Belated bead show reviews
Both shows were a bit of a disappointment this time around. The Whole Bead show has been steadily declining and this year was no exception. Too many vendors with cheap beads and much fewer vendors with good quality. Even fewer lampwork artisans than the year before so everything was basically cheaply made, massed produced crap. There were some good booths though and I did buy some ancient Roman glass that was gorgeous. I also bought some lampwork acorns I had had my eye on. Overall though, there were fewer vendors and fewer vendors of any good original beads. The Softflex show, which is usually a very good place to buy original beads by artists was also not as good. They even had some mass produced stuff which they usually don't and many of my favorite vendors were absent. Their show was much, much smaller than last year. I think the economy is hitting the shows very, very hard. Though the shows were a disappointment, I still had a great time. Not sure I'll be venturing to Whole Bead in March. If I do, it will be to get a bit more of that awesome glass.