1 Week to go before Christmas!

Well there is a week to go before Christmas. Where has this year gone?

I have a celini update - I have not worked on it for almost 2 weeks but I've been busy with other things.

Here is a pic of the progress. I told you - it might be done by Easter! LOL

Another thing that has really hit the bead waves so to speak are Permanent Galvanized beads! My local shop got in 8 colors:




I remember when I started beading and fell in love with galvanized beads, only to find out that they had a finish that made me crazy! The pretty color came off once I wore the earrings a couple times. Those pretty metallic beads.... People said - oh - you coat that with Krylon and they will be fine. I did that only to have the beads feel just awful and the holes got clogged with the spray paint. Now Toho has finally perfected the galvanized process and you too can have these little beauties. I got these at my local bead shop but Charlene at http://www.cbbeads.com has them! She has more colors than my local shop too! And more sizes as well as cuts in some colors!!!! The Permanent Galvanized can be seen here: http://www.cbbeads.com/permgalvanized.htm

So now you can have that lovely glow that only comes from galvanized beads without the worries that your work will lose color.


Charlene has great prices and even greater service!
She is also having a beadwork sale to help with her son's medical bills.
http://www.cbbeads.com/jewelrysale.htm

So make her an offer hopefully higher than she is asking if you can spare the cash. Nothing worse than having your child be ill and during the holidays makes it even harder. She is parting with things she would probably rather not part with but when it's your son, you do what you gotta do.

So have a safe Holiday. I hope it's filled with beady dreams. Hope you all stay safe and warm.

Free Ornament Covers links

http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/1216/ornament.html

http://www.rockgarden.com/resources/files/page3_2.pdf

http://beadwork.about.com/library/weekly/aa111097.htm

http://www.baglady.com/ChristmasOrnament.htm

http://members.tripod.com/~beadnik/ornament.html

http://members.tripod.com/~kMoonstone/sornament.htm

http://www.rubysbeadwork.com/RedOrnament.html

http://members.tripod.com/~Beadme/Ornament.htm

Celini Spiral Take 1

Well I have done Dutch Spirals and Spiral ropes. I have mastered the African helix spiral and netted spirals. But Celini had avoided me or maybe it was the other way around... I have admired them but I was finally tempted ot make one when I saw one on Bead-Space.com.

http://www.bead-space.com/beadsforever

It's in her photos on the last page. Here is a link directly to the pic on Beaders Showcase - I could not get a link for the bead-space one

http://tinyurl.com/greencelini

Even though it is green and I am not a green person, I completely fell in love with it. Linda was kind enough to tell me the recipe she used and even the instructions she adapted for it, so all I needed was the right beads in shades of purple and I too could have a lovely bracelet for me! I already owned the book, so that was a bonus too.

So Celini is just peyote right? I can do peyote. So I bring scans of the pages and a print out of the recipe to with me on the trip. I don't like to bring my books on trips with me. It has me start with dummy rows. I still am not sure I understand why but I tend to follow the directions the first time I do a project. I will do it my way the next time if I figure out a way to simplify it.

It has 8 colors so that messes up my nice neat 6 triangle tray on my wooden plate... First a dummy row and now this! Can I do this? hmmm




So I set out the beads on the lap table... in the car no less on my way to San Jose for Thanksgiving. So I put on the dummy row, I later realized that if they had me go though one bead more, I could have left them in. I know dummy rows are for even tension and seamless zipping the ends together. Ok - it beads up nice. About 8 rows in the fireline cut into my skin where I pulled on it, so I put a bandaide on. It finally is starting to look like something that might resemble the picture. In the evenings I have been beading a little on it every day. It's about 2 inches mong now. It sure is slow going. I might have it done for Easter! LOL

Late Autumn Ramblings

Well Thanksgiving is less than a week away. This has been an interesting week to say the week and it's ending very nicely with a nice weekend with my other half.

