Cincinnati - Intergalactic Bead Show & Jungle Jim's

A wonderful day with Peggy and Vicki! We spent too much money at the bead show - of course. Then went to Jungle Jim's. I can't describe Jungle Jim's - you just have to go see it. Acres and acres of an international grocery store. There were probably 50 feet of different kinds of butter from different countries - including goat butter! Want herbs in that butter? Any you could think of was available. Saw live Talapia fish in a huge tank. While it was nice to see what they actually look like, they did look very sad. The water was clean but....I don't know - they were just kind of sad. Or something. Too much going on there to get pictures but we couldn't resist the porta potty fit for a queen!

And for the Beady-Eyed Bunch - I couldn't resist getting a couple of these bracelets for patterns. You could make them as a necklace as well. The first one (green) is very very simple and quick - just a small strip of peyote or brick stitch of the width you prefer and then stringing whatever you would like in between. The closing is made with a simple loop and an 8 mm bead. This 8 mm bead is one is of the variety you would find in any craft store and is a very inexpensive plastic bead but you could also use one with higher quality. I don't like to string because the darned beads fly off! But if I were going to do one, and I might, I would do the strips at the end first and use brick stitch because it is much more stable/stiff than peyote. Then I would string the beads in between simply by exiting one set of beads on one end, stringing beads, entering the bead on the other end, skittle over to the next bead and repeat. At least that is what I would try first. Putting the toggles on last and weaving the thread up through the base.
The next one I got just for the toggle closure. I will take it apart to see how they made it but, after trying to get a needle through the beaded bead, I think they simply beaded vertically through a #6 seed bead. Very clever - and avoids getting those little wooden beads and needing to paint them! This bracelet was loomed and was very quick to make as well. Both bracelets were made in Guatemala by the Beady-Eyed people in that country but probably for the purpose of obtaining food and shelter for their families. We need to count our blessings much more often.
A very enjoyable day - thank you Peggy and Vicki!