Happy Sunday and hope everyone is safe and virus-free!

Here is a recently completed project - I finally got several more of the smaller feather-trailed beads that matched the others. Hard to find this design, and I had to "pay the price" for some of them.

The five largest beads were a "find" at Leo Hakola's room at HoJo's in Tucson a few years ago. The smaller matching beads were collected slowly since then.

Please post some of the things you've been working on - completed or not. Or anything else you'd like to show & tell about!

Just getting all my new treasures sorted and photographed. I'm posting some of the highlights of my trip in this thread.

It seems that every year, there is a flurry of inquiries concerning where to go in Tucson. So if you are planning to go next year, I suggest you save this information as a guide for the best places to look for collectible beads and interesting items.

I must admit I was not only "waffled" but truely baffled, when seeing this bead for the first time. It is so well-made, and the color are so close to the "real thing", that I did not know for a while, what I was dealing with!

Actually, I still don't know for sure! Neither how it was made (torch, but still...), nor when exactly or where. Especially the "where" is of interest. Could it have been made anywhere but in Indonesia, is the question?

Still on a PF (phenolic resin) kick when I got to Tucson this year. Some of the beads I just had to have -

Strand of mostly bi-cone shaped PFs, from Bully Jawara at the Gem Mall. He says these are from Mali.

Strand of small PFs, probably originally prayer strand beads, from Saibo Tunkara at Gem Mall.

Each visit to Tucson is a little different from the others. This time, the first few days were lovely, fairly warm but dropped by 25 degrees. Rosanna and I arrived bright and early at 2:30 a.m. 1/28 on the Amtrak train from NorCal and spent the day at The Gem and Jewelry Show on Grant. Always excellent with world class dealers of collectible, antique and ancient beads! We also visited the show at the Howard Johnson, the Pueblo show, the Gem Mall, and African Village. It was great to see my African trader friends from 10 - 15 years ago (how time flies!) when I used to sell on eBay. Not only do I miss those times, I miss those prices.

Tonight David did a few nice images for me of the sweetest of my 2016 "finds"....

A gift from Saibo Tunkara at the Gem Mall, a nice pink 7 layer Chinese chevron, circa 2008. About 25mm x 30mm. These were never as plentiful as the standard colors and are generally not around anymore. Thank you, Saibo!

I had a nice visit with Kamol and Becky from Seattle. They do 2 bead shows a year in our N. California area, and shows all over the U.S. The first time I met Kamol was at the fondly remembered Marin City flea market, approx. 1994. Their setup at the Gem Mall is nice and large, with a varied selection of everything from ancient beads, Thai silver, nice quality new ethnic beads and wonderful Thai raw silk scarves. And more! These brass beads from Nepal with coral chip inlay are very neat - they are pleasing to the touch as well. About 12mm x 15mm.

We had another couple of great days in Tucson. Yesterday was one of the highlights for sure. Got to spend nearly the whole day with Robert Liu and Patrick Benesh-Liu. Talked beads, culture, art, politics, and went around the new Glass Art and Bead Festival, the Grant and the Flame Off, a lampworking competion.

Today we had fun at the African Village, and went to see Leo Hakola at Howard Johnson. Rosanna was not kidding, this guy has some great trade beads that do not surface that much. It was quite strange, coming from the African Village where the majority of the beads are now newly made, and walking into this guy's room. We shared our love of beads, and I got some great goodies. I'll get some pictures of what I got later, but here are some images of the last few days. This Thursday we are leaving for New Orleans. Rosanna got us some plastic 'throw beads', and at Leo's we actually found some vintage Czechoslovakian Mardi Gras beads!

First picture: Peter's new career: he is taking over Bob Burkett's business. (we were booth sitting so he could get some much needed coffee)
Second: some of Bob's bees attacking my beadwork

It'll take me some time to unpack all my Tucson 2015 treasures, but here are two Venetian "finds" from the Ethnography Group at the Grand Luxe (formerly Rodeway / Grant Inn). The lime green "cakes" were from Bassem's table, and the rather strange combo of Indian and older Venetian fancies were from Thomas' display.

It was a wonderful trip, with lots of friends, food, rainstorms, and of course, BEADS!!

Dee & I ran into Leo Hakola today at the annual Custer's Antique Show.
He's still dealing beads like the 7 layer chevrons he is holding. His booth was mostly filled with antiques and family artifacts. Here is a snapshot of Leo

He honored me with a piece of Indian chevron style cane. Leo said this was some of the early Indian cane that Bob Akrish sent to China for cutting, grinding and much better polishing than was being done in India at that time.