 Subscribe in a reader
I also write here:
The Lipstick Page Forums Beauty & Fashion Blog
Older Posts
·· Latest projects
·· Freshwater pearl earrings
·· Drools o' the day
·· This n that (odd ramblings)
·· Michaels diving, carnelian and bronze pearl bracel...
·· Carnelian necklace with bronze pearls
·· Blue Japanese bead necklace and bracelet
·· Braided bracelet
·· This n that
·· Finally got to do some beading...
Archives
The Lipstick Page Forums Fashion Blog September 2005
The Lipstick Page Forums Fashion Blog October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
Links:
· Dylan Blue featuring Saura Designs
· True Colours
· Amy Lilley Designs
· Jewelry Making - About.com
· Jewelry Making Forum - About.com
· Ganoksin - Jewelry Making
· WigJig Free Jewelry Making Designs
· Beading How-To's - Fire Mountain Gems and Beads
· Shiana
· Rishashay
· Bali Beads Wholesale - Handmade Sterling Silver
Sterling Silver Beads, Findings and Vermeil Beads direct from Bali. Wholesale beads prices for everyone!
Eponym Blog Directory.
More blogs on this site:
|
|
Beading Blog - thebroadroom.net: Gem Faire review
Gem Faire review
posted by Colleen Shirazi,
October 28, 2006
at 6:05 PM (Pacific)
Well I finally made it out to one of these things! I missed the one they had in San Rafael. This one was in Pleasanton (it's still on tomorrow).
It's definitely worth it to go. Anyhow here are my thoughts...
It was smaller than I'd thought it would be. For some reason I'd pictured this ginormous field of merchants, like a big ol' flea market size, but it was indoors. I'd say they had about four or five rows of booths.
There seemed to be as many booths selling readymade jewelry, as there were bead merchants. A bit of a surprise. The jewelry was probably good but I wasn't there to buy jewelry. A lot of Chinese sellers...Chinese-style jewelry (which is one of my favorite styles).
The beads...good price on freshwater pearls. Lots and lots of crystals. They had mainly Chinese sellers, some Indians (the Chinese were selling Chinese products, the Indians, Indian products so it would depend on what you were looking for).
Someone had some lampwork beads on sale but I was disappointed in the price. They had some really nice pieces but the prices were the same as in a regular store.
Some things missing: didn't see any jade beads. Hardly any loose beads (to be fair, I was expecting most of the stuff to be sold by the strand). Not much cloisonne or sterling silver beads. Some things I would have bought, had they had them, were sterling silver Bali/Thai style spacer beads and gold-filled spacer beads.
I ended up buying from only one merchant because her stuff was different (there is a lot of repetition in the bead world). And she had American turquoise, which is exactly what I was looking for. Then she had some strands for a very good price so I stocked up on some of these. She had some "fancy cut" peridot and labradorite so I got some of those (the cut really makes the stones pop!).
Now I'm slightly kicking myself for a couple of things I didn't buy...she had what I think is quartz crystal, but it's faceted so many times it looks like diamonds. The price here was a bit high and the shape was a little unusual...I was pondering exactly what I would do with it. If I'm still thinking about this sort of thing in a month or so, I'll get it next time I see it (there are a lot of bead/gem shows in California it turns out).
Another thing I was dithering about was ametrine. She had some nice ametrine. For that matter she had some nice amethyst. I don't usually wear purple stones so I passed on these.
Anyhoo...I'm already a convert. I don't think you would need to go to every bead/gem show around, but it would be worth it to plan on attending some of them every year. I truly dislike buying beads online unless they're standardized, like Swarovski crystals. You need to see and touch the beads.
I was a bit startled that I seemed to be the only buyer who was wearing handmade jewelry. Not sure what to make of that. I tried out the citrine/gold-filled chain earrings along with the citrine, yellow opal and agate necklace that I finally finished today. The earrings worked well...I check the weight, whether or not you need to fuss over them and rearrange them, whether they stick in your hair...these were fine.
beading, jewelry, handmade, handmade jewelry, crafts, gem showLabels: bead shows
Handmade Jewelry photo gallery
.
NO SPAM 0 Comment(s) NO SPAM
 
|