Bead Calculator

www.bead-bordello.com

 I have a finger in a few projects and rather than mix them with my Bead Line web site, I've corralled them over at the Bordello. There is where you will find the software and applications that I and my partner, Ken Campbell have been working on.

Android Bead Calculator

If you have an Android Phone or Tablet, you might like what we've just finished.  This little calculator lets you put in how long of a bead crocheted rope you want.  Then you tell it the bead size and how many-around.  It gives you back how many inches to string, how much thread you need and how many grams of beads to buy.   Handy to have if you're in a bead store, think you might like to make a rope out of a certain bead, and can get your bead need estimates right then and there.  Just remember that all beads are not created equal and this only gives you an estimate.

Sorry, it doesn't help clean up your work table, just does some math for you.  Ken is as messy a beader as I am and this is what his table looks like.  I still do my math the hard way as I've not succumbed to being a cell phone carrier yet.

Bragging Rights - Urban Stripes

Take a pattern set, or just one piece of a set and make it your own.  

Here are two examples of just what I'm talking about.

Beautiful Bead Crochet Ropes

My colorway for the bracelet

 Julie Beck, of California, took the Bracelet pattern from the Urban Stripes eBook (Section #4, page 6) and made it into a stunning necklace.  She used Permanent Galvanized 11/0 beads for a 58" endless necklace.  This metallic version deserves to be recognized as something very special.

Betty Brittenham, from Wisconsin... or Cold Door County, as she calls it, Sent me photos of her interpretation of the first Urban Stripes necklace. She says, "I did the background in a deep matte forrest green with shiny rust and matte vanilla as the first 3 colors.  I used spot colors of bronze, marbled light green and a tad bit of black."  She used some of my favorite colors in this example and it makes me want to do another necklace set in similar colors.  I'm so pleased to see pieces like this one with a color set that is personal to the maker.  I think you all will agree that this is an outstanding piece.

Beautiful Bead Crochet

I'm working on my taxes and am very grouchy.  Of course, I've procrastinated and done it to myself, so there are no excuses. But, I'm still quite grouchy anyway.

I have received two out of the four Native Stripes Necklaces that I will be using as color inspirations in the Gallery when I finish making the Native Stripes pattern set into an eBook.  I just had to share how different and beautiful they all are. This is so exciting that now I don't want to go back to doing bookkeeping for the IRS.

Bead Fest Santa Fe & Trip Report

 I made it to Bead Fest in Santa Fe, but got so excited that I forgot to take my camera with me.  It was so much fun to immerse myself in all of the glittery beads and visit with old and new beading friends.  After all of this time I finally got to put a face with the names of Mary Tafoya and Laura Zeiner.  It was fun meeting both of them and I'm sorry that there wasn't time to sit down, have a cup of coffee and swap beading stories.

I took a workshop, "out of the Box Resin", and was a bit disappointed.  Half of the teacher's supplies were lost in the mail and she couldn't go into resin molding.  Unfortunately, that was the only reason I signed up for the workshop.  I have a page of notes from her recommendations, but didn't get to have any hands-on working with the materials.

 I want just one sheet of this copper shipment for my front yard!  Driving to Santa Fe we passed several truck loads of copper ingots.  The flat sheets are neat, but the thicker ones with handles or ears on top are what I really want.





In the motel parking lot, we wondered why someone would put a stuffed toy out on the ground . . . . then it moved!  I have friends who might dye their hair this color, but have never seen a entirely pink dog.  Wondering if it's like the old nursery rhyme of the "Purple Cow"?












On a very narrow back street, very hard to find and get to, is this adobe house that dates to 1647.  It's billed as the oldest house in the USA and I'll have to check with an archaeologist friend.  I think there is a 1616 house on the grounds of Strawberry Bank Museum in Portsmouth NH.

 I love looking at doors in the southwest.  This was a particularly nice one in a fence.











I'd eat at this Deli in a heartbeat.... what a happy looking place.

One of these days, I'm going to have to collect photos of places that have unusual combinations of things for sale.







The trip home was a nightmare.  We ended up traveling south along the huge storm front. Visibility was almost nil from blowing sand and dust.  What should have been an 8 hr trip, lasted 24 hours when we hit Interstate closings from Las Cruces to Lordsburg NM.  Then it was off & on snow whiteouts the next day driving west.

Ouch, my Element looks like it now has a matte orange bead finish