Tucson Trends (Part 2)

Tucson Trends (Part 2)

Welcome back for round 2 of our Tucson wrap-up.  While it's unfortunate that not everyone in the beading world gets to go to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, we do our very best to make sure each and every one of you get a sense of the hot trends of 2014.  In part 1, we covered rounded cubes (the cut of the show), pink tourmaline (the hottest color), gorgeous rainbow moonstone, matte druzy agates and cool African metals.  Click HERE to read Part 1.  

But there's MORE!  There were so many hot beads and cool trends that we needed an entire extra week to cover all of the exciting stuff we found!

Beautiful larimar is a rare form of blue pectolite that is only found in the Dominican Republic.  A favorite metaphysical gemstone, larimar was rarely cut into beads in the past.  Those days are long gone, though, as gorgeous larimar beads were one of our biggest purchases this show!  We found rounds, marquis drops, chips and more -- so much goodness to play with!

Lapidary-enhanced stones were all the rage at this year's show.  These turquoise and bronze infused stones just pop with vibrant color.  We brought home round beads and pendants in this purple version, as well as orange and white.

Everyone loves a perfectly matched pair of extra gorgeous gemstones -- ideal for a fabulous pair of earrings!  Bead World bought a wide selection of pre-matched gemstone pairs to make amazing earrings quick and easy.  The pair shown here is pink chalcedony.  This soft pink tone (in chalcedony and rose quartz) is a hot color this spring.

We were thrilled to see the return of vibrant citrine this show -- clear, sparkling and bright yellow. After a couple of years of sad, washed-out citrine, we were super excited to bring home some good stuff.

Okay, we're gem snobs.  We're totally okay admitting it.  So we love Ethiopian opal, and try to buy some every single show.  But this time, we found something amazing -- faceted Ethiopian opal! Imagine all the fire and flash of opal PLUS the sparkle of faceting!  (Faceted opal is pretty rare, because the spherical crystalline structure of opal makes faceting difficult.)  It's amazing.

Finally, you might have noticed the yoga-inspired jewelry trend of the last couple of years.  It's still going strong.  This show, we found a great assortment of large-scale Tibetan beads and pendants that really compliment the mala jewelry style.  From Tibetan capped horns to brass inlaid beads, we've got it now at Bead World.

We love going on buying trips, and we love sharing our finds with you!

www.beadworldinc.com