The week has gone well though. Tuesday I got a call from Dell - my nearly 1 year old laptop has more than a couple quirks and they are sending me a replacement. It didn't take a lot of ranting to get them to do it either. I am having a power cord issue and I did use the words "Fire Hazard"... but that is not the point! LOL

So off to Office Max I headed to get an external hard drive to back this baby up with. They happened to have them on sale in the same size I have in this machine but there were none on the shelf. I asked the manager and he came out with a pretty blue one. PERFECT! I peeked in clearance and found the Swiss Army brand computer bag I have been watching was on clearance for $15 - down from $59! I had gotten an interesting e-mail in the morning that there was a job opportunity available that would be perfect for me.

I have beaded 2 new bracelets and an ornament in the last week or so.

I spent the morning looking at free patterns on the net. I noticed some with just text and a couple with just diagrams and it made me wonder... Is it that there is more work to put both? I believe that there are 3 basic ways of learning and we all use one or more of them when we learn something new. There is words - pictures - demonstration. I am a total diagram learner, but when I make a tutorial or teach, I try my best to cover more than just my learning needs. When I make a tutorial, I like to sit in an empty room to make them because I like to talk out the text first, sort of like when I am teaching. It helps me be very detailed.

So I hope you all have a nice Thanksgiving. Stay safe and don't eat too much!

Bead and Button gives local magazine buyers the shaft

Bead and Button Magazine says it supports the local bead shops that carry their magazine but do they really?

Did you know that people who choose not to have a label on the magazine and who don't choose to deal with magazines late and damaged in the mail don't count with the magazine as loyal readers?

I have purchased every issue of Bead and Button from the very beginning and I was recently told that I did not count as much as a person who subscribes to the magazine. I choose to purchase things in person and magazines are no exception. I choose to support the local businesses where I live and I don't care for labels on my magazines and yet I'm not welcome to subscriber content.

The current issue is labeled as a collector's edition and yet the subscribers got it not in a plastic sleeve and without the little extra cover piece that I got on mine when I bought it locally. Shouldn't a collectors edidtion be shipped in a condition that would make it valuable years later? It should have been shipped in a plazstic sleeve so that it would be collectable. The magazine I saw on a friend's coffee table came through the mail. The cover was damaged and it had a label on it.

I have a choice and I choose to purchase my bead magazines where I want. I choose not to have to have to call and request a new magazine when it shows up mangled in the mailing process. I like my pristine magazine without labels. I think magazines that come in the mail are ugly. All of them, not just Bead & Button. Also there are often little free pamphlets that don't always come in the subscribers issues. I know this because my friends who subscribe have to call when I show them what I got to get equality.

The part of this that really bugs me is that the customers of local bead shops who purchase their magazines in them are second class readers to Bead and Button Magazine. When I contacted them, the editor claimed that they did support the local bead shops. How can they claim that when the people who purchase their magazine in them is treated as a second class beader? How can they say that they support the local bead shops when they short change the customers who purchase their magazine in those shops? So the magazine's goal for the customers of local bead shops is only to snag them as subscribers. They only send those magazines to the local shops to get those subscription cards in the hands of the beaders which stops the beaders from visiting to purchase thier magazines and probably beads in the process. If you support a local business, you make it more enticing to shop in the local shops. People who come in to get a magazine will often also buy beads. If their goal is to get subscribers, then how is that supporting the bead shop? It's not like the bead shop makes a bundle on magazines and books. The wholesale discount is lower on books and magazines. The shops that carry them do so to serve their customers better. So the shop is a friend to the magazine but the magazine is not a real friend to the shop if they give less to the customers who purchase magazines from them.

If the magazine is catering to it's subscriber base only, then they need to be a subscriber only magazine. Thousands of magazines are sold in stores all over this country and all the customers who spend more for their issues are not as valued by the magazine and I think it stinks.

So if you agree that people who purchase the issue in a store should be equal to those who subscribe, contact B&B to let them know. Here is a link to the Letter to the Editor form on their web site.

http://tinyurl.com/BnBEditorForm

Herringbone blocked or just disliked?

