The Dixon Chick Trunk Show at Bead Junction

You are invited to attend

The Dixon Chick Trunk Show

Sunday, December 5

starting at 11:00 am

Bead Junction

389 Roncesvalles Avenue

Toronto

416-533-8555

Toronto's very own CREATE YOUR STYLE with Swarovski Elements Ambassador, Stephanie Dixon, is pleased to announce that she has partnered with Bead Junction to host a trunk show on Sunday, December 5.

Come out and see Stephanie demoing with Crystal Clay: the hottest new product for bead crafters on the market. Crystal Clay will be having it's official debut in Tucson in February 2011, but as the creator, Debra Saucier, is also a CREATE YOUR STYLE Ambassador, Stephanie is able to showcase it to the Canadian market first!!!



You've seen the iPad cover she created, now buy the Swarovski Bling Kit! Yes, The Crystal Ninja's very own Bling Kit will be available for sale at Bead Junction on Sunday.



Did you miss your chance to take The Crystal Adventure with Stephanie Dixon and Laura Timmons at the Creativ Festival? Fear not! You will be able to purchase the kit at the trunk show. Filled with oodles of Swarovski Elements, this beautiful necklace combines wire bead crochet and wire work techniques.



And of course, come to Bead Junction for the beads! I know you won't be able to resist doing some retail therapy. Look at the length of my receipt from the last time I was at Bead Junction. I just had to have my picture taken with Heather and my bag o' goodies!




See you there!!

Dallas Lovett in the T dot!

UPDATE - AUGUST 24!!!
There is only ONE spot left in the ring class. And I have signed up for the Highland Mist Bracelet on Sunday. A bracelet with 180 3mm Swarovski bicones!
That's definitely calling my name!!!!

Dallas Lovett is coming to Toronto, people!!! He is one of the star instructors at Bead and Button as well as Bead Fest. He is appearing live at Bead Junction starting this Friday through to Sunday. Take advantage of this world reknowned wire artist extraordinaire visiting!!

Please visit www.bead-junction.com for all the details. Space is limited, so you better hurry on over!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Crafty Ladies Hip to the Bead

This blog is brought to you from today's issue of the Toronto Star. In the Living Section, Bernadette Morra has written a wonderful article about beading that mentions the Toronto Bead Society, Bead Junction, beadFX and even crocheting with wire - so I guess I am alluded to! She actually mentions Patricia Huff, Heather Taylor and Rachel Nelson-Smith by name!!

http://www.thestar.com/comment/columnists/article/666644
Here is the article:

Having spent a great deal of time visiting my late mother in nursing homes the past several months, I began to forget that it is possible to remain healthy, productive and creative in one's later years.

Then I met Edie Atkin Goodis. At 88, Goodis could be the poster girl for graceful aging.
She spends two hours each day swimming and working out in her condo's gym. When we met on a recent weekday afternoon, she was smartly dressed and expertly coifed. Goodis showed me her needlepoint, her stitchery, her quilting, and her block prints. But her main passion is to create mosaic-like bracelets and jangly necklaces from a palette of microscopic beads.
That she can even see them is remarkable. That she threads a surgically thin needle through the tiny purple spears and bronze spheres is even more impressive. And if Goodis doesn't have a bead she thinks will work in a particular spot, she'll make her own, forming miniature cylinders from tubular Japanese delica beads.

"I am painting with beads," she describes. And she is not the only one.

A survey of Goodis's favourite local bead suppliers – Bead FX in Scarborough, Bead Junction on Roncesvalles, and That Bead Lady in Newmarket – reveals a subculture of (mostly) women who just can't keep their fingers still.

Groups such as The Toronto Bead Society have monthly get-togethers where members "show and tell" new projects. Bead retailers regularly hold classes, birthday parties, drop-ins, beading bees and workshops with internationally recognized bead artists.

It was at a Bead Junction workshop that Goodis learned the technique for the fringed necklace that she has riffed on with her own palette and sensibility – that being typical of beaders who will master a technique, then run with it. Luckily, there are artists such as Rachel Nelson-Smith, Sherry Serafini and Cynthia Rutledge (who will be teaching at Bead Junction next month) who are pushing the boundaries of beading to keep enthusiasts engaged.

It also helps that the range of available beads has exploded thanks to online shopping and retailers such as Bead FX, which makes lampwork beads and offers classes to teach the skill.
No wonder bead stores have become something of a refuge during tough economic times.
"For as little as $5, a person can buy two tubes of seed beads that will make six or seven necklaces," says Patricia Huff, co-owner of Bead Junction. Huff is a client data analyst at RBC by day, and self-confessed bead addict on nights and weekends. She opened the store with architect and bead artist Heather Taylor in 2005.

Bead Junction has hundreds of styles of beads including semi-precious stones, Murano glass, fanciful cloisonné and iridescent dichroic beads made from layers of glass and foil. There are 14 styles of turquoise alone. Prices range from pennies to $99.95 for a Druzy, an inner chunk of a geode that has been gold-leafed.

