CREATE YOUR STYLE Lights Up the Main Line Bead Society

It was my recent pleasure to illuminate members of the Main Line Bead Society in Springfield, Pennsylvania about being a CREATE YOUR STYLE ambassador, share current Innovations and Trends, and introduce them to the www.create-your-style.com web site.

 

The group learned how we become ambassadors and what our responsibilities are in exchange for our association with the Swarovski family and legacy. They were impressed when I listed the global regions we come from and how we recently welcomed our first Russian Ambassador. They had no idea there were so few of us but that we came from so many places!

I showed them several of our sampler "candy boxes" to see how we are introduced to new innovations, our  "bible" of products and how we were recently bereft at the discontinuance of crystal yarn, to name a few of the now "vintage" products. We talked about the current hotties of gemcolor pearls, crystal rose and luminous green, as well as upcoming colors of nature blends and birthstone beads. I made up little sample bags that members passed around, and also displayed my own designs using some of those elements. 

There was no internet where they meet so I simply chatted for a while about the Create-Your-Style.com web site. No one knew about it! It was great fun to turn people on to the wealth of information and inspiration there from the interactive features such as the online design tool to the videos from the Professor of Crystal Nick Regine, the APPS, the Ambassador blogs, and the shopping! Lots of questions and note-taking ensued.

And their favorite part of the meeting... maybe, might have been, ya think? SWAG!

Thanks to the VERY generous support of Swarovski, I came loaded down with CYS gift bags for everyone with issues of Water and several packages of elements, plus a few cool things for which we had a drawing including copies of our Crystal Jewelry Inspirations (which I signed for them), color carousels, a couple issues of Sound and little books of designs and projects.

I am looking forward to workshops with this wonderful, enthusiastic bead society. I think the fave designs being considered were my Deco Rose bracelet and my Filigreellipse earrings. I'm looking forward to teaching them.

 Thanks, MLBS for such a sparkling evening!

My First Wire Crochet with Swarovski Crystals, Beadalon Findings and Dagger Beads from Unicorne

My first wire crochet!

I had not yet been drawn to wire crochet since it tends to be organic and I am a more architectural designer. But I needed to learn this technique for an upcoming Jewelry Television gig. I already know how to crochet and bead crochet, I just never did it with wire. Nothing like a deadline for live TV to compel you to take on something new and learn how to do it well, and fast!

Several CREATE YOUR STYLE with Swarovski Ambassadors are wire crochet dynamos so I turned to the Crystal Jewelry Inspirations book for tips. Many thanks to Laura Timmons for her project which described a method of braiding individually crocheted strands. Aha! It was just the technique I needed to employ. Thanks, Laura! I also looked at the web site of Dixon Chick Stephanie Dixon, so thanks for the additional inspiration, Steph!

I wanted to feature these striking, silver-dotted, red glass daggers from Unicorne Beads, so I strung them between sections of alternating sizes of Swarovski Jet crystals for two crocheted strands, one strand also including Beadalon oval links in gunmetal. The third strand uses all Jet crystals in sizes 5mm and 8mm. All strands use 26 gauge Artistic wire from Beadalon, non tarnish silver. Thanks to Laura I realized I could crochet single strands and braid them together into a more substantial form, though I used only 3 strands and her project uses many more.

Finishing up is straightforward enough if you've done any wire work that includes end cones or caps and wire wrapped loops with a clasp. Here's what I did: secured all braided strand ends together into a tidy "nest" that fit inside my bead cap, leaving long ends to string through the bead cap and form a wire wrapped loop.  Twirled the wire ends into a thicker gauge cable for the wire wrapped loop. Made a wire wrapped loop capturing one oval link. 

Used Beadalon's Quick Link connectors to extend the necklace with more small gunmetal oval links, and used an ear wire as the clasp. 

I suppose I should say that I got hooked on wire crochet and look forward to exploring it again.

Tune in to Jewelry Television (JTV) JEWEL SCHOOL on Feb 3 and 4th, 10-noon EST, to see the cool crochet kit you can buy to get started yourself!

