Beading Circle

On Thursday afternoons the table in the classroom is open to anyone who would like to come in. We work on projects, get advice, share finished pieces, and chat about beads, life, future projects, or anything that comes up.

I've made a short video of the group, and the projects we worked on.

Whirlwind!

Last week was something else! Bizzy, busy.

I was so bushed that last night I went to bed at 7:30. This morning I was rumbled awake at 8:30 by the garbage truck in front of my house. I'm still moving slowly.

A recap of last week.

Sunday:: Finalized, and emailed newsletter announcing the trunk show. Anyone who needs to send out large batches of emails can't go wrong with verticalresponse.com in my opinion. The site has some marvelous features, and is very, very affordable.

Monday:: Taught a wire bracelet class to three very enthusiastic students. We had a grand time. I also ran my weekly errands... bank, post office, printer, and grocery store.

Tuesday:: Worked at the shop, and taught a wire wrap class that evening. I got home at 9:30.

Wednesday:: Ordered seed beads, and stringing material. I treated myself to a class with Claire, and learned how to seed bead bezel a Swarovski Rivoli. It was nearly 10:00 before I went home.

Thursday:: The first Beading Circle started at 2:00. Lorie came in for a refresher on the clasp I'd taught her in the wire working class on Tuesday. Louise, Theresa, and I worked on finishing our Rivoli bezels. Theresa's daughter Amanda came along with her mom. She found the new book on beaded rings, and made two adorable little crystal/seed bead rings for her little girls. Claire dazzled us all with some pieces she'd brought with her, and worked on a project while she was there.

This week... I'll bring cookies!

Friday:: Guy arrived for the trunk show at 12:30! We chatted for nearly an hour, then decided setting up for the following day's activity might not be a bad idea. We started at 2:00, and worked until 6:30.

Saturday:: The trunk show took off like a rocket!! We had customers waiting for the shop to open. There were several times that it was impossible to fit one more person into the sunroom to shop.

I had the opportunity to see what was being purchased, and let me tell you... there are going to be some really cool projects happening in the weeks to come.

My favorite items were the smallest and the largest! There were 2mm seed pearls. Guy explained that it had taken them seven days of shopping in Hong Kong to gather the selection he'd brought.

In case you missed them, I bought a nice selection for the shop.

The largest items they brought were resin beads. They were in the 20-24mm size range. I was particularly attracted to the black and white pieces. There were two strands of striped ovals that I really loved! I loved them so much that when I was helping Guy set up for the show Friday night, I placed them at the bottom of the heap.

They were still there when we were breaking down, so guess what I got! Yeah, I know, grow up Carol :D

J-Me arrived for the show around 1:30 and brought some more things with her. She had metalized charlottes, Soft Flex wire, and their new pave' crystal balls. I made certain to load up on them.

....and peacock beads!

They're wonderful. I purchased bags of loose peacock beads, and strands. If you missed the show, you'll be able to see these beauties. In the days to come, I'll post some projects featuring them.

Saturday night:: We started breaking the show down shortly after 5:00. I shopped for the store for a couple of hours, and we headed to my house for a dinner of pizza, and salad.

After dinner we entertained ourselves with a silly game we've invented. I don't have a TV. Instead, I have a 24" iMac in my living room. We'd each take a turn choosing a song to search for on youtube.com. We're all in the same age group, so it was fun finding videos of the music we grew up with. We'd reminisce about what we were doing at the time the songs were popular, or when they came out. It was a great way to get to know one another better.

The only song we didn't find on youtube was one of Guy's choices. It was by a reggae group from San Francisco known as The Toyes. The song was 'The Lucky Sperm Club.' We found it on Lastfm. Here it is.

This week is going to be a little quieter, but not by much!

Color

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." Albert Camus*

The changing of the season, especially the transition from summer to autumn, seems to bring color to the forefront of my thoughts. This autumn has been particularly beautiful here in southern Oregon. We've had chilly nights followed by warm, sun-filled days. The sky has been intensely blue, contrasting the glorious spectrum of orange, russet, and gold.

My thoughts about color lead me to the Pantone site where I spent time looking at the colors forecast for Autumn 2010, and Spring 2011.

I found it interesting when viewing the two palettes how similar they are.  How refreshing to have colors that will work in more than one season.  I'm also enchanted by the names given to each color.  Some of them make sense, and in the case of the autumn colors for this year, some make me hungry.




