Honored

Ok...I have to say it....I am so freakin honored to have Marcia DeCoster following my blog. For anyone who does not know, Marcia is one of THE greats in bead weaving...one of my heroes, someone who sets the bar I'm working towards. My Eye of the Tiger piece was inspired by all the golden tones Marcia uses in her designs.....my attempt at beaded opulence.
"Beaded Opulence" is the title of her fabulous book, full of her stunning work. I confess I don't own it...I sneak peeks at it in stores. Marcia also has amazing bead kits available at her Mad Designs web store http://www.marciadecoster.com

Why don't I own this great book? As I've said before I tend to be a sponge and it's really easy for me to not only soak up someone else's style but even create the same exact thing without meaning to...my subconcious can be a copycat so I have to keep a check on it and not give it fodder. It sucks really, because I'd love to own this one so I could drool at the pretty pictures.

Ethics....what ya gonna do?

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.....

Well....actually these are maco tubes...a tiny version of a bugle bead. Bugle beads are taking center stage on my bead bench right now. I'm taking a break from working on my book to make something special to wear for the up coming photoshoot. This is part of a collar I'm making and it involves a lot of bugle netting.

I have two pieces for the book completed, so the sample chapter is coming along nicely. It was interesting that Jeni over at BD was trying to find out who made the pyramid bracelet work by Little Boots on her "Remedy" video as I have a lot of little pyramids around me. Don't have anything like the one Jeni is looking for.....but, it did give me some more ideas for what to do with pyramids.

My vent of the day (and it's a quiet, kinda bored vent) is about people who apologise replete with smileys and winks and still come across as insulting. Do they think they are fooling anyone?

Cock-sure?

I don't know if that's a term known here in the States but in England it means someone sure of themselves almost to the point of conceited.


As I was making my morning latte and reflecting on the response to the first showing of my Petit Paquets piece last night that was the word that came to mind. As in "feeling a little cock-sure are we?" It's funny really because it's like a 180 from the truth. I am chock full of self doubt and it's the self doubt that whispers those things in my ear whenever I get a feeling of being on the right track.


So maybe it's a good thing? A signal that I am on the right track? Gee, I sure hope so because this book idea is not turning out the way I had planned...lol! I had imagined my first book would be about beaded flowers or Gothic inspired beadwork but it seems Morganna has a different take on it and she wants to see shape and form. She's certainly got me excited and I can't wait to see what she's got cooking for the other chapters. There are six chapters to the book each deal with a different sculptural form and a few projects with that form. Now....I know what the chapters are going to be ~ Petit Paquets, Urchin Spines, Corkscrews, Cathedral Windows, Pyramids and Octapussies but how these all will take shape is ...your guess is as good as mine. I have vague pictures in my mind, I can almost see the pieces but it's not till I actually start beading that they come together.


So, though I am definitely not cock-sure, I think Morganna is. Let's hope she's right.


Doing the blog rounds this morning I was catching up on Rachel's blog http://rachelnelsonsmith.blogspot.com/ and discovered she's working on a new book (I've mentioned her hot new book "Seed Bead Fusion a few times). She's writing the proposal and says she has some of the pieces done for it. That's cool....and I feel kinda connected to know that she's going through the same process I am. Of course the difference is she has publishers who are dying to have her do a new book and no publisher's know I exist. Well, that's not strictly true.....the people over at Interweave Press do know my name and have published some of my work so maybe I have a pinky toe in the door. (Boy that would hurt!)

I'm dreaming big....I'd like to be in that upper echelon of beaders who get to do all the wonderful teaching gigs....cruises, retreats, etc. A gal has to have a dream.

"The Cheap Designer"

That's what I'm thinking of calling myself after checking out a website today.

After following a link from BD about mathematical beads I landed on a very pretty site (http://www.beadinfinitum.com/) with some gorgeous designs. The beads were mathematically based (IMHO all beads are), I saw something very similar to the one I taught last week and will be reviewing tonight but Oh My! the prices!

I'm sure they make sales because some kits were sold out but who are these buyers? And can I get an introduction? With patterns for a bead starting at $18 and going up to $68 (yes, for just the pattern!) and kits for more than that....one kit for ONE bead is $98! Am I just cheap? Under charging for my patterns and kits? Or do others feel these prices are kinda steep too?

Now I do get that they are putting lots of pictures into their instructions and if they have to pay a photographer and a graphic artist on top of printing costs (though if the patterns are downloadable this is mute) that they would have to charge a fair amount for their patterns but it still seems awfully high. As a former graphic designer I do everything for my patterns and kits.....the photos, the illustrations, the typographic design and at the moment I even print them. This enables me to keep my prices down.

Their beads are very pretty and their fringe technique is excellent, especially for beginners...they have a free pattern for this technique. If you have the money to buy their patterns or kits then you'll be delighted with the site, me? I'm just glad I can design anything I want to make.

My lesson learned today is that I'm not going to underprice my new designs and I need to do some more research on what other designers are charging.

