Every year my local bead shop (Bead Cache) hosts a special open house where they show off (and sell) the new beads purchased at the Tucson bead shows. I always look forward to this event, since I'm not able to afford a trip to Arizona myself.
I had a lot of work to do this weekend (including some editing for the upcoming issue of 101 Bracelets, Necklaces, and Earrings), so I buzzed through the shop in about 20 minutes. I still managed to find some great beads!
My Bead Finds
I thought these inexpensive silver-colored metal pieces (pewter maybe?) would be fun to paint. It didn't hurt that they had birds and flowers, two of my very favorite motifs.
I bought a tiny package of 2-holed square beads for beadweaving. I'm already thinking I should have bought more of these.
The purple rounds are buri beads. These are made from nuts from the palm tree that is native to the Philippines. Very lightweight and smooth.
The tiny pink rounds are wood and the shiny green and blue beads are vintage glass from India. There was a whole basket of vintage glass to dig through this year. It took a lot of restraint not to buy more.
The experience reminded me how fun it is to look at beads in person. I do quite a bit of shopping online and while it's convenient, it's just not the same as being able to hold a strand of smooth beads in your hand, feel the weight of a metal connector, or compare the subtle color differences of several strands.
When was the last time you visited a bead shop?