The beads can be loomed into fabric, strung into strands, crocheted with wire, and used in quilting, knitting and micro-macrame.

The thrill, says Huff, is simply in, "taking this, matching it with that, and then going to town to see what you can make. And I like that in 15 minutes I can have a necklace, or something more elaborate in two hours." One Bead Junction client is working on a seed bead tapestry that will take months to complete.

Such intense work can have its hazards. Goodis is being treated for trigger finger and has had to lay off the needles and wire.

But don't expect her to ever stop. Goodis attributes her longevity, in part, to her hobby. As she puts it, "I can't wait to get up in the morning because I've got something that I love to do."


After 23 years with the Toronto Star, this is Bernadette Morra's final column. In August, she becomes editor-in-chief of Fashion magazine, replacing Ceri Marsh who is on maternity leave for one year. Morra will continue to edit her website for jewellery lovers, firstwaternews.com.

The Dixon Chick... Live at Bead Junction

What a fun filled day I had with the gang at Bead Junction. If it's ok with the gals there, I think I am going to be spending some more time there. What a beautiful store! Too bad I arrived just in time to teach my class today and had to head out immediately as my son was picking me up so we could go to the Marlies game vs the Chicago Wolves. I could have spent HOURS looking at all the pretty beads!! And I think I will tomorrow! I am teaching the crochet earrings course and will definitely set aside some time to browse to my heart's content.

Danielle, Denise and Anne

Anne, Leda and Helen

Denise finished first!!!

Christine and Stacey

The new kits were a big hit - although I realize now that for beginners, I should keep the beads smaller. I had some big 12-15 mm glass pearls in one kit (Plaid and Pearls) and it was just to big. Luckily, Anne decided to make three necklaces out of the six strands that she crocheted.

The incredibly talented Patricia Huff

I was blessed with a great group of women for my inaugural class at Bead Junction. A big thank you goes out to Anne, Denise, Danielle, Stacey, Christine, Helen and Leda. It was so much fun to spend the afternoon with you. Christine ended up creating two necklaces out of the Santa Fe kit of turquoises and browns. She was a riot! She took the class to make the necklace for her mom's birthday - which is tomorrow. I am glad to announce that she finished TWO necklaces!! So Happy Birthday, Christine's mom!

After the class, my son, his father and went to Shoeless Joe's for dinner - I thought I was starving, but Declan was the one who wolfed down a huge Bison Hamburger!

The Marlies game was great - as always - and the beat the Chicago Wolves 3 - 1!! Woo hoo!

I met up with my friends - the Rivietz sisters, Orit and Danyah. You may think that we have a uniform of black quilted jackets and Chanel purses - but it was a fluke!!

January Classes and Events

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

January is action packed month for me with 5 classes being offered this month. I am also pleased to announce that I will also be offering classes at Bead Junction for those of you who live downtown and in the east end of Toronto.

Here is the schedule:

Saturday, January 10 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm Wire Bead Crochet Basics - Choker at Bead Junction (colour choices may vary from picture shown)

Saturday, January 17 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm Crochet Cuff at BeadFX (colour choices may vary from picture shown)

Sunday, January 18 10:00 am - 12:30 pm Crochet Earrings at BeadFX

Saturday, January 24 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm Multistrand Necklace at Bead Junction (colour choices may vary from picture shown)

Sunday, January 25 11:30 am - 1:30 pm Crochet Earrings at Bead Junction

The new year also kicks off with the Toronto Bead Society's Bag of Bead Challenge. This is a really fun event. Everyone who wants to participate, purchases a bag of beads and has two months to create something - anything! I have seen the beads and they are..... I can't reveal anything! SORRY!

The TBS meeting also has a wonderful special guest - Maria Rypan. Here is the info from the TBS website:

Jan 14, 2009 - Maria Rypan Contemporary Beadwork in the Ukraine

Maria’s PowerPoint presentation will debut at the Toronto Bead Society meeting. She has plenty of new material and stories from her many trips to Ukraine where she visited artists and master crafts people’s homes, museums and met many interesting beadwork artists at the Vernisage, a folk art piazza in the centre of Lviv.

There are also many beadwork publications that came out in the past year. Recent meetings with authors of two new adornment and beadwork books enhance the topic. Maria will bring some actual beadwork samples for you to admire closely. Check out the workmanship and designs using beads on eggs and Christmas balls by Vera. You’ve never seen anything quite like it!

There will be a small Trunk Show featuring Maria’s illustrated step-by-step instructions and a few kits and patterns of the Ukrainian-style “gerdany” beadwork. Come and be inspired! Maria Rypan’s work can be found at http://www.rypandesigns.com/.

Also at this meeting:
Bag o' Beads challenge intro and packages distributed
Vendors

I will in attendance at the meeting with lots of wire for sale! If there are specific colours and gauges that you would like to pre-order for delivery at the TBS meeting, please send an e-mail to me at stephaniedixon@rogers.com.