 The season is nearly upon us when shows come fast and furious. So far, I've got a bit of news for everyone. First, I have an exhibit in Maine! My work will be featured at an exhibit titled "Beading: Threading The Needle between Modern and Ancient". It marks the first time my goodies will be seen/sold in that State. The exhibit will be held July 5-17, 2013 at Shaw Galleries, 126 Main Street, Northeast Harbor, ME.
It's a wonderful old arts town. I'll be featuring my "Under the Sea" collection, including my newest Ammonite in Beads piece (see picture)
AND I'll be waiting to see you at the following shows this spring/summer:
- May 4-5, 2013. ARTs @ Rockville Town Square (Rockville, MD), Booth #325 (It's a new show by the folks who produce the wonderful Bethesda Row Art Festival)
- July 17-20, 2013, 44th Annual Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair, STATE STREET Booth #55
- July 27-28, 2013, Chase Center, Wilmington DE, Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen
STAY TUNED FOR MORE. Hope to see you there!!
I am TIRED! The ACC Craft show was a wonderful success for me. It even included some wholesale orders and some wonderful contacts with most wonderful people. If I'm able, I'll try to add a
I've been knitting up a storm -- a zebra, an elephant and a monkey. For my next act, they get sewn together, stuffed and given faces and other details. Next up, knitted velociraptor! Pictures of all will be forthcoming.
In between, I'm finishing up a number of beadweaving orders -- a necklace, a bracelet, and a pair of earrings. Then I can happily design again! Hopefully the muse who has taken a hiatus will have returned by then!! Huzzah.
 Driving up to Brooklyn, NY, to help close my late uncle's apartment, the phone rang. It had been a bad week; I didn't need more bad news....
It was the ACC. They had a space for me, after all! Lucky #15 on the waiting list came through.
You can find me at
BOOTH 234
February 20-21 (wholesale) February 22-24 (retail),
10 am to 6 pm
American Craft Council Show, Baltimore, MD.
Come to visit; come to buy. It is an AMAZING show! Trust me, I was a patron for years before I became an artist IN the show!!!
 With roughly one month to go before the ACC show, I remain ONE spot away from entry in the Wholesale-Retail part of the show. Not that I wish ill on anyone, but it would be VERY nice to make it into the show again, particularly since I have a start to my wholesale line of goods….some “under the sea,” some Judaica, and some stone circling. AND I can make a go of it as wholesale items. Huzzah! The DNA kelp tube is one as long as I use a pre-made toggle rather than one of my hand-sewn ones. (See below for the more custom version.)
I can also customize it with pearl closures, etc.
Then there are some new RETAIL goodies that are in the $1200-1300 range (or up).
All I need is one more space and the game will be on!
And, in case you were wondering where I’ve been for the past few weeks….I was saying Aloha to the Big Island and Oahu for the first time. What a trip…lots of walking and eating avocados off the tree, hiking and sharing with friends who live there, hanging out in B&Bs on both sides of the Big Island and nibbling poke (an acquired taste that I have acquired!) at a restaurant recently visited by the President. Both John and I needed the time away
But now it’s down to work….. Beading, writing, and beading and writing. AND waiting to be a grandma for the first time, so there’s a bit of knitting thrown in for good measure, too! Check out my facebook page for my A-to-Z list of not-entirely-serious names for our soon-to-be-produced grandson.
AND SAVE THE LAST WEEK IN FEBRUARY FOR THE ACC CRAFT SHOW IN BALTIMORE. STAY TUNED!!!!
 ....to be busy! With the holidays upon us -- and Hanukkah behind us--it's time to get wound up to begin 2013 with a bang....I've got a series of new pieces -- one-of-a-kind and limited edition churning out as I write.
The double helix necklace is being developed in a multitude of colors. The white-on-white with pearls at the closure sold for the holidays (see above). A wonderful gift and most reasonably price for the work involved. I've now been working on many other colors, including a pale pink seed and white crystal bugle with a mabe pearl closure....
And I finally finished the most amazing beaded ammonite asymmetrical necklace seen below. Working on a number of other specials for the Spring show.
Currently, I am a mere 4 places from getting into the ACC show in Baltimore again this year again. It would be Wholesale-Retail, but it would be IN the show again. After so much disappointment in 2012, I truly hope that 2013 begins to turn around. I've applied to and am waiting to hear from a number of other shows, so stay tuned. New pictures and a new look for the booth are in the works as well.
