One, Two , Three!

Why does one thing always lead to another?  Get a pair of knee socks..... have to buy a pair of shoes to go with them.  Get a new purse...... need a new coat to wear with it.  Make a body ornament...... make a dress to wear it with.  (Actually there are times I feel like I need to make just the right piece of clothing to wear with some of my jewelry.)

I did make a body ornament in college and had to make a long velvet dress to wear with it.  (Think I've mentioned that before.)  Unfortunately I don't have one single picture of the body ornament..... although I think I've still got the dress.  No place to wear such a thing so the body ornament was taken apart.

Using a PPP plate I made in my class in Florida, I made a long bronze piece for a pendant.  I combined that piece with beads from my  trip to Bead Paradise in Oberlin, OH, chain from the Bead Show in Pittsburgh and a really rockin' chain I bought from Artbeads.com.  The carnelian and jade beads just seemed made for the warmth of the bronze clay.

I really liked the way the necklace turned out.  It's a long one, about thirty inches.  But it just seemed like it needed some friends.  Hence, the second necklace was made from the "fluffy" looking chain from Art Beads.   That chain is twenty one inches long.  Still not enough to make the first chain look complete.

Yesterday I spent about three hours beading the third necklace with more carnelian and jade along with gold plated beads.  Some of the gold beads were rather small which is why it took so long.  That one is twenty four inches long.  But now it looks complete (to me.)

Last time I designed three necklaces to go together, I sold two of them together.  The third was left behind.  That will probably happen again.

Paradise is Right!

We went.     We saw.     We fell in love!

As I mentioned in my last post I was heading to the Bead Paradise bead shop on Thursday.  I had already done some major damage at the Pittsburgh Bead show on Sunday so I was a little worried.  (With good reason.)

Swan (who also has a studio in the Transit building) and I thought we had died and gone to heaven.  It took us three and a half hours to get there, but it was worth it.  (It only took two hours and forty five minutes to get home........ and no we did not get lost.)  Actually it took us about three weeks to get there as every time we planned a trip something came up.  This time we decided to go come "hell or high water" and with Sandy coming through it was almost high water.

Not only did they have every kind of bead, jewelry tool and supplies that one could want, they also had clothing.  (Which we did not expect.)  The clothing was exceptional and unique.  (Oh if only I were rich!)

Neither of us had ever seen such an organized store.  The owner gave us a tour of the store before we started shopping so we could find what we were looking for.   Bead strands were organized along two walls by color and quality.  Other beads were organized by type.  Of course the really expensive beads were in glass cases.   Then there were all the cabinets with labeled drawers.  Oh there really is too much to mention, you have to go see it for yourself.

I just got a few bead strands which are shown above (since I had already been to the bead show.)  But there were plenty of other things to spend my money on like dark colored brass wire, brass sheet metal, silver nickel sheet metal, and a few individual beads.  Yes I spent more than I planned on but it was all worth it.

Swan moved here from Los Angeles where she had a bead store she loved.  She said this store was even better.

Oberlin, Ohio is a college town with a variety of art galleries lining the street.  Both Swan and I were quite taken with the town itself.  (And our lunch.)  Didn't pay any attention to the restaurant we ate in but they had the best french fries I've had in forty five years and that's a long time.

This will definitely become a yearly trek (maybe even a semi yearly.) ...... next time I know what to expect and I will be prepared!