Philadelphia Best Fest 2009

Friday, August 28, 2009

Oh man – I got back from Bead Fest on Saturday, but it took me this long to recover so I could type about it. This show is absolutely nuts. It’s run by Interweave, which is one of the largest craft publishers (book and magazine) out there, and it’s almost all beads and jewelry kits. The only other big bead show that I was familiar with was Intergem, which is a lot of jewelry on top of the beads – this bead show is so far apart from Intergem that it’s in a league of its own.

First just let me say – it was two floors of beads. TWO FLOORS. I know it was going to be bad when I saw the floor plan, but a little black and white floor plan is nothing compared to the amazing experience that bead fest philly was. I was intending on doing a walk through of the entire place before buying, but you know what – that only lasted through the first two rows, and then I realized that I was going to be lucky to get through the place before it closed for the day. I and my hapless boyfriend had booked a room at the Radisson next to the convention center, so thankfully I was able to go back the next morning and finish up.

I got an absolute ton of beads – I’ll show off a few of the highlights below, although you can see the full album on my facebook fan page. Because of the amount of handmade bead makers, I spent a lot of time talking to the artisans, although I did also get to check out some great gemstones as well. The absolute best part was when I was done shopping, we went to the sports bar part of the hotel restaurant. It was filled with jewelry makers, crafters, and beaders. If I could find a bar that was always filled like that, I don’t think I would ever have social anxiety again – it was a dream. Other than my incredibly, incredibly sore feet from around five hours of walking through there. I’m buying comfy shoes for next year lol.

Now to the beads:

This is a handmade lampwork bead set and focal by Grace Beads. Her artistic talents just wowed me, and I ended up getting quite a few unique lampwork sets from her. They were pricey, but when you see the sheen of colors under the light, as well as the great designs, you know they’re worth it. She also did the floral rondelles that I love, which I’ve been looking for for quite some time.

Crappy picture I know, but I was trying to get the boxes photographed before I ran outta camera battery. These are gorgeous raku pendants and beads by Olivia of Odd Designs. If you’ve never seen raku ceramic before, you will fall in love with it right away. The depth of colors is just incredible, and it also produces a unique one of a kind look that sets the pieces apart.

The lampwork chili peppers were just too cute to resist, and Eric wants me to make a piece to send to Bobby Flay with them! These were made by Cynthia and they are just super cute.

I FINALLY got to meet my mood bead supplier, Rick from Collective Cottage. He was hanging out and had his second generation mood beads there, so I grabbed a variety of those as well as some of the larger sized mood beads.

These are just a few of the 38 different kinds of beads I picked up there – all new types for me pretty much, other than a few gemstones here and there. I also found two sellers with big hole gemstone beads, which means I can do some great phat hemp pieces with super thick hemp, and still use badass gemstones in them. Now that’s what I call a great find.