Another day at the wonderful BeadFX in Canada and today we're beading frames. It's great having the class in such a treat of a shop as everyone can try out different feature beads as we're sitting surrounded by so many to choose from

Once again I fit in some bead shopping/ browsing and everywhere I look I find more that I want to buy!

One thing I find so hard to purchase in the Uk/ Europe is nice clasps/ findings and to find such a variety here is overwhelming. When I see just what is available around the World I am half sad we don't have easy access to it here in the UK (i.e. without buying from overseas and getting into paying customs fee, VAT, import duties etc never mind not being able to support your local shop) and half glad as I wonder if the limits on what I have access to has affected my beading style- and if so I'm glad of that.

For example, not being able to find clasps I like means I am always looking for different solutions e.g. beaded clasps, continuous pieces, claspless pieces, hidden fastenings and much more. If I could easily buy a beautiful clasp maybe I wouldn't have to take that next design step, and maybe my work would suffer for it.

Learning to design with what I have, and ensure that all my designs, instructions etc can easily be beaded by anyone else without access to these things, means I often have to think more about how to finish a piece- and I enjoy that challenge.

But it would be nice sometimes to be able to grab a gorgeous clasp and not worry about it!

After class we head to Amaya for the best Indian meal I have ever had- amazing tastes and good company round off a great day.