Well I am coming to terms with this herringbone issue I have had... It's not the stitch specifically that I can't get. It's parts of it that I just can't like. I don't like the thread showing in the flat. You can do an odd figure 8ish turn and I don't like that either. You can put a bead with the thread and thus not have the thread showing but it puts a bead on the outside of every other row... and on the alternating rows on the opposite side... and my OCD can't grasp that not matching thing, so I can't handle that. So I decided to make tubular and that I can get a rhythm going with it until the step up. I changed to a small needle than I usually use - which is very long - and that helped a bit. Maybe I'm just never going to like this stitch. And that is ok too but at least I can do it in tubular and flat. So I think it's just a stitch I am not going to like very much.

Versa Loom

I had posted about this elsewhere and hosted the pics on AOL but AOL is taking away the hosting part, so here it will be.

It's everything it promises to be and more! The instructions are very clear and each step caused another "light bulb" moment for me where the info and the task just made total sense and on to the next step I went. Where with other looms, the distance between warp threads can be a problem, it's not here because you use the beads you are looming with at the ends to space them out! Once it was set up, it only took me about an hour - size 8 seed beads to get the bracelet finished. I had a glitch in my pattern - I was 3 rows shy, so you can see - I added 3 rows of black to finish the piece:

Taking it off was fantastic. It called for a seam ripper or a sharp pair of scissors - I had the second and now need to add the seam ripper to my bead tools. Scissors were fly tying ones so they have a very tiny sharp point. They did the job perfectly. It came off the loom as advertised - with only 2 threads to weave in! Then I showed it to my friend's sister and she and I both show a love for rainbows, so I was compelled to finish it off with clasps right then, but which clasps? I choose these nifty snap clasps and since it was wide, I used 2 of them.

So here are 2 shots of it with the claps on it:

The Versa Loom web site
http://www.versa-loom.com/index.php

I just love it and now have all sorts of loomed ideas floating in my head!

Photographic Pet Peeve...

I have another pet peeve... who'd have ever guessed?

When taking a picture of your beadwork - or anything for that matter - you need to make sure it's a good picture. It needs to be in focus and clear. It needs to be large enough to see what you want them to and not so small that they can't tell what it is.

Many of us have digital cameras and most of those have a MACRO setting.

You can pick up a cheap tripod for under $25 - a table top version can be

even cheaper. You should not use your flash for photos of jewelry. Close up, the flash is way too bright. Use good lighting or even better an over cast day is great lighting. I use Reveal Bulbs in my lamps that are where I bead. They are great for lighting photos.

If you have photoshop, you have a couple tools that are simple and easy. Auto Levels does much for me in many cases.

In the IMAGES Menu - Adjustments - AUTO Levels

(yes everything on my computer that can be purple is purple)

You can also play in Brightness and Contrast as well as Hue/Saturation.

So that you don't damage your original photo - SAVE AS - and name it something else. Then play with the settings. You have nothing to loose and think of what you have to gain.

Here is a raw image of a pair of purple earrings - no flash -

reveal light bulbs in the celing fixture - tripod:

And here is one that I only used Auto Levels on:

The 2nd photo is a much better representation of the background and the piece I was taking a photo of.

So keep trying until you get a good photo because a blurry or too small or dark photo will not show off your work, it will show off the flaws of the photo.

Beading from the last week or so...

I finally decided try the new size 15 Delicas. I heard about them back in April 2007 from Miyuki at the Bead Expo in Oakland, CA. I have been a little excited about the new size 15 delicas coming out as I like the tiny beads, so if I'm going to like a delica, it would be the tiny ones.

I bought them from http://www.beadedimages.com/ and the service is EXCELLENT!

