Tucson! (Part II)

I spent a lot of time schmoozing and teaching and running around Tucson last week, but I also made some time to do some shopping. First I hung out at the Gem Mall. For those of you who have never been to Tucson, this is just one venue!

 
Picture a football field full of beads...then double your vision...

There are rows upon rows of beads...

It's truly amazing...they're on tables, on the walls, just everywhere!

The big wholesale shows are pretty overwhelming, so I headed over to Best Bead...a little more my speed.

I saw lots of friends at Bead Bead, but forgot to take out my camera until I saw Karen Lewis.

Look at these amazing new pendants she's doing! I just love the seed bead and pearl detailing. This is a beautiful new mixed media direction, don't you agree?

Next I buzzed over to the Doubletree, where I ran into Kenji Katsuoka from Miyuki...I always love seeing Kenji. He makes me feel like an old lady, though...I first met him when he was in college, when he was sporting the coolest Elvis-style pompadour ever. Now he's all business up top, but I'm glad to see he's still sporting a little bling on those lapels...

Kenji was showing off a couple of new things I'm excited to tell you about. First up is their new line of Duracoat galvanized beads. Those of you who know my work know I'm a galvanized bead junkie, so anything more durable than the kind of coating that just rubs off in your hands is welcome news to me!

I've got just about every color of the Toho permanent galvanized, so the fact that Miyuki is making them, too, is dorkily exciting for me! I haven't worked with these Miyuki ones yet, but they look very good, very clean, and the sample card features a beautiful blue, a color I haven't been able to find in a permanent galvanized bead.

He also showed me the new Tila bead. It's like a square chiclet bead, but finer and with two holes. He had some beautiful samples of work from Japan. Here's one he had me shoot up close...aren't they great? Some great potential here for beadwoven work...

I also stopped by and visited the TierraCast ladies. Julie Young, Pam Arion, and I posed next to their fabulosa calaca, for which they have a wonderful name, but it escapes me... maybe it's the traditional Catarina? Anyway, as you may know, I love all things Day of the Dead, so I was so happy to hang out here.

Did you know that Tierracast has a new line of Mexican-influenced charms? I was SO excited to see these!

Brilliant lady that she is, Julie Young showed off a bracelet she made using their fat bead posts as sort of rivets through chain. Check out this (blurry and I'm not sure why it's posting sideways) photo...I'm really adoring the Steampunkness of this, but mostly the brilliant way she's put it together through the chain. Smart!

Speaking of Steampunk, I strolled past the C. Koop booth and guess what? Sara's made some kick-butt charms! I saw her a few months ago and she said she wanted to see a little more color in Steampunkland, and look what she's gone and done...sensational!

On Wednesday night of my trip I got to meet with the other Create Your Style Swarovski Ambassadors. What an incredible group. A powerhouse of creativity, really! We sat around and chatted, brainstormed about things we could do together as a group, and discussed the website. Then a tall, dark, and beautiful Austrian named Christian gave us the lowdown on the newest releases. There are loads of great new shapes and styles, but here are my favorites. First, a cone-shaped bead with a concave end so they can be nestled or you can nestle beads within it. It's called the Artemis Bead.

The next thing that really floated my boat was this new color called Fern. It is truly the missing green in the Swarovski palette.

Provence Lavender is the other new crystal color...this one is very elegant and goes great with the new green.

And here's the latest pearl color...an absolutely stunning lavender:

And last, but not least, are the new CERAMICS! Oh my goodness, I didn't think I'd be so excited about these, but they are absolutely gorgeous. I was surprised Swarovski is doing ceramic beads, but they really are stunning and look so good paired with crystals, providing just the right visual weight...(sorry for the not-very-good photo, but you've got Christian's nice profile to look at there, so don't complain too loudly!)

So there are the shopping highlights of my trip...I was a snap-happy girl on this trip, so more photos of fun and frolic to come!