Let me start off by saying that I usually attend the Bead&Button Show as an attendee, and generally fly in to Milwaukee on Tuesday or Wednesday, so that I don't have to wait too long for the showroom floor to open to attendees on Thursday night. That being said, all of my classes were on Sunday, June 5th, so I had to fly in on Saturday to accommodate that schedule, and stayed a grand total of 8 days, flying out on day 9, and it was a long an epic week!
First off, my classes (the ones that I taught) went well! I taught from 9am to 9pm, and had to pack up after that, so I was exhausted by the end of the day, but it was a good day! I enjoyed meeting my students, and some of them came from as far as Israel to be at Bead&Button. The rest were a fair mix of Canadian and American. We had a lot of fun, and everyone managed to get through the main parts of their projects with few issues.
I took a Micro-Macrame' class with Kerrie Sue Miller, who was a lovely woman, and a wonderful crafter. Admittedly, I hadn't slept in several days at that point (I don't sleep great to begin with, but I really don't sleep when I'm traveling), and I had to leave the class a little early because my eyes had just given out by the time this evening class had rolled around, but I enjoyed the project, and will hopefully finish it at some point! She had a neat macrame' board that she developed, along with a necklace template that she used, and I loved them, so I took them home with me.
Next, I took Photography for Artists and Crafters with Doug Baldwin. It was interesting to learn the different techniques he put forth. The most important thing that I learned was that I needed a $400 Macro lens to go with my $500 camera to really capture my beadwork well. Though that was a bit of a bummer, I loved his light set up, and purchased one of my own. Now to figure out where to put them....
I had a nice time in an Intro to PMC class that I took with Irina Meich. Yes, THAT Irina Meich. The one who writes all of the books ;) . She was really great. I've taken PMC classes before, but I like to take a refresher every few years so that I don't lost the basics since I don't get a chance to use those skills much. I made several little pendants that I adore, and hope to use sometime soon. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pics of them, and they are currently MIA, but I'll try to post a pic when I find them!
During the week, I wore my Beetle Wing Necklace a few times, and got a lot of complements.
I also wore my new Lemon Necklace, and Crystallized Lemon Yellow Shoes, and even got a compliment from Marcia DeCoster, who was also wearing crystallized shoes in Fuchsia and Ruby crystals.
Overall, it was a great trip, and I hope to repeat it next year! I brought back a ton of new stuff for you all, and I will get it up soon in my Etsy site.
www.PeacockBeadShop.Etsy.com
