Rick was flipping through the new April 2007 issue of National Geographic and said, "Hey! Look at this." Well whaddaya know... beads! There's a nice selection here, from ancient to modern, but what really jumps off the page for me is the lampwork portrait of Marilyn Monroe.

I thought it looked like a Loren Stump bead, so I posted it on the ISGB Forum, where someone else says it looks like an Emiko Sawamoto. I suppose we'll figure it out eventually, but for now I'm tickled pink to see artist-made lampwork beads in something other than a bead publication. One of these days we'll hit the mainstream, I just know it!