Gem Show: Thriving on sparkles, beads and birthstones.

I went to the gem show this past weekend! It was intense, full of eye candy (understatement) time consuming (understatement #2), inspiring and made me wish I could just lay in a bed of pink sapphires. This first photo is what I really went to seek out:

Birthstone gems. I have them all now! I had to fill in some of the blanks (months) with glass beads or natural stones instead of gemstones. It's now a really pretty collection.
Apparently emeralds. are. very. expensive. And rubies come in all kinds of shapes and sizes and prices but the really pretty ones are very. expensive. I opted out of cheap rubies. I learned about gems this weekend. I wish my sister was with me, shes been a jeweler for about 25 years. She could probably smell a stone and tell me what it was. I actually think she could rub it on her face or tooth to really find out. She's done that before.
That's one way to know if a pearl is a pearl or glass.
Did you just learn something?

Below is a photo of just a few things I saw there - edit - a few million of the beads I saw there:

(click photo to enlarge)
I love how all the suppliers displayed them on triangular postal boxes. Good idea.

I was actually really glad I don't string beads because I think I would've gotten more overwhelmed than I already was. The top left photo is JUST glass lampworked beads that are in the shapes of full animals. ANIMALS! Crazy. CRAZY! The bottom three photos are gems I WISH I could have just to look at all day- this photo represents thousands and thousands of dollars of stone.


Held at 'the Big E' in W.Springfield- there's going to be one in Oct 2012 also, if you feel like planning:) These are held all over the country in civic centers etc, just google it. You'll be in heaven.


Below are some of the other goodies I picked out.
Moonstone and pink quarts (basic stones, and so girly and springtime and feminine).

You can see garnet, amethyst, aquamarine, citrine, pearls, sapphire to name a few.

These are for a collaboration with a new company that I may (or may not) work with soon. It's all in the planning stages right now. We'll see what happens soon.

Labradorite connectors and beads to compliment my butterfly jewelry line.

So, deep exhale, I'm ready to start my summer collection!