In the next few days I'm going to print these two images, and take a tour around the shop looking for beads, and findings that will work with these new color trends. It will be fun to see what I can come up with... yes, I'll be sharing.



*one of my favorite quotes about autumn. I remember it whenever I see a spectacular tree.

A Very Pleasant Surprise

...on a Sunday night!

From Bead&Button

My head is swimming with ideas for ways to advertise/promote the shop. What it isn't filled with is copy... dang it!

I was online a bit ago looking for inspiration. I'm not certain what lead me to the Bead & Button site, but I ended up there. As I was examining the homepage, looking for inspiration I guess, I saw a link for finding a bead shop. Curious, I followed it. I typed 'Oregon' in the search bar and to my surprise found Dancing Beads listed.

My initial reaction was doubt. I figured the information listed would be for the old location. It wasn't, it's all current!! And! And! Get this... not only is the address, and phone number correct, there is even a link to dancingbeads.com! I am over the moon, tickled pink about this!!

Thank you Bead & Button!

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Since Friday afternoon, I've been working on an announcement/newsletter for the shop. I wanted to let everyone know about the upcoming trunk show with J-Me and Guy from Wild Things Beads. There were some other items I wanted to share about classes, the website, this blog, and Facebook.

I was able to embed the Facebook badge into the wysiwyg, however it did not work when I sent the test email to myself. Drats! So, next best thing... create a custom badge, and hope for the best.

I think it turned out pretty cute! Yes, there could be some verbiage, but I planned on adding text underneath it. Perhaps, if I use it in other locations I'll add some.

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On October 11th, I had the pleasure of visiting Angie Britton's shop Indigo Beads in Klamath Falls, with my friend Claire Kimble.

I've been trying to write about our adventure, but it seems as if I can only find one word to describe our experience. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!... oh, and BEADS!

Angie's shop is scrumptious (and I have pictures to prove it)! It's filled not only with an amazing array of the most beautiful beads, it's filled with light, and lots of it... and beads. Indigo Beads has a fabulous selection.

The next time you find yourself in Klamath Falls, plan to spend some time in Angie's delightful shop... and tell her that Claire and Carol sent you.

A How To Video

Have you ever wondered how a Byzantine Chain is made? I found this video in my wandering this afternoon.

OCBD

... I has it! Obsessive Compulsive Beading Disorder.

Today, in between customers, and well after the shop had closed, I was busily making bracelets. Five of them to be exact... five beautiful, sparkly bracelets. They're kinda like potato chips, hard to stop at one.

Guess that's about it for now, except that I realized this morning I'm no photojournalist. Claire and I had a great time in Klamath Falls visiting Indigo Beads, and I managed to take very few pictures. It sure was fun, and I got some great ideas.

If I can keep my hands off the beads for more than 20 minutes, tomorrow, I'll share some of the pictures I took, and write about Monday's adventure.

.... hmmm, I can probably quit counting now.

Fireline

Beaders who love to work with seed beads and crystals swear by a product sold by Berkley, a leader in the fishing industry called Fireline.

Fireline is a thermally fused line that is incredibly thin, very strong, and smooth. It can be threaded through a size 12 beading needle (with a bit of patience) and will pass through the smallest of seed beads. The upside to using this line is that it is strong enough to withstand the sharp edges of a Swarovski, or Preciosa crystal bead.

Unfortunately, all this wonderful comes at a price. A 50 yard spool of 6# test in smoke retails for $11.00 per spool. Ouch!

Thanks to my friend Claire I learned something. Get thee to the sporting goods store! A 125 yard spool of the exact same product retails for $14.99 making the cost per yard only 12¢ as compared to 22¢.

I took a quick trip to Berkley-Fishing.com to see if it would be less expensive from the distributor. Um, nope, they're charging $19.49 per roll.

More than once I've told a customer I believe that many of our stringing materials come via the fishing industry. This is definitely a case in point.

Next time I go shopping at Sportsman's Warehouse I'm going to check out the lures, feathers, and other lines that are available. I feel like I've discovered a whole new resource for beading supplies.

Yesterday's Project

Yesterday, I mentioned I was working on a project, and that I'd be sharing the instructions.

The pictures are taken, the instructions are written, however... I still need to get the two together.

