More Bling

Second assault on the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show today......

There's umpteem ga-zillion shows around town that have minerals, gems, supplies, tools, fossils and beads.

I've only concentrated on the bead shows part and I'm in total sensory overload. Here's only a small sample of the displays. Some booths are full of bling. There must be enough crystal strings to go to the moon and back. And pearls--there's barrels of pearls. Every color and shape you can imagine. But not the really good ones--the ones that have been irritating an oyster for say, three to five years. Some of these look like they were taken out last Thursday. Not for serious jewelry.

Some booths are full of precious and semi-precious stones. There are worlds of polymer clay and Bakelite. I had to forcibly avoid the buttons.....There's all kinds of silver do-dads and some people who have nothing but fancy clasps. Uuuugggghhh

Click on the photos to get the full impact.

I found some intriguing colored copper wire that might work with clay as well as jewelry. That's the great thing about looking outside your own box--new materials can inspire new creativity. As a matter of fact, one vendor who stocks buttons and a special backing was telling me her supplier was not making many of these backs anymore. (I was wanting to purchase some.) So I was telling her about kiln wire and that maybe it would work for her. I got home yesterday and sent her all the info to check out.

I picked up some silk wrapped bands from a most unique booth and am in the process of putting together six necklaces from that inspiration alone.

I learned how to knot pearls and beads and have found some really good tutorials on the web. Just search for Jewelry Making and you get a huge data dump.

Making my own beads and pendents has definitely gone into my creative stew pot.