I designed a new pattern in Beadscape just for the new delicas. I used Miyuki extra fine beading needles and Sonoko Japnese beading thread which is very fine. I started the butterfly and as I neared the first end of it, I had a broken bead - number 202 - pearl white. Odd but I tried to fix that broken bead only to break another bead - number 44 - sliver lined light blue. So I gave up and started beading the same pattern in seed beads and I'm sorry to say, I like the look of the seed beads better. Now I'm used to matte beads being more on the brittle side but neither of these were matte. I did contact Miyuki about the breakage and they recommended a size 12 John James needle with nymo size B. So I will try them again, this time with peyote and make a bracelet. I will work on that next week I think. The earring seems to be about the same height in seed beads as the delicas but it is a little wider. I like the look of the seed beads better but could have to do with more colors that are in my personal pallet being available in seed beads. There isn't yet a vibrant purple or a bright pink available in the new size 15 delicas. Maybe time will tell.

I designed a new Rivoli - a Sunshine. A friend said she wanted a sunshine and a sunshine she shall have! I used a crystal 14mm Rivoli and 11 - 3mm Swarovski bicones for the points. I will be working on a tutorial for this one soon. This time it's a pendant not earrings because I think it's a little large. Some people might like it as an earring though. I do like the rivoli's because they are quick to make. It's almost instant gratification having a completed project in less than an hour. I will work on getting a tutorial up for this one this coming week if all goes as planned.

I have a new Swarovski starfish that I need to incorperate into something... I'm thinking either a OMG huge showy necklace or a dream catcher with a under the sea theme. It's summer time, time for fun in the sun and the beach is definately on my list for my vacation in Los Angeles first 2 weeks in August.

Rambling....

well this will be a rambling blog post.... because I have a bunch on my mind.


First off - if it's not your design, and you think someone else has copied a friend of yours, let the friend deal with it. The other person involved will only think you need to mind your own business and you do. No one can own RED, WHITE and BLUE. No one can OWN stars. Suspending them on fringe is not rocket science but you should NEVER suspend anything by thread from an ear wire or jump ring. It's not professional and it leaves everything open to failure. Use a ring of beads or french wire or anything else to suspend things from an earring. Red, White and Blue are patriotic and that is all there is to it. It's a celebration of our country and nothing more. Anyone can come up with stars in those colors for a cool quick earring. I didn't invent the concept nor did I have to see someone else's to make my own.

If you go to ABC pattern site and you see patterns with motifs you think other designers have done patterns in, don't assume that person is a thief and notify every designer you can to tell them you think that they found a site that had copied you. This happened to me recently and when I went to the site, I found lovely patterns but none of them were even close to the ones I was told were stolen from me. I contacted the accused designer and told her how sorry I was that she was being the focus of another witch hunt. It's petty and until you have concrete proof, you should keep it under wraps.

Completely not bead related... when a couple decides that the marriage is over and one takes the 50/50 for the blame and the other one takes no blame, lean toward the one who takes 50/50. At least they are in reality and perhaps that no blame person is more to blame than you would ever know. It takes two to tango and if one refuses to learn the steps, then the dance won't be right will it.

I can not own the stress of other people's problems. No matter who they are from. I can only handle my problems and I need to work on that one.

If you suspect a friend is near the edge, though it's easier to let them suffer in silence, the better choice is to just try to be there for them and push your friendship on them. It might be the thing that pushes them in the right direction to get out of that dark place. You should try it sometime.

Oh and another thing, the love of a good dog can make it all get better. If it's a poodle, then it's an extra bonus. I'm lucky to have a godchild poodle who is such a love and a visit with her made most of my stress vanish.

Just remember what Dr Suess says:

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

Best Little Bead Shop in Nebraska

5Z's Star City

Bead Shop

is

The Best Little Bead Shop in Nebraska!

Located in Lincoln, at 9th & O streets, tucked into the Mission Arts Building, this is a full service bead shop. Charlene Zweerink, the owner offers a huge supply of seed beads and accents as well as oodles of findings and supplies.

When you come here, you can just about get anything your beady heart desires.