In the meantime, here is a close up of the bracelet I made using seed beads, and 3mm crystals.  It sparkles very nicely.

Dancing

Since 'Dancing' is an important part of our name, I thought I'd share one of my all time favorite dancing videos.



Happy Friday!

...and if all goes according to plan there will be a project posted tomorrow.

Finding Frogs

Working with beads has changed the way I look at the world around me. It seems that the little details are what catch my eye, things out of place, or shaped differently immediately grab my attention.

Recently, I was at my least favorite place on the planet... the grocery store. My sweetie was headed for the bottle return outside while I helped his mom, who's a spry 96 year old, round up a grocery cart. Once she was situated, I went back to hang out with my guy.

As I was walking toward the bottle return area, something caught my eye on the ground about six feet in front of me. There on the black top, surrounded by huge humans, more asphalt, and cars was a tiny, bright green frog. It was no bigger than a quarter, and it was hopping straight towards me.

Without hesitating I picked it up, and cupped it in my hand. I took my little passenger over to show to Jeff.

We were both amazed that the frog was where it was. The building is in the center of a huge parking lot, devoid of trees, shrubs, or any sort of greenery. We surmised the frog must have come in with someone's bottles. How the frog had avoided being stepped on or run over seemed nothing short of miraculous.

Jeff declared it was the frog's lucky day. He left his bag of bottles for someone else to redeem, and we trekked across the parking lot to deposit the frog in a safer place.

So, what does finding a frog in the middle of a parking lot have to do with beads?

Give me a minute...

How about this... if you look, I mean really look, you'll find amazing things in unusual places. Sometimes it's a shell, or a rock, sometimes it's a bit of inspiration. Other times it's a special person, or a wonderful moment. We're surrounded by so much beauty, and wonder, I think you have to work too hard to not find frogs.

Who wants to work that hard?

Tonbo-dama

More years ago than I care to admit, during my early teens, I lived in Japan. The years spent there greatly influenced my aesthetics. From the color palette I prefer, to my love of stylized natural forms, and simple design, those were very important years.

In February, 2008 I traveled to Tuscon for what I believed to be my last Gem and Mineral Show. I went to say good-bye to people I'd worked with, and I went to buy some treasures for myself.

While at the Best Bead Show, I encountered a group of Japanese lampworkers and fell in love with the pieces they were offering. The bead pictured above was made by Yuka Kawakita, and is one of my treasures. I was also able to purchase a bead by Ryo Ono on that lucky day.

Tonbo-dama translates to "dragonfly ball." It's thought that the name came about because when the molten glass is applied to the core bead it resembles a dragonfly's eye. The actual origin of the term is unverified.

Lampworking arrived in Japan during the Edo period, (1603-1848) when trade was started with Portugal and Spain. Beads have been made in Japan for about 400 years.

Early 'lamps' were charcoal burning furnaces shaped like a volcano, which concentrated the flame at the top. While American and European lampworkers use a flame they work behind, Japanese lampworkers still work over their flames. Modern torches are shaped like Bunson burners, and are designed especially for Japanese made glass.

...and since a picture is worth a thousand words, here is a video of a Japanese lampwork artist. Yep, it's in Japanese, but it's still fun to watch.

It's Tuesday and I Don't Have Much

This morning my computer screen is as daunting as an empty sheet of paper. I want to write. I know once I begin, I'll find something to write about, but the ideas... they're not coming.

*waiting*

Nope, still not there. Perhaps taking the easy route might be the best thing to do today. I'll post some pictures.

This is himself... Rick the Cat.  He was determined to help out as the Czech seed beads were being processed.  Since seed beads love to run away, his task was holding them down.  He did a great job!

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Last night I received an email from Claire Kimble, one of the instructors at the shop. She'd attached a couple of pictures. The piece above is a herringbone bracelet with a little moon face she purchased on one of her first visits to the new store.

Isn't it amazing? I love her color choices.

Thank you, Claire for letting me share your beautiful creation.  Oh, and by the way, Claire will be teaching this technique on Wednesday, October 27th.  There are still a couple of spaces available.

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One of my favorite time killers (besides playing Bejeweled on Facebook) is stumbling. The stumble button up on my toolbar can get quite a work out depending on how much I need to check out.

