Friday, January 7, 2011

Tucson or Bust,! (so to speak)

Happy New Year,

Have been going to Tucson for 20 years, just the last five or so as a vendor. Amazing experience. Used to love seeing Beads Galore of Tempe, at the Howard Johnson's on Speedway(Bernie was always most gracious), we would walk up the road, a 1/2 mile desert walk, to what my wife and I called African Village. If you were a collector or grew up with trade beads, it was a sight to see. Learned so much that I bought a old strand of "Russian Blue" trade beads from Picard.

Times have changed. First time in 30 years Beads Galore is no longer showing, the construction on the highway removed African Village and now a load of us east coast companies exhibit. We will be at To Bead True Blue Jan 31st, 2011 - February 5th, 2011 and Tuscon Bead Show 2011 February 5th - 8th, 2011. Booth : GP 239 & 240.

Each year we put some time and effort putting something new together for Tucson. This year is no exception. Expect to see this year: Last years big hit, peacock daggers, an expanded farfalle butterfly seed bead selection, unusual Picasso seed beads, bugle beads, fire polished and pressed. Some items are vintage base colors that were coated especially for us. We will also have an amazing selection of 2mm and 4mm Round fire polish featuring elusive metallic, opaque and specially treated colors that will knock your socks off. Not to mention , Size 15 Czech real metal Charlottes will be on hand this year, a yorkbeads.com exclusive!!! More Tucson surprises soon to be announced, real soon!

Regards,

Perry (PBeads)

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Pablo Picasso vs Czech Picasso

Why is it called a Picasso Bead?? Not sure but has a nice ring to it. Picasso usually is either a marbled travertine effect or heavy luminous coating with spotted accents. Either way, the purpose of the coating is to give that popular semi precious look we all deem precious. Generally this finish is most popular in turquoise, but sells well in beige and even better in a mix. Some glass color just do not take the coatings well: finish is weak. Mixes, can be an assorted mix of solid colors. Here, the weaker finishes blend in with the stronger ones and create a great potpourri look. Or we can combine 2 or more glass rods while pressing a bead, and the blend of the color may create a great base canvas for this coating. Beige is a great glass for this purpose. Individually the coating make the strongest most popular travertine finish but combined with the a second glass partner some magic can happen. Our new Navy/Beige combination rocks


Not sure what old Pablo thinks about all this and how he got dragged in, seems like Hans Hoffman has more in common with this process. It ain't paint but when you splash melted glass rods together something wonderful can happen!!