I stand by my thought that anyone who wants to take a wonderful bead trip to bead mecca, Milwaukee the first week of June is your best bet. Skip Tucson, skip the other shows, go to Bead and Button.
If any of you remember, last year we had some horrible weather. We had tornado warnings every day, rain but still 80 degrees out, thunder and lightning like crazy. It was pretty interesting, especially coming from California. This year, however, was perfect. The day I got there it was 70 degrees, evenings were a little cold, but the days were very nice.
All this talk about the weather might have you thinking that I actually got out to enjoy it. Honestly, the only times we went out were to find food. The hotel we stay at is attached by a skywalk to the convention center, so no need to venture out. I generally don't have any extra time to spend there besides working days, so I don't get around Milwaukee much.
Ohhhhh, the beads. Now, I should explain that I am a little jaded about bead shows. I have been attending them for 22 years, yes, long before there were even beading magazines. I have seen people get ripped off, vendors telling outright lies, things priced more expensively than my local bead shop, and more. This show has a stellar group of vendors at it that certainly represent the best in our industry. It helps that many of us know each other, and if we found out that one of the vendors there was ripping off one of our customers, well, I think they might get lynched.
Just the group of glass bead makers that comes to the show is incredible. Some of the best in the business are there, live, in person, with their latest and greatest. One of my favorite things about the show is looking at what all of the attendees are wearing. If you do go to the show, bring loads of jewelry to wear, the more the better. It's expected. I find myself putting on twice as much as I usually would, and I'm not over accessorized! It's terrific, I'm with my kind of people. So I spent most of the show looking like Swarovski threw up on me!
Before the marketplace opens they host a "meet the teachers" reception where they have 100+ of their teachers in a giant ballroom, each with their own table selling kits and talking to everyone. It's a great opportunity to meet some of these talented people and pick up some kits as well. Deanna was teaching 5 classes at the show, so I helped her at her table at the reception. We were busy enough that I almost didn't have time to look around the room. It's a good problem to have. Deanna noted that there were definitely less people taking classes, but out of everyone in her classes, none were taking fewer than 6 classes. I did manage to pick up a couple of things, and a book that I really wanted about making jewelry out of plexi glass was sold out by the time I got back to the table I say it at. That's ok, I ordered one and I should have it in the next day or so. More new stuff to show everyone!
I found the same to be true in the marketplace. There seemed to be fewer people, but the ones that were there came to spend. As usual there are always people that do well, and those that don't do so well. That just seems to be the way of it, regardless of the economic climate.
I did return with some new things, I didn't go crazy, but there were things that I just couldn't pass on. And if you want to know what they are, well, you'll just have to come in and find out!
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