Fabulous Beaded Creations

On display at the Bead & Button Show at Milwaukee were prize winning pieces in various categories. In the flameworked beads, this necklace was an hard to miss, it looked delicious, in fact!
By Debra Kallen, of Langley, British Columbia, Canada, and titled Xmas Garland.
It looks like strands of candy and popcorn, but it's all handmade beads.
Who wouldn't like to find that in their stocking on Christmas morning?

This necklace is composed of flameworked beads, with many different shapes and colors, just a lovely work. Unfortunately I don't know who the artist is, but it was a prize winner , and just stunning.














This miniature Bakery is so adorable! I just love miniatures, and this little shop looks like you could just walk right in and enjoy the beautiful food, doesn't it? Sadly I don't know the name of the talented artist who created this lovely Bakery, all from flameworked beads.



The tiny tea service, and all the beautifully detailed food is amazing. What little girl (or big one!) wouldn't love to own this darling shop.
I know I would.








I was completely bedazzled by the incredible skill of the ladies from Japan, who's legendary beadwork must be seen to truly appreciate it's beauty. My photos certainly don't do them justice, and after seeing them in person, I don't think it's possible to capture their delicate beauty photographically, because they're more remarkable than even professional photography shows.














The red beadwork is a covered box, as large as an ottoman, and all worked in the tiniest of seedbeads. The hours and hours of meticulous work it took to create this stunning work are numerous, I'm sure.

Lifesaver Earrings

I'm working on a new line of earrings, which will be called Lifesaver Earrings. They'll be in lovely pastel colors, with hand soldered wires, using the skills I picked up in my recent soldering course.
I bought the beads at the Bead & Button show, they look a bit like lifesavers candy, and have a frosted appearance like beach glass. I'm really excited about the new earring line, and hope you'll like them too!
The earrings will be in my etsy shop this week, and I'll put some photos up here, too!

MZ Glass

There were so many venders with so many beautiful beads at the Milwaukee Bead & Button Show, it was pretty overwhelming. Very exciting to be there, and just drink it all in. I walked around for a couple hours, seeing what was available, and enjoying being in the same room with hundreds of people who all shared the same interest -- beads and jewelry. The picture on the right shows only a fraction of the vendors at the show.
My strategy was to only buy beads that I had a definite plan for, and not succomb to the temptation I'm sure everyone who's ever shopped for beads has experienced -- the urge to buy beads because of their beauty, and hope to devise a design for them later on. I've heard it referred to as 'releasing your inner magpie', something I've done on more than one occasion.
After my first circuit of the marketplace, I got down to business. Beautiful, handcrafted beads, made by the vendor herself, was my quest. And I found just that in MZ Glass, Margaret Zinser's amazing flamework beads.
Margaret is a wonderful person, warm and friendly, and it was a pleasure to meet her and to chat. You can reach Margaret through her website
and view and order online her gorgeous flamework beads.
Her work is also featured on the cover of "The Flow" magazine. I bought some lovely beads, just what I was hoping to find, which I'm going to make into earrings, and will have listed in my Etsy shop in the coming weeks.

The Show Floor

I'm heading back to Milwaukee today to attend the Bead & Button Show, this time to buy beads and supplies. I can't wait to see all the beautiful beads and jewelry. If you ever get a chance to go to the Show, don't hesitate, it's really something.
There are cases displaying all the contest winning jewelry pieces, and they are incredible. Photography really doesn't do them justice.
I'll be posting more on the Bead Show, and my class soon. The class was awesome, Mr. Joe Silvera and his assistant were just the kindest, most patient, and incredibly skilled jewelers.
Hope you have a wonderful day today, and thank you for reading my blog!
Heather

Beaded Black and White Bracelet

This is a bracelet I made for my own personal use -- the amount of time needed to make a bracelet of this type makes it's prohibitive to sell, I'd have to charge at least 100$ for it, to make even minimum wage for my labor.
The black and white 'tube' part of the bracelet was created by needle weaving size 15 seed beads in a pattern around larger white beads. Seed beads get smaller as the number for them gets bigger, and size 15 seed beads are very tiny, around 1 millimeter.
The large black and white beads are called Sputnik beads, and I think they nicely compliment the black and white bead weaving. I added a toggle with a shiny red bead, to provide a pop of color.