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!

Leslie's Almost Annual Home Show 2010

I have an Almost Annual Home Show to sell my work before the holidays. Some friends wish I had these shows more than once a year. I love you guys! I love everyone who comes to my shows and those who track me down at dance or elsewhere to buy from me if they miss the show.

In this photo you can see a third of my display, set up in my living room. At the time we had no furniture in the room because we awaited having our floors redone. It worked great having all the extra space. The walls wrap around in a semi-circle allowing for maximum crowd visuals. The panels are MD display panels, (look for them online they are the best) with table runners (the black and tan areas) with my earrings on cards (designed by my fabulous hubs Mike), and bracelets and necklaces on tree branches and hooks I fashioned from copper 12 gauge wire. Notice the overhead lighting--constructed from Abstracta display rods and clip on lights. Good lighting is as important as good work. I also had displays on a table in another room--next to food and wine! And, I put up small cards on the display with tidbits about myself and my work--why I do what I do, about the materials in the pieces, etc.

I SO recommend hosting a home show to sell your work! It's fun just having all your different circles of pals together oohing and aahing over your work--a great marketing event to see what people like most. I send both emailed and snail mail invitations with directions to my house, and extend the invites to friends of friends.

Exhausting? You bet. But worth every ounce of energy! Fun and profit can go hand in hand.

PS: Getting a merchant account to take credit cards is a must.
Happy holidays everyone!

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

August 2010

I only have eyes for . . .the lampworked beads of Joanne Zekowski .

evolution of Tila beads

Here's a finished cuff produced from the flat RAW foundation using the new Miyuki Tila beads. My cuff adds copper-dyed freshwater pearls, bone focal beads and round glass accent beads, with a 3-loop rhodium-plated magnet clasp from Ezel Findings.

On my table

Currently on my table: the newest TILA beads from Miyuki. They're 5x5mm flat lovelies, so far in very cool albeit limited colors. Shown here are what I call pearly ivory (TL593) and metallic pewter (TL2002).
Having two holes makes them interesting and challenging to stitch. I know lots of artists are fooling around with them and I can't wait to see what you are coming up with! Here's a sampler of my own. Basically it's right angle weave but working with two holes means a thread path that needs a real spin. My sampler will be the basis for a cuff, so stay tuned to see what ultimately develops once the base is completed. I don't even know yet what I'll do next, but with large holes in the TILA beads, there's plenty of room for embellishment and layering.