Taking Time Out

I've been taking an unplanned hiatus from beadwork design these past few weeks, as recent family events have left me with little time or inclination to be very creative.  Many of you already know that I withdrew from this year's Battle of the Beadsmith just before the beading began on April 1, as I knew these situations would not permit my participation right now.  I'll be watching from the sidelines and ooh-ing and aah-ing at the incredible array of beauty that 192 beaders from all around the world have been working so hard these past few weeks to create.

Sometimes a little time out isn't a bad thing.  Though I hadn't intended to close the door on my studio for so many weeks, I know that focusing on my family right now is exactly what I want to be doing.  My beads will wait for me, and I'll be able to return to them with a renewed perspective when the time is right.

I hope to be back in my studio on a regular basis by midsummer.  I've got plans for a new CRAW-based, geometric cuff design, as well as a tutorial for the as-yet unfinished necklace I've pictured here.

It's also high on my list of priorities to bead the necklace I'd designed as my entry into the Battle of the Beadsmith.  It's a piece I've wanted for quite some years to make, intensely personal and deeply meaningful to me, so I hope I'll have that ready to display also a little later this summer. 

In the meantime, I think this would be a great moment to offer a springtime tutorial giveaway!  This will be a simple drawing for the winner's choice of any three tutorials from The Peregrine Beader on Etsy!

To enter, just leave me a comment here letting me know you'd like your name to go into the hat. BE SURE to include a contact email address in your comment, so I'll know how to notify you if you win.  I'll have my grandsons pull a name out at random and announce the winner on May 12, Mother's Day.  Good luck!

If you've ever found yourself temporarily unable to focus on your beadwork - or whatever creative endeavors matter to you - how do you use the time out?  I'm trying to let this hiatus be useful to me by creating some calm in the present and a renewed vigor to my work when I can once again take it up.

Happy Mother's Day and Happy Beading to you, always!

Who's the Boss?

Corduroy Bracelet

As a designer, I like to think that I'm in charge of the work I do. After all, I'm the one who tosses and turns on those restless nights when my Muse is running helter skelter through my brain, sowing her wild oats and leaving me to reap the harvest in the morning.
I'm the one who sits bent over the bead mat, paying less attention to ergonomics than I should, and getting tight shoulders for my trouble. And I'm the one who writes and revises, writes and revises when it's time to commit a beaded design to paper, so others can replicate what I've imagined. So I figure I can claim to be the boss, right?

This is all as it should be, and yet the truth is, more often than not, my beads are the boss of me!  No matter how hard I try to compel thread and beads to assume the shapes I've dreamed up for them, time and again, they insist on going somewhere else, and I have no choice but to follow blindly and trust they'll get me somewhere pleasant in the end.

This was certainly the case as I designed what I've called the "Corduroy" bracelet.  I had begun to tinker around with a single chain of RAW units, linked by strands of seed beads which would be joined with crystal bicones.  The "beta concept" featured picots and loops of lacy edging, was rather narrow, very dainty and feminine.  The earliest version that I created was exactly what I saw in my mind and I liked it quite well, but when I attempted to replicate the design using other beads, I ran into a problem.  No matter how hard I tried, the bead counts were never right with other than my original beads.  Size 11/0s were just too big, and size 15/0s were just too small, and since I'm traveling and had to stick with BOH (beads on hand) anyway,  there went my whole idea!

But then the beads began to boss me around.  They pointed out that instead of the lacy loops of netting, I could link two strands and come up with a more substantial, yet still dainty and delicate bracelet.  No picots needed, as it turned out.  My clever little beads even prompted me to make a beaded bead clasp, where I had originally planned on using a purchased loop and toggle.  Who knew beads could be so assertive?  Actually, I've known it all along.

I'll still play with the original idea, but I must admit I like where my beads led me this time, and I hope you do too.  A tutorial for the Corduroy bracelet is listed here.

Today through Monday, March 4, I'll be running a super coupon sale at The Peregrine Beader.
Use coupon code "Corduroy" to receive a 25% discount off your total order for tutorials.

When you bead, "Who's the Boss?"

Destashing, Anyone?