I found the picture above while stumbling one night, and had to save it. That's my kind of crustacean! I have no idea if the image was Photoshopped, or if there is a creature as colorful as the one pictured. I'm going to opt for the latter, as it makes my heart happy. Mother Nature has a spectacular sense of humor, and whimsy.

Hmmm, looking at that picture again, and then looking at what I'm wearing today, the crustacean and I have something in common... we haven't met a color we won't wear!

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Last night I felt like goofing around in Photoshop. I'd come across the quote I used, and was struck by how very true it is! I hear all the time "I'm just not creative." "I don't have a creative bone in my body."

We're all creative. Some of us just won't trust it's real.

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Looks like I did have a topic after all... Color and creativity... and it only took until 3:30 to realize it!

Bead Soup

Likely, most of you know what 'bead soup' is, but for those who don't here's a quick explanation.

Bead Soup is a mixture of small beads either in a single color way, for instance pale pink to dark red, or a collection of small beads in complimentary colors. Bead Soup is used for creating free form items. It's also a great way to occupy younger fingers that want to help. Just hand them the soup and ask them to sort.

I think that's how I got my start loving things small, and pierced. My grandmother would hand me a pill bottle full of seed beads. The beads she gave me had belonged to my great grandmother, and they were extremely soupy. She'd give me a place to work at the table while she and my mom created their latest craft.

I can remember sorting seed beads by the hour as they glued dried beans to a board cut out to resemble a rooster, or mix resin to make trivets (and everyone within a 20' radius high from the fumes). It delighted me to be able to sit at the table with them doing such an important task.

Every time a new craft would come out, I'd be offered a pill bottle of beads to sort. It wasn't until I was in my 30's that I realized just what a clever woman my grandmother was. The bottomless bowl of Bead Soup she gave me to sort were actually the same beads. She'd wait until I went to bed, or school, or outside to play, and she'd mix them together again.

I have those beads in my collection, and all the hanks of beads my great grandmother used in her business.

Yep, the bead business seems to run in the family, but that's a story for another day!

*bead soup image found here. Go check it out, it was a very lucky find!

Funday

...or day three of the NaBloPoMo challenge.

Is there really any day of the week that's nicer? No really, think about it. You've worked hard all week, you've gotten chores done, and errands taken care of, and now it's Sunday. I don't know about you, but this is the best day of the week for me. I kick back, relax, and find something fun to do... like write a post, and share some thoughts.

Yesterday, my dear friend Theresa spent the afternoon with me at the shop. Her husband, and son had surprised her (kinda) on her birthday by giving her an amazing ivory and black dragonfly lampwork bead by Kim Wertz. They thoughtfully included two accent beads.

Theresa came in for some "inspiration" as she put it. I was only too happy to play with her, and toss in my 2¢ now and then. She made an amazingly sweet and feminine necklace and a pair of wonderful earrings.

We agreed, the copper was just the ticket to bring out the warmer tones in the lampworked beads, and the little touches of ivory organza ribbon were like gossamer wings. She designed the necklace to be assymetrical, a touch that really added to the piece's charm.

While Theresa played, I sat at the table relabeling tubes of seed beads found in yet another box. My task went so much faster with a companion.

Today is turning into a lovely one. Jeff and I are going to take a drive into the mountains so I can take some pictures of autumn leaves. The leaves are changing here in the valley, so I'm sure the dogwoods and vine maples at a higher elevation are likely ablaze. My battery is charging, and I've rounded up all my cards.

So, what are you doing today?

Boxes

Despite my best efforts before opening, I'm still going through boxes, and boxes, and boxes, and... I'm sure you get the idea. There's a whole lotta stuff left to do, and put into the shop.

When I opened the box that contained the sterling charms I'd purchased several years ago, I was delighted. Immediately, I was off to find my tools, and grab some wire.

The earrings perfectly describe how much I love my kitty. Rikki has been my best cat friend for 12 years. He's full of personality, and is one of the bright spots in my day. I don't kiss him on the lips, despite what the charms say. He's far too successful a hunter for me to even think about it. Lizards, rats, birds, big bugs... ewsh... could explain the breath.

Anyway, he's a Tuxedo Cat, so the black and white paw print lampwork beads were perfect. I added 4mm Olivine Swarovski crystals because the color reminded me of his amazing eyes. Inverted sterling silver bead caps added a decorative touch, and stabilized the lampwork beads on the wire.

