What a tool!

Well, when I left for Milwaukee, I ended up pulling a couple hammers and a sweatshirt out of my bag last minute because my bag was weighing in at 49.6 pounds on my bathroom scale. I was thinking, where am I going to put all my new beads I buy? I better save some room for the return flight!

I did buy plenty of beads-- those are not unpacked yet as they require much more organization. But the tools! Ah, the tools are all unpacked. Before I put them away, I took a quick shot of all my new little darlings. A wise woman once said, a woman with tools is a smart woman. Okay, I just made that up. But it seems to be true.

My favorites include the new bonsai shears- that red and white pair that stand out. They're very sharp, hence the protective cover. They cut much better than my black shears and at $6.50, can't beat that. I also treated myself to the 'Fat Daddy' cutters from Beaducation. These are on the top left. They are amazing flush cutters when working with a heavy gauge wire. I'd been borrowing my mom's every time we got together and almost thought about sneaking them into my tool bag a couple of times. It was time to bite the bullet on that one. My other treat, okay there were several-- I bought a new pair of Lindstrom chainnose pliers (LOVE!), a Fretz riveting hammer (sight unseen- never even riveted before this weekend! LOVE part two), and a Fretz Raw Silk hammer for texturing (LOVE LOVE LOVE).

Let's see, what other random spontaneous tool purchases did I make- a burnisher, a plastic mallet, a ring holder??, a jewelers' saw with bench pin, some sort of polishing pen, a spring-loaded punch, and a few other miscellaneous things. Most of these were not on my shopping list, but when a vendor or teacher says, you cannot live without this tool, I tend to believe them. And they just make me feel, well, powerful. And artistic. And smart. Some people wear glasses to feel smart; I buy tools.


Okay, on to one of the actual reasons we went to Bead and Button. The classes.

There are something like 500 classes taught over the week long Bead and Button show. It is quite amazing actually. It's one of my favorite parts of the show. So, we took three classes. These are not in correct order, but then, you don't care about that anyway.

Friday night was a three hour class called Maniacal Rebar Wire with Brenda Schweder-- we used rebar wire, which is a carbon coated stainless steel wire. Here are a couple of my products. The pendant is finished but the other piece is just a link that I'll be using to make a necklace. The other pieces I started aren't even close to finish, but I'll definately post a follow-up.

These were from our all day Thursday class, called Time to Say it, with Kim St. Jean. Kim is a southern gal, from South Carolina. She is a great teacher, very creative, and super helpful. I hope I get to take another class from her soon! I made these riveted earrings and this watchface pendant in her class which I was pretty proud of. I really like both these pieces and can't wait to wear them.

This is an unfinished bracelet, that I worked on in Tracy Stanley's Cold Connections class on Saturday. Tracy's class was great. She is an amazing teacher, artist, and person. I love her work and she always makes you feel like you're work is just as good. She'll tell you that there are no mistakes and it's perfect just the way you made it. I can't wait to finish this baby up and make a matching pendant or earrings. It's just a fun piece and has a nice little swooshy metal sound when you wear it! Gotta love that!

Okay, time to unpack those beads and get organized. I have a lot of work to do the next few weeks for our next show. I'll try to post some photos after my projects are done and of anything I make with my new tools! Thanks for stopping by.

B