Spring is for Easter Eggs and Bead Fest Wire!

by Barbara Martin

We just got back from the whirlwind of Bead Fest Wire ... with all of its serendipities and adventures.  Here are a list of some of the high points, not necessarily in the order of importance:

• I got to meet so many customers, members of the pwf ning, former students, new students and fellow colleagues who took the time to come by my booth and chat!  Thank you ... it was wonderful!
• I met Jen J-V.  OMG!  Is this girl not only talented but she cracks me up!  I love her!  The beads she made in the workshop were over the top.  The yellow orange one that looked like alligator skin is a personal favorite. Her friend, Elizabeth Auld, was equally as lovely.
• Lori (aka Wendy)!  This is how we lovingly refer to Lori Anderson in our family!  On our way home from an Annapolis workshop in October where Lori was an attendee, Jim said to me, "I think I was calling Lori "Wendy."  So when I saw Lori next, I apologized.  She said Jim only did it once.  So, that's the story behind her nickname!  When I say to Jim, "Hey, do you know what Lori told me?"  He says, "You mean "Lori aka Wendy?" and we both crack up!
• Jim and I met the lovely Linda Larsen of Objects and Elements fame.  I know you've had the experience of meeting someone and immediately feeling as though you've known them for years.  That's how it was with Linda.  She's just a really lovely, generous, funny gal.  I can't wait until we can meet up again ... 
• Yvonne of My Elements and JoAnne of Z-Beads were my neighbors and I couldn't resist possessing some of their wonderful work!  Yvonne saved me from a complete disaster by making some suggestions on where to place things on my table.  She probably saved my marriage because I know Jim and I would have been at each other's throats if she had not been so generous with her advice.  Thank you, Yvonne.
• We all benefited from Interweave's wonderful Karen Keegan and her work behind the scenes, and that of her staff, to create the a perfect event!
• Barbara Martin, a fellow Marylander who bought beads from me in Tucson, showed up wearing the most gorgeous necklace (see above).  She's a beautiful model besides!  I had people coming up to me all weekend saying, "I just saw this woman wearing a necklace made of your beads!"  Apparently, she had people stopping her and placing orders for her necklace ... I think they wanted to rip that beauty from her neck ... or maybe that's just projection! LOL But two weeks ago, Barbara took a PWF workshop and will be flying solo from now on!
• I gave two demos where I felt like a rock star!  I loved it. 

So, I'm leaving you with a couple of photos.  I need pictures when I visit blogs and I'm thinking you might too!  This reminds me of a basket of Easter eggs. What if I were to hide this in the thicket with the other Easter eggs, could you find it?

Bead Fest Wire

Calling all torch-bearing artists!  Oh, you say you're not working with fire yet?  OMG, get with the program!  If you are east of the Mississippi, you MUST join me at Bead Fest Wire in April.  I'll be teaching a Painting with Fire Workshop where we'll enamel over 50 beads and several pendants in an afternoon.  We'll work with millefiori, cat whiskers, and learn to embed metal shapes into the enamel.

Learn how to adjust your torch to get crispy edges, enamel flows, bubbles breaking through the surface.  You'll leave with over $300 (retail) in beads and pendants ... not bad for an afternoon's work.  Plus, you'll have the knowledge to continue your exploration of torch-firing from the comfort of your own home.  

Registration is now open.  Let's make a date for April 10, 2011 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.!

But you say you live west of the Mississippi, well then ... join me in Tucson during To Bead True Blue and the Gem Show in end January/early February.   I know y'all are so anxious to shop that I kept the workshops shorter in length. You'll learn the same things ... make fewer beads ... but go home with a new skill. This small group setting will be ideal for lots of individual attention. Workshop details are available at my website ... and you can sign up there too!  You can also click on the button in the right sidebar that says, you got it, "Tucson Workshops!"