Bead artists to show wares

Friday, June 1, 2001 | 8:33 a.m.

For thousands of years beads have been used as currency, for adornment and for religious ritual. Cultures have woven them into clothing, baskets and onto furniture as decorative accents.

This weekend nearly 500 types of ancient, vintage and contemporary beads will be on display and for sale at the 6th annual Las Vegas Bead Show.

The retail and wholesale trade show, hosted by the Bead Renaissance Shows of Colorado, will feature bead artists, merchants and an exhibit of 50 beads designed by contemporary artists.

The show is held in conjunction with the GeoExpositions Gem, Mineral and Jewelry Show and will include 28 bead dealers and 35 mineral dealers.

Bead designers and glass artists, such as Paula Radke, a glass artist from California, and Susan Simonds, a glass artist from Colorado, will be selling beads.

"Some dealers will bring in very old beads," said Joan Johnson, who along with her husband owns the Bead Renaissance Shows. "In our situation, we have dinosaur-bone beads."

The red dinosaur bones found in Utah were taken to China where they were turned into beads, then shipped back to the United States, Johnson said.

The dinosaur bone beads typically sell for $6 a bead, she said. Larger dinosaur beads usually sell for $9. An artist's bead will sell for as much as $400 a bead, she added.

The shows tend to draw serious collectors, retailers and hobbyists, she said.

Other items for sale will include fossil beads, silver beads, clay, seed, stone mineral and contemporary glass-blown beads.

African trade beads and vintage beads made in European villages before World War II and later found in warehouses, will also be on sale.

Also featured will be silver components used in jewelry making, such as fasteners, and books that cover the history, artistry and collectible nature of beads.

"It's a total bead show," Johnson said. "It has everything you need to get started."

Johnson said that beads have been around "since the beginning of time," but following a industry slump that occurred nearly seven years ago, the bead industry has seen a resurgence.

"People are getting very serious about the beads," she said. "There's all sorts of things you can do with (them). Even men are getting into it."