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."

Welcome to the Land of Shiny (and not-quite-so) Things

My apartment is in chaos (although my patio looks pretty good.)

My cats hate the way I have rearranged my bedroom (even though it is now CLEAN...I must have vacuumed two cats worth of hair from the rug.)

And I have to take stuff to the storage until soon, or there will be no way to walk from the center of the apartment to the patio or the door.

So, what am I doing? Straightening? Cleaning? No. I'm playing with beads, of course.

It was a week ago that Rings and Things had their road show in Burlington. Peggy and I were (naturally) there, with bells on (figuratively, although it could have been literally, knowing us.)

Every time I go to these shows I spend more money each time. This time, I decided just to buy what "called to me" and figured that since I have an enormous credit limit on my card (I have to call the bank and reduce it soon) I'd just not worry about it.

Well, true to form, I spent more money this time than last, but I found it much more enjoyable shopping without a budget, so to speak. And it's not as though I went way, way over what I thought I was going to spend, anyway.

Maybe my mind just calculates as I go, and I don't even know it and it signals that it's time to stop by making the stuff I'm looking at uninteresting.  Good kind of mind to have, but I'd prefer if I could do that consciously rather than un-.

So, now my apartment's a wreck and I have all these new beads to put away, and no "away" to put them.  I'm thinking of buying another bookcase, but my apartment is pretty much wall to wall bookcases filled with actual, you know, books. (And, of course, after 20 years collecting them, I'd just as soon part with the cats and the books...okay, the cats edge out the books, but it's close, and you know what I'm saying.)

Anyone out there who has ideas storage ideas that don't involve ousting my books, drop me an email. Otherwise, I'm really going to have to think of SOMETHING I can part with (at least to put into storage) so that I can get to the grocery store.