CraftOptics

The better to see you with, my dear!
Just got a pair of CraftOptics lenses. Wow these are cool!












They are naturally a bit more to wear than just normal glasses, but the soft silicone nose piece makes it really comfy. There's also a little light which works off a small battery pack that clips onto your pants or whatever, like a cell phone would. The light slides right onto the optic part for targeted illumination. Clever! The light cord runs through a clip on the arm of the specs, and has a small spring action clip to attach to your shirt so it stays out of the way. VERY nicely engineered. (My lenses look lit up in the photo but it's just a reflection from my laptop screen.) AND they come with croakers, the soft cords that slide onto the arm ends like the kind of eyeglass cords surfers wear, with a button that slides on the cords to adjust the specs to stay put or let them hang down.

The magnifier part flips up to reveal my personal prescription. The glasses are nice and large so it's easy to look up through the top part to see normally, and then look down through the optic part for magnification, as you need. It's all very well thought out the way these work.













Great for my eyes and especially my craftsmanship! I expect to be using these on Beads, Baubles, and Jewels segments taping soon, so you'll be able to see them in action–rather, see me in action using them–when the episodes go on the air. I'll let you know when they're on!

And yes, mine are purple.

Deep Blue Bling

Did you know that the average human eye can register quantities of 5 at a glance without counting, and after that, not so much? So if you instantly see 6 sets of 5 crystals, good for you!

So this box comes from Swarovski today, and it is RATTLING which of course makes us all salivate, right? I forgot that Xilions were being sent to me for an upcoming taping of Beads, Baubles, and Jewels for segments sponsored by EK Success. Check out the 6 blues I chose to play with in size 6mm. They are, clockwise from top: Indicolite, Montana, Pacific Opal, Jet AB, Mint Alabaster and center, Light Azore.

I must have been an interplanetary hitchiker to love these colors because they're super stellar, like extraterrestrial gleams of brilliance from otherworldly galactic entities. Don't let my inadequate photography fool you. (I actally had to tone down the luster or you'd be seeing sparkles before your eyes for days.)

Or in earthly realms, perhaps I wish to be a mermaid in the Caribbean swimming in such aquatic magnificence. I just love these colors, is what I'm saying.

You can space out in your own sparkling waves over these hues too. Look for them wherever EK Success is sold and in your local bead store.

What did I make from them? I'll show when they're created!

Fun with Beadalon

Making new videos for the Beadalon web site brought out
a variety of my facets, er, faces. :-)

Look for the videos now on Beadalon's You Tube page. My latest videos include how-to-do, why-to use, and what-to-use for: loom bead weaving, Elasticity stretchy cord designs, WildFire beading thread, all sorts of beading needles, bead organization and storage, arranging a beading work area, and Hybraid (Is it a wire? A beading thread? It's both!)

Here's one showing some basics for a well equipped beading work area.


Even though I was feeling a bit wired and threadbare myself after a long week just back from doing two back to back Jewelry Television shows, I know the videos now showing on Beadalon's You Tube page will educate and inspire you.

Stick around, because you never know when some of my actual design tutorials will appear, too!

Should you sell jewelry you learn from a published project or in a class?

This is the real hot button topic, isn't it? I've been engaged in a very lively discussion with Cindy,  a new fellow beader. She's agreed to allow me to share our exchange thus far, and we'd both be interested to hear opinions and possible solutions to this and related issues.

Cindy was making things she learned from a book, being somewhat new and not ready to forge her own designs yet. During one convo she said she thought that she could sell her work as long as she mentioned the original artist.

I said: It is generally considered acceptable to make and sell pieces not your own design but only in limited quantities. For instance, at your own home show, local craft fair, to private clients, or giving as gifts. But I've had my own designs being re-created and sold on Etsy where I sell my own work--the same design, and for less money than I asked for my piece. I did not like it but the beader doing it took great umbrage when I asked her to stop selling it on Etsy. She felt that once a design has been published it is totally up for grabs. So it's an ethical question that continues to be a discussion. What do you think? You made the piece so you should be able to sell what you made, right?

