This Saturday coming, I will be at Innovative Beads Expo in Edison NJ all day long conducting free demonstrations of embellishment techniques. This is the annual embellishments edition of the Innovative BEads Expo. Amy will accompany me so she can help beaders acquire the appropriate kit to actualize the demonstrated methods used to decorate, even transform, clothing, accessories, other decorative items through needle felting, beaded edgings, hand felting and, oh yes, a little magic with a crochet hook. She'll have Tulip beading crochet hooks, beading needles and felting needles on hand for sale also.
I'll have copies of MASTERING BEADWORK: A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO OFF-LOOM TECHNIQUES on hand for sale and signing. HAND FELTED JEWELRY AND BEADS: 25 ARTFUL DESIGNS had been declared out of print earlier this summer and tonight I found out the hard way that HOW WE FELT: DESIGNS AND TECHNIQUES FROM CONTEMPORARY FELT ARTISTS is also now out of print. A dear man purchased one from my brandy new website and asked me to inscribe it to his wife as a gift. I found I had run out and called Interweave Press, my publisher, to order more. They were out of stock as well. So is Amazon.com (except for used). For 3 days I tried to reach the publisher to inquire about when and where the reprint was expected and this evening her finally returned my call. He said there had "been a break down in communication. That they like to notify the author and ask if they are interested in purchasing the remaining copies." The cupboard was already bare when they notified me about HANDFELTED JEWELRY AND BEADS and, this time, as regards, HOW WE FELT, they didn't bother to notify me at all. I am so sorry to notify that dear husband of a felter that I have no book to inscribe and ship.

About those demos and matching kits available for purchase:
Saturday, November 19 – 11:00 am
Needle Felting Technique:
Create surface design using felt needles, fiber, and yarn. Designs are not confined to 2-dimensional; they can be built up to 3-dimensional as well. Techniques will be shown on a ready-made, lined, zippered, white felt case useful as wallet, cosmetics bag, small purse or case for handcraft tools. Items on display showing the versatility of the technique.

Kit=$25 - includes a White Felt Purse, colorful dyed wool, yarn, feathers, felt needle, sponge.
Saturday, November 19 – 1:00 pm
Beaded Edges Technique:

Decorative beaded edgings demonstrated on fabric. Suitable
for scarves, cuffs, lapels, hems on garments, the techniques
are also appropriate for lampshades, pillows and even jewelry. Kit=$25 - includes a white silk scarf, beads, written instructions for beadwork plus a recipe for dyeing the scarf with icing dye in a microwave with just vinegar and water.
Saturday, November 19 – 3:00 pm
Wet Felting Technique:
How to hand felt a cane or rope using fine merino wool and
a Turbo Felting Board with a bit of hot soapy water. Learn
how to use beads to transform the felt into a soft and luxurious bangle bracelet.
Complete Kit=$90 - for a Hand Felted Bangle with
Beaded Bead, includes a Turbo Felting Board, wool, beads, needle, thread, recipe for Beaded Bead, instructional DVD.
Or just $15 for Wool sufficient to hand felt a Bangle, using the technique demonstrated.

Sunday come join me at Beads Mosaic in Nanuet for adventures in handfelted bangles to bead. We are offering this to you as an abbreviated workshop for 3 hours or, opt to spend the day in creative bliss as we felt a trio of different bangles and then apply different methods of completing them with beadwork...beaded bead, embellished or cabochon. Last weekend the beaders in my workshop at Urban Stitch Studio made some amazing ones. As soon as I can move the pics I took with my iPod onto my computer, I can include them in the post just before this one. Ever since the OS5 update I cannot use my blog app on the iPod or iPad. BooHoo.(If you mention that you read about the Beads Mosaics workshop here, I'll give you a free
Turbo Felting Board, a $30 value).



This is Jilly Bead's Double ab Siam Pat Riesner heart. If you're on her Christmas list, guess what you're getting. She loved Pat's process for making this and intends to repeat it several times. Pat teaches this heart and a version that has the remembrance-ribbon symbol ( or whatever you would call it) woven into it in you color choice for ribbon. Click onto to site and buy one ready made!
Annette and her lovely daughter Naima came to the studio class this evening. Annette made this little pile of bezels after her last visit. She sells them as earrings. Her preference is for the clear ones rather than the mirrored ones with metallic coated undersides.
This necklace is one of Annette's original and one-of-a-kind pieces. It is bead crocheted and utterly fabulous. Notice the bracelets she is wearing. You can find her beaded jewelry at a most wonderful venue in Rhinebeck, NY on November 20, 21, and 22. It is a select assemblage of fine craftspersons at the Delameter House right there on Rte 9. To say the work is reasonably priced is an understatement. Represented last year, and I expect this year, are glass workers, beaders, jewelers, leather workers, fiber artists, paper makers, wood workers, ceramists...Gosh. I recall purchasing leather bound diaries, swirly striped tumblers and rocks glasses, a knitted hat that fits over my big dreaded head. Jane bought a metal and glass puzzle, one of Annettes beaded rings, and the same glassware...I want to say there were candles and ornaments and well, it had about everything you would want in a gift.
Same weekend is the Dutchess County Arts Council Craft Show. Selling her gossamer silk and wool scarves and beaded jewelry, Elizabeth Buchtman returns again this year. I sat on the jury last year for this show and I tell you, the other jurors gasped in amazement and delight when the slide of Elizabeth's saffron scarf came up. BTW, she and one of her saffron scarves is a chapter in HOW WE FELT. Last year several of us started in Poughkeepsie NY at the DCAC Show and headed north to Delameter House.