New pendants from Singing Cat Studio

We just got in a special delivery of beautiful polymer pendants from our friend Kim with Singing Cat Studio out of Philadelphia.  These lovely little pendants are decorated with fun mixed media pieces - metal or ribbon with bails for stringing.  They're wonderful on beaded creations but they're also very nice on a simple ribbon necklace.

Stop in and decide which one you can't live without!

You can visit Kim's Facebook page and see more of her beautiful creations! 

New Inventory - funky cabs, cufflink backs, connectors

Whooo!  New stuff!  I love when new bits and pieces and goodies come in.  

 Fancy cufflink backs - I just love cufflinks

 swirl and twig connectors, these are VERY cool

 shell pendants

 leaf connectors, we have both the left and right facing ones

Awesome new cabochon pairs - we've had these before and are excited to have them back in stock

more cabochons, these are quite a bit larger, 40x30mm (the skulls are amazing!)

filigree ring backs/blanks - we've had these before as well, they're quite popular because the quality is really nice, they're heavy and hold up incredibly well.

Such happy bits!  -Anne.

Hello hotel room... I'm so glad to see you...

It's 930p and we just got a room.  We had a reservation, but the hotel's computer systems went down so they were processing everything by hand and I don't think it was super effective...  :(  they seemed stressed, but handled it really well. I also feel a strange sense of accomplishment in having a place to sleep tonight.  YES!

We managed to get to the To Bead True Blue Show AND the JOGS show (I don't even know what JOGS stands for, if I say JOGS show, is it the same as saying ATM machine?  Does the S in JOGS stand for show?)  I found some fun vendors for lots of new supplies and things.  There were some beautiful finished pieces as well; lots of glass blowers at this show.  Blowing glass seems hard, it's so impressive when done well though.  We didn't pick up much there, but made lots of great contacts, and might be picking up things from them later. 

W've had a few people in looking for the clasps for the wide leather pieces, particularly the bracelets, and the slide beads for them...  replacing Pandora bracelets maybe?  Here is a resource for you for beads and clasps.  Antelope Beads is a Colorado based company by the way (out of Boulder) hooray, support local.  

There were also these incredible leaves!  I see the metal aspen leaves all the time in Denver, but they had all sorts of leaves in a lot of colors.  LOVE!  Here are some design examples, they're so fancy. We did get some of these! 

I really liked these super cute clay flowers from Sonoran Beads.  They're by an artist named Eriko Page.  

I did get some beautiful beads from Grace Beads – they're blown glass and I think they're great.

We ended up getting lost between the BTB show and the JOGS show.  However, found our way to a great sandwich shop called Melt.  I had a turkey, bacon, and avocado sandwich.  Mmm.  They also had popcorn made by some nuns that are in the Tucson area.  It was delicious.    Www.Prayerfullypopped.com  :)  And I had some corn chowder... and found no corn in it, actually.

Somehow I got stuck driving the rental car by the way.  And I backed into a parking spot (like a boss)... and the wall behind it... but that's neither here nor there I guess.

I'm not sure about JOGS show, honestly.  I haven't been there before... I'm not sure if I'd go back.  There was a LOT of amber there.  And a lot of strange things. 

An amethyst case, the lid actually folds down.    Some old swords...  HUGE wire wrapped trees with amethyst or rose quartz "leaves." 

Anyways, a breakdown of what's coming into the bead store from today:  metal leaves, druzy cabochons, faceted nugget amethyst, botswana agate, carnelian, and quartz, malachite azurite faceted rounds, skulls in all sorts of colors, lucite flowers, and a lot of other stuff, but I'm too tired to remember it all.  :)  anne.

Tucson Bead Shows 2013 - here I come!

Whew!  It seems like only last year I was at the Tucson gem and bead shows.  Oh wait.  It was only last year that I was.  :)  I'm excited to go back, it's so much fun and I'm really looking forward to picking up amazing things to bring back.  I'm also excited to eat at one of my favorite breakfast places (Sunrise cafe), meet new and exciting beaders, maybe make a few friends along the way, and generally, have a good time.  You can follow along here (on the blog) and through this photo album.

One of my favorite booths!  It's HUGE and amazing.  See the front table on the left?  Coral.  Piles of coral.

