The Next Big Trend in Jewelry

In Tucson this year, glass had class.

By Jennifer Heebner, Senior Editor -- JCK Online, 6/1/2005 2:00:00 AM

From packets of Swarovski crystal beads to ornate multicolor lampworked beads, glass made a strong showing in Tucson.

Show organizers say interest in glass has grown over the last decade. Joan Johnson, show promoter and owner of The Bead Renaissance Show, headquartered in Truth or Consequences, N.M., recalls just one bead magazine in publication—Bead and Button—10 years ago. "That was five years before we started our show—before we started to have a renaissance of glass beads," she says. Now, many more magazines about beads exist, and "everybody" is having shows, she adds.

One is the To Bead True-Blue show, which joined Tucson this year. Its organizer, Anna Johnson, Nevada City, Calif., structured the show as an invitation-only wholesale event for bead makers and was overwhelmed by the response: Some 97 percent of her vendors already have re-signed for the 2006 show, and many new exhibitors approached her, doubling the size of next year's event. "We'll take over the entire Manning House [Mansion]," she says of plans to expand next year. Visitors were also plentiful: On some days, as many as 5,000 registered for admission to the show, which housed a mix of lampworkers, dichroic and fused-glass beadmakers, Fimo and precious-metal-clay artists, and others.

Beads—the dominant form for most glass for jewelry—are very popular. They're a low investment, and glassmaking classes are available in many places, observes Lewis Wilson, Albuquerque, N.M., a glass blower for 32 years and show organizer of the Best Bead Shows I and II. In fact, a gem carver from Flora, Miss., who exhibits in one of the Gem & Lapidary Wholesaler shows, came to Tucson this year with all beads instead of carvings, notes Candy McNamara, president, G&LW, which organizes the Holidome, Gem Mall, and Rodeway Inn shows.

Plus, vendors like to offer their customers new merchandise. "Over the past few years, cut stones have not been doing as well," says McNamara. "Exhibitors do try new things."

Holidome

This site had a handful of fine glass artists as well as bulk availability of beads.

This show was "packed," according to multiple vendors, on Thursday and Friday of the week of the show. Fine glass beads, Swarovski crystals, and some vintage plastic and glass beads from Germany could be found in this large tent. Dale Levy, owner, Lady from Venice, Venice, Italy, had a huge display of fine glass beads and finished jewelry in her booth—in addition to a crowd: "Everything sold for us," said Levy of her Murano, Italy–made glass beads and beaded jewelry. Especially popular were her rings, but Levy also sold designs of Murano glass beads mixed with Chinese freshwater pearls, semiprecious stones, and crystals.

The Manning House Show

New for 2005, these shows offered some vendors with high-quality glass and glass jewelry.

The To Bead True-Blue show housed a small group of bead artisans. Karen Moyer, Aurora, Ore., offered colorful lampworked beads in whimsical shapes—like women's shoes—for $20 apiece. Bead artist Lea Zinke, Clearwater, Fla., also manned a table at this show, selling pastel-color floral glass beads lined in silver. A third of the exhibitors here were lampworkers, and the rest offered dichroic or fused glass, silver, pearls, and various other products.

In The Manning House Show, a large room full of jewelry artists included some who worked with glass. Among them was Deb Meyer, a designer from Lebanon, N.H., who won a 2005 first place Gemmy Award—an award recognizing those who have created art from rough crystals, according to sponsors Lapidary Journal and Colored Stone magazines—for her Pearl Goddess intaglio crystal.

The Bead Renaissance Show

A balanced mix of precious stones, glass, and other types of beads could be found here.

Of the vendors present, a third sold glass; a third sold semiprecious stones; and the rest sold Fimo, silver, and other items. While more low-quality glass imports are creeping into the event, according to organizer Joan Johnson, Truth or Consequences, N.M., she makes sure to showcase some of the best works present during every show, including contemporary artisan-made glass beads and Fimo art and nontraditional jewelry that integrates both types of beads mixed with precious stones.

Best Bead Shows

A glut of glass, along with tools for making the stuff, was available in these two tents.

From beads to high-end art glass, 117 of the 180 vendors at Best Bead Shows I and II offered glass. Others offered tools and related products. The glass artists were lampworkers, fusers, blowers, and those proficient in pâte de verre, to name a few types of the art. Some 30,000 buyers passed through the tents during the nine days of the Tucson event.

Gem Mall

Lots of cheap glass beads were available here.

Some gem dealers had seemingly swapped out their gemstone wares from 2004 for glass beads this year in these two large tents next to the Holidome. For example, inexpensive colorful glass-bead strands, many made in China, were abundant on this show floor for as little as $4. Swarovski also had a presence with its crystals in a rainbow of colors. "Glass is the next big thing," commented Kim St. Jean, owner, Expressive Impressions, Charlotte, N.C., and a Swarovski beading instructor, about the influx of glass to the 2005 Tucson gem shows. Even Italian-made glass had a presence here: Rings from Murano were being sold for $20 each by Dreams of Italy.