"Midnight Lace" Necklace

Do you remember the first beads you ever bought?  I do.  The year was 2007, and after watching my daughter Dulcy at work with those seductive, sparkly little segments of glass, I knew I needed to get some beads of my own.  I bought Delicas, having no idea what they were or how they differed from other beads.  I just thought they were pretty.  I bought some pearly off-white ones, some silver lined olives ones and some shimmery purple.

Never mind that I found myself at first entirely incapable of figuring out the pattern I'd bought them for, an exercise in flat odd-count peyote. I persevered there, too, mastered the stitch at last, and eventually finished the bracelet.  And I found I had beads left over.  Little did I know, but that was the beginning of My Stash.

And of course My Stash has grown; how about yours?  Bead-buying habits vary from beader to beader, and according to circumstances.  Sometimes I buy what I need for a particular project, but equally often, especially if I'm traveling and find a new bead shop along the way, I'll buy "just because."  I think that's a fine reason to buy beads:  Just because they're beautiful, Just because I've never seen the color anywhere before, Just because I might never be in this shop again, Just because.....

And then the next question of course is, How do you use up your stash?  If I want to make a new pattern or create a new design, I'll often turn to my tried-and-true palette of favorite shapes/colors/sizes and add to the mix with something bought just for that project.  Sometimes I'll buy everything for a new project, finding nothing on hand that will suit for that particular vision.  On rare occasions, I'll use only stash beads -BOH I call them, "Beads on Hand" - and have the satisfaction of creating something immediately with no shopping, no waiting for the mailman.

This latter was the case with my "Midnight Lace" necklace.  I've had the focal lampwork bead for ages, a beauty by a very talented lampwork artist, Jason Powers. 

I started with the focal bead.  Then searching through my BOH, I found an abundance of seed beads in caramel-colored matte permanent galvanized gold, plenty of size 15/0 black, and some 11/0s  in a lustrous raspberry rainbow shade to pick up the colors in the focal.  I had a few large Swarovski rounds in Jet, and when I threw in some of my all-time favorite 24K gold electroplate sized 15/0s, I had my palette.   I loved the netting-covered herringbone rope I created for the "Chenonceau" necklace from an earlier post, and I repeated that here, setting off the focal with the Jet rounds and some frilly seed bead ruffles.  It's a very simple piece, was quick and fun to bead, and by lightening My Stash, it gave me room for what else?  More beads!!

How does your stash grow?  How do you like to use your stash beads, organize them?  And finally - can we ever have TOO MANY BEADS?

The Power of Perseverance

Chenonceau necklace

I'm happy to say it works.  My mantra for 2013, my Word of the Year.  Yep, without it, I doubt I'd have finished up the necklace you see here.

You see, my Muse (aka that little voice that presents me with ideas and whispers words of encouragement into my ear) has been on vacation.  For a l-o-n-g time.  I was thinking "permanent vacation?" 

But then someone came up with this idea of a Word for the new year instead of a resolution.  I responded and wrote about that in my last post.  I was feeling very down at that point and wondering if it might be time to fold my tent and give up on this beading stuff.

But maybe it was the word I chose - "Persevere" - or maybe my errant Muse returned from la-la-land, I'll never be sure.  But bit by bit, and I do mean that very literally, I finished this necklace, my first piece of finished work in many weeks.  It felt wonderful to finish, but even better, it felt wonderful to work on something again!  I felt I'd gotten my mojo back, at last.

Since La Muse had been on vacation, I harked back to a vacation trip my family made to France in 1995, and you can read about that trip's inspiration for this necklace at the listing here.

Still on a bit of a roll and not wanting to lose momentum, I completed work today and listed the new "Chrysanthemum" necklace tutorial.  Not a beginner's project, the various elements are nevertheless not terribly difficult to construct, and lots of fun.  I can imagine this necklace in many different colorways:  pinks, peaches and bronzes (dahlia), whites, yellows, browns and greens (daisy), and rich reds and fuchsias (rose).  It's not a quick-to-bead project, but fun and satisfying to create.  The tutorial is well-illustrated and thoroughly written at 27 pages, including two basic tutorials in right angle and cubic right angle weave.

 

Chrysanthemum Necklace

So hopefully, perseverance will persevere.  What was that old phrase from the 70s?  "Keep on keeping on."  I shall!