Drop me a note if you have an interest in the DNA necklace in special colors. It's a perfect bridal necklace, and I can even hang crystals on the inside for some additional "pop." Head over to my website (www.theafine.com) and leave me a message; or e-mail me at theafinebeadingdesign@gmail.com.
In the meantime, happy holidaze everyone! May 2013 be a beautiful year for us all!
 It's December; I'm wait-listed for the American Craft Council show. The list of rejections grows at an alarming pace. It feels a bit depressing to have had such an UP year last year and what may well be a DOWN year this coming year...at least from a sales and shows perspective.
I'm considering new pictures -- or at least different pictures.
The GOOD news is that my creativity is alive and well.
I completed a fabulous undersea necklace that would be so stunning on a bride with a strapless gown....Picture of the work will come in my next post. In the meantime, I share a focal piece I did as part of a necklace for a friend. Bead embroidery....not something I do often, and I know why!
It features a wonderful cabochon by Marsha Neal...it's in a burnt red shade and most striking. It was a custom job; the friend chose the cab and the colors. I got to make them sing together!
And whole new series of pieces using bow-tie beads is underway....They're what I call the lazy woman's right-angle-weave beads. I've got one in two-tone....reminds me a bit of Moorish design, or perhaps a starfish unzipped....Picture will be posted soon....
Keep good thoughts about upcoming show juries in mind for me!! And do keep fingers crossed that I get into ACC again from my place on the waiting list! If not, I WILL be there, nonetheless, helping out a wonderful beader and colleague, Kathy King. Her work is AMAZINGLY different....she works her beads sideways and the thread is a key design element. What is so gratifying about beading is how each of us works with the same media and it yields such entirely distinct and different results!
I WILL persevere....
In the meantime, be in touch, particularly if you need a last-minute gift for a special someone for the holidays! My beaded beads and tiny sparkly pendants make wonderful (and unusual) stocking-stuffers.
 Well, as we get ready for Thanksgiving (family all coming to us for the first time in a long time...and a 23 pound turkeyto cover the spread....in every sense of the word), I'm also getting ready for a small local show. It's the annual "Shop 'til You Drop" event at Synergy, a wonderful fitness center in Ellicott City, Maryland. It's 6:30-9:30 on November 30. Details and directions can be found at the website noted below.
I'm but one of many artists and merchants showing (and, we hope, selling) many different goods and services.
I'll have jewelry from earrings to statement neck-pieces. And, you still have time to place a special order for that special someone! So, if you're in the area, do come to the show.
For directions and to see the list (and pretty pictures) of the artists and merchants at the show, go to the following link:
http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=bgc5sgcab&oeidka07e6muss4f6d65de06
With the uptick of interest in things football in both DC and Baltimore, I can even fashion a wonderful necklace for you in team colors to show your support. [Hint, hint: they're also good for collegiate colors, even high school colors!!] AND, there are items for brides and bridal parties, too!
I've got LOTS of new things to share, and even a few pieces that I have been asked to make and remake!
Hope to see you there! And, in the meantime, enjoy the turkey, but enjoy the family even more!!
 So it's up and down andup and down!
I'm not at all sure that I'll be doing many shows in 2013....I'm wait-listed at some (e.g., ACC Baltimore and Atlanta) and have been rejected (SIGH....SIGH) at others (e.g., Smithsonian, Germantown Friends (Philly area)). Many others still hang in the balance. Yet, I persevere.
I'll be heading over on November 30 to a Shop til You Drop event at a local women's health facility (Synergy) in Ellicott City. It's a local event, and should be fun. AND I'm prepping a few kits to upload to my website and a preparing for a few classes for down the road.
Above is an example of what I'm planning to be teaching.
It's half of a necklace that I hope to be teaching with a colleague (Robert Altschuler) at an art convening in April in Ohio......
We hope to soon announce its acceptance. It'll be a two-part series of classes--the rope is one; the clasp and focal is the other. Roberta does the rope (slither like a snake); I do the focal and clasp (bead like an Egyptian). Together, at the end of the two classes, participants will have produced Nefertiti's Necklace.
The other half is at the bottom of this post
The best news is that you don't have to know ANYTHING about beading to participate!
Between now and then, I get to make Thanksgiving, travel, bead, and plan to become a grandma! It's quite the roller coaster, nest ce pas?
