Rings!

At Beading by the Bay this year we decided on rings made of Cerulan clay and crystal for our make and take.  Who knew how much fun it would be!  I made several prior to the event so I would be 'practiced' but Susan did the actual class.

Melissa and Heather joined in the fun as well.  Mine is the whimsical one with the lime green sprocket. There were many glittery ones.  Pigment powders really fancied them up!

You also see quite a few wonderful bracelets in this photo.  Bonnie Morris is sporting the green and pink one which has it's roots in contemporary geometric beadwork.

Kate used pop beads and sprockets to make a tall one, and Heathers is the one in the forefront that looks like it might have a martini olive on it.

Liz Thompson gifted me this gorgeous pendant.  Apparently I did bead beg the first time I saw the photo on line but since it's reasonably shameless behavior I had forgotten about it, so it was a nice surprise.  Sadly she is not teaching this one at Bead and Button

But she is teaching this one and three others.  I love how ornate and delicate her pieces are.  You can find her teaching schedule here.

And to leave you with a smile, the lovely Layla Joy who is just learning to enjoy yogurt.

I'm off on a knitting retreat, preceded by a stop in Asheville NC then up to the mountains.  Should be a grand time, I'll keep you posted.

Musings on this thing called retirement

So here I am retired, and not.  I always knew that I would want to stay connected to the bead world, and that I would want to design and maybe sell some kits and maybe tutorials and I hinted mid last year I was ready and I am…..

But I need to learn to do a slightly better job.  I've been home mostly since December, but I was busy prepping for four Interweave videos on CRAW.  Step out preparation takes a fair amount of time.  If I want to show you a square, I will make a start, make a second piece showing how to turn a corner and make a third piece so I can now show the join without making you wait while I finish the square.  Take that model times about 40 different techniques I wanted to show you, and it was a lot of step outs that needed doing.  Which is all ok, it makes me think about the stitch in an academic way and Im a better beader for it, and I have high hopes that you'll love the information shared and will find it a positive in your bead stitch knowledge.

Also, I had a blast, I love the Interweave team, and I loved Fort Collins and it was a treat to be there.


Here Nick is getting a preview of what we'll do in this segment.

This step out is color coded to explain how cubes are shared at the corners and how to count.

Each of my Bead On It Boards (yes I have a few) is staged to be able to grab during the filming to show the next segment.

The fourth of the series show shaping by increasing and decreasing.

So I've shared with you some of the process, but back to the topic….

Retirement.  So this bit of work took some time and then I had promised to kit up some Ancient Bells and I did.  The response was wonderful and we kitted more and we spent a few days shipping.  Then it was time to prepare for Beading by the Bay.  It's a wonderful event in it's 6th year and every year I look forward to it.  Together with partner Susan, we send emails, track color choices, make name tags, pick menus, and I write directions, and print directions and kit.  This year it's Layla, named for my newest grand daughter.  It's a pretty piece and an intense one….not difficult, but lots of size 15 craw with turns and joins, 26 of them to be exact.  I'm looking forward to it's teaching debut.

So back to the original discussion, while all fun, it's not exactly retirement, yet, and that's ok, I like to work, I like to work with beads.  The thing is I had hoped to bring you more kits by now, some of you are waiting patiently for La Navette (I have the beads!) and Romantica re-visited (also I have the beads) and there are a few more aqua and gold ancient bells that could be kitted and some more duomos, but in the interest of not working all day every day, they have to wait.  I'm hoping for mid April and I'll be sure to let you know.  After August I am definitely, really and truly cut back and then website kits may be more regular, until then it's the best I can do.