July 24, 2008

Picasa Scans - Copyright Violations

Mary Tafoya has again voiced comments and pointed out more instances of Picasa copyright violations. She has a poll that you should take the time to go take. It won't do anything, but made me feel better.

I did a search and came up with 5 instances of my books being scanned into various public albums. It takes a lot of time to report copyright violations to Picasa as you have to document, in writing, each and every page. So, five instances times 20 pages = 100 documents. When I first ran across this I took the time to do just that. One album was removed..... one out of 8 instances at that time. I wish I had the time to continue reporting copyright violations, but I'd rather be beading. It is like rowing against the current as more pop up as soon as a few come down. I do take the time to make a comment (if activated) and report it as inappropriate content.

One nice surprise was finding Andrea's album of beadwork and my name as credit for patterns. She does very nice work.

nuff said!

July 10, 2008

DONE

The second rope is finally done and both are looped together, ready to wear tonight. I just love the supple, pile feel of more than one rope together.

July 8, 2008

Almost Done - For Me!

In between other projects, I've been working on this rope for myself. I have a set of white and black ropes that are my personal dress up and travel necklaces. However, truth be told, my wardrobe leans more to sage, dusty pinks, lime and hot pinks. So I need another set of grab ' go ropes for myself. I think this one will do nicely, especially paired with one that is predominately the pink you see above. Now I need to finish the last inch and join the ends. I'd better hurry as I will need them later this week.
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Understanding Bead Crochet:
I have the facility of being able to see a design from the flat graph paper. However lately I've been trying to explain the mechanics of it to my programmer/friend as we explore the next possibilities in bead crochet software. Thus, I went to bed with a headache last night. It would be much, much easier if he would learn to bead crochet!
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You read a graph from the bottom up, left to right. The worst of it is that you string up the graph and crochet down the graph. Remember: "the last bead strung is the first bead crocheted". This is especially important when you want to add on to your rope and match a design. You need to think backwards, and string your beads that way.
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I never thought I'd revert back to crocheting white beads and marking them with a Sharpie. It was the only way I could think of to show just where each bead from the graph was on a rope. And I learned something ..... it doesn't make a lick of difference if you start stringing with bead 1 or bead 36, the pattern comes out the same. Duh, I should have known that as I did know that you needed a reverse stringing table to be able to add onto a rope and match up a pattern! Try teaching something to someone else and see what you manage to learn yourself.
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I did get a chuckle explaining that you can add on to only one end of a rope. Because of the way the loops are formed, the other end is sort of sealed. Light went on and I brought up a dog food bag, or birdseed bag.... pull the string loops one way and the thread just zips off; pull the other end of the string and you have the tightest, non-moving, knotted piece of string.
All of this mental exercise is because we want to be able to have a software package that can go get design elements and put them together to make larger pattern pieces. To do that, you have to really understand the mechanics of the craft at a deeper level. Almost more than I ever wanted to know!

July 5, 2008

Bead Crochet End Caps


I happened to be in Lowe's with a guy and while he was looking at stuff, I was opening drawers in the hardware aisle. I came across these soft plastic screw protectors and had to try them with my bead crochet ropes. Now, I'm not too excited by the colors, but I'm told that there are other colors out there. Gals, go bug your local Home Depot, Lowe's or hardware store and see what you can find!
The green ones I tried fit 3/8" screws and work perfectly over a 6-around rope done with 8/0's. I had to make a hole in the end for the thread to exit the top. I can see these with an attached wrapped loop for a clasp. Nice, soft feeling, non-allergenic......
The yellow ones that fit 5/16" screws would work well on smaller ropes with smaller beads. My only complaint is that they were packed 3 to a bag, but at under $1 a bag, buying two bags for 3 pair isn't too shabby.
Suprise the man in your life and ask to make a visit to a hardware store with him..... Then go look in all those hardware drawers - you never know what neat beading things you'll find.