Jangles.

Jewelry & Beading
Stamping and beads? The best of both worlds!

Katie's Beading Blog
Beads, Baubles & Jewels is back for its fifth year. This week Katie shares what's coming up in the new season. Check it out!

Strands of Beads
Give your found-object jewelry a new twist by using cute Japanese trinkets.

Register for Bead&Button Show classes, starting tomorrow!

Stacy Hillmer — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:27:00 GMT

Since I began making jewelry for BeadStyle about 6 months ago, I have taken to heading the wirework projects we publish each issue. I love the architectural look of wirework and the fact that silver and gold go with any outfit!

So when the Bead&Button Show class catalog came out, I was naturally drawn to the wirework classes. I had trouble choosing, but I finally settled on the Free-Form Wire Pendant class by Kate Richbourg (B09522). Whenever I browse Etsy.com, I find myself drooling over similar pendants that capture all kinds of stone and crystal inclusions. It will be wonderful to learn for myself how to create a wire armature and embellish it with beads.

Bead&Button Show class registration starts tomorrow, Tuesday, Jan. 13, and I’m all ready to sign up for Kate’s class and one other. You too can register for classes tomorrow. Just go to BeadAndButtonShow.com for full details and directions!