 In the wake of Sandy, the storm, I'm tired after collecting two parents in their 90s from a cold, dark townhouse in NJ and relocating them to the warmth of our guest bedroom for the duration. I have taken to referring to my dad as the "ice pop," since he's yet to warm up after a number of days. It's no trouble; it's just different, with other people's "things" in places usually reserved for mine....lol!
Where does this leave my beadwork? It's in a bit of a creative hiatus, particularly following a somewhat disappointing show in Morristown, NJ. The show was high-end; the quality of the goods, superlative. The number of fellow (or more accurately, sister) beaders was wonderful! We all work in the same medium, but the end results are so very different! Kathy King, who I adore, works with her beads upended and the thread showing gloriously (and in a very orderly way) on the tops of her "bead quilled" work. Sheila Fernekis has the most creative color sense of almost everyone I know. Wendy Lin's work runs in two directions: subtle like her lariats, or a riot of textures in her bracelets. Robin's work has ethnic overtones with loomed bracelets galore. My work is somewhere in the midst of all of this, and, again, wholly different. See, for example one of my new pieces in the picture.
Unfortunately, despite incredible artists and a broad variety of types of hand crafted goods, from upscale gold and silver jewelry, to outrageous floorcloths, to sculpture, enamel work, porcelain and some of the BEST clothing I've ever seen at this show or any other outside the ACC show, the gate was down. Those who came, walked with hands in pockets. Most artists didn't clear costs....your's truly among them. What got to me were the people who took a great deal of my time and booth space trying on a series of items, having me size them to meet their needs (all written down to make the alterations relatively easy, once they bought the goods), and then WALKING away with nothing. I can only hope they contact me via e-mail or my website. SIGH....
BUT, the camaraderie was wonderful; the time spent with other artists was WELL worth the trip itself. Perhaps we can find a creative outlet to share down the road.
In the meantime, I'm completing some projects that have been in the works, repairing bracelets shredded by zealous (or perhaps overly ambitious) efforts to fit small circles around overly large wrists. The result was rather like the square peg into round hole syndrome -- because something had to give, it often was the jewelry. I've had a few commissions of late. Some larger, some smaller. One with potential to help explode my business! I should know around Christmas if that happens. And I will share a picture of what it's all about...WHEN I can....
Plans for the spring and beyond are shaping up.
1. While we await acceptance, a colleague and I expect to be be teaching "Nerfertiti's Necklace" at Artifest in Ohio. It's a two-part project. My colleague, Roberta Altschuler, will do the necklace part; I'm teaching the pendant and closure. Two days, two teachers....It should be a GREAT opportunity. More as the process evolves!
2. Waiting list for ACC/Baltimore and ACC/Atlanta. I remain hopeful for both. Keep your fingers crossed for me!!!
3. NO Sugarloaf this Spring; family events are conspiring to make it virtually impossible. And they are VERY exciting family events, I must say. (Pictures to come when they occur!!!)
4. Applications in for East Coast shows for Spring; applications in the works for many other shows. Stay tuned for updates to my calendar.
In the meantime, I'll be posting new pieces to the website and working to get a shopping cart up live. If I'm not up to beading per se, I can always engage in the business of the beading business, right??? The holidaze are coming; time to stock up on my beading designs. It's not just jewelry, it's wearable art!
 One would think that with only one show slated for sure for the fall, that I’d be kicking back and relaxing. But NOOOOOOOO. This is the time for for planning a bead class at the April Artiscape with my friend across the country, Roberta; for creativity in beading; for catching up on bead projects in the works and promised gifts; and for getting applications out for next year’s shows. Oh, how I want to have a GREAT year, building on this one. I’m working on a bracelet kit (hint, hint, it uses daggers!)
Some of the inspiration has been generated by the pictures I took during our trip to Russia….Below is the floor in one area of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. Can YOU see my spiral insignia in this? Can YOU see an incredible bead embroidery piece? I can….but it will have many more colors than this magnificent inlaid floor does…..
The costumes, the royal jewels, crowns, gowns, even the carriages are a riot of color and texture….OOOOH, my muses are stirring. Breakfast first, then to bead!
More about the Artiscape class with Roberta coming up! And WAIT until you see my latest necklace…..another freeform during which my hands led my head….once again, a wonderful statement piece that cannot be repeated…..Pictures coming…..
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