Nuno felting at Bead Browsery in Liberty MO

Http://www.BeadBrowsery.com is a gorgeous beadstore housed within the Corbin Mill in Liberty MO. Within this same beautiful brick building is a knitting/needle art shop, an antique store, a dance studio and a rug hooker's paradise called "American! Whatever", that stocks hundreds of hand-dyed and over-dyed woolen fabrics and 100's of patterns for hookers. Polymer clay artist and teacher Kristi Friesen, who you may know from our bead community, has even designed some of these. The brick and interior walls are decorated with over 150 of owner Sandy William's hooked rugs.
It was my pure delight to spend 3 days doing workshops here. day one...Nuno Felted Neckwear. Paula is seen modeling Kay's piece. She used her felted chenille wire to produce a bezeled "keyhole", through which the silk end of the scarf could be pulled. Lovely. Sandy ( yes, the rug hooker and shop owner above) hand-dyes silk scarves that are always available but were most appreciated for this workshop. Michele is seen here wearing a green one that she felted her skewer-technique motifs into. Dana brought a very large white silk scarf with her. Through tenacity and focused concentration, she was able to complete the equivalent of two scaves-worth of felting within our workshop. She is seen wearing this here.

Last weekend at Bead Gallery Inc in Melrose, MA

Spring is here and, as my buds and branches in the garden begin to bloom, so does my teaching schedule. Last week we beaded for 3 days at Bead Gallery Inc (no felting on this trip). Ruth, a "regular" at our twice-a-year-workshops, where I ALWAYS premier at least one fresh new design, (this time 3!) was a real trooper, taking all 5 workshops! Her Dragon Bracelet is embellished with powder blue pearls which not only enhance the frosty beads but, also customized the fit. Patty, another "regular", who admits to being there as much for the camaraderie as the beading FINISHED her gold and blue Dragon Bracelet. Other Bead Gallery beaders I long to see when there were kept away by surgery or work gigs or, dare I guess, a better offer? We keep in touch on Facebook, meanwhile.
Speaking of Facebook...did you check out our page, Facebook.com/TulipBeadingNeedles? Come share the love for Tulip; love of beading; love of our community; ya know, alllll the love!!! Please post your love letters here; pictures of your work, your bead group, your inspirations. Don't forget to "like" us and send a SASE to receive your Tulip cellulose head pin.
Right now...I'm in BWI waiting to board the second leg of my flight to Liberty MO for a long weekend of beading and felting workshops at Bead Browsery. Hope to share some of that fun in a post tomorrow or Saturday. Until then, happy beading. Love, Carol

Facebook.com/TulipBeadingNeedles ... First week

Last weekend I devoted to creating a Facebook page for Tulip Beading Needles . There is much more to it than I'd realized and I am actually grateful for that. Sure, it took and is taking more time than I'd imagined but, it can be a source of much more information than I'd expected.
This week I've never enjoyed Facebook more. Reading the hundreds of posts from hundreds of friends having big bead adventures in Tucson , has allowed me to enjoy it vicariously.
And also this week is the maiden voyage of the Tul page. it is fun to watch the number of "likes" climb. a couple times a day I look to see if there are comments to reply to. Twice this week I noticed in other beaders' photos, Tulip Beading Needles or Tulip Bead Crochet Hooks.
Tulip assisted me with this logo for TulipBeadingNeedles.com and also some great product pictures. As soon as Hyomin has asked each member of Tulip staff, 84 in total, of which 44 are women:), if I may post their pictures on Facebook, I'll share my tour of the Tulip facilities in Hiroshima and our evening outings and subsequent exhibit in Tokyo at the Great International Quilt Show. Some of the photos had to be deleted because they caught too much proprietary info about manufacturing but there are still plenty to share. It's the people that mean the most to us though anyway.
Friend Jane-Michael Stallings made a video using Tulip loom needles with the bead spinner. It is posted on the timeline, because she was kind enough to advise me on how to do that. Now, I have to learn how to post on Fb each time there is a new blog posting, how to post a PDF to the blog or websites Carolcypher.com and/or TulipBeadingNeedles.com (to share recipes of beadwork). Small world...Jane-Michael (also has her own Fb page Unique Beadwork by Jane Michael) works at Lapis Lane Beads , a beadstore in Austin Texas, and one of my customers carrying Tulip Beading Needles.
See you on Fb?
Please don't forget to "like" Tulip Beading Needles.

