the gem show

I had a nice day today, had lunch with a friend and then went to the gem show. She has a retail license so we were able to get into the wholesale section where we found that there were better prices for some things on the other side, but we had mostly checked things out so we knew. We ended up at the same table as last year. Great buys on lots and lots of beads. The gem show is so egalitarian; everything from high end jewelry set with precious gems to pretty beads for a couple of dollars a strand. I stay in the lower end and still managed to get some beautiful goldstone and amethyst and citrine and calcite. It will make very pretty necklaces. Some of them will end up on my Etsy site at Tapestry Art
The store is empty right now, I took everything down and I am re-doing it. That's on my to-do list for this weekend.
The show is fun but exhausting. It is jammed with people and the vendors can't sell stuff fast enough. No recession in sight today. I only buy a strand here and there, but I am the exception, most people seemed to be buying by the bushel basket. Hopefully there are enough customers to go around.