To my surprise, when I asked Linsey what she's beaded lately, she produced from her bead box one of my very own designs! This happened last Thursday evening at my class in Tivoli at Beadzo. I asked how she came to make it, knowing this was her first class with me. Turns out, her grandmother's friend taught her grandmother, and then her grandmother taught Linsey. Wondering how it started. Was it from a kit purchased from my website? Or, had Linsey's grandmother's friend taken one of my workshops where I share these beaded bezels: Ostara's Emerging Blossoms, A Bevy of Bezels, Rivoli and Pearl Charm Earrings, Raku and Rivoli Bracelet or the Stick Pearl Petal Slide Lariat? Interesting. Hey, if you would like to whip up one of these beauties, each kit is only $15. They can be purchased off the website using paypal or, since last month, I can now accept credit cards over the phone or in person.

Sure hope you can make this out. It is a most amazing knotted cedar that Jim Clark has made into a table. You may recall me raving about his incredible cedar furniture in an earlier post? After years of admiring his work at the Mohonk Mountain House barn museum, where he is curator, I finally bought a piece a couple years ago. It is the bench in the heart of my studio. It is where I sit every day to bead for hours at a clip. You might be able to see part of it in the video R.A.W. lesson on YouTube.

He designed a symmetrical glass top with an irregularly shaped and precise cutout that allow the cedar to protrude through the glass. It is a striking piece.

It was a slow afternoon in the Barn Museum last Tuesday when I was there. On the 24th I return to do my final craft demonstration of the season. I'll likely work on felt components for the collaborative piece I am doing with Carolyn Baum's wired glass components. In a perfect world, I'd have finished something for Carolyn to show at the International Society of Glass Beadmakers' Gathering in Rochester. Oh well.

Speaking of Rochester, NY, Marilynne from Studio 34 Creative Arts Center, herself freshly returned from the ISBG Gathering, has finally set our date for my workshops there for the 3rd weekend in November. We'll keep you posted on content as soon as it is decided.

Sorry I haven't been posting. Last week I shipped off 21 proposals for next June's Bead & Button Show. Yup, 21. It is always fascinating to see which projects they select for me to teach there.
Then, as soon as they were signed, sealed and en route for delivery, I began my project for Tulip Co. They'd asked me to advise on their English translation of their delightful booklet of recipes and accompanying kits. So, today I was able to put the finishing touch and send that off.

Next in the pipeline: to finish the samples for the new workshops I have designed especially for Germany in March and Jelly Beads of Mogo in Australia in April.

Janet is the first to make my limited edition kitted design that marries bead crochet with the textured and fun bezels for Swarovski rivolis (available as kits) with a stick pearl-petal slide using right angle weave and peyote.

Wish me luck in finding more stick pearls in that amazing green color. I've prepared a couple kits with other pinky-peachy pearls but, that color green really moves me.

So in the throws of final preparations for the 8 classes I will teach at the Bead & Button Show starting Sunday, and the kits I will offer at the Meet the Teacher event for those who could not get into the classes, don't you just know that technical issues erupt. Yipes. Yes, after making an instructional video for the Felted Bangle Bracelet with Beaded Bead kit, I just couldn't figure out burning it onto a dvd. There were two 3 hour sessions with Dell tech support over the ocurse of 2 days. There was Fran's capable assistance and familiarity with Roxio, that led us nowhere. And even after doing all the critical updates they asked for, they only support the 10.1 edition...an additional purchase I didn't wish to make. But I did buy ConvertXtoDVD program that one of the Dell techs could recommend from personal experience. Finally, Dell decides it is my optical drive and sends a tech with a new one. That didn't do the trick and oops, something occured that locked up our wifi. So today, another visit with the Dell tech with a new optical drive and motherboard to install. Plus, he figured out how to undo the wifi mess created yesterday....and I'm back in business. Whew.

I did get the DVDs burned and am very excited about adding this media to my felting kits. Ahhh, but I digress. The flower here, what's the story? In the depths of the above tech misadventure, what's the best thing to do? Bead and/or felt. So, this felted lariat is the first collaboration with Carolyn Baum, the lampworker who made the glass center. Now I'm even more eager to get to work with more of the glass components she gave me last month when I visited her studio.

This closeup pendant is on one of the new series I'm concentrating on: Felt Component Jewelry. It is also the name of the week long workshop I will likely teach in Australia in April 2011, at Tafta Forum in Orange. (Though I had not signed the contract accepting this engagement, it went on-line for registrations and so, I am seeking to bookend a couple more workshops to that week, and I'll be going back to Australia!)

The golden merino felt is the perfect foil to the embedded swarovski stone. The crescent component utilizes an armature technique I appropriated from a method Pier Voulkos uses for polymer clay. The components are connected with a polyester chain and embellished with antique dark bronzey metallic 2-cuts. It is a gift to Fran, who will wear it for her ordination in a couple weeks. She said I can "borrow it from the collection of..." when I need to for demonstration purposes for workshops.