Back from BeadFest and Back to Work

Gater by "Fired Up Ladies"

First installment of starfish Beads for "Moonbabies"

I am happy to report I had an excellent show at BeadFest. Phili seems to be my town. Not sure if it is because I have been doing shows in the area since my art/craft show days or just because but I am on alot of people's "must see" lists.

I am very grateful to all my loyal friends and customers. We got a new booth location last minute so we were not listed correctly in the show program but everyone managed to find us.

I got very little time out of the booth for shopping and socializing. More due to being exhausted than not being able to leave the booth. My friend Dona Jones of Kindred Spirit Designs helped out all day Saturday and Sunday. I push myself so hard getting inventory ready for a big show that people at the show get the goofy barely able to function version of Joan but that seems to work. I think they find it amusing. Beads and entertainment.

I got to see Melanie Brooks of Earthenwood Studio briefly. I meant to go back and buy a piece for my bead collection but ran out of time and energy. Only purchase I managed to make was this great gater by fellow BOC'er Fired Up Ladies . I also got to see my cabs set in sterling silver as clasps by Clasp On-Clasp Off . They looked fabulous! and Dee sold alot. Looking forward to a long collaboration. I am going to send some pieces to be set for my own inventory as pendants and bracelet components.

Finally the back to work part. I am doing a large order of starfish beads for Moonbabies that will be part of a fundraiser for breast cancer. I put a pink breast cancer ribbon on the back of each bead. 50 down 250 to go. I am hoping to be at the halfway point by the end of Aug.

In closing happy to be done with my last "BIG" show of the year. Really happy to have so many great fun customers. And think I will be content to hole up back in my studio for a little while.

Joan

Update on BeadFest Phili Free Passes

Interweave has sweetened the deal with FREE WEEKEND PASSES !!! Get together with your beady friends. Book a room and shop til you drop! Bead Fest Philiadelphia is Aug. 20-22 at the Valley Forge Convention Center. Keeping this post short and sweet. I am trying to get as many studio hours in as possible. Still have to make owls!

San Diego Bead Society Bead Bazaar

Wow, Beadfest sounds awesome!
But if you're on the west coast this weekend, August 7-8, come see me (Kimmie) and Penny Michelle at the San Diego Bead Society's bead bazaar!

Saturday, 10-6
Sunday 10-5

At the Scottish Rite Center,
1895 Camino Del Rio South
San Diego, CA 92108

Click Here for a printable coupon worth $1.00 off admission! (regular admission is $3.00)

This show has lots to see, including some of our favorite friends and artists: Mingo and Asho of Glasscapes, Bindy Lambell (aka 'the mad beader'), Judy Carlson, and wonderful Wayne Robbins!

Come! Shop! Say hi!

Almost Time for BeadFest Phili!

Its almost time for BeadFest Philadelphia. I have been holed away in my studio trying to make enough beads. Still got a couple weeks to go! As a special treat this year Dona Jones of Kindred Spirit Designs will be joining me at my booth with her great heat patina copper charms. I usually have some of Dona's charms on hand but this should be your chance for the best selection of Dona's work ( and hopefully mine too!) Dona is technically just along as a helper but I told her to bring as much inventory as she wanted. My official booth mates are Louise Mehaffey of the Glass Place and Alice St. Germaine of Succulent Glass. Louise is the author of Heritage Crafts Today "Glass Beads" Come by and buy a signed copy or bring yours in for Louise to sign. Louise is currently writing her second book. I will of course have plenty of Penny Michelle pewter and silver components and our collaborative dolls.

Finally.......Drum roll please............ FREE PASSES!!!!!!!

Interweave has generously provided us with free passes to distribute. If you would like a printable free pass to BeadFest Philadelphia. Please join my email list.

Hope to see you there!

hey, it's summer!

Kimmie here:

My felt bead came back from Bead and Button with the 'finalist' ribbon:

LOL I am glad that felt is unbreakable...poor sad ribbon all creased and crumpled! I hope Joan's big beautiful red one made it home okay.

