BeadFest Wire 2010

BeadFest Wire this past weekend was a BLAST!  I had so much fun.  Can't even communicate into words.  I was lucky enough to nab a spot in Debora Mauser's Wild Woman Bangle class.  This class was full and even had a waiting list.  I can totally see why.

Let me first start off by saying that Debra is one heck of a gal.  She is so lively, witty, and funny.  She's a southern gal like myself so I guess that's why I loved her sense of humor and spirit.  And she had no problem teaching a full class and seemed to really enjoy doing it.  She's definitely part of what made this class so much fun.

The kits that came in the class rocked!  These were stuffed with beads made of silver and copper, silver and brass bolts, and lots of twisted and straight wire.  My eyes gleamed when I saw this stash.  Debora gave us some instruction on how to make handmade twisted wire, kuchi beads, and showed us a demo on how to make the finished bracelet.  I can't believe she made one in like 15 minutes while she was answering numerous questions.  "Go, Debora!"  Debora also stressed the fact that anything goes with these.  There is no right or wrong in your design, just be crazy and wild.

So, here's my "Wild Woman" creation ...

Not bad if I do say so myself.  Truthfully, I've worn this bracelet every day since I made it in the class.  And it's actually not as heavy as it looks and I tend to forget that I have it on.  So, now I'm a mad woman looking into my stash to see what more I can create.  These are definitely addicting!

Another great part of this trip was meeting some wonderful artist friends for the first time!

(Stole this picture from Cindy.  Starting from the upper left we have Leslie (me), Kerry, Cindy, Shelby, and at the bottom left Lori and Jeanette.) 

This is a great group of gals!  Each one was extremely nice and great fun to talk, shop, and enjoy dinner with.  "Thanks, girls!"  I think the people at the restaurant thought we were nuts for taking so many pictures but that's ok, we are all a little nuts!

Shelby from Sundown Beads was my roomie and we stayed up past midnight chatting and laughing like old friends.  I loved "picking her brain" about her amazing wire creations.  I was even lucky enough to get a Sundown Beads original as a gift from her.  I'm one lucky girl!

Oh, and I almost forgot, the goodies I bought.  Well, truthfully, I didn't buy that much since I bought so many gemstones the week before but I did see a few I had to have.

Let's see, starting from the top left we've got numerous silver and copper beads, some crazy lace agate, silver charms from Hip Chick, oodles of pearls, more crazy lace in chunk form, some dainty silver chain, and finishing off with turquoise.

And my favorite purchase was...

White coral branches and solar quartz.  So pretty!

So, before I thought I would try BeadFest Wire and skip BeadFest in August.  But now I see that's not an option.  This show is supposed to be much smaller than the August show and there was so much to offer.  I can see that another 4.5 hour drive is in my future.  It's well worth it for all the fun BeadFest has to offer.