Update on BeadFest

Update -- I can't go.


I was so excited, but I got an email saying my instructor had taken a bad fall and was unable to teach.  At this late of a date, there wasn't a class left that I felt like taking, so after a long talk with my husband, I canceled my trip.


"But you could shop!" you say.


Yes, yes I could.


But I decided to save that money and now I'm going to go to Bead and Button next year!


So --- who is planning on going???  I'd still love to meet people there!

Are you going to BeadFest?????

Keeping up with my plan on taking classes, I'll be taking a beginning lampworking class at BeadFest in Philadelphia August 22nd.  I'm actually heading up the day before to go bead shopping and hope to see some of you bead artisans there -- and if any of you designers are going, give me a shout so I can read name tags and maybe find you!

Are you going?  If you are, are you going to take classes, or just shop?




Lori Anderson makes jewelry for Lori Anderson Designs, and also writes the blog Pretty Things, and occasionally for Art Bead Scene.  She loves funky, colorful beads.

Riveting with Tracy Stanley at WireFest/BeadFest

Finally, I got to go to WireFest/BeadFest!  For the past five years, I've always had to either prepare for or exhibit at a craft show, but this year, of course, I took the time out to go to classes.


I first want to say that going to this event wasn't just about taking classes, but about meeting up with friends (Cindy Wimmer of Sweet Bead Studio, Jeanette Blix of Fundametals, and Kerry Bogert of Kabs Creative Concepts), meeting a bunch of people I met through the Bead Soup Blog Party, and finally getting to meet the editors of the magazines I've contributed to over the years.  Oh, and bead shopping.  OH yes.  The shopping.  :-)

(Photo by Cindy Wimmer)

 But on to my classes!


I opted to take two classes with Tracy Stanley so I could immerse myself in riveting, metal texturing, dapping, and basically all things metal.  I was nervous, a complete wreck going into that classroom, let me tell you!  Here I am, a jewelry designer that works in color and glass, and I'm getting ready to work with anything but!


The first class dealt with metal stamping and riveting with metal wire.  Unfortunately, I'm not finished with that project yet, so you can expect to see it in a future post.  But the second class was an intensive all-day extravaganza of hammers and dapping blocks and learning to both rivet with tubing and eyelets.


Instead of a bracelet, I decided to make some pendants.  So far, I finished this one:

Each dapped circle is textured, patinaed, and riveted.  The bottom one has a lampwork bead riveted to it, and I used a combination of brass, sterling, and copper.  (You can click on it to see a larger photo).


The next pendant started out as a ring.  I cut my band, looked at it, and decided I didn't really WANT a ring.  So again, another pendant came about.

This one has a dapped disk, a tiny river rock, and a Bali spacer, all on copper.  The width of the pendant is only half and inch.  This one will end up on my web site for sale.


I'll have more to show soon -- three more await embellishment!


I'd be interested to know what you think!






Lori Anderson designs jewelry for www.lorianderson.net and also writes for the blog www.PrettyThingsBlog.com.

Learning to Rivet, Learning to Stamp

I'm leaving tomorrow to head to the Philadelphia area to attend BeadFest, more commonly known as WireFest for this particular venue as the classes focus on wire and metal.  I've been looking forward to this for a while, having signed up for two classes with Tracy Stanley.  I'll be learning about cold connections, which is basically how to join metal without soldering, using rivets.  I'll also try my hand at metal stamping (very hot right now) and dapping (make little cups out of metal, like bead caps, always handy). 

Here's the example she posted of one of the class projects:

Very cool, isn't it?

I'm also stoked that I'll get to meet a lot of online and real life beading friends, both students and instructors, so it's going to be a mini-vacation as well as a learning experience and oh yes, a shopping trip!  What self-respecting BeadFest would be complete without a bead market to buy from?

So expect to see some humble offerings when I get back!  In the meantime, enjoy creating!

Lori's work can be seen at www.lorianderson.net.  She also writes www.PrettyThingsBlog.com.