Then I had to make a pendant from the other two charms. I stacked one on top of the other.  The top one reads "Fly High!"  The bottom one says "The Sky is the Limit."  The way I've been feeling lately, I think it should say "the stars are the limit."

I tried wearing it on a neckwire, but it was a bit too much with the earrings, so it's now on the keyring for the register keys.  It won't always live there, but it seemed like a good place for it.

Taking the pictures was fun!  There are grapevines behind the classroom, and they're just loaded with grapes.  I got a nice picture, and I got to eat some yummy grapes.

Well, so much for playing with things I've found in boxes.  There are oodles of tubed seed beads to re-tag, but I can't help wondering what I'm going to find next.

Manifesting

Yesterday morning, I declared to whatever is out there listening, that I needed a quiet day because it was high time for me to get the last cabinet filled. There was also an order of findings that had floated around for a month that kept dribbling headpins all over the place.

I got what I asked for... a very quiet day. There were three sales, all of them occurred before 1:30. Not a huge day monetarily, but certainly a successful day of manifesting, and getting things done. It was so much fun (no, I'm not being sarcastic) that I worked until 9:30 just to finish as much as possible.

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Now that it's October, it really feels like autumn to me. This morning I had an email from NaBloPoMo. It's a social network on NING for people willing to blog every day for a month. I've taken the challenge a couple of times, and I've decided to take the challenge again this month.

Every month has a theme, and this month's theme appealed to me because it's pretty true to the way life has been going lately. The theme for October is "Play."

I hope you'll join me as I play my way through this month... it should be fun!

Ten-shoku

For the past few days I've been wandering the interwebz gathering information about Japanese lampwork beads. In my roaming, I came across a wonderful word... ten-shoku. It translates to "God-given job."

I think it eloquently touches on the joy I experience every day!

A Video

Using my rather shaky footage, and some very imaginative still shots, my nephew Adam created this video as a way to introduce the new shop. I've posted it on the Facebook page for the shop, and now it's here on the blog.

I think he did a terrific job! Hmmm, I wonder if he'd be willing to help me shoot some 'how to' videos.

Sometimes All You Have To Do

…is just do it!

Sounds like an advertisement, doesn’t it?  However, it’s true.  If you want something, all you have to do is go for it.

I did that recently.  Silly thing is, I didn’t realize at the time that I was going for it.  Hmmm, I should probably backtrack.

Until March, 2008 I had Dancing Beads in the Main Street Market in downtown Medford.  I’d been there for 13 years, and when I closed, I was tired…really tired.  It was time for a change, so I just did it.

My plans were to go to school and pursue computer science, and digital media.  Instead, I took a job.  In retrospect, I wish I’d gone to school.  I guess one could call it a case of not just doing it.

While working, and after leaving the job, I found myself missing my old life.  The things I thought I wouldn’t miss, I missed the most.  I worked from home designing and publishing websites, and I still missed my old life.

I also became quite undisciplined with my time.  I’d work for 20 minutes, then surf the interwebz for two or three hours.  Then I’d work for an hour, play with the cat for awhile, do laundry, and before I knew it… the day was gone.

In June I wondered if my lack of focus was because I was lonely.  I decided it was time to shake it up.  On Craigslist, I found an office space a few blocks from my house with affordable rent.  I was off and dreaming.

One Sunday morning, after walking to the coffee shop, my sweetie and I were heading home.  We happened to be passing the building with the office I was interested in renting, and noticed a car in the parking lot.  On a whim, I decided to try the front door.  It was unlocked, so I walked right in.

Jeff was behind me, telling me I shouldn’t be going into the building.  Imagine his dismay when I not only went into the building, but also tried the door to another suite that was available.

The Universe was guiding me that morning because the door was also unlocked.

I stepped into a softly lit room with magnificent wood floors, a fireplace, great french doors, and an amazing sun room.  While standing in the middle of the space, I opened my heart, and listened to the message that came pouring into the space I’d created.

“You’ve found your bead shop” was what I heard.  Until that moment, I hadn’t realized I’d been looking for it.

Three days later I had a lease.  Two months later, on August 17th, I quietly opened the doors to the new Dancing Beads.

Life came full circle this summer… and all it took was just doing it!