Where the Cows Vacation

Down in southern Arizona, near the Mexican border I found the palatial resort where the cows go to vacation.


Driving down a dusty back road we rounded a large sized hill and saw this deserted hacienda in the middle of nowhere. It was in front of a limestone quarry/plant that didn't appear to be operational.


We had to stop as the scene was just surreal. Gorgeous architectural 30's estate with big palm trees, the remains of swimming pool, out buildings and what was left of another era's high style was now a cow pasture. We joked about finding a secret vacation spot for the cows. The gray bull just stood there and only turned his head as if to say, "what are you doing disturbing my peace?"
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To finish this little side trip......

I hope this man at Home Depot doesn't have any really huge building projects.

Dimensional Ropes - Book 3

I have finally come to the conclusion that the third bead crochet book will never see daylight as a glossy printed book. Ink and paper publishing has become prohibitive and I can't see charging over $30 for what is really a 20 page catalog. It's time to quit waiting for prices to come down and do something else with the information I have in my studio.


Now this old dog has to learn a few new tricks and start thinking about e-books. Designing with beads and thread is easier than designing with software and computers. I'm thinking through formats and what should work on screen and home printers. Is a Gallery important in an e-book or is it better to have more patterns? File sizes, photo resolutions, layouts, new graphing techniques and how fancy/interactive a pdf, are a few of the things running through my mind.

I have some different things going on with dimensional ropes that I think bead crocheters will find useful and different. I have a bunch of samples done up but need to do those creative pieces that use these sample techniques. These photos show some of what I will want to present to the bead crocheting public.


So, how does three e-books on dimensional ropes sound to you? Each would be around 10 to 12 individual pages with 8 - 10 patterns and 3 to 4 complete bracelet and/or necklace projects? One would be donuts and toggles, another square and triangular ropes and a third would be an expanded Caterpillar.

Huichol Beadwork

The Huichol people of central Mexico do some of the most fantastic bead and yarn work. What shows up in the galleries are their bead embedded gourds. These are gourds lined with beeswax that have individual beads set in intricate patterns.



This afternoon I had a rare opportunity to spend a small amount of time with a young man, Santos, in advance of the Tucson Gem shows. It was a chance meeting at a Tucson swap meet. He had some bead jewelery pieces with him that were delightful.

I bought this bracelet from him. He called it a corn and cactus flower design. In a way it reminded me of my Nopal freeform bracelet. The similarity being the cactus flower. He said that he, and a few of his friends, were adapting some of the traditional embroidery designs into bead woven pieces.

The other interesting tidbit was that he was using fireline in his work. I asked about that and he said that he saved some of his money to buy fireline and take home with him for bead weaving. He joked that it worked a lot better than cotton threads.

Bead Room Clean Out Sale

Kit Sale from now til 2/28/2010

I have bead crochet kits left over from workshops, shows and web sales that are just taking up studio space. These kits will make between a 9" and 9.5", 6-around rope and have everything you need except a crochet hook.

*big-eye needle
*10 yards of 100% polyester thread
*safety pin
*beads
*stringing table
They do not show you how to do bead crochet.

I'm going to start with a series of kits that I have using variegated thread. The thread makes nice bands of color underneath the clear beads. It's the one way you can get banded color rather than spiraling colors. These kits can be had in either 8/0 or 11/0 beads. Quantities are limited.

This is a BLOG Special of $9 a kit

USA Shipping will be a flat $5 for one(1) to five(5) kits. Shipping will be free for 6 or more kits. International Shipping will be $15 for any quantity of kits. PayPal is the payment I can take. It will accept credit cards or e-checks also.

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