Craft Gossip

Independent craft blog since 2007

Day One at CHA – Cool Glass and Stuff for Glass

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Today I spent half a day at CHA. Did my demo of macramé to promote my book, Mod Knots and then wandered around about half the show. I had a pressing engagement and had to run early but I’m returning tomorrow to finish and search for more interesting items. there’s so uch cool stuff at CHA. Every craft and art supply company is there. But my focus was glass, of course. First cool thing I came across is a bead buddy and the queen of dichroic glass beads, Paula Radke. She had a booth with beads and other interesting goodies. She’s got a resin thing going on and she’s using some of her laser etched dichroic glass in resin bracelets. The benefits of glass with the durability of resin. Very interesting. She’s off to Tucson next…

The next cool booth I came across sells adhesives for the glass and craft industries. They are Streuter and they have adhesive for stained glass, mosaic, and fused glass. Tomorrow I’m hoping the piece one of the ladies was working on will be fused. She was using their glue with glass frit. I’ll give you an update tomorrow.

I also wandered over to the Amate Studios booth where they sell findings that are used quite a bit for resin jewelry but they’ve started making their little frames deeper and they would be perfect for fused glass cabs and even some beads. Fun stuff. I want some of these for some of my upcoming classes. More CHA news tomorrow!

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How to Travel with Cross Stitch

Cross stitch is not a craft I generally travel with (since I’m not that good at it, I prefer not to be moving while I’m doing it) but I’m sure there are lots of stitchers who would like to take their projects with them when they travel. 

Koekoek has a post all about cross stitching on a plane, which is a great plan since it’s lots of uninterrupted time to work. As mentioned in the post, you should be able to bring embroidery needles (which tend not to be that sharp anyway) on an airplane with you. 

Regulations in the United States say that scissors with blades up to 4 inches/10 cm are allowed in the cabin, but whether they are allowed by security as you pass through it is up to their discretion. And thread cutters that use a razor blade are not supposed to be allowed at any time. 

Alternatives include bringing nail clippers to snip your threads, or pre-cutting thread and placing it on bobbins so you can stitch on the plane. Then pack scissors in your checked bag so you can cut any loose ends or extra long strands later. 

Check out the post at Koekoek for more tips on traveling with cross stitch and suggestions for projects to pack when traveling. I’ve also written in the past about this post from Caterpillar Cross Stitch about traveling with cross stitch supplies and, importantly, what to do to make your screening as smooth as possible. And, importantly, what to do if the security agents question your supplies or want to confiscate anything you brought. 

And that’s a great tip, too: if you are packing scissors in your carry on but you’re also checking a bag, pack extras there just in case. 

Do you have any tips for traveling with cross stitch projects? I’d love to hear them. Also check out my post about planning a travel stitching kit.