A New Word for a New Year

It's that time of year again:  Time to make New Year's Resolutions.  Or not.  I usually prefer not.  I've made them and broken them again and again.  There's something about setting that bar up there and expecting myself to clear the hurdle that, instead of inspiring me, tends to set me up for failure.

Lately many of my Facebook friends have been talking about choosing a word for the New Year rather than making yet another resolution that may or may not carry through.

I like that idea.  Just a word.  A reminder.  Kind of like a mantra.  Nothing to chasten or mock, just something to speak to my better nature and call me back to the path I've chosen.

Anyway, I gave it some thought, and here's my 2013 Word:  "Persevere."

Not that even the strongest will can achieve every goal, in art or in life.  But at least for this year, I won't throw in the towel too soon.  I won't scrap an appealing concept because the elements are slow to come together.  I won't automatically chuck a troublesome bit into the UFO shoebox.  And if something doesn't get finished, it won't be because I didn't give it a second chance.  Or a third.

The above bits WILL become the third "In Knots" necklace.  And dare I call it, "Perseverance"?

"In Knots, Kilim"

It will be added to the series which includes "In Knots Kilim", featuring my original set of Kilim  Beaded Beads, and "In Knots Blue", which uses a set of large-core self-supporting beaded beads.

"In Knots, Blue"

I've had a more than a bit of trouble with my beadwork throughout this past Autumn season, and the reasons could be few or many.  The tide of ideas has been at a low ebb, and I've let life's many other priorities pull me here, there and anywhere but my studio. I've taken refuge in my knitting, and I've tuned out the few small mutterings of inspiration that have led me more often lately into frustration than into a sense of satisfaction.

But it's a new year, and a good time to remember that even much-loved work can't always be easy, and that what comes easy isn't always rewarding.   So this year, with a just a little will, and with my Word for a reminder,  I'll Persevere.

Do you have a 2013 Word?

Bead Shops I Have Known (and Loved!)

So where do you buy your beads?

 

I got started with beading about six years ago, in response to my youngest daughter’s interest in all things “beady”.  She was in college at the time, in Lakeland, Florida, and had discovered a marvelous bead shop, Peace Creek, where, among so many other things, there was a wall draped from ceiling to floor with shiny, sparkly strands of Swarovski crystal beads and components –the full spectrum of color and sizes.  She got hooked.  She started stringing and then progressed to learning stitches and following patterns.  I wanted to share in her interest and got hooked myself!

 

My first published design, beads purchased at Peace Creek

When I would drive over from our home in Tampa, Florida to visit her in Lakeland we would often go to Peace Creek, sometimes just to swoon over the Swaros, but I usually bought something.  I didn't know it at the time, but these purchases were the beginning of my bead stash, my hoard of beauty that gives me so much creative happiness nowadays.

 

Of course I discovered a bead shop near me in Tampa, too.  It was Beads!, originally located on Neptune St, which later moved to a more visible location on Dale Mabry Highway, with a new owner.  This marvelous shop had plenty of Swarovski bling, but they also had walls and walls of Delicas and seed beads so beautiful they set my head spinning.  I was such a novice, I didn’t understand the difference between cylinder and seed beads or which thread I should use for which project.  They had a fabulous collection of beading books and magazines.  I discovered Bead and Button and Beadwork, subscribed, and started building my own beading library with books that inspired me then and serve as valuable reference works to this day.

 

About that same time, my husband began traveling for his work, and I went with him.  In every new community we visited, I sought out the local beads shops.  In Inverness, Florida, I discovered Circle of Fire, a small but beautifully stocked bead shop in a really out-of-the-way community.  I purchased seed beads in sizes and colors new to me and during one of those work weeks, I made my first Cellini spiral necklace.  I’d been wanting to try the stitch for awhile and finally jumped in, all due to finding a beautiful assortment of “must have” seeds at Circle of Fire bead shop one chilly January afternoon.

 

In 2007,  we moved to Houston, Texas, and my mainstay bead shops there were Nova Beads on 6^th Street, and Elegant Notions on 19^th, both in the Heights district, where we lived.  Once again I met knowledgeable bead shop owners who stocked high-quality materials.  The opportunity to see – and feel – beads in my hand made decision-making easier, no worries about a computer monitor misrepresenting a true color when I needed a specific choice for a project.

