hmmm.... blog what

I am kind of at a loss on what to blog about but I am trying really hard to blog more often this year. I decided I would just talk about a few of the pieces I made last week from vintage materials.

# 1 Earrings











All the components in this pair of earrings are recycled from vintage jewelry. The metal component with the floral pattern is off of a glass pearl necklace, it was part of the clasp. The blue glass pearls are from the same necklace and the crystal drop beads are from a pair of earrings. The chain was in a pile of vintage junk on my work table...

#2 Necklace


















This necklace is made from an old shoe clip, vintage chains, glass beads and brass beads from Mali & freshwater pearls. I especially love the color scheme in this necklace. I had a good time designing it and constructing it...

#3 Necklace


















This necklace is my favorite! I was organizing a box of junk the other day and found the old skeleton key hole so I had to think of a design to incorporate the skeleton key and the key hole. I started by selecting some random stones that I recently purchased in Tucson. This is my favorite piece right now and I plan to make more in the future. I am going to have to search high and low for more of the key holes. This is truly a "one of a kind" design by Bella Vita.

#4 Rings, Rings, Rings





































These rings are made out of vintage clip on earrings... the middle image is vintage buttons and the bottom is vintage buttons. This is a small sampling of the rings I made last week... I think I made about 40!

Tucson Day 4

Today we went to a new show (to us) called J.O.G.S. not sure what it stands for... it was ok. I found a new source to order beads from if I run out during the year and purchased some things from them. I also saw some interesting things, furniture, imports from Thailand, more rocks... etc. From there we went back to a couple of places to wrap up what we needed too.
I got some Ammonites and some groovy shell pendants. I also bought some boring stuff like findings and filler beads, necessities!
Tomorrow we get to shop by our hotel and then our flight leaves at 4:00. I can't wait to start designing!

Tucson Day 3

Today we visited the Holidome, which is huge, and insane, and ridiculous, there were a gazillion people at this show. I guess a lot of people go on the first day of this show b/c they want a "good deal," but from chatting with other vendors after the Holidome today I figured out that there weren't that many good deals there. I wanted to go b/c some of my favorite vendors were there.


This is the Holidome, well the tents they set up at the Holiday Inn and call it the Holidome.



And these are all the people that were behind me in line to rush into the Holidome. It was crazy! I mean, I like people and all, but it's was too much. I heard from Ellie, (Mrs. Argenta Bead) that I was crazy to go on the opening day, but I didn't have a choice. We are only here for 5 days and they are booked.
















Vintage Lucite Owls, I will be sharing these with my friend Holly, (former owner of Crescent Moon Beads in Eureka Springs).















Vintage Glass Buddha's!!!















Contemporary Czech Glass















Mystic Carnelion & Champagne Mystic Topaz















Resin, Resin, Resin!















Horn & Resin!!! I bought some of these last year and ran out. I couldn't find the vendor on the first day when I got here. I was so disappointed but I found her yesterday at the Holidome.












My MAJOR splurge! Amehtyst stalactites, that I have been searching EVERYWHERE for! Garnet, Pyrite & my first Herkimer Diamonds that are GORGEOUS!















Shell, Resin, Wood















My new "business bag" a.k.a. a splurge for me!

Tucson Day 2

Today we visited a show I had never been to before called the Best Bead Show... it was cool... lots of glass makers & art bead makers. I did find some awesome pewter from one of my favorite companies....

I can't wait to start designing around these beauties!

I also bought some more stones at this show... I am finding it hard to resist these tables full of semi precious and precious stones. I wish I had a million dollars so I could scoop them all up!

From there we stopped at a large mineral show w/ loads of Amethyst geodes as tall as me, huge pieces of petrified wood, agates galore etc... This stuff is really fun to look at and oooh and awe over but completely out of my budget!

From there we headed over to one of my favorite shows, To Bead True Blue. I found a lot of goodies here and a lot of beautiful things that I couldn't afford and got really bummed that I couldn't buy them. I just couldn't justify the prices that were being asked b/c of a fear that I might not be able to resell the particular items. There is always next year and I am hoping that my business will be in a place to allow me to take risks like that. It is still fun to admire all the beautiful beads, stones & minerals.

After a day of shopping (10 a.m. - 6 p.m. solid shopping! well, minus 20 minutes sitting at Chick-fil-a) my Mom and I had a well deserved drink in the hotel bar and then headed to our class. My former boss, Ellie, at Argenta Bead Company attended the class with us. The class was "Explorations of Resin" with Linda Larsen of Objects and Elements. We all had a great time and came out with some interesting resin pendants (see last picture).

Today we are headed to the infamous Holidome show, it is huge and it is going to be exhausting and I am afraid I will spend ALL of my money here, which will be ok. I have actually been doing pretty good with budgeting so far. I hope you all are enjoying the blog posts. If you have any requests send them my way, I'd be happy to pick something up for you.

Tucson Day 1

Day one: pop a valium, 7 a.m. flight from XNA... brief layover in Dallas... arrive in Tucson by 11:00 a.m. Get rental car, Mom's GPS doesn't work, find my way to the hotel, walk to Mexican restaurant next door, order lunch and a beer... start the madness.
I am sure most of you have never had the chance to visit Tucson for the Gem & Mineral show so I want to tell you about my experience while I am here. I also want to share some of my daily purchases.

Today we started at the Grant Inn, which is right next door to our hotel. I tried to walk the whole  show once before I purchased anything but that didn't happen! My Mom and I even had a bet, loser pays for dinner, I lost...
Shopping in Tucson is extremely exhausting and overwhelming all at the same time, but it is still loads of fun. There is so much "stuff," it is seriously sensory overload. I don't think you are actually allowed to take photos in the shows (I haven't tried but I don't think you're supposed to) so I can't give you an idea of how much there is to look at, compare prices & quality on, and make a decision on, but I can show you pictures of some of what I have purchased thus far.

 

Mixed Stones

 

African Trade Beads, Mali, Bali, Vinyl

 

Solar Quartz, Green Quartz, Tourmaline