Cindy said:  I totally understand how recreating someone else's work and selling it would be upsetting. I have very mixed feelings about it but of course at this time I haven't created something of my own to be copied so have a limited view and feeling on this matter at this time. It is confusing because you buy a book, magazine or etc. to learn how to create items but then not being able to sell them after you make it is disappointing. I guess the feeling might be if you don't want it copied then don't produce instructions on how to make it. It is a very complex situation that I'm not sure there is a clear answer to. When I become more adventurous and confident in my beading perhaps I will then be able to come up with my own creations but until then I need all the help I can get.

I said: You are among many jewelry-makers who don't make up their own designs but want to sell their efforts. I get it completely. It is a fine line--for all of us. Designers realize that people want to make our projects. It's why we teach and sell to magazines. That's how we earn a great part of our living. But we also sell our finished work. So when students (classroom or magazine followers) take our designs and mass produce them for sale, it takes away from our livelihood. It's the "making money from another person's design"  that's the bugaboo, and not one easily resolved. All magazines ask that readers be sensitive to the authors rights and not take advantage. OF COURSE people want to sell what they learn to make. But is it okay, or when is it okay?

If someone learns to make my original bracelet from a magazine, should they make and sell it over and over on Etsy?  Many artists don't publish tutorials for this very reason, and that's sad for students who could learn so much from those pros.

How about at their neighborhood craft shows? I say sure if it's not in my home town.
On their own web site? HM, maybe. So ask me. But don't you want to make your own originals?

On Etsy?  I say this overlaps my market, so I'm not gonna like it. Shouldn't I get a commission as if it was a licensed product? If you want to make and sell my designs, please contact me today! We'll make some sort of contract where I get a small percentage of your sales and you can make and sell as much of my work as you like.

And speaking of licensing... I have Disney jewelry I made for myself to wear when I go to Disney World. I DO NOT and WILL NOT EVER make them to sell or even to give as gifts! Even tho' the form of my jewelry and the use of materials is quite unique, it is not my mouse. So I walk the walk, beady peeps. (But anyone from Disney can contact me about officially designing for them. My designs are definitely Mouse Couture.)

If someone takes my class, can they now go and teach that project in classes of their own?
Only with my permission.

Should someone buy my tutorial once for $10 and then charge other people $25 to learn that project from them in their bead shop? That takes bread from my table, unless they buy my tutorial for each student and THEN tack on their fee as an instructor.

Who invented peyote stitch, anyway? I hear this a lot. It's "just" peyote  stitch. You didn't invent that. True, but chances are the published project in question is more than just peyote.

I think seed beading is different from other jewelry making. The materials are similar, while other jewelry designs can switch out types of beads, chain, or wire, and become much more original even if the same technique is used. It is not as easy to invent something new in a seed bead work. Perhaps this is why beaders appear much more proprietary.

What do you think?
Can't wait to hear what you all say.

Meet me at the Bead & Button Show 2011

Come see me at the
Bead & Button Show June 10 & 11th, 2011
JOHN BEAD booth #1028-1030
(c) 2011 Leslie Rogalski All Rights Reserved to designs and content on this site 
   

Friday June 10, 10:30am-12:30pm
Easy Bow Farfalle Bead Bangle Demo

Friday June 10, 3:00pm-5:00pm 

Miyuki Tila Bead RAW (Right Angle Weave) Cuff Demo 

Saturday June 11, 10:30am-12:30pm
Miyuki Tila Bead RAW (Right Angle Weave) Cuff Demo

Saturday June 11, 3:00pm-5:00pm
Miyuki Tila Bead Square Stitch with Herringbone Cuff Demo

See you there!

Upcycled jewelry: PASTA

I recently won a cool book from Bead Unique
  for my submission to their upcycled jewelry contest.
I had a bunch of stuff I'd created for
a previous April Fool's Day Beading Daily post.
  I called it FAUXLYMER jewelry.

