Places To Go Category

Brenda Branson (AKA My Sister’s Beads) suggested the Beadaholics start a new beading challenge. We’re calling this one “Bead In A Brown Paper Bag”. If you’d like to participate, bring an “interesting”, “unique”, “pretty” or “fun” focal bead or pendant to our May 22nd Meetup at On A String Bead Shop to swap. (If you forget to bring your bead, you can always purchase one at On A String.) We’ll place everyone’s beads in individual brown paper bags and you will choose a bag. The challenge is to design a piece of jewelry using or inspired by the bead you receive in your bag.

And if that isn’t enough to get your design juices flowing, Anne at On A String recently returned from a bead buying trip. She brought back more than 2000 new strands of beads and dozens of new chain styles! That’s right…I said 2000!! I just love this shop.

We’ll bring our brown bag bead challenge pieces to the June Meetup. (We’ll also be doing an exercise to help us hone our design styles. More on that later.) Hope to see you at On A String on the 22nd! (Not a member of the Beadaholics? No problem. Join Us!)

If you’d like to wander around a bead show this weekend, check out the Down The Street Bead Show. This will be my first time attending the show. I believe it stops in Charlotte a couple times a year. Here are that details:

The Down The Street Bead Show
at the Charlotte Merchandise Mart at The Park
800 Briarcreek Rd
Charlotte NC 28205

Saturday June 27th (10am-6pm)
Sunday June 28th (10am-5pm)
Admission if free but you will have to pay a $6.00 parking fee.

If you’re a Charlotte area jewelry artist with a wholesale license, you might want to check out the Rings & Things Bead Tour (fancy way of saying sale) tomorrow.  Give yourself a little time if you go.  I like to look through everything and then go back and pick out individual strands. Rings & Things lets you browse their sea of beads with no pressure. I seriously can’t wait. If you’re interested, here are the details:

Sunday, June 14th, 2-6 PM

Renaissance Suites Hotel Google Map
Terrace Ballroom
2800 Coliseum Centre Dr.
Charlotte, NC 28217
(704) 357-1414

You will need to show your wholesale license to check out. Be sure you bring it along. More questions? Read this. I promise to post a photo or two of my purchases.

This month’s CAJA meetup was held Beadlush. Tammy taught us how to make not one, but two wire wrapped bracelets using her “frequency link”. She said she named it the “frequency link” because she uses it so much. Most people added a few dangles to their links but I sort of liked it dangle-less. I watched the second demonstration but didn’t finish my second bracelet. I was so wrapped up in hammering the texture on the links for the first one that I ran out of time.

After the meetup, I did a little shopping (of course) for a new (more…)

Attended the Beadaholics meetup yesterday. We met at the University City Blvd. Hobby Lobby. It was the first time we gathered there. They provided one of their  classrooms for us and that gave us plenty of space to spread out. I love attending these meetups because it’s inspiring to see what everyone is working on.

The group is planning a day trip to go bead shopping in Asheville, NC. I would love to go but it’s the same weekend I have family in town. Hopefully, they’ll plan another trip later this year. Can’t wait to see what everyone comes back from Asheville with.

Last night, the Charlotte Area Jewelry Artists (CAJA) held a meetup at Beadlush. We learned how to do a right angle weave using Swarovski crystals. There’s a photo of my weave on your left. It’s mostly done although I need to make or find a clasp to complete it.

Learning this weave was a blast. I don’t think I’m meant to be a bead weaver (could be wrong) but I’d love to learn more weaving techniques. I have some ideas that involve combining weaving with wire. Just not sure how to do what I want to yet and haven’t had the time to explore. Learning more about weaving is on my list!

Beadlush is quite the  happening bead shop. They donate their class space for CAJA’s meetups. I’d been there for a previous meetup and have taken an excellent soldering class with them. Of course, they sell all sorts of beads and supplies but the coolest part of the shop is it’s lovely staff. They are (more…)

I attended the Charlotte Beadaholics Meetup this afternoon. We celebrated the one-year anniversary of the group. Their first meetup was at the Intergalatic Bead Show last April. I joined the group last month so this was my second interaction with them.

We got together at Expressive Impressions. It’s a Charlotte bead shop that generously donates their workspace to the Beadaholics for meetups. The workspace is just amazing. It’s feels like you’re in a jewelry artist’s studio. Of course, that could be because they regularly hold jewelry classes there. They also sell a myriad of beads, findings and all sorts of supplies. (more…)