Welcome to Avalonbeadstore!
August 1, 2008
Hello and welcome to Avalonbeadstore’s weblog. We have had a bricks and mortar store, Gifts of Avalon, in Gainesville, Florida for 17 years as well as a great website and online catalog. We would like to have this space be a forum for everyone who shares our passion for jewelry-making – including beads, wire-wrapping, art clay and all that comes with it! We will post information on what is new at the store, online and in the bead world that excites us, and we would love to hear from you! What’s interesting and exciting for you? What are you working on now? We look forward to meeting you!!
Check out the Avalon website at http://www.avalonbeadstore.com .
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1.
avalonbeadstore | August 1, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Hello and welcome to Avalonbeadstore’s weblog. We have had a bricks and mortar store, Gifts of Avalon, in Gainesville, Florida for 17 years as well as a great website and online catalog. We would like to have this space be a forum for everyone who shares our passion for jewelry-making – including beads, wire-wrapping, art clay and all that comes with it! We will post information on what is new at the store, online and in the bead world that excites us, and we would love to hear from you! What’s interesting and exciting for you? What are you working on now? We look forward to meeting you!!
Rhonda
2.
trude | August 20, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Having never blogged before I am not really sure of the protocol, so I welcome your comments and suggestions.As one of the owners of Avalon,when it comes to beading and beads I have tried just about everything, except for blogging about it, so here goes my first attempt.
I have been involved in the world of BEADS since 1980 when a friend(thank you Perrin) turned me on to seed beads and taught me to make beautiful Native American style earrings.
We called them pyramid earrings but I now know the stitch is the Comanche Weave.I managed to make and sell thousands of those long dangly things and this launched me into my career as one of the owners and designers of Gifts of Avalon.
In the 80s here in Florida we were a little behind the times as far as beading fashion trends were concerned, so we had to travel to get all our beading supplies and inspiration from out west.New Mexico, the Dakotas,California and Oregon and one well worn book by Horace B Goodhue called Indian Beadweaving Techniques.It seems Horace travelled and hand collected seed bead patterns from many Native American Tribes around the country.
There were only a few books and virtually no bead stores in Florida or catalogs, magazines,bead shows, and certainly no internet or blogging .Somehow we managed to evolve as beaders through sharing with our friends,trading from our personal stash, teaching each other new techniques we picked up, and of course road trips.
Rhonda and I were part of a small beading circle of friends before we came up with our grand Avalon scheme in 91.We’ve come a long way baby. And that means you too.
The world of Beads has certainly evolved. Now there are over a hundred bead stores in Florida alone and with all the technology available at our fingertips, we have created a massive network of individuals who communicate through creativity and the sharing of ideas.
I can truly say I was there then… and am proud of my contribution to beading as we now know it.
I feel that people are filled with a creative spirit and need a channel to express it to themselves and the world to be healthy individuals.
Beading has become that channel for so many and I have personally experienced the awakening of that creative spirit in the thousands of students,friends and customers that have come through my not so little anymore, world of beads.
Thank you for being part of that collective creative consciousness and I urge you to use this forum to share your ideas and tips with like minded beading buddies.