More beads than you could imagine in one cute little shop!

Plenty of Beady Inspiration

Pick A Class - Schedule a class when it fits your schedule. Be taught one on one to make a number of lovely creations.

Don't be surprised if you get visited by the

building resident Corgie - Murray

5Z'S Star City Bead Shop

Mission Arts Building

124 S. 9th Street, Studio #3

Lincoln, NE 68508

402-477-4054

HOURS:Thursday: Noon-ish to 7 pm

Friday, Saturday, Sunday: Noon-ish to 5 pm

It just might be the best bead shop in all of the midwest!

The Beader's Floral - book review

Well today I got a cool new book... It's a little pricey at $39.95 retail but it is a very cool book:

The Beader's Floral by Liz Thornton & Jill Devon


This book has the coolest collection of flowers!!! Among the many flowers in this book are: Water Lily, Clematis, Tulip, Fuchsia, Daffodil, Cornflower, Iris, Snowdrop, Pink, Peony, Orchid and Columbine.

The directions appear to be more detailed than the usual condensed version in the magazines. This book is 144 pages. The diagrams are in color and there are oodles of pictures of projects and a gallery in the back for inspiration.

It's definitely worth the price and is fully available here in the US now, so make sure you check your local bead shop and see if they either have or can get it in!!!

Just a bunch of quotes today

I don't know where these came from originally, but it was in a friendship forward I got today. I think they speak volumes.

Be kinder than necessary because

everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

A sharp tongue can cut my own throat.

If I want my dreams to come true,

I mustn't oversleep.

Of all the things I wear,

my expression is the most important.

The happiness of my life

depends on the quality of my thoughts.

The heaviest thing I can carry is a grudge.

One thing I can give and still keep...is my word.

I lie the loudest when I lie to myself.

If I lack the courage to start, I have already finished.

One thing I can't recycle is wasted time.

Ideas won't work unless I do.

My mind is like a parachute...

it functions only when open.

The 10 commandments are not a multiple choice.

The pursuit of happiness is the chase of a lifetime!

It is never too late to become what I might have been.

Needling the Thread

There are a few things that I have noticed universal across the board with most beaders and one of them is how we thread that blasted needle. You have thread that is fine and soft. If it's Nymo, it's like blasted dental floss only thinner... So threading a beading needle - which is also fine and has the thinnest of eyes - is a task for the new beader. Many a time have I told my students that I will thread anything they need in class to save on time because when you are new at it, you can literally spend 5-10 min trying to get that baby threaded. But what I do isn't special; it's pretty much what all beaders do. We needle the thread instead of threading the needle. This means that you hold a tiny bit of thread sticking out between your thumb and forefinger then lay the eye of the needle onto that tip of thread - hoping and praying to get it on at least the 2nd try!

So the question right now is - can anyone own that method? Just because you make a tutorial - you can copyright the text but can you take credit for the process? I certainly didn't invent it and I have seen many, many beaders do it and instructors teach it. Can one person really think so much of themselves that they own how to thread a needle?

A quote to think about:

Finish each day and be done with it.

You have done what you could.

Some blunders and absurdities have crept in;

Forget them as soon as you can.

Tomorrow is a new day.
You shall begin it serenely and

with too high a spirit to be encumbered

with old nonsense.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Stolen or borrowed or simply not that original of an idea in the first place?

Sometimes I write here to unclog the garbage from my brain. Other times I have in the past written here to correct bad info posted on the net. Still others, I write here to tell of my own experiences. Basically I write here so you get to know me a little better and maybe understand me a little bit.

How does someone decide that something you designed must be stolen from something they designed??? Is it well meaning people telling them that the ring they saw looks just like one they designed? Did they see it themselves and have the same thoughts?

