Bead Show Albuquerque

pent a good part of yesterday shopping at the bead show (Fairgrounds, Flower Building, or maybe it's called Children's Art? still going on today until 5:00), and then counting my new goodies when I got home.

Then we went to dinner with Betcey, Mark, Nikia and John at Zea's (for the second time this week!) and Junior got home and decided, once again, that our friends are "crazy" and "fun." That is high praise from a young teen, huh? :-)

The show was small but intense, with more than one Chinese vendor selling dubious stones and cheap lampwork. I recommend that you buy your stones from local shops -- there are plenty of deals to be had with better quality stones. Mama's Minerals and Thomason Stone Supply are two shops that come to mind. There were lampwork artists at the show who seemed to be doing very well, but (no offense) the really well known artists were not there. Better deals anyway, from the up and coming folks. 8-)

Betcey and Mark's Beyond Beadery was a wall full of glitter, as usual. I love Mark's unique bead mixes and stocked up on plenty of colors for my beaded cord bracelets.

I also found some good deals from a Nepalese couple out of San Francisco. I think they are called Dorjee (at least that's what my receipt says). I bought little pairs of faceted glass and stone teardrops, capped in fake silver with Tibetan-style swirly designs in them, to make earrings for Christmas presents. (Actually I'm thinking of going back today for more to make earrings for my jewelry shop).

And of course I stocked up on silver findings from Ands Silver. And I found some really cute vintage heart lockets that I'll use in a charm bracelet. (Like I need more heart lockets... [sigh] well these have a little indentation on the front, perfect for collage. 8-)

Today I have a million things to do, photography, laundry, prep for OFFCenter's holiday show, oh and maybe actually STUDY for my final project. Tonight it's the Elephant Bar after the show, yum!