Toronto Bead Society Bead Fair

This weekend is the Toronto Bead Society Bead Fair.  It is held at th CNIB on Bayview Avenue.  They have a nice line-up of vendors again this year.  This is the last bead show until Spring, so it's a great time to go.  For more information check out their website at http://www.torontobeadsociety.org/

Member Projects

We've all been busy little beavers at the meetings and working on and completing several projects.  Here's a few pictures of pieces in progress or completed.

Pam's Bracelet in soft pinks and greens.

Betty's knotted necklace in black and copper.

Linda's multi-strand knotted necklace.

Pam's completed Ogalala necklace.  Isn't it gorgeous!

Linda's necklace in progress...this is one of Cathy Lampole's designs (aka That Bead Lady).

Betty's completed spiral necklace with perla bead.  Design by Cathy Lampole.

Linda's version of Laura McCabe's Grapevine necklace.

Pam's Monarch Butterfly in process.

 

Linda's triple spiral lariat.  A design from Lisa Khan's book.

Betty's Pinecone ornament in process.  Design by Paula Adams.

Another project by Linda.  An ornament in progress.

We enjoy a wide variety of projects and usually have several in process at any one time.  Some are complex that you need a break so along the way we have some simpler ones.  Christmas ornaments seem to be our focus now...I'll come back with pictures of some of the ones we've made.

Projects We Are Working ON

Our next meeting is on November 14th and we've decided to do a group project where everyone will work on the same project together.  We've chosen a little pendant from the most recent issue of Bead & Button magazine.  If you want to come to the meeting and work on it as well, you'll need the supplies and of course the most recent Bead & Button.

It can be a pendant or an ornament for your Christmas Tree and was designed by Smadar Grossman.  It's a cute little multi-pointed star with a rivoli in the centre for sparkle.  I'll try to post pics when we have them done.  This is a sample.  You should check out Smadar's website, she does wonderful work.

Linda and I have been working on Christmas ornaments to add to our collections.  Linda recently completed 3 and I have 2 finished and a third is waiting on another tube of beads to complete 2 rows...don't you just hate it when that happens.  Pics will be posted closer to Christmas.

Beaded Critters

Our group seems to have a thing about beading critters and animals.  Take a look at the earlier post of our items in the library display.  We now have two more to add to our little collection.

Debbie finishered her dinosaur...complete with teeth.

Betty finished her bee.  This is from a pattern by Nancy Cain in a recent issue of Beadwork Magazine.

Lighting - Battery Operated

I've been a very bad blogger, so I have some catching up to do.

A beading light is an essential part of your beading equipment and when you are going camping you not only need bright lights, they need to be battery operated.  I found 2 such lights that worked perfectly and have now been added to my beading tool box. 

"Mighty Bright" makes a series of LED battery operating lights for crafting, musicians and reading.  I found one such light at WalMart that also had a small magnifying glass attached both on separate goose-necks so fully adjustable.  It can be used with or without the base which has a magnet  on the bottom. It worked well, but was not bright enough on it's own for night beading.

In comes the 16-LED version which works great on it's own for low light beading and I used it every day.  The only problem really was the shadows that it cast with multiple individual lights.  I solved this problem by turning on the "Mighty Bright" light and it got rid of the shadows and made for a nice beading area.  It also worked great for reading in total darkness and has a handy clip for clipping to books, or anywhere else you needed it too.  This too is available at Walmart and is reasonably priced at around $19.95CDN.  The packaging is different but it's the same light and is battery operated.  You can also buy an AC adapter for it. 

Both lights were used every day for several hours and every night for reading for 7 days and I didn't have to change the batteries in either one, making them economical that way.

 I learned today there is now a 2-light version of the "Mighty Bright" light available...designed to light 2-pages at once.  The 2-light version seems to be available at Long & McQuade here in Canada but I have not yet seen it in Walmart.  It sells for $39.99CDN which might be a little high.  This one light might do the job rather than the two I was using.  "Mighty Brights" really are mighty bright for their size.   The picture follows.

Both lights are compact and with the goose-neck design, they fold easily and will fit into your beading box or put it into a small fabric bag for extra protection and put it into your purse or beading bag.  They travel very easily.

I hope you have found this review helpful.

Betty

New Meeting Time & Bead Shows

In order to permit more time to bead we have booked the room from 12 Noon to 5 pm beginning with the March 7th meeting. You may come for the whole time for just for part of it as your scheduled allows.

January 24th Meeting

At our January 24th meeting we had 5 regular members and 2 new members come to spend some time beading. Our members are working on their own individual projects.

Do you remember corking? Fran added some beads and is making a corked beaded rope.

Pam is working on a star from an issue of Bead & Button magazine.

Debbie is working on a blue and silver snowflake to add to her collection.

Linda is working on a Dodecahedron ornament. The pattern is designed by Claudia at http://www.happylandblog.blogspot.com

We also have a challenge in process with a "mystery" bag of beads. More on this later.

Library Display

On January 7th, Linda, Debbie and Betty set up a display at the Stouffville Public Library. It will be there for the month of January. Hope you have a chance to have a look at it. Here are some photos of the display.

Click on the images for a closer look.