Back from Bead and Button

I had every expectation to blog everyday...but we were having so much fun late into the night I was too tired to blog.  I left B&B a day early.  I wanted to spend a day at home relaxing before I have to go back to the work. 

The glass casting class with Sherri Lenart and Susan Lenart Kazmer (the Safety Sisters) was amazing.  I have never worked with glass before. I loved the piece that I did.  Here is another picture of it.....

The glass is a very pretty blue and I put it in a bronze bezel with silver prongs and bail.  It changes color from blue to purple depending on the light.  It's actually very large.  I got a lot of comments on it at the show when I wore it.

My next class was torch fired and kiln fired enameling...another first for me.  I only made one piece.  I had trouble with it and had to clean it up a number of times and refire.  I really enjoy this technique and want to get further into it.  It's a great way to add color to the metal I work with. 

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On Wednesday, Cris and I went down to Chicago to Urban Remains.  It's an industrial salvage place.  They have a fantastic showroom and a separate warehouse.  These are some of the things from the showroom.   

Cris pointing out a safety sign...reminding everyone to wear their safety glasses

No idea what these were but they look like a giant pair of ear wires.

I loved this white metal chest.  At $1,075....I didn't love it enough to bring home.

We spent a couple of hours in the warehouse, in the hardware room. There were drawers and boxes full of all kinds of door hardware. Here's some of the things that I picked up.

Thursday was another class with Susan.  It was riveting, prongs, and different types of cold connections.  I started to make a piece using some of the hardware above, but it was going to take a while to drill through the door hardware in the spots that I wanted...so I decided to leave that until I had time to do it at home.  Instead I made a piece with one of antique french dominos that I have. 

Here is a picture of Cris and Nicki at our table.  Don't you just love our work bench??!!!

The rest of the time was spent walking through the vendors.  Thanks to the beautiful Meesh,

I was able to get into the show with a vendors tag....so I got in about 30 minutes prior to everyone else.  Here are some Meesh beads.

At Gary Wilson's booth I picked up some cabachon's and strands of fossilzed coral and lily stems.  These strand are wonderful.

More later.