ooh boy...Two New Classes for Bead & Button Show in June

Some of you know I'm a night owl. Been that way since I was old enough to read under the sheets with a flashlight. Oh, and some of you know how darned excited I can get about flashlights. Well, when I equip my Craft Optic eyewear with the optional (you're kidding, right? an option? this is the sexiest, most powerful, and nearly weightless little light you can put between your eyes!) Dream Beam, (Yup, that's what Craft Optics calls it.) I'm good for hours of nocturnal beading bliss.
Anyway, one night recently, while beading my heart out into the wee hours, the "magic started to happen" while making The Dragon Bracelet. That is, its shape took form as I'd hoped AND it was stable and firm and structurally sound. Not some accident of the way it was held. It was positively thrilling.
Dragon Bracelet will preview, as many of my projects do, at Bead Gallery in Melrose Ma. on Sunday April 14 from 10a-1p. (The afternoon previews another new bracelet called Regal Rondels.) Or join me at the Bead & Button Show Wednesday June 5th. (the screen shot of the B&B website is shown)
Playing with new bezel designs and unusual items to bezel, all the while immersed in peanut beads as I am this past year, led to the focal element of a new necklace called Reflections of Shakti. The exotic waves and curves of this piece explores and builds on a technique from Dragon Bracelet. A bonus with this project is Radiance Earrings, made by repeating one component of the focal element. The preview is at Bead Gallery on April 13th or register for the Friday June 7th class at the Bead & Button Show .
Allow me to return to how empowering it is for a beader to enjoy the bionic vision and perfect light of Craft Optics eyewear. You've read many posts here about some new lamp I saw or new "cheaters" with led lights. They pale by comparison. Let me tell you how liberating it is to not have to drag a task lamp around. And when I am teaching, I'm able to walk around the room, and at every given moment have perfect light and excellent vision, both when looking outward at the class and when examining a student's beadwork up-close. If you carry an iphone or iPod touch, there is an app that provides magnification AND a flashlight. Excellent for reading the menu, removing someones splinter. Admittedly, no help for beading but, pretty useful. It is "Over 40" in the App Store.
And while we're enjoying a tech moment, download App Gratis. They've made deals with app developers to offer each day one free app that would otherwise cost ya. The app changes daily and is only arranged to be free for that one day, then on to the next. Worth a look.

Bead & Button Show registrations are pouring in.

Opening day of registrations for the Bead & Button Show is always thrilling. Teachers are sent an access code so we can see the numbers climb on our registrations.
This year I'm teaching 11 classes, as I've mentioned, and it is always a mystery how those 11 were selected from the 20-something I submitted. The greater mystery up until today is, which classes will be the most popular.
Going into this I expected B130475 Chameleon Necklace to be one of the hot sellers. It works up fairly quickly, offers both a technique and a finished necklace which is quite versatile. The bead choice here just happens to look great on just about any color blouse, sweater or dress. In an earlier post I showed it on turquoise, purple, fuchsia, mint green and yellow and it looked great with each...hence the name chameleon.
Sunday, when I met up with Claudia Waite (while she is in Manhattan performing at the Metropolitan Opera House) and Genevieve Martineau of Bead Gallery (a Melrose Massachusettes beading destination where I teach twice a year...3 day weekends in Spring and Fall), Claudia mentioned she'd already beaded a few Chameleons since I taught it at the Bead Gallery in October. A couple hours into registration and I see about a quarter of my seats are sold and, though its doing well with registrations Chameleon isn't one of the top 3. Go figure. Claudia and Genevieve remarked to me that the photo just doesn't do it justice. (No photos ever do, most Beaders will tell you.)
Well...I'm struggling not to fixate on the B&B website, so I will go jump on the elliptical. Maybe I can avoid checking it again until bedtime.
Here's a pic of Claudia beneath a billboard featuring her on the far right (in the scene, not politically ;)

This weekend Beaders the world over, are strategizing for the 8th...

Beaders are browsing the classes on line and/or studying the pages of their Bead & Button Show catalog so they can be ready for the opening of registration on the 8th.
If you click here , and type my name in the instructor box, you can see my 11 class schedule.
Mind you, the big rush for registrations is right on the 8th. Some classes only accommodate 12-16 students so, Beaders sit poised to hit the keyboard right at noon (I think), so they don't get shut out of their top picks. A short time later, Bead and Button Show management looks at the numbers. If there are no or very few registrations for one class and yet another class by that instructor filled right up, they sometimes juggle things around, replacing the lesser class with a repeat session of the popular class. In past years I've heard Beaders lament that they noticed there were a ton of cancelled classes, when in fact, the content was simply swapped out. This year I think there are well over 800 offerings! Sooooo many choices.
At some point teachers are provided access to their registration numbers for their classes. Until then, I confess, I am on tenterhooks.

Oops...here are the two missing pics from previous post

A pair of bracelets I've named Sparkling Shoko, in honor of Shoko Akiyama, a friend and confidant who has translated/interpreted for me when I have exhibited with Tulip Co at the International Great Quilt Show in Tokyo. Last year she and Masami Oda learned one of my bracelet designs so they could in turn share this with the dozens of Tulip staff that wished to make bracelets too.
Turns out that one Wednesday a month staff from the Tulip Co factory meet for crafting together. I have promised to send Shoko beads and a recipe to share another new project with Tulip co-workers who attend the craft Wednesdays.
Later this month Tulip Co. will again exhibit at the Tokyo International Great Quilt Show. Several weeks ago when they invited me to join them once again, circumstances dictated that I would be unable to attend. I will be there with them in spirit.
The other picture is a modular piece that features the beaded beads I'll be teaching: a firm yet unstuffed type of pillow and the one I call trillium (though i SHOULD call them potato chip because you can't make just one!). I've just completed a new necklace featuring this pair of beaded beads...hmm, can I add a pic here? Lets see.