 

Flying Carpet Cuff in Ruby, Delicas purchased at Beadazzled

My beading daughter spent several months living in Baltimore, Maryland as she completed her education.  There I discovered “Beadazzled” right in downtown Baltimore – and it was beadazzling, indeed! I designed my Flying Carpet cuff bracelet during one of my trips to visit her there, and walked over from her apartment to the bead shop several times as I worked out colorway choices and completed the beading.

 

 

Now we live in Western Massachusetts, and I’ve been wowed once again, this time by “Northampton Beadery”.  A true beader’s paradise with seeds in every size and color, crystal, lampwork, Czech glass, you name it, as well as every tool and all the supplies a beader could dream of having.  All this plus friendly, knowledgeable shop owners and class offerings to interest every level of skill. 

 

So – where am I going with all this litany of bead shops I have known and loved?  I’m making a plea on behalf of local bead shops everywhere:  Please visit and patronize these marvelous places of resource.  They’re invaluable to us as beaders; they are hubs of community, where like-minded artisans can meet and share; they allow us to see, and to touch, the materials with which we work.  Yes, they can be more expensive, per tube of beads, or per crystal, and of course we’ll all continue to avail ourselves of mail-order sources for dozens of reasons.  But only through these local bead shops can we easily get answers to questions, be sure those beautiful seed beads are just the right color, or be inspired by a single exquisite lampwork bead, glimpsed in a counter display.

 

Because here’s the main thing:   If we don’t patronize these wonderful places they will close their doors.  Of the shops I mentioned above, at least one is no longer in business, and another has closed its physical store and sells only online today.  The loss of local bead shops to beaders everywhere is something that we may not truly miss until they’re gone. So let’s not let that happen – support your local bead shop, today and often!

Time vs Things

Will it ever end?  This is the question I've been asking myself the past few weeks.  The "it" in question is the ultimate downsizing of  forty years of accumulated trash and treasure as we settle into what is, I hope, our last and forever home.  It's been hard, and it hasn't been pretty. 

The backstory:  Six years ago we sold our home, put all our worldly belongings in storage and moved aboard a sailboat.  While we haven't spent every minute of those intervening years sailing, and ultimately divided our time between our floating home and a tiny apartment, this year it was finally time to move back permanently to a land base and deal with everything we'd left behind. 

To say it has been wrenching would be a terrible understatement.  Packing up our household so many years ago was undertaken in a spirit of adventure and excitement about what lay ahead, leavened with some sorrow at saying goodbye for awhile to a lifestyle we enjoyed and many Things we loved.  But we comforted ourselves with the knowledge that it was all still there, and we could reconnect with everything again sometime in the future.

What I didn't understand then was how our connection to so many Things would be severed by those intervening years.  While many belongings are still prized and very important - family photographs, keepsakes of our children's struggles and successes as they made their way to adulthood, souvenirs of meaningful journeys, gifts we're given each other - a lot of it has ceased to matter.

With a smaller house and fewer spaces to fill, much of what we had thought of as indispensable we now see more as clutter taking up our time to maintain.  An elaborate set of dinner dishes with numerous serving pieces seems like a relic from the Jurassic period. Books, books and more books seem like so much excess baggage now that we have e-readers to curl up with in the evenings.  Life is progress; it's change, and we must change, too. 

So our task with all of these boxes has become a matter of keeping the best and letting go of the rest.  It's a lifetime we're confronting, and not merely the years and the objects, but ourselves and our feelings about how we want to live our lives going forward. 

As we pull our new home together, we realize that one of the things we prize most nowadays is Time.  Time to spend doing the things we love and being with the people we love.  Having at last a smaller space to inhabit and fewer Things to care for will give us more of that priceless gift. 

The boxes are emptying fast now, the closets will soon be tidy.  In another week or two my beads and yarn will be organized in my first real "studio" space.  My husband is eager to sort through hundreds of family photos and organize them into albums for our kids.  We're both starting to daydream about projects again, instead of having waking nightmares about bulging boxes and a cluttered basement. 

So, of course, it will end - and soon.  And then we can get on with our life. And I believe we're finally beginning to grasp the relationship between Time and Things and putting both of these into their proper places at last.