What I Got

Yeah yeah, it's just a laundry list of Cool Stuff I Couldn't Resist in Santa Fe, and it's all bead-related. At least I didn't take pictures of the tubes of seed beads. Small mercies.

First the cabs, excuse the glare.

Clockwise, from the black one: granite (with gold mica flecks), yummy jasper (Willow Creek perhaps), tiger iron (with gold veins, see a theme?), matte jasper (and I'm wondering if a shinier finish might in fact not have been preferable, as it's so very understated), and something or another with lots of actual copper.

I also snagged some name brand beads: Sea urchins from Humble Beads. I've bought some of her long skinnies and disk beads (and been inspired enough to use them, which may be telling), and I've been eyeing these for a while on Etsy, but couldn't wait any longer.

And druzies. I mean, how could I not? They were a very good price.

Interestingly, I ended up choosing not those with the most brilliant colour, but with the most interesting texture. The one at top right looks like bubbling magma frosted with iridescent pixie dust (the stuff lampworkers use to get those fabulous pearlescent finishes), while the other two are very stark and crystalline. The one at top left, although you can't see it in the picture, has a sort of diagonal chasm which I find rather appealling.

I'd never seen Klew beads in the, uh, clay before, and unlike some of the equally famous lampworkers, her beads are very reasonably priced. I didn't say "cheap", I just said "reasonable", which essentially equates to "I can talk myself into buying them". 

I couldn't resist these two super-chunky pendants - they're really thick with rather large holes, probably big enough for a 4-bead/2-stitch herringbone rope using 11s.

The aqua and red one is larimar, which I foolishly neglected to buy when I was in the Caribbean about four years ago, and which I've been wanting ever since. I suspect the red colouration makes it inferior, but I really like its drama, and as (a) you can still see the classic salt-dye-on-silk markings and (b) I'm not a pastel kind of a girl by any stretch, I don't care.

The yummy sludgy one is Chinese turquoise, which I'd say in general I prefer to the classic south-western bluer, more turquoisey turquoise. 

I also put a pair of earrings for sale in my Etsy shop.

I made them for a class I taught just before leaving for more western climes last weekend, as an illustration of an alternate use of a technique I was teaching. I've generally made these medallions with the seed beads as the colour focus, but I rather like this effect too.