More From Pasadena, Very Productive Weekend!

Several more vendors from the Pasadena Bead Show either caught my eye for future purchases, or had some really great stuff.

First was Out of Our Mines, which had really truly wonderful quality stones. They don't enhance, dye or heat-treat their stones, and have many unique cuts. Quite a selection and the prices are pretty good on the website. Unfortunately, like many other vendors we came across later in the show, we had no budget to buy anything by the time we came to their booth. See what comes of turning left instead of right?

Next was Kate's Treasure, a great collection of exotic beads. Many Tibetan silver/bone/gem combinations. We didn't get anything there, but had fun looking.

And last (for now) is Kochyan Valley, importers of very nice beads. They had a lot of Afghani lapis and other Afghani stones, such as a beautiful olive stone that turned out to be jade from the region. I purchased some lapis strands, both large (12mm) and very tiny heishi, at great prices. Wonderful quality stones, too. I may try out some kumihimo with thin wire to try to replicate a piece I saw at Santa Monica. I'm not too attracted by learning to do either wire crochet or Viking knit, but I love the look.

The weekend was very productive, after my search for findings. I got two necklaces finished, the second amber piece and the ammonite piece with bead embroidery. Both have clasps and are complete now.

Yesterday I was feeling a bit queasy for some reason, and I slept most of the morning. Feeling like I had to get something done, in the early evening I put together a whole necklace, from sea glass, quartz in several forms, African trade beads I found in Mendocino, and a gorgeous silver clasp from Clasp On, Clasp Off.

This one took about three hours, though I had collected and auditioned all the beads beforehand, and had done some tryouts on the order of the stringing. All that helped get it done faster.  Oh, and I tried my hand at wire-wrapping for the first time. I'm sure I did everything wrong, but the necklace itself looks really nice. I'm going to have to wear it a few times to test for wearability and comfort, because I don't want to sell anything that isn't comfortable and well-made.

And that brings me to the latest news. I have gotten my Etsy store registered! I haven't finalized the details of payment & such, nor have I actually listed anything. But the BeadEnCounter store is there! Yay!