2008 Bead Dreams

Every year, Bead and Button has a "Bead Dreams" competition. Bead and Button is a magazine tailored almost exclusively to bead weavers (to the chagrin of many, I've seen some angry letters to the editor in my years as a subscriber, I can imagine all the ones they didn't print). Us in the 'little bead' cult really enjoy it though. Anyways, back to the competition. This months magazine announced the 2008 Bead Dreams winners. Although there are several categories, my favorites always tend to be the seed beaded items...can't imagine why!

Sarah over at The Beaded Lily compiled a list a list of her favorites so I thought I'd share mine. Unlike Sarah, I really can't judge based on what I could see myself wearing. Creations entered into the competition are more of art than jewelry, I think. Which is fine. But they tend to be large pieces...like bigger than my head. I'm a tiny gal, some of those necklaces would swallow me whole! I also doubt they'd play nice with my hula hoop.

Ok, on to my favs:

Early Summer Wedding Bouquet

Miyuki Sugimura, Hiroko Toda, Masako Kato, and Akemi Hara
Nagoya, Japan

I don't usually dig beaded flowers but this wedding bouquet is gorgeous! The judges must have thought so too, it won Best in show. The flowers are so realistic, and the work that must have gone into it is astounding.

Babe in the Woods

Lauren Macgregor
Melbourne, Australia
laurenelisedesigns.com.au

I love this one and could totally see myself wearing it to a festival. Ever build an entire outfit around a piece of jewelry? Yeah, that would be the case. Ok maybe I DO like beaded flowers!

Jumped
Yuko Shiba

Kanagawa, Japan

Sculptural beading at it's finest, IMO. Plus I love frogs. Have a close look at it's mouth, it's a purse too!

Caribbean Beach
Mieko Ogura
Nishinn Aichi, Japan

I absolutely adore these! I'm not a girly girl at all, I don't even wear high heels, but these are too amazing not to mention here. The colors are perfect, and the bead work flawless. I'm sure they'll look lovely in an art gallery or on display in a woman's house who has lots of shoes.

Cityscape
Julie Picarello
El Dorado, Calif.
yhdesigns.com

I am amazed at the things people can do with clay. While there are several other entries that are incredibly detailed, this one is just so funky!

Click HERE to have a look at all the amazing artists who places in this years competition.