Back to Work

I love the sunset display that goes on outside my Arizona studio window. Tonight's wasn't as spectacular as they can be, but nice enough.

I spent the weekend doing a New Year clean out. Now I have to make a run to the thrift store and drop the piles off. Makes me feel like it's a clean start to the new year.

My web site is back open for Book, DVD and CD sales. I found a few more copies of the out-of-print, "Bead Crochet Ropes" book. I have about 20 copies left and after those are gone it will only be available as an e-book. Amazon is sold out, but Rita Sova has half a dozen copies and Judy Kintner has a few copies.

Today I went back to work ... bead work. I am playing with this bead crochet rope design. I need to do an article for a German Magazine as well as the Bead Patterns magazine. The technique is new and different and by March I want to have enough done to do an e-booklet of patterns. It's got some awesome possibilities with the expanded design space.
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So I got some designs done & printed out. It will be fun to start pulling more beads for possible color combinations. I'm also thinking I may get some interesting effects by using daggers on one side and a smaller edge bead on the other side. I wonder how much of a difference in bead sizes it will take to make a natural curve.

I'm going to feel much better once my work table starts to have messy piles of beads on it. I really can't seem to function with a neat creative work space. Half the fun of any bead project is pulling beads and finding things that are possibilities. I seem to start out with at least three times the needed materials.

So, it's back to work .......

2009 had it's moments

There were happy days, filled with sunshine. There were sad days, cloudy and rainy/snowy. I bought a house, moved and didn't do as much beading as I would have liked. Overall, it was a decent year.

Happy New Year

may 2010 be a treasure chest

where your

life, endeavors, wishes, projects and time

are all positive.

What Creative Beaders Do

Getting together with Bev in New Orleans, or anywhere else, is just plain creative time and very good for the soul. At one point we were asked if our jaws were tired yet? We talked, yakked, and decided what we were going to try and do.

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Projects decided on and
...... of course we didn't have the beads or supplies we thought we needed.




Off to Michael's we went, looking for inexpensive, large hole beads for finger weaving on cord. Did I say inexpensive? Well, compared to Delicas or fancy crystals, they were cheap. Add the whole bunch up and .... ouch, did we really spend that much?




Next thing you do is drag out possible bead combinations, and more combinations. You spread things out and look at things again.

One of our male companions, in passing, was heard to mutter, "the bead room was cleaned up! This is the dining room as we ran out of flat, horizontal surfaces in the bead room. Somehow two beaders can make ten times the chaos of a lone beader.

I learned how to put a bevel around a Rivoli thinking to make a pair of earrings. It didn't come out quite right the first time, but waste not ...... it turned into a pendant with a bit of fringe embellishment to cover the goofed up portion. I can't stand to rip something out.

Bev learned the basics of finger weaving. She's not like me and has to rip things back out if she thinks it doesn't look right.

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Every beader has their own comfort level in how perfect they think things need to be.
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Inspiration can be everywhere. We saw a lot of possibilities as we played tourist in New Orleans.

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This beaded bangle, seen in a tourist store window has some possibilities. How about RAW woven bands of crystals interlaced?

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Or this parrot done in bead embroidery?

Now why does Blogger's Spell check keep telling me that "beader" is not a word? I know it is .... I am one, I was visiting one and what an excellent visit it was!

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Just 4 days left in 2009. This may be my last post of the year so, if I don't come back again until 2010 ......

have a joyously celebratory New Year's Eve and may 2010 treat you well.

NH to AZ via New Orleans

We left New Hampshire a week later than usual and what was planned. We moved, piled everything (boxes & furniture) into the middle of rooms, put the house into deep-freeze condition and hit the road West. We'd already had to shovel snow and it was cold and foggy. Planned side trips in Maryland and the Carolinas didn't get done as we stayed ahead of some nasty weather.

New Orleans was in the midst of a lot of rain (22" in 15 days!) when we arrived in the Big Easy. It was good to quit driving for a few days and visit with old friends. In between rain storms we did get to see some of the French Quarter and sample a Muffuletta for lunch. Yummy, very yummy.





I kept seeing "metal men" on the street corners and finally figured there was on each corner of Jackson Square . Here are two of them, silver and gold.







I stood way back and used my digital zoom after my friend told me about one of them chasing her down and being very angry for taking his photo. Until I was told, I thought they were statues.

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Jeanne d'Arc looks freshly gilded and very regal.
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Balconies, lushly planted balconies were everywhere I looked. In the French Quarter, I soon learned to look up.

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Looking up was what spotted this beautiful old iron lantern under one of the covered walkways. It got a giggle from me at the sight of the twisted florescent light bulb replacing the oil lantern innards. Modern meets antique & clashes??

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People watching can also be fun. I was glad I was not walking around in her shoes.

I did some beading with my friend Bev, No Easy Beads. Not as much as we would have liked, but a good exchange of creative ideas were rushing around. We ate, we talked, sampled typical local food, and just plain enjoyed the relaxed company of good friends.

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Leaving town pointed up just how much rain New Orleans received while we were there.

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Somewhere in West Texas there is an older motel on an old US Highway that was cheap and clean. I wish this relic of a steam shower hadn't been disabled years ago.

I guess you could say we traveled from snow to snow in 10 days ......

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This is what Tombstone looked like soon after our arrival.

So much for trying to wear flip-flops 365 days of the year!
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We've celebrated Christmas with family & friends and have almost settled into the winter quarters. I'm still trying to evict the Summer's crop of spiders and find places to put things. The beads are put away and I've been making lists of projects, ideas and things I want at Tucson's Gem shows.