Spectacular Craft Show Weekend

We went to the American Craft Council show in Baltimore on Sunday, March 1. The show opened at 10 a.m., we arrived at 10:30, and we left at 4:30 p.m., just before the show closed. The ACC show is like going to a museum of fine craft. These artists are the best of the best in the United States and Canada. The piece above, Chambered Nautilus Pin #3, cloisonne enamel and diamond by Amy Ropier Lyons of Summit, NJ, was typical of the outstanding quality of nearly all the work at the show. The first three days of the show are wholesale only (the artists sell to galleries and craft stores), and the last three are open to the public. Everyone was tired by the end of the day--the artists (from having sat in the basement of the Baltimore Convention Center for six days) as well as the patrons (who try to see all 450 of the booths in nine hours or less). I bought a marbled silk tie, my wife bought some peices of jewelry, and together we bought a whimsical ornament for our garden. A really fine but exhausting day.