A New Useless Skill?

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I wish I could say I had been out making money, but the truth is, I have been out spending it.

Since the last post, I have been to three bead shows and Brimfield.

Brimfield in July, and, apparently, when the economy is bad, is full of things you want and need, and people are really motivated to deal.  In fact, I, who am the world's worst negotiator, snagged a couple of deals of which I am extremely proud. 

The first of which was a large Amethyst Moderntone Tumbler, which I got for less than $20. The truth is, I've never seen the tumblers, large or small in Amethyst, and the Blue ones go for big bucks.

I bought several other cigar boxes (I now I have enough that if anyone wants me to make them jewelry showcases or jewelry boxes, I can.) I am also looking for a new source since I see this one only three times a year at Brimfield.

I also went to Intergem, the day before Brimfield.  The huge mistake in this was that Intergem is massive (held in a convention center) and they had the tent "extension."  Too much walking for someone who would be walking the next day as well.

But, I got some great deals there, too. These lead-free multistrand bead separators (or whatever they're called) have come in really handy. They've inspired me to try to do more bracelets than just the Edwardian-inspired mesh that I designed in May. This one, the first, seems almost Zuni-inspired.

The other two bead shows were last weekend in Concord and Nashua. They were interesting, too, and I finally broke down and bought a kumihimo disk to learn Japanese braiding. I got off to a bang of a start (see the first image), because I just knew they'd be a great addition to our jewelry.

Unfortunately, I doubt that the casual viewer will even notice that the necklaces are hand-braided. It's fun, but I don't know if it enhances the jewelry enough to make it worth the effort.

Oh well, until I lose interest in it, I have another "useless" skill and another aspect of my "Japanophile" side: I guess anime really is a "gateway drug."