It’s that time again – we are looking for Bead&Button Show helpers to support B3 in many different ways at the show in June.  The show is always a lot of work and a lot of fun (check out some pictures from previous years for proof that we know how to have a good time!)  If you love chainmaille and Blue Buddha Boutique – this is for you!

Show Dates:
Wednesday June 6 – load in, set up and Meet the Teachers
Thursday June 7 – set up & show (shopping preview)
Friday June 8 – very long show day!
Saturday June 8 – show
Sunday June 10 – show & tear-down

Number of Positions available: 4-8
There is some overlap, so it’s possible for someone to be both a booth helper and a Make and Take Leader, for example. Preference will be given to folks who can work multiple days, but we’ll consider single-day helpers as well (particularly for the setup/teardown positions).

Deadline to Apply:
April 20 (but sooner is better, as we’ll be filling each position as soon as we find the perfect people, and we’ll begin booth customer-service training in April)

Visit our jobs listing page for complete information about what these positions entails and how to apply.

 

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Bead&Button Show · job opportunity

It’s true, we’re already knee deep in planning and prepping for The Bead&Button Show 2012 (crazy, right?!)  Part of this planning involves looking at customer feedback and making changes to improve customer satisfaction and experience at our booth.  One area that is always a bit tricky for us to navigate is the customization of our kits at shows.  The limitations put on us by the fact that (as much as we might want to be able to) we can’t tote our entire inventory around the country also puts limitations on some of our most popular kits such as Glass Caterpillar, Bicubix Blocks, and many more.

That’s where you come in.  We want to know how you feel about being able to customize products at shows (you don’t have to be a Bead&Button Show aficionado to answer the survey) and get some of your feedback on our ideas for future solutions to our limitations.  Thank you in advance for your time and thoughts – we sincerely appreciate your feedback and can’t wait to come up with just the right way to provide these products to you at shows.

TAKE THE 5 QUESTION SURVEY!

Bead&Button Show · chainmaille kits · customer survey

We are proud to announce that Rebeca’s Coiled Crystals project is in the most recent issue of the German magazine Perlen Poesie (pg66). As some of you may know, Rebeca fell in love with Germany years ago, returned a few years later to backpack around Europe, eventually wound up living in Germany for a year, and made a return visit in 2010. (And yes, she does speak German!)  It’s very exciting that her project is appearing in an international magazine but even more special that it’s a German magazine.  We won’t be selling the magazine but if you are interested in a copy (or know anyone in Germany who would be) you can purchase it here.

FYI – Perlen Poesie puts out a beautiful publication – closer to a book than a magazine in quality.

For those of us here in the US, Rebeca will be teaching her Coiled Crystals project at the Bead&Button Show – learn more by visiting the 2011 Bead&Button classes page on our website.

Bead&Button Show · chainmaille · Coiled Crystals · German Magazine · instruction · Perlen Poesie · Rebeca Mojica

The final installment of our Bead&Button photos features the really fun stuff: the jewelry! Most of these are my favorite entries from the Bead Dreams competition. The final three images are other lovely jewelry I saw during the show. Enjoy, and be prepared to drool a little.

Variations of a Peacock by Stephanie Czaja
We are proud to say that Stephanie was a Blue Buddha intern for a short time (before an actual job changed her schedule and meant she could no longer come in). Congrats Stephanie!

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Chainmaille Jacket by Vanessa Walilko
2nd Place, Wirework category AND People’s Choice Award
Woo! Way to go, Vanessa!
You of course, all know and love Vanessa already through her work at Blue Buddha. See more of her armor and sculpture creations at Kali Butterfly Dark.

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Flight of Fancy by Rachel Reilly
1st Place, Wirework category
Facets of Avalon Amazing microknitted wire. (I don’t think microknitting is a word, but I’m using it anyway just to convey the eye-popping reaction I had to this piece! Simply amazing.)

And because you can’t really appreciate Rachel’s piece unless you see it close up, here is a detail shot:

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White Clovers and Clovers by Yukiko Yamamoto
2nd Place, Seed Bead Jewelry
All you seed beaders are nuts. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how this is put together.

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Warrior Rings by Lynn Davy
Lynn Davy Beading
*nods of approval* Though we still think seed beaders are nuts.

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The Stone Flower by Tatiana Fitzpatrick
J & T Design

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Himalayan Blue Poppies by Barbara Caraway
View Barabara Caraways portfolio on GlassArtists.org

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Cigno Sinistro (sinister Swan) by Sara Sally Lagrand
3rd place, Lampwork/Glass
What can I say? I love eyeballs.
Pretty Babies Glass

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Nitidus Quasar by Pamm Horbit
White Lotus Beading
Nitidus is a latin word meaning “explosive bloom.”

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Beautifully Baroque by Lynn Ann Schwarzenberg
River Poet Design
1st place, Polymer Clay
What this woman does with clay is amazing. I love creating customized niobium chains to match her polymer clay pendants.

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Finally, here’s some other jewelry that I fell in love with during the show.

Flower of Life Bracelet made by a customer of A Beadtiful Thing, by joining several Flower of Life segments together.

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Omni bought some scales on Friday during the show, then showed up at the booth the next morning with a spiffy new badge chain. Cool!

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And finally, one of my personal favorites from the entire show is this stunning reversible necklace made with rubber and aluminum by B3 student/customer Sarah Meadows. She’s got other beautiful pieces in the works, and I’m encouraging her to try for Bead Dreams next year!

Bead Dreams · Bead&Button Show · Jewelry · seed beading · wirework

Here’s your chance to meet some of the friendly folk in the B3 booth this year:

Gail, wearing an awesome Jacob’s DNA ladder necklace. We sold out of those kits in sterling in 1 day, and in base metal in 3 days. Whew! (And yes, we’ll post more sterling kits online soon!)

Lori, our cash-register goddess, decked out in Rebeca’s chainmaille scarf & lots of chainmaille with beads that she made. She’s grabbing a swig of water, which is typical booth behavior. It’s amazing how parched one gets workin’ the booth!

Omni. You can’t see the chain- and scale-maille neck chain he made for his badge, but it is awesome. (There’s a pic of it in the Part IV of the Bead&Button blog updates.)

Rebeca & Spider, the fabulously talented chainmaille queen of Spiderchain.com.

Per our usual tradition, we went for a group dinner to The Safehouse. Kat forgot the password to get in, and Lori, Omni & Omni’s girlfriend never knew it in the first place, so they had to waddle like penguins in order to prove their worthiness as undercover agents and gain access to the restaurant. (Jen & Rebeca knew the password, but decided to be mean and not share. And be even meaner and take a photo! On the way home to Chicago, Rebeca reminded Kat what the password was, which caused Kat to give Rebeca a little punch. But we bet Kat will remember the password next year!)

By the end of the show, we were a little loopy. Fire Mountain Gems had passed out hats to vendors and students, but no one was wearing them. So Rebeca decided to show FMG a little love by wearing the hat, but of course, what fun is a baseball cap if you can’t wear it sideways? Here are Kat and Rebeca, with the hats on, and flashing the “pliers” signal. (Yes, the pliers signal in motion is indistinguishable from the “scissors” signal. Details, details…)

But Kat & Rebeca are no where near as cute as Jen in her hat…

Finally, here is Rebeca with the pile of empty boxes of stuff we did NOT bring back to Chicago, because we sold out. Cool!

Bead&Button Show · chainmaille · employees · Spiderchain