Well...it is almost Halloween.

So....I'm working on my Petit Paquet piece and I have an off-the-wall idea for it. BUT...could I find the right beads? I guess so because I just bought these two crazies from www.GlasstasticTreasures.Artfire.com I really like what I've seen of Jamie's work and anyone who loves Halloween that much is cool by me.

I can't wait to get the beads to see if what I have in mind will actually work, if it does Jamie will see a lot more of me!

I'm almost finished with the first Petit Paquet bracelet. I thought I would get bored with the repitition but not at all, in fact, I think this is a really fun one to make. It has a great drape, it's like it hugs your wrist all on it's own. And, I have to say I cannot stop coming up with alternate versions of it which usually is a sign of a good design.

I did some work on my catalogue of kits but it's not going to be ready this week, mainly because I decided I want to rework the samples in different beads. I had done the samples of my 'Learn-A-Stitch' kits in spring/summer colors because that's what they needed to be at the time I submitted them to the craft store. Plus, I had used less expensive beads as the idea was for me to sell them to the store at wholesale prices, but if I'm selling them directly I want the kits to have top of the line beads in them and that means Swarovski which puts them out of range for doing wholesale and still having them at a marketable price.

Update on 'Twin Roses'.
The only color that has been mentioned twice for my second version is 'purples', so it's in the lead right now. I will do a coral/celery version though....as that just shouts "spring" to me.

Sneak Peek!

Beadwork magazine's "The Challenge" challenged me recently and as the magazine should hit the newstands any day now I'm giving everyone a sneak peek at what I came up with.
"Twin Roses" is my answer to The Challenge. For anyone not familiar with the Challenge, Beadwork magazine sends the same pack of beads to three designers and a reader chosen at random. I was honored to be selected as a designer and loved being challenged with beading components I wouldn't normally use. The heavy Lucite flowers are not something I would have thought of including but I love how this turned out. I just submitted "Twin Roses" as a project for Beadwork magazine and if they accept it I'll be making it up in another colorway to send in with the instructions. I'd love to hear what colorway people would like to see so if you have a preference please let me know by leaving a comment.

My next submission is my Swarovski tile bracelet which I'm planning on submitting to Bead & Button.

A Fresh Week

Yep, time to peel the wrapper off a brand new week.

I got back to some designing over the weekend, another new main design. Not the one seen in the photo...that's a freeform lariat I'm working on...it's a long one, 50"+ when it's done so I keep taking breaks from it.
I really wanted to do something very new and different for me so I started working with right angle bases, done with seed beads 4 x 2 and 4 x 3 bead squares. my first play with it turned out like Rachel Nelson-Smith's Ootheca cuff...well, we couldn't have that...I'm no plagerist. It was interesting though because I haven't seen the pattern for the Ootheca cuff but now I know how she came up with it...what I came up with wasn't exactly the same more of an "Ootheca Lite" version. Of course I scrapped it, lol! I kindly requested Rachel step out of my mind and I started over.

I picked up Vogue over the weekend and I turned to that for inspiration...what came out was (insert drumroll).... pyramids! Liked that...haven't seen anything like it...this is good. Then the pyramids turned into "Petits Paquets" (small packages), for some reason the name popped up in French (gee...all those years of school French and look what I do with it). I'm not going to go into this too much because I don't want to give it away...lol. After stumbling into Rachel's design I see how easy it can be to not be original. Anyway, the Petit Paquets have my mind a-popping.

I have the idea to come up with six to ten original design bases and then explore different things to do with them....sounds like a book, huh? That's what I'm thinking. I'm totally inspired by Ms. Nelson-Smith's book that is doing so well and Ms. Lisa over at A Bead A Day whose first book is already available for pre-order on Amazon...WTG Ladies! Lisa is being awesome as usual and encouraging me to write my own. It's in my plan and has been for a while....an outline for a book proposal has center stage on my magnet board. Problem is I actually have ideas for at least three books and I have to decide and focus...but.....maybe I'm getting there. Shape and form seems to be a theme I'm working with...that's what the original stuff I'm coming up with is telling me anyhoo.

My goals for this week are a teaching catalogue of my kits...so people can choose what they want to learn and book me accordingly. I want to really offer a service with the kits too, so I'm going to include a color chart so an overall color can be chosen too. The kits are a bit more expensive this way because it means not ordering in bulk but thankfully http://www.artbeads.com/ allow me to order exactly what I want without minimums or shipping.....don't you just love them?
Ok...the second goal is to put together a project submission for one of the beading magazines.
The third is to head down to Mesquite to set up some classes (catalogues in hand) and join the Virgin Valley Arts Association and see if I can get some things in their gallery.

My evenings need to be filled with beading because I'm excited to work on the new designs and see where they can go. To be honest my head is spilling out ideas as I type. It's so exciting to come up with something new...my muse Morganna is definitely on a roll. It would be nice to start actually getting things down on paper for the book proposal too.....damn...this would be a productive week if I managed to get that far.