Here's a group of pasta noodle beads. I used Sharpie marker to add color and stripes, wooden accents (Also striped with a marker) and annealed steel wire. 

Detail: This bead has a slim ziti inside another ziti. 

Ridges are colored with Sharpie marker, 

and the ends wired with annealed steel.

 My fauxlymer cuff was the piece which won me the book.

More ziti, waxed linen and wooden accent beads.

Thanks Bead Unique!

Getting Twisted with Beadalon at Wire Fest 2011

Bead Fest Wire was more fun than I imagined. I did demos for two straight days for Beadalon.

The biggest attraction? The twisted tool! Can you tell that I was enjoying myself? You can see the blur as my hands whirled the handle around and around making a twisted cable. Talk about having the right tool for the right job.

So here's how it works:

Attach up to 5 wires (I used about a yard each of various gauges of Artistic wire, between 26 and 20 gauge) to a disk with holes in it, just twist them onto the disk so they wouldn't come off, nothing fancy. Then  attach the loose ends to a clamp or a chair rung--anything which you can use to pull against for some tension. Then just turn the handle as I'm doing in my photo. The end result is a cable of surprising hardness--perfect for making jump rings or wrapping stones, making bails, etc. Even using two wires made a hard enough cable for rings.

Lots of people (of all ages as you can see!) stopped to admire my seed bead work, too. I showed them the three colors of WildFire I use, and though I did not demo any stitches I did point out how the WildFire thread held up to different stitches and different beads, including Swarovski crystals.

Thanks to Meredith and Madeline of Beadalon who were so fabulous in teaching me how to best use the tools and make me feel really a part of the design team. Somehow that floor in the convention center doesn't feel quite as hard when you work with great people!

Meredith and I collaborated at the demo station on some new designs with the Katydid components, too. Meredith has such style in her designs--I hope they'll post those pix on the Beadalon blog site soon.

How to end and add thread to bead work

Don't worry about ending and adding thread to a piece of bead work. See if my Doodlebeads video helps simplify this task.
Check it out here on You Tube: Click the arrow to watch!
Leslie's video on ending and adding thread

Transform ready-made elements into hand-crafted style

I have these great, ready-made silver-plated quick link rings from Beadalon, shown at the top of this photo. They're about the diameter of a quarter. They're really cool, but for my style they're just a tad too shiny, too perfectly formed. Others love these attributes, but I like more of a hand-crafted look in my work.

First I hammered them with a small rivet hammer, flipping them on my steel block to hammer both sides. Those rings are shown in the middle of this photo. They looked way better to me, but I still wanted more.

I decided to oxidize them. Using bowls designated for crafts only (with  NOT FOR FOOD written on them in marker) I first mixed a neutralizing solution of baking soda and plain water in one bowl--about 2 tablespoons of soda to maybe a pint of water. Next I heated water in a glass bowl, and put in two drops of Patina Gel Liver of Sulfur. It's really stinky so open a window. I used tweezers to dunk the rings, watching them darken and removing them quickly right into the baking soda water to stop the reaction from getting too black. Then I rinsed them in plain water and dried them off. My oxidized quick links are the bottom rings in this photo. They totally look like fused silver rings that I made myself!

 Cool, huh! Plus, the liver of sulfur solution degrades in a couple days and makes a great fertilizer. Just store it in a jar until it turns clear, then water your tomatoes!

How to use your bonus beading time

I never know when I will have BONUS time on my hands to bead. Bonus time is unplanned free time, say, waiting to pick up your kids, or sitting at halftime. Not wanting to waste that time on just dawdling, I have a bag of beading materials all packed and ready, usually with me in my handbag! Whether it is waiting for one of my daughter's shows to start or waiting in an airport, I am determined to use my bonus time wisely and productively.

I actually have two different kinds of bonus beading kits: a large one for predictably long periods of time, such as plane or train rides, and a small one for car rides or to keep in my every day purse.

