Yesterday I attended a gem and jewelry show in Orlando. I got some great new items to make into necklaces, bracelets, earrings and more! It was fabulous to pick up some new bead strands, but I particularly enjoyed visiting vendors who had specimen stones, like this company, Raiders of the Lost Art. I had to really hold myself back from buying gemstone spheres, eggs and natural formations, knowing that my focus this day was to buy jewelry supplies. You can't hang an amethyst cathedral from a pendant; well, you could, but it would be mighty heavy.
Here are a few of the cool strands I picked up yesterday:
From the left, as follows:
Green Java glass: Java has a big glass industry; these remind me of sea glass.
Various glass beads: faceted blue & clear glass
Labradorite, large chips
Unidentified black stone: small cube; mostly black with a very few white flecks. It's a softer stone, because there is powder between the stones, where the thread has rubbed inside the bead hole.
Pyrite, flat squares: these are heavy, but awesome!
Quartz ovals and hearts
Tigereye
Iolite
Rhodonite
Sodalite, puffed squares
Lapis lazuli, puffed coins
Bone fish & tubes
Paua shell
Black lip shellIt was great and I'm ready to incorporate these into some new designs and to go back to the next show in January!
Interested in gem shows in your area? Check out this blog with monthly updates around the U.S.
And I'll add that it was supposed to be a wholesale show, though I really had to hunt for wholesale prices. There was a substantial amount of retail pricing.
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