Item in question is a flower ring that I designed. This item is a derivative of a flower I learned in 1999 or there about from a friend who was also a beading instructor. This friend/instructor and I often took little pieces from each other to create a new piece. We were both pretty comfortable with our own beading talent such as is was, so neither of us was threatened by the other's creativity. It's the reason I love to teach. I love to see what else someone does with what I teach him or her. I wouldn't want to see a bunch of identical versions of a piece designed by me. I would want to see several similar, yet different pieces that were started with something I designed and taught. It's the best compliment to a teacher to see the students learning and broadening the idea just a little bit. To see someone taking something they learned from you and created something that is their own is a great thing.

After all, no one invented beadwork in the first place. It's been done by many cultures for hundreds of years. Needlework of all kinds has been taught generation to generation. I remember being given a ball of yarn and taught single crochet by my mom at about 7 or 8 years old. I made a little cap for my doll to wear. For embroidery, I was given a flour sack dishtowel in a hoop. My mom had drawn the lines for the petals and dots for the center. There, she taught me the lazy daisy and the French knot. She didn't invent either the knot or the loop but she taught it to me just the same, as her mother had done to her. No one owns it or even thinks to try.

What is it in a person to decide that you could not have possibly both come up with a ring with a flower on it at different times that may look similar but are still also different? This all seems to be the buzz in sleepy town I live in right now. I teach at the local bead shop and through the buzz at a few recent events at the bead shop, it has come to my attention that another bead designer here seems to think that in a brief acquaintance we had, I stole her idea for a beaded flower ring. It’s a little much ado about nothing if you ask me. There is plenty of room in the bead world for more than one ring with a flower on it. You would think that the chattering people would have better things to do but it’s such the nature of the human apparently to speak in hushed circles about thing that may or may not be true to the detriment of another. They have a word for it – GOSSIP! Instead of being an adult and contacting me personally, she choose to tell other people that I stole her idea from her. Had she contacted me personally, she might have been proved wrong and then she wouldn’t have had anything to gossip about!

So I searched out the other ring in question and it’s a nice ring but I would never have looked at hers and thought that she saw mine and designed it to copy me. It’s nice and it’s different from mine. Who really cares anyway? Well she does apparently... Heck, I may have been wearing it the very day I met this person. For me, it’s about getting the crap out of my head so I can design and bead new things. So for the last hour or so, I have been looking through photos on back up CD’s to see just when I made my first ring. The photo was taken in 2002, though I think I beaded the first version about a year before that. I didn't move here until June of 2003, so my mind is now clear but I have to wonder, what if it had been the other way around. What if I did see something someone else did and was inspired to use a flower I learned the basics of from someone else 5 years before and made it into a ring?

I did a google image search for Flower Ring and literally thousands of images on the internet fit that description. It says “Results 1 - 18 of about 1,080,000 for flower ring”. I didn’t invent the concept and neither did she. Yet I’m a thief because I have one I designed which I teach and sell a tutorial for.

I simply don't get the issue here. I have never seen her instructions and she has never seen mine that I know of. She could have seen my ring and was later so inspired to design a flower ring of her own. So what? I just don't get the very thought process that makes someone look at something and decide it has been stolen from them. What makes a person have such an ego or even having the lack of ego to be so threatened by a similar design by another beader?

There is another flower ring here: http://www.buythekit.com/13/dh130801.html

The kit is for sale as we speak, as mine was when I sold kits on that same site. Does it mean that any of us stole the idea from another one? NO!

And still an even cooler flower ring is here: http://webpages.charter.net/florencebeads/Kits/#Flower_Ring

So before you assume that someone has stolen anything, think that maybe, just maybe they could have come up with it on their very own – with their own two hands. This same person learned how to make a cool earring from me and took it another step. I thought it was great! The idea didn't end up working but I often pull the pair of earrings she tried it on out and look at them trying to figure out how to make it work. The idea was adding flowers to the Dutch Spiral earrings I make. They look great when they stay on the outside, but they try to flip into the core here you can't see them. The acquaintance was brief and it never really did develop into a real friendship. My mom says that it ended because she had learned all she needed to from me. Maybe. The last time she came over to bead, it was so I could teach her how I make twisted fringe. I taught her that and never really saw much of her after that. What is really sad is that I have an even cooler way to make the twisted fringe now. She would love it even more this way! But she lets the crap clog her life. To fixate enough to tell several people that I have stolen from her, instead of moving forward and designing something even cooler herself, she is poisoned with the negative crap. I sincerely feel sorry for her. It is sad for someone to feel so low and unappreciated.

