Linda Olsen's Photos from the Bead & Button Show 2008, Milwaukee, WIS

Linda's Bead & Button Show Photos!

have prepared a scrapbook of photos for you from the original movie my husband, Gary shot at the Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee. You can click on any of the photoson this page and an enlarged view will automatically deploy in your browser.

There were so many unique and interesting artists at the show, in three days we still didn't meet them all. Gary met many more artists than Nancy (my sister) and I did. He covered a lot of ground as you can see from the movie.

Some of the highlights covered in the video and in still images on this page include the all beaded wedding bouquet, one of the first place finishers in the competition that has become a tradition at B&B.

There are people here from all over the world and especially Japan where beading is huge.

We spent a lot of time with Leah Fairbanks and her husband. And we met Cynthia Rutledge for the first time. She's an amazing beader.

Lisa Pavelka, famous for her stints on television with such shows as The Carol Duvall Show on H&G Network, actually met us for the first time on a cruise we took along the Mexican Caribbean coast (it was a Carol Duvall Craft Cruise believe it or not). We took the beadmaking courses, actually, with emphasis on polymer clay.

I love polymer clay, but I've been doing more work with real precious and semi-precious stones, and I haven't revisted polymer clay since the cruise, and likely I never will. It was fun, but my work with real stones has taken off, and I have to serve the market that wants these particular things of mine. I have no regrets, of course. Even Lisa Pavelka is flexible. She loves the clay, but she is also adept at other forms of artistic expression involving a variety of materials. Right now it's Swarovski Crystals. She's amazing with crystals.

We saw some incredible innovations and inventions at the show. Such shows are always a magnet for innovators. Metalwork is one of the chief areas of experimentation and adaptation. However, glass beads (principally lampwork) is an area of enormous creative experimentation. Just look at the variety of glass beads we featured in our movie.

We also saw some marvelous work in ceramic beads, of which I have a keen interest. I have a friend who is a very good china painter, and I've been trying to talk her into doing beads rather than plates and cups. Wish me luck.

I mentioned I met the inventor of Soft-Flex, the number one stringing material in the jewelry world. I thought he would be some kind of chemical or materials engineer, but he was a former grocery store executive that experimented with materials in his garage. He discovered that traditional beading fiber was too easily abraided, so he began experimenting. The result is a huge successful business with international markets. He still dabbles in stones and gems. I bought some watermelon tourmaline from him that is so beautiful it would make your eyes water.

After our five-day beading adventure we returned to soggy Iowa to get back to reality, sort and put away our beads and start designing and selling.  See you next year for more classes and fun.

The creative work of Cynthia Rutledge, one of the superstars of the bead world. She's pictured at right. The shell piece pictured below her is also her work.

 
This magnificent bouquet of flowers is totally beads! Below left are ribbons made of glass. lower right and lower left are tremendous expamples of polymer clay beads we saw at the show. Lower right, gold metal rolled and ribbed in a machine that was being sold at the show... a corregator. Fascinating.

Leah Fairbanks work above, and Lea upper right. This is Lea's husband, whose artistry with gemstones, compliments Leah's genius.

Below, some of the artists, Huib Peterson of San Franscisco, is as interesting as his work. His interview is included in the film we did.

A mask of Swarovski crystal beads by the legendary Lisa Pavelka, above right. Above, I get a hug from Lisa. Below is a handbag I saw at the show which featured a beaded Mona Lisa. Magnificent!
Above are some organic looking glass objects by the talented Andrew Brown.  

Click on any of these photos to reveal the enlargement.

To our friend, Craig Nowack in Dubuque: We met a friend of yours, Kim Fields, from your WGN days in Chicago, at the show, and she wanted to say hello. Click here to download the clip !

© Linda Olsen 2008 all rights reserved. All graphics and copy in this Web site are the intellectual property of Linda Olsen and/or his clients' property, used with permission, and cannot be used for any purpose without permission. Address correspondence to olsenlin@mchsi.com.