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Tales of the Vintage Bead Show |
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Written by Dara Spiotto
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Monday, 15 October 2007 |
 Tales of the Vintage Bead Show
Traveling upwards in California is gorgeous. On the endless freeway system, following the coast out of Los Angeles beyond Thousand Oaks and Ventura is Santa Barbara. A perfect place for a pit stop before continuing up into wine country where the grapes grow in perfect, funny little rows as far as the eye can see. It's odd to be on the 101 northbound freeway when you have the mountains leaning in to the right side of the road and the clear Pacific ocean lapping at the left. For miles you’re wedged between two majestic pieces of nature.
 I left on a Thursday night to head to a great bead store about 5 hours away from my home here in So. Cal. I love to go there. It's right on the ocean and I spend a lot of time overwhelming my eyes with gorgeous sights. The store is located in an area that is known for its artist community, and everywhere you go you’re surrounded by music, painting, sculpture, fiber arts, fabric, theater, and more. You come away feeling like you’ve been on a retreat!
I arrived at midnight and got settled into the hotel. At 5 am my alarm went off and truthfully I was already awake. I took a quick shower and headed out into the dark to find the bead store so we could begin setting up at 6. It was easy to find, with all the lights glowing in the store. All the other businesses were still sleeping, and the bead store was gleaming and glinting. The pop up tents went up quickly in the parking lot, and we were off! We laid out tables and racks and filled them to the brim.
 Familiar Faces
It’s a good thing we began at the crack of dawn (actually, before that!), since cars started to pull up early. When people got out they were hooting and squealing at me and hurrying over to see the goodies. I was as happy as a lark when I saw all those familiar faces. It has been so long now… about two years since I’ve been out on the road. These customers are like old friends. When I had my last shows before the birth of my son in August of 2005, these same people came to the bead show with gifts and bags of baby goodies for my little tiny tot. There were parties and showers and I felt so blessed and well cared for by these people. And now after all this time had gone by, they showed up with more presents and things for Vincent! I adore them for their thoughtfulness, their kindness and their passion for beading. Every time a new person would come I would jump up to hug them and we’d catch up momentarily before they spotted something on the table they couldn’t tear their eyes from, and then they were off shopping. :-) Bead-a-holics.
 This particular store is new. But old. Well, it’s a store that is recently opened by a person who has had bead stores all along. They recently sold their old store and then for personal reasons couldn’t follow through with the plans they had made, so they had to re-open a new store to keep the bills paid, etc. I was so happy to learn the store would exist again. It's smaller, yet it has the big personality that the old store had. So my show set-up was outside the store and the day was sunny, warm and gorgeous. It was the perfect place to be and I had many moments of hesitation to just appreciate the scene around me.
I love when customers bring out the beadwork they’ve done for all to see. It’s a piranha-fest of curiosity. It causes everyone to rant and rave and get all excited. I saw so many innovative designs for things it was overwhelming. And when I write up orders I love to ask what the plans are for particular beads. I’m sometimes surprised at what beads get paired up together. I’ve been looking at those beads forever and it never occurred to me to put them in the same design.
Rubyzohsite? No? How about Sawarski?
In all the frenzy of bead selling, sometimes funny things happen that make me laugh so hard I can’t get a grip. For instance, this one person came to look at the stones and pearls, and said, “Do you have Ruby-zoh-site?” Hmmm… no. Never heard of that one. You know, I think vendors sometimes make up new names for stones. They take stone that has unusual brown and purple spots on it and call it “peanut butter and jelly jasper”, when really it's just a funny variety of leopard skin jasper. So I figured that Rubyzohsite was just another weird stone. Then they said, “OH! You DO have it!!” and they held up a strand of Rhodocrosite to show me.
 Butchering names. Well, with a name like Dara that’s pronounced Day-rah, I can relate. In fact, when telemarketers call my house they say, “Can I speak to Mrs. Sp…?” They never get out the rest of the last name. And when I’m in the doctor's office and they ask for Darla Spitty then I know it's probably me. I can sympathize. But Rubyzohsite instead of Rhodocrosite? HA! That got me on a giggling spree that lasted pretty much all day. I kept walking around saying, “where did that Rubyzohsite go??” and I could see little smiles and smirks as I went by. “Do you have it?” “No,” they’d say. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Neither do I, honey. And then the people who ask for Sa-warski crystal. I hear that all the time. One woman walked table to table correcting people, saying, “It's Svorovski, everyone. That’s how the GERMANS say it.” They’re a hoot! Oh, people. Tomato, tomahto.
Bead People are the Best
Just when the show gets up to a good romp, it's time to close up for the day. This isn’t really work, you know? Oh… the setting up and packing up is work. The hours of preparing stuff to make it presentable, priced, organized, shopable and tempting definitely falls under the work category. But the show itself? It’s buttah. I love it. When the first person walks in to when it's time to close up for the day, the time flies, and at the end my face hurts from laughing and smiling. Bead people are the best.
Did you get to visit one of the shows I did in September? If so, YAHOO! If not, I’m so sorry. Pencil me in for next time.
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