Everything is really not about you. It’s about a much bigger picture. In the end, isn't it about promoting beadwork, which is something we all love, right? That any of us can make anything using the ideas we come up with is great and we should all celebrate each other and not fight. It’s more important to keep the crap out of your brain so you can have a chance at creating. You get back what you put out. And if you put out crap, that is all you are going to get back!

More life lessons...

The more I travel, the more I learn about myself as I interact with others. This time it's the suggestions that other people freely give me without my asking for them...

Suggest - definition
a: to seek to influence
b: to call forth
c: to mention or imply as a possibility

I have come to realize that I am not a very suggestible person. I have also realized that I am a little ADHD. It's all part of what I call tunnel vision. Once I have my mind made up, I am not open to input most of the time. By the time I vocalize my intentions, I am usually not interested in input. I guess I feel that I get enough input from my family that anyone else is just over kill. I'm 41 for goodness sake, don't I have the right to make choices of my very own?

I'm tired of getting in trouble for not taking suggestions. They can start with "why don't you..." when what they really mean is "you must do as I say". Sort of the difference between A and C in the definition. It should be C but it ends up being A. They seek to influence me when I already have my mind pretty much made up. Now I'm not saying not to make suggestions, I'm saying to have low expectations of the person you are making them to actually following them. That way, you have a higher chance of not being disappointed.

So when you make suggestions, to anyone, please try to be prepared for them not to want the input they did not ask for first. This way, you don't get pissed off when they blow you off. It just might be that they already know exactly what they want to do. While well intended, your suggestion might just be the most unwanted thing they hear all day.

Headed Home From Tucson

Well I'm headed home from Tucson.

I'm sooooo tired but I had such a nice time. It's hard when you are so tired too. I'm glad to have such good friends who understand the achey body you end up with standing and walking for hours a day. I worked the Bead Ren show for 8 days and then Aleta walked my butt all over the Tucson Electric Park, Gem Mall, Hollidome and the shows on Freeway near Congress. I got to see friends I had not seen in a year and I had such a good time shopping with a bead shop. Just watching the quantities of beads bought at one vendor only further convinces me that they need 2 levels of wholesale: Designer and real wholesale to brick and morter businesses only. The latter having large minimums and refusing to sell a single strand to anyone. If you are a real business a single strand would more likely be a sample given to an already established customer. It was fun to see the vendor's faces light up when they saw the number of strands being sold in one sale. They did not seem to have had a good show. The economy sucks and there were just too many crowds of people that I would be willing to bet all were just friends who got a resale permit just to be able to buy at the same price as the local bead shop. It's not fair to the shops or the vendors. As a designer, I would not mind a show where they were willing to sell me at a better price than retail and not as good as the local bead shop. Because, after all, where would we be without the local bead shop. Whether it's a great one like we have in Redding, CA, or a mediocre one like I hear are out there. It was just so much fun, I am looking forward to a nice rest to catch up and let my body get back to normal.

trying to help?

Why is it that when you tell someone something, they try to help you into another direction?

Or an affirmative statement becomes a debate? It seems to happen to me occasionally, usually with people who don't realize I am a tunnel vision person. By the time I actually express and idea I generally have my mind made up and it's very frustrating when they won't let their cool idea go. Like if I picked beads out for a project or had the stitch in my head that I plan to use to get to the picture I have already created in my head, they try to steer me in another direction. They are only trying to help but still.