Since I am heading to Tucson soon on a 5 hour flight, I have my large kit ready. It's a clear cosmetics case that zips closed and has dimension, so I can fit everything I need for small, relatively easy to manage projects:

My list is personal to me, but here are my must-have-with-me-everywhere items:

• A generous handful of small baggies with a variety of colors of size 11 and 10 Delicas
• Size 11 and 8 regular/round seed beads in black, copper and silver.
• A small tin with assorted findings: ear wires, headpins, jump rings in various sizes and metals, small pieces of chain, crimp tubes, closed jump rings, crimp covers, wire guardians and toggle clasps.
• Two spools of Beadalon WildFire beading thread, one green, one black
• Needles in a plastic case
• At least 2 small Bead Stoppers
• A spool of multipurpose stringing wire
• Several pairs of various sized rubber O-rings
• A small scissors suitable to pass through airport screening
• A small chain nose pliers
• A small metric ruler

These items allow me to make my peyote rings or create something, anything, wherever I go! Of course, for a trip such as Tucson or Bead Fest where I have lots of time for impromptu bead-ins with other beaders, I pack far more than this travel kit!  So what is in your must-have-with-me travel kit?

Okay, advertising alert: Did I mention that I sell my own travel tins for small beading projects? My hubs Mike designed the copyrighted logo for my tag line: BYOBeads, for beaders on the go (TM). The tin is a lightweight aluminum jewel case, 7 1/2 x 5 1/4 x 3/4 inches, lined with a folded velux bead mat so it holds your beads in place when it is closed. It's the perfect size for a plane or train table--I even hold it in my lap when I am a passenger in a car. Because it has a lip around it, beads don't fall out! And, you can keep your needle stuck in the mat. A small scissor fits, too. I only post these by request on my Etsy site for easy Pay Pal purchase, so let me know.

And remember: there's always time for a few more rows.

Beads, Baubles, and Jewels tapes new series for 2011!

It may not sound exciting to say I go to Cleveland twice a year, but I go there to tape a TV show! Here I am on the set of the PBS series, Beads, Baubles, and Jewels with host Katie Hacker. We're excited to be working together, can you tell? Katie is the host with the most, and makes it SO much more fun than ever.

On the table are yummy new "sunflower" Swarovski crystal fancy stones, which I show used in a beaded netting bezel technique. (You have to wait for the series to air before that project is available, sorry!) You know, I'm not usually a big yellow fan but this sunflower color is just brilliant and fiery. A true dazzler!


Thanks to Beadalon, who sponsored my segments. I only use their WildFire beading thread for all my seed beading--all my beading, actually. Thanks to Swarovski for sending me samples of this fabulous new color, and to John Bead Company for the Miyuki Delicas I also used in this lesson.

I think this series will air about April. Stay tuned!

Tips for beading peyote rings

Everyone wants to make the peyote rings I always wear, so I wanted to share a bit of troubleshooting one beadist needed. Her dilemma was in joining the ring.

It appears to me she did not make sure there were opposite "in" and "out" beads on the ends of the strip, to enable it to be zipped up like the teeth of a zipper.














Here's my illustration of a zip-up. Notice how the red thread zips back and forth between the "out" beads. Those bead join the ends of the strip into a ring. See how they fit between the "in" beads--like zipper teeth? The blue thread path shows how to weave in your thread in a figure-8 path to secure the ring. repeat it once more (Not shown in the illustration.) Trim the end once this is finished.





























A complete tutorial to make peyote rings is for sale in my Etsy shop for $10 US.
Once you buy through PayPal, I send you the PDF. Easy! www.etsy.com/sleeplessbeader

What if...

The first in a series.

DOODLEBEADS video teaches peyote stitch!

There are many video tutorials online, but none like DOODLEBEADS as featured in the how-to section of Beadingdaily.com. I consider it edutainment!

This one is will teach you odd count peyote--even if you never did it before. There's another on even count peyote, and more coming on other stitches. Nothing beats seeing a little animation, and the music is fun, too.

http://www.beadingdaily.com/blogs/howto/archive/2009/02/23/odd-count-peyote-stitch.aspx