Thursday, June 5, 2014

Beads & buttons

The greatest show on earth


All this week and through the weekend, the jewelry magazines at Kalmbach Publishing Co. (where I bat for Team Bead Style) host the Bead&Button Show in downtown Milwaukee. It's a serious event for jewelry lovers, boasting over 300 bead and jewelry vendors and 10+ days of jewelry-making classes — over 700 in all! 

Today I took an all-day class in making glass flowers, leaves, and berries. "Making" as in firing up a torch and molding molten glass into the aforementioned bouquet. But that's (hopefully) a story for another day. The fruits of my labor are currently baking in a kiln, so I won't know how story-worthy the goodies are until tomorrow. 

After class, it was time to walk the Marketplace: a cavernous exhibit hall packed with vendors selling the stuff of jewelry-makers' dreams. I always drool over the dyed jade. But for today there was no buying, only browsing. And mixing and mingling with artists, prospective advertisers, and magazine contributors like it's my job (because it is). But tomorrow's another day filled with an infinite array of sweet, juicy, bead-y goodness. My pocketbook and I make no promises. 

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