BeadFest

Okay, I promise not every post between now and December is going to be about beads, jewelry, or craft fairs, but since I'm in the midst of getting ready for my second craft show this Saturday and don't have enough brain cells firing to write about anything else, I'll tell you about my day at BeadFest this past Sunday.

BeadFest (also known as the Philadelphia Bead Show) is one of several big shows held around the country, although the mother of all bead shows, I understand, is Tucson. Yes, I know 'Tucson' is the name of a city and not really the proper title of a bead show, but for jewelry artists and bead-addicts galore, apparently all that's needed to cause spontaneous ecstasy and, in some cases, actual fainting spells, is to just hear the word 'Tucson.' Every year for two weeks at the end of January and early February, the city is host to dozens of bead shows at venues all over town (collectively and officially known as the 'Tucson Bead Shows'). Each show features vendor upon vendor upon vendor selling every type of bead, stone, and jewelry supply imaginable. Why, just hearing about it is enough to make a girl hyperventilate. I have a sneaking suspicion that one has to build up to that kind of experience, though ... so I'm getting my training wheels at places like BeadFest, which is just the fourth bead show I've attended. Sunday was the last day of the three-day extravaganza (four if you count the classes-only day on Thursday).

I left the house at 8:30 (with little Cloud here enjoying the nice warm spot I'd vacated on my side of the bed). I had a 90-minute drive, so I planned to get there right at 10 when they opened, figuring I would score a decent parking space at that hour. Au contraire! I don't know when people started arriving, but I arrived at 9:55 and the main lot was already full, so they waved us up the hill to the far lot. No problem ... I had worn my trusty Tevas, knowing I would be on my feet all day. I took off down the hill, walking fast enough to pass several slow pokes, but not so fast they would suspect I was totally trying to beat them to the door. I refrained from using my elbows to push them out of the way, though.

The show had about 300 vendors situated along four very long aisles. Each aisle had vendors on both sides. I looked up a vendor from whom I've purchased in the past and found out they were in the last aisle, so I decided to start there. I also decided my strategy would be to go up one side, then down the other. Eventually, I reached Veni Vidi Beadi, only to discover that they were out of the pretty blue glass beads I was looking for ... the ones I used on the bracelet in my last post (they come from Italy, I believe). However, my disappointment did not last long when I saw that they had them in lots of pretty fall colors, including green, orange, and a pretty light brown. I then saw the signs announcing everything was 50% off! I didn't recall paying half price when I've bought from them in the past, so I asked Suzy (who so obviously loves what she does) if they had that discount at the other small shows I had attended, and she told me 'No, only at this one, because we have so much competition!' Hmm, good information to have.

One of the advantages of going to a show on the last day is that sometimes you'll catch 'end of show' specials you don't get on other days, just because the vendors want to move the stock, and also because that will mean less to pack up at the end. Believe me, if you saw how much stuff these bead vendors lay out, you'd know why.

Here is one small part of a booth at the end of the first aisle. Now multiply this by 300 ... with some vendors showing their strands on vertical displays like this, and others on tables piled with hundreds (or maybe thousands) of strands of beads ... and you'll understand why I had only made it down one side and halfway up the other side of my FIRST aisle by the time I discovered it was already 3:00! Yikes! I had three and a half aisles to go and only two hours before they closed at 5. Whatever made me think I could do this in one day??

I scarfed down the chocolate-covered granola bar I'd packed in my bag, took a swig of water, and picked up the pace. I knew I would never get to see all the vendors, but I did manage to at least get a peek at most, including these glass lampwork beads by Lisa Walsh that almost took my breath away. The one that really caught my eye was just like this one, but all in shades of brown and amber, with a matte finish. Simply exquisite ... and also $65 a bead. I'm not quite there yet in terms of my purchases, but it was nice to ogle ... not for long, though, as I heard the announcer giving us our 10-minute warning at 4:50 p.m. I felt like a contestant on Supermarket Sweep who's already running out of time and hasn't even gotten out of the meat aisle.

I did manage to make my way over to the Lapidary Journal booth, though, where they were offering $3 off if you subscribed to two of their magazines, plus you could also pick out four back issues right then to take home with you. Since I always end up buying Step-by-Step Beads and Step-by-Step Wire Jewelry at the newsstand anyway, paying way more than if I had a subscription, I decided to take advantage of their great offer. And, since it was the end of the show and everybody was tired (... or maybe just really happy because they were going home soon), I ended up with not four, but five free back issues of my choice ... oh yeah!

By the time I left, this is what the tables of beads looked like to me ... which means either my eyes were totally wacked out from looking at beads all day ... or my hands were shaking too much from the combination of adrenaline at the thought of all those beads under one roof, and the low-blood sugar from not eating anything but the granola bar since I'd arrived. Who had time to eat, I ask you? By the way, I was not trying to make the photo blurry for effect.

I did a lot more looking than buying, really -- although I did manage to pick up a few little beads here, and a few there, and a few silver toggles and wire there -- but somehow my shoulder is still recovering from the weight of the bag. I spent a full seven (7) hours there with no breaks, but I can honestly say it felt like I'd been there two, maybe three hours tops.

The funny thing about all this, as I was telling Lisa over lunch today ... is that I really have no clear recollection of how I ended up hooked on beads or even making and selling jewelry. Has that ever happened to you?