Today I need to get ready.  I need to make our itinerary, what shows we're going to hit, make sure everything is printed (our wholesale badges, etc), and leave notes for the team here.

To take/pack (other than clothes and personal items):

• a budget - this is particularly important because it's easy to get overwhelmed and fall in love with literally everything.
• itinerary.  I like having an idea of the exact hours shows are open and their location/addresses.  This helps me plan our trip fairly effectively and efficiently.  I'm not staying long, so I have to use the time as wisely as possible. 
• bag with wheels - I typically take a backpack style bag, so I can roll it when it gets really heavy, and I can pick it up and carry it if I need, or if I'm feeling particularly guilty about the deliciousness I had for breakfast and to gear up for dinner. 

Uhm, so yum!

• notebook - I've been making notes about what we need/what to look for/special requests for the last few months.  Can't forget this!
• copies of our Sales Tax License - we go to primarily wholesale shows and need this to register and get in, some vendors also ask for it when we buy, so it's good to have a few copies, just in case)
• checkbook - this is the one I usually forget.  I just don't keep a checkbook with me, ever.  However, some vendors will only take checks or cash.
• badges -  Some shows we can pre-register for, which we typically do.  I like having all of that stuff pre-printed and ready to go, that way we can just walk in when we show up.  Saves time.
• sticky labels - this one might not be as important for you, but for us, it's really important.  This means that when we purchasing something, we can tag the item exactly as it's sold to us.  There are some stones that can look a lot like other stones, or things that have fancy names that I might not remember later.  I tag them on the spot.
• business cards - another thing I sometimes forget.
• comfortable shoes.  So much walking!
• heart rate monitor/calorie counter.  Might as well find out what my actual exertion is!  It's feels like it's a lot. 

Gosh, what else.  I feel like there's so much, but there's not really.  So, here's a picture of some mother of pearl beads.  :)  (want more pictures from last year?  Check out this album.)

- Anne

P.S. - the store is open this week!  Check in on Aimee while I'm away, don't let her be lonely.  There's a sale on gemstone strands this week too (Monday - Wednesday), 30% off. 

How to tell if amber is real or resin

Amber is beautiful, but with so many imitations (a lot of them very good imitations), how can you tell if it's real or not?  We recently got some amber into the store that was... suspicious.  So I decided to find out. 

I did some researching (which means that I called my dad and he Googled it while I was on the phone with him).  From AmberGallery.net, we found an article about how to test amber and decide if it's real or fake.  Here's an excerpt.

Testing: It's not really difficult to tell real amber from fake plastic or copal.  You can try just a few simple tests:

1.Copal (immature resin) and plastic fake amber do not hold up to solvents.  Take a few drops of acetone (fingernail polish remover) or alcohol and drip it over the surface of your piece.  If the surface becomes tacky, or the fluid takes on the honey golden color of the substance, you can bet it's not amber.  Amber is not harmed and will not dissolve under these solvents.

2.Amber does not melt.  It will burn away like incense.  Copal will melt, as will plastic. However, the plastic will release a horrible chemical smell upon burning, while copal may release a smell similar to that of amber.  Amber smells sweet, piney and pleasant when burnt, the very reason it has been used for centuries as incense.

3.Amber is buoyant in salt water.  That's why it is easy for locals on the Baltic Coast to find it washed up on beaches, especially after storm events. The amber gets stirred up from a layer known as blue earth, which is beneath layers of silt and clay on the ocean floor. To do this test, mix about 1 part salt to 2 parts water and dissolve the salt completely.  Drop your piece into the mixture.  Plastic and copal will drop out, while amber floats. 

I decided to go for #2.  Robin, an awesome customer, also recommended this method, and to be honest, it sounded like the most fun.  I took a bead and stuck it to a knotting awl so I could light it on fire and not injure myself.  However, I don't have a lighter in the store, no matches either.  Thankfully, our friends at Fat Jack's sandwiches did have a lighter that they so kindly let me borrow. 

The result:  NOT AMBER, these beads are resin.  They definitively smelled like burning plastic.  It was also not as cool as I would have thought, I thought the bead would actually catch fire, but it didn't, it just, got warm.  Lame.