By day she sells beads to people all over the country, and now her own beadwork is featured in a prestigious national magazine. Amy Mickelson of Rings & Things has a necklace featured in Bead & Button magazine's "Bead Dreams" special issue, which showcases Amy and other finalists from that juried competition—we’re very proud of her! Amy created the piece, titled "Oh My Chartreuse," using her signature combinations of warm colors and net-stitched centerpiece beads. To her long list of accomplishments, she’s added a finalist spot in "Bead Dreams"' Finished-Jewelry category. We think you'll see why from the photo linked below. Congratulations, Amy!
Amy won another competition not long ago. You can check out her prize winner in our Archived Spotlights.
Amy's New Masterpiece
SPOTLIGHT On getting away from it all, with beads
Dear Beader,
How are you? Been working too hard with cord and crimps, and now you've got cabin fever on top of bead mania? Maybe you just need to get away from it all! Someone in Florida thinks she has the perfect solution for you. It's called the Beaded Crafts-at-Sea Cruise: For a week in April 2004, a boatload of lucky beaders are sailing from Florida through the Eastern Caribbean. It's a leisure cruise with a crew of instructors and vendors as well as the skipper and mates. Cruisers have the chance to learn new bead skills, and put them into action with the exotic beads they buy in various tropical ports of call. We've heard of bead retreats before, but this one sounds first-class (no steerage, thanks)!
More information about the Bead Cruise 2004 is online at www.cruise-eta.com/beadscruise.htm.
You'll wish you were there!
SPOTLIGHT on ancient beads you can buy
People have been wearing beads for at least 35,000 years. (And boy, are those cords worn out!) Well, we all know a good vintage bead can make a necklace special, so how about some really ancient stuff? Surprisingly, it’s easy to find beads that are a thousand or more years old. You just need to budget for them, because they’re not quite as affordable as Czech glass. Here are a couple of sources you could think about:
Ancient Touch has an online catalog of dazzling beads from the 6th century BC to the 11th century AD, and guarantees their authenticity. Their offerings include striking Phoenician face beads, millefiori-style glass that pre-dates FIMO® clay by millennia, and superb metal-leafed Viking glass beads. For really hard-to-impress, an entire ancient Egyptian faience necklaces might be more to your taste. There are hundreds of beauties at this Web site, so it’s well worth your time to take a look and dream a little.
Tribal Eye stocks a wide variety of ancient jewelry from all around the world. Many pendants, necklaces, and coins appear in this company’s latest selection, which is smaller than the previously mentioned website, but lovingly selected.
Beads Ancient offers small packages of related beads, for example "5 rare Roman eye beads," so you can buy enough to create a few different pieces of jewelry in the same design. Their selection is somewhat small, but they advise checking back periodically for additional items.
There are other sellers of very old beads out there, and the Internet is a big help in locating them. Just use a search engine like Google to search for "ancient beads." Or, take a peek at ebay. Often bead vendors (like Rings & Things!) can provide you with quality antique African trade beads at reasonable prices, too. Enjoy your treasure hunt, and remember to be informed and shop with a conscience!
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