What I remember is that about a year ago, I realized I was longing to do something tangible and creative, which harkens back to my childhood passions and my family roots. That's when I discovered Swirly and Keri and Andrea, creative goddesses all, on this cool site. By February, I had decided I wanted to try making some cards ... you know, maybe learn hand-lettering and calligraphy at the local adult evening school, and maybe make some soldered glass pendants similar to some I had seen in a magazine. As I started researching what supplies I would need to make those pendants (which I've yet to make, by the way), I came across the bead and jewelry magazines at my local bookstore. For as much time as I've spent in the magazine racks of Borders and Barnes & Noble, I'm amazed I had never noticed things such as Bead & Button before, or BeadWork, or BeadStyle ... or Somerset Studio, Belle Armoire, and Cloth, Paper, Scissors ... but there they were, plain as day. As I looked through Bead & Button, I saw not only tons of tons of ads for bead vendors, but also pictures and step-by-step instructions for projects that, previously, I would have imagined to be really difficult or require years and years of training. Hmm ... this doesn't really look so hard, I thought ...

I also saw ads there for bead shows. I had no idea such a thing existed, but some were coming up in this area, so off I went to check them out. When I stepped into the first one, it was like entering a whole new world that I had never been aware of or even imagined, yet it had been going on right alongside my little world, just beyond my awareness. It really makes me wonder how many other 'parallel worlds' there are out there that I would also love, but haven't yet discovered. And you?

Now, of course, I'm hooked ... there's something so tactile about handling and working with the beads that just gives me a sense of inner joy ... I can't really describe it very well yet ... but it's about the smoothness and colors and varieties of the crystals and gemstones and silver beads ... the endless possibilities ... and the fact that in a short while, with your own hands, you can create something tangible and real ... something that makes you or someone else feel cool, or pretty, or silly, or elegant.

So, the funny thing about all this, to me, is that I never really set out to enter the world of beads and jewelry-making, because I honestly never knew what this world was like out here, and even if I could have imagined it, I'm not sure I would have made the connection for myself until I physically experienced it. Even though I had done sewing, knitting, graphic design, and lots of other crafty and creative things over the years, I'd never been exposed to this little universe.

I guess the reason I'm still a little dumbfounded about what's happening is that there are moments when I catch myself thinking, 'come on, they're just beads ... little pieces of stone or glass or metal ... are you kidding me with this? Weren't you secretly hoping to be the next Mother Teresa?' But, I guess each of us has our own 'strange' passions and fascinations that are unique to us (and maybe even surprising to us), that maybe other people don't 'get.' Do you have something like that in your life? If not, maybe it's just waiting for you to discover it. For the time being, I guess I'm willing to trust there's something here that I haven't quite experienced with other things, simple as I imagine it could sound to other people.

So, I have now booked myself into six more local craft shows in the next two months, including shows every weekend in November. Why do I suspect I'll be living to regret this? What was it Will said in my last post about pacing myself? But, this is really the season, and since I had so much fun with the first one (couldn't you tell?), I quickly made a bunch of calls and managed to get myself into a few more. Many were full, of course, and now I know I need to start way earlier next year, but I'm glad I at least got into these so I can use them as a training ground to learn about who my customers are and what they like, plus how to pick the right shows, prepare well (without the need for all-nighters), and also do well financially. Piece of cake, right?

I figure I'll rest in January, after the holidays ... maybe even pay Jamila a visit in St. Croix to refill my well.

Or maybe I'll just head straight off to Tucson :-).

Comments

[Marilyn]

I realized two things reading this post: 1) Maria has truly found her (current) passion (I say "current" because I believe our lives are filled with many...we're sort of monogamous with our passions for awhile and then move on) -- and 2) this is why I never fully took to beading...I DON'T HAVE THTE PATIENCE FOR IT. That really hit home reading your post...beading takes a lot of patience...and I think I entered this world with less than a full tank of it to begin with. :) I'm thrilled for you...because you're IN THE ZONE...and I've had moments like that, doing different things, and it's the best feeling ever! Good for you!

[Lu]

Wow, M. I am so excited to see you excited about your jewelry business. And I can totally relate to not seeing some of the interesting books and magazines in the stores even thought they were always there.

I have been thinking a lot about the whole apron business and I still have my doubts and wonder if I think it is a good idea because other people do. I just don't know that I am as passionate about that. So...I continue to search...and love to read about all your adventures in beading!

[Kerstin]

Hi Maria,

This is so amazing to me, the way you found your path into this new passion of yours. Thanks for giving us such a wonderful and detailed description, I felt almost a bit breathless by the end of it! Such energy and enthusiasm, it's quite infectious.

Hope you had a great 2nd show this weekend and look forward to some more pics and stories!!

Kerstin x

[Stefani]

Hey, how hard can it be, right? :-) I think often, of that phrase you wrote about.

Okay, I promise not every post between now and December is going to be about beads, jewelry, or craft fairs,

Damn, why not??

I'm so glad to see you enjoying yourself so immensely, Maria. It's like me and paper - there's new stuff to learn every day. How fun is that?

[deb]

Almost every time I read one of your posts I find myself wanting to say: Yahoo! There is something so inspiring, so exciting and so energizing about witnessing someone (especially someone i care about) so enlivened and joyful.

I love how you talk of your amazement about where you find yourself today - up to your blurry eyeballs in beads (loved the photo, by the way) ... how not long ago you didn't know that this world existed. Damn, how inspiring is that? Inspiring that you did it, and inspiring that new inspiration is always possible.

Believe Street, indeed. You took off down that street in the direction of your dream and you kept walking (and you keep on walking still) and stay(ed) focused on the QUALITIES of your goal/desires, but you didn't stay wedded to the form...and viola! here it is ... unfolding bead-a-liciously. ;)

So, I end just about where I began. Yahoo!

xo D

[Swirly]

All of your upcoming shows will be exciting, exhausting and fabulous! Good for you for diving in and going for it. :)