Our one day Bead-In at the New Berlin Public Library Community Room was a lot of fun! We had over
40 people, including Jim Kelly, our April speaker. He brought a number of beautiful pieces he's made, and
all of us who talked with him got very excited about his upcoming presentation! Lunch was tasty, and there
were a number of great interactions around the room. Afterward a number of people expressed an interest in
having more of these get-togethers. What do you think? Let us know!
On Friday night, we were challenged to "show our stuff" during our first ever
"Wear Your Best" evening at Hot Shop Glass
where there was also a glass blowing demo. There were door prizes and a special prize for the Best of Show
(won by Becky Conrad-LaMere!)
later at Uncorkt.
Throughout the weekend, the Open Beading room was always an exciting adventure -
as ideas and projects were shared, our knowledge, enthusiasm, and loopiness grew!
On Saturday night, there was "Jammin' in our Jammies"! There were many beaders that worked late into the
night (including some of us that weren't staying at the hotel!), and many of us relaxed and got very comfortable.
Some of our goodies were donated by Swarovski and ArtBeads.com.
They have been so good to us this year - check them out!
This year we had wonderful teachers who taught us new techniques in seed bead weaving, working with metal, resin, hot glass and fiber!
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Cubic Right Angle Weave Earrings - Lynne Soto Ever wonder how designers like Marcia DeCoster, Diane Fitzgerald, and David Chatt do sculptural beadwork? One technique is Cubic Right Angle Weave. |
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Bezel, Bezel - Debbi Simon What a fun way to learn the ins and outs of resin! This mini workshop had participants practice mixing resin batches, using color additives, layering, making and using molds, and adding found objects. They left with an eclectic group of pendants of various sizes and shapes and a working knowledge of what it takes to create with resin. |
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Beaded Stars Bracelet - Lynne Soto In this class, participants used their bead stash of seed beads, hex-cuts, triangles, cylinders, and specialty beads to make a star! |
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Copper Lentil Bead Pendant - Louise Pederson Participants learned hollow-form techniques to master one of the newest metal clays—copper clay—to make a richly textured lentil bead pendant. |
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Lacy Treasure Beaded Pendant - Marilee Rocklee In this class participants learned to master the “flip,” the basic essential to shuttle tatting and made good progress on a beautiful beginner project, one of Marilee’s original designs! |
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Glass Bead Making Class at
Funky Hannah's Participants were able to make a number of lampwork beads in this class. We don't have pictures from the actual class, but look at this bracelet Bonnie DeSautelle made with her beads! |
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Many thanks to the Retreat Committee members whose many hours of work made this Retreat possible: Maureen Bartz,
Rebecca Conrad-LaMere, Helen Dahms, Kat Feldman, Luci Link, Jan Mueller, Susie Ragland, Brenda Schweder, and
Kathy Willmering.
Many thanks to our talented instructors for their energy, enthusiasm and patience: Louise Pederson, Marilee
Rockley, Debbi Simon, and Lynne Soto.
Many thanks to those who donated items for the door prizes: Maureen Bartz, Susan Beal, Rebecca Conrad-LaMere,
Helen Dahms, Marge Huffman, Judy Ludwig, Ruth Maegli, Chris Plichta, Brenda Schweder, The Skin Cancer Foundation,
Nancy Smessaert, The Mary Groups, Tiffany at Salon Flo, Artbeads, Erik of Norway Salon Spa, Rings & Things, Rio
Grande, Swarovski “Create Your Style,” Vintaj, and a very special thank you to Kalmbach Publishing for their
extremely generous contribution!
Many thanks to Amanda Paffrath of Funky Hannah’s and the Hot Shop Glass for her hospitality and guidance and
for assembling the Racine welcome bags. Thanks to the Racine merchants and the Wustum Museum of Fine Arts for
their contributions to the welcome bags. Thanks to Sherry Etes from Uncorkt, Karin Nickel for her spa treats, and to
Dawn Stepien and the staff of the Radisson Hotel for their gracious service.
Thank you, Laurie Kestelman, for being our Bead Doctor! Thank you, Susan Duehl, for designing the brochure! Thank
you, Gail McGuire, for making the gift favor boxes! Thank you, Brenda Schweder, for making the name tags! Thank
you, Kathy Willmering, for making the fantastic tiara, and thank you, Susie Ragland, for providing the grapes!
And most of all, many, many thanks to all of the attendees who have made this year’s retreat very, very
special!