My favorites from the Bead&Button show

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

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.

Great minds think green

Cathy Jakicic — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 19:26:00 GMT

Check out this video on CNN.com. It's the weekly Living Green segment with Sara Snow. She talks about how to pick the perfect accessory while also keeping the planet in mind. We couldn't help but notice that many of Sara's jewelry ideas have also appeared in BeadStyle in our Beads of Change department. She showcased a few things that we haven't seen before also — I particularly liked the soda bottle earrings.

PS: While we're still going to highlight beads and components that are kind to the earth (and the people on it), we're not going to call it Beads of Change anymore. Our department format didn't allow us enough room to tell the great stories that often accompany these pieces, so we'll be including these projects with the regular features.

BeadStyle : Beads of Change

My favorites from the Bead&Button show

Great minds think green