October is upon us, Halloween decorations have hit the stores (actually, weeks ago!) and here in So Cal, the weather, well, it remains the same....I love it here!

The SCFS had their 3rd quarterly meeting on September 20th at Brea Bead Works in Brea, which is a wonderful venue, with a wonderful bead store attached. If you have never been (and this was my first) for a visit, I suggest planning a trip there. Scott and Wendy, along with being gracious hosts for our meeting, have a very nice set-up. There is a lampworking and jewelry making studio with ample room for classes and one of the most beautiful bead shops I've seen in a while. www.breabeadworks.com/index.html

~and by the way, they are having an awesome sale until the 12th~

The meeting went very well with demos by our own Kathy James and Charlie Warner, both demonstrating a couple different techniques for making vessels, which will be our bead exchange theme for the December meeting. (see our website for photos) We also had our first "swap meet" which a few of us participated in. Thanks again Scott & Wendy!

Glass Obsessions was celebrating their 4 year anniversary the same day, so we all headed there after the meeting and got to see more demos, including a big marble by Mike Close.

October also marks the beginning of the holiday season. Don't deny it...it all starts right about now. And crazy as it may seem, we need to prepare! Speaking of, we are making plans for our big holiday bash which will be held at Pacific Art Glass on December 13th, starting at 10 am. We are very excited to announce that Larry Brickman will be joining us as our special guest artst. Larry has been making art glass beads for over 12 years and is well known for his precision dot beads. In addition to teaching and making beads, Larry has many years experience as a flameworking engineer, which will enable him to answer any technical questions you may have. Larry will be running for the ISGB West Coast regional position and will be talking about the ISGB as well.

More info in the next two newsletters about the December meeting, but a heads up, the food theme will be "Savory Snacks", the bead exchange theme again will be "Vessels" and we will be collecting beads/purple hearts for the Beads of Courage organization. And as always, some very good raffles prizes and an extra special treat!

October 26th the Los Angeles Bead Society will be holding their semi-annual bead bazzar in Culver City. Lots of goodies and familiar faces! Please visit www.beadsocietyla.org/html/bazaars.html for more info.

BABE! will be held on November 8th & 9th at the Oakland Marriott City Center in Oakland. In additon to a huge bead show, there are lots of great classesbeing held throughout the weekend. More info: www.beadextravaganza.com

If you need more info on any of our supporting vendors, please check out the sponsor page on our website. And be sure to support the local studios, they all offer classes and wonderful products. If any one has an event they would like to share, be sure to let Carey, our wonderful webmistress, know about it. She will post it on our website. And speaking of, we have a fun surprise for you on the website...which we will be unveiling shortly. Thanks for your support and we'll see you in December!

Cheers~
Judy Carlson
President

If anyone would like anything more posted let me know and I will me more than glad to post it. admin@socalflamesurfers.org