Here in N County San Diego we were socked in with chilly, grey weather for all of June and July. I'm not complaining; I love 'June Gloom', and find wearing a hooded sweatshirt on the Fourth of July is just fine with me.

But the sun finally came out and it's warm and beautiful. And we are all complaining about this crazy, 75-degree heat. I am from Texas. I just spent four days there enjoying the summer sun. Seventy-five degrees is NOT heat. But it's incredible how quickly I got un-acclimated. Just moving some furniture this afternoon made me feel the intense need for a popsicle and a nap!

Didn't make a lot of beads this week, but I have some fun pieces from my workshop with Kate McKinnon (pictures in her blog). Learned to create a rivet post ring to hold my beads; the one I used is a vintage Michael Barley that I got at Embellishment (remember that?) in Austin(!) in about 1995. I have several pieces like that, that I've collected and held on to for years...my Joan Miller beads have their very own box ;-).

Also a staggeringly cool Feltzilla ring (again, see Kate's blog for pics): a tiny building in the process of destruction. FZ doesn't quite have all his details attached yet, but somehow I must make it a priority and get it done before the San Diego Bead Society show in August!

I ordered some more buttons from Anne Choi. I didn't know it but she has several styles. Going to make some great beads to go with them, and I'm thinking of writing a quick how-to on using buttons for bails. Oh, that's the other thing I worked on at the workshop: a new idea for a snazzy bail that will hide those boring wrapped loops. Yes!

How will it show?

Lots going on this week; I went surfing 3 times with Morgan over the weekend. There is nothing like getting tossed by the waves as you paddle out, then finally making it out past the breakers to sit for a while just contemplating the ocean. Yesterday we were blessed with major dolphin sightings. There were less than a dozen surfers out, and each of us had a close encounter. The dolphins would surface and slowly move down the line, playing in the waves and surfacing all together, en masse, rolling around with each other. Mating season? One surfer got the surprise of his life as he paddled out and two leaped out of the water within feet of him! I was lucky enough to have one surface about 5 feet from me, then he playfully swam under me as I sat on my board. I think I could have touched him with my foot. Then he jumped out of the water just a few yards away. We are paddling out again today, hope they come back to see us!

(okay, so I didn't see a baby dolphin sticking his tongue out at me, but if he had done it, I'd have seen it!)

Then this weekend I expect to be taking a metal clay and metalsmithing workshop with Kate McKinnon. I think it will be a good investment in new skills, and I already have a project in mind! Not to mention the pleasure of seeing Kate again :-).

I'm interested to see how these new experiences will show up in my work...it may take a while for them to be absorbed, but I'm sure I'll be feeling their influence soon.

Good Morning

I have a few pictures of new beads to share; after Bead and Button, my head is full of new ideas and things I want to do, but I've only had a couple of days at the torch to try some of them out.

Inspired by the few but precious treasures I brought home from the show, I am experimenting with new motifs and jewelry designs. I bought a button from Anne Choi, some koi from Bob Burkett, and a neat crab from Greg Ogden, of Green Girl Studios (some of Bob's things can be found at Green Girl too). As always, I lament my lack of shutterbuggery when I visit the blogs of friends who were at the show. Not only do they seem to have found all of the very latest and neatest things, they photograph them and everyone who crosses their paths! What a nice way to recap and share memories. I have vowed to do better in the past, and here I go again ;-).

Anyway, here's a picture of my first piece with the Anne Choi button:

It wears nicely, and I love how it hides the wire and jumpring. I like this idea so much, in fact, that I dove into my stash and dug out some of the cool buttons I have collected over the years to use in jewelry designs. More to come!
I also can't resist sharing this guy, ordered at the show and shipped out yesterday:

I was a little daunted at the thought of doing a Shar Pei when I started studying all those wrinkles, but it turned out great. From the side he looks like he ran into a brick wall, just like he's supposed to.