Libzoid Blog

Wednesday, mid-week. My energy held until the last bit of the Meet The Teachers Reception when the yawning took over. I wrote part of this post in the early evening before the “Meet” event and I am finishing it now on Thursday morning. Bear with me if I seem disjointed or my tenses change. I’m tired!

Wednesday’s class was Freeform Art Doll Pendant with Sherry Serafini, basically a bead embroidery class. It was another great day. Sherry is a patient and generous teacher. She was fun to spend the day with. I loved seeing many of her pieces up close, especially the Skull Bag (not the official name of the piece, just my designation) That handbag is just fantastic! It was really inspring to be able to view so many of her pieces up close. Her work is so perfect and precise. It’s humbling.

I learned a lot, and after taking the class and talking to her I am going to take apart the 11th Hour Bracelet and start over. I was beading onto ultrasuede over Lacy’s Stiff Stuff and then backing with another layer of Ultrasuede. It’s just too thick for the look I want. I am going to dye some of the Lacy’s a coppery brown and possibly cover it with an organza ribbon or some thin mesh fabric. I’ll have to see what I can get my hands on. The other option is to make the bracelet wider and put space between the buttons and bead tiny beads in between. I’m not terribly fond of that option. The really tiny beads go so slowly. I love doing bead embroidery, but it’s pretty intense and slow going. It’s not something I could do every day.

Diane Villano arrived yesterday. The show is much more fun with a friend. The hotel room isn’t lonely, I’ve got someone to have meals with and it’s just fun to share the experience with a friend. We had dinner with Evalie and got to admire her pieces from the PMC Certification class. She did a lentil bead with the best liver of sulphur patina I have ever seen. Then Diane and I popped in on Patti Kimle’s class to say hi. She had a sold out class and it looked like everyone was really enjoying the clay. Her new work combining polymer and PMC is so beautiful. I wish she had some pictures online.

Meet The Teachers - (now I am writing this all Thursday morning) The Meet The Teachers event is really a shopping craze. It’s held in a huge ballroom and each of the hundreds of teachers has a banquet table displaying examples from their classes and any kits, patterns or supplies they might have for sale. The event lasted from 8:00 pm to 11:00 and people were still shopping at the very end. This is just a view of one of the first rows early in the evening. You can’t see any of the teachers because of the crush of beaders rushing to buy kits.

Just nuts!

I helped man Diane’s table (picture below) for awhile. She was busy selling her whimsical mini fish, starfish (LOVE THEM!!!), flip-flops jewelry and amulet pendants. I also wandered around to see old and new friends.

I met Marla Frankenberg. What a dear she is. I am so sorry I forgot to take a picture of her at her table, but I was too busy yakking. I bought a lovely pair of earrings from her and she gave me a matching bracelet just for manning her table for a few minutes so she could take a quick break. Her work is lovely and so soft. It’s like summer fabrics.

I saw C.A. (Cat) Therien and her daughter Margo.

We met several years ago here after knowing each other online for awhile. She’s back at Bead & Button with a vengeance. She’s teaching a couple of classes and she’s got a booth selling her beads, canes and finished jewelry.

Christi Friesen was here of course. She’s another energetic person who’s teaching and exhibiting. She’s got another tutorial book out on Cats. It looked like fun. I’m sure it will be a hit like the other books in the series.

I met a lovely young woman over at Cat’s booth, Keila Hernandez who has a piece in Bead Dreams. It’s the first piece she ever entered. Her excitement and enthusiasm for the event and for meeting polymer clay artists was infectionous. Good luck Keila!

Well, I am running out of steam here. It was a long, fun and busy day. Today I have an afternoon class on Viking Knit with Anne Mitchell and tonight is the Shopping Preview. It’s also when the public is allowed in to see the Bead Dreams exhibit and the winners are announced. I need to bring a pad with me when we go to the Preview so I can let friends know how they did.

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