I can't give a for instance because the person(s) involved would get their feelings hurt when that certainly would not be my intention. There would be oodles less debate in my life if people would just let me stick with what I already stated in generally a very affirmative manner was my goal. If I want to use a product that you don't like, that is fine. I most likely don't like something you use and that is ok too. I guess we are all guilty of it at one time of another, but hey if we tried to just let people stick with their visions, and it turned out to be wrong, it was their wrong turn to make. It's usually not life or death - all will be right with the world again whether they crash and burn or flourish in most cases. How do you tell a friend though that the suggestions he or she makes could be more frustrating than helpful. Like if you tell someone you are in the middle of a thought and they still keep talking/suggesting? Ya don't want it to ruin a fantastic relationship otherwise but still, it sort of hinders the flow of things huh?

Another issue is when you make a statement of fact and they discount it... right on the spot. For instance, I know that the light will turn red after it turns yellow, and you say - maybe... or just a general fact - something from the news - something from anywhere - a general statement of fact - bold as can be - and generally things I can back up, will often be met with for lack of a better word skepticism. If I make a statement of fact, I don't generally want input one way or the other from the person I am talking to.

We all have our own preferences. Some beaders are catalog beaders. I am so not a catalog beader. I buy beads in person unless there is virtually no way to screw up getting more of something I already have... I am a see bead buyer. Mishaps in buying things on line have made me not really interested in buying on like much at all. I have friends who buy all their beads online. I have another friend who gets fantastic buys on ebay. Clothes and all sorts of goodies. It all looks great to me when she shows me but it's just not a bridge I choose to jump off of. Still another friend loves craigs list. I am not a craigs lister as far as purchasing things from strangers. There are too many weirdo's out there, and I'm a little paranoid. It's still my choice and no amount of huffing and puffing from anyone is really going to change my mind at that moment and that is ok too. Make a suggestion sometime but if it's met with a brick wall, let them have that brick wall if they want to. It's their wall anyway isn't it? They can always change their mind and follow your advise later. I know I did when I got the new laptop. Several very nice well meaning people told me to try the newspaper or craigs list or get a dell. I wanted a Toshiba. I did get a dell, so I did change my mind. It's not all bad but I get to change my mind in my own schedule, and you do too.

I adore the people in my life but at 41, I would hope that I had gotten to an age where I get to make my own mistakes if I choose to. Other people's personal experiences can be educational, but not always mesh with the pre plotted plan I have already in my minds eye. Give people a break. Let them do things their way. If it's not something life threatening, they might have a good idea afterall.

And just because I seem annoyed with the debate over something I just stated was affirmatively in my brain, it does not mean I'm angry. Just because I stick to the rules and have to correct others on my list for not doing so, also does not make me angry. I likes it the way I likes it. Live with it! LOL

Suddenly I'm FREE!

Well Tucson has not been nearly as fun as I had hoped...

The show was painfully slow making the boss painfully irritable.

Wednesday, I got violently ill from dust on beads I had been stringing for sale... had an asthma attack, got sick as a result of coughing too much and too hard.

Thursday morning, I felt like I had been run over by a truck, and the boss was as uncaring about the whole thing as he possibly could be. A little unfair, since I got sick because of something at his booth. I told him I almost called him to see if I could not come in today. He informed me that he didn't hire people who called in sick. I told him I didn't think people planned to be sick....

The result was him being picky over a phone number not being written on a check, but was on a biz card collected from the customer. He harped on it until I was sick, sick, sick of hearing it. The initial response from me was I'm sorry. I made the mistake and I had owned up to it, so why would anyone want to rub your nose in it so much it made you quit?

I have no clue but after asking him to please drop it, I was informed that it was his booth and I either could like it or lump it... basically a threat to fire me.

Result was a panic attack that I didn't need feeling as bad as I did and I did some math... The pay was in my favor by $15 dollars, so I gave him one more chance by telling him I didn't appreciate being threatened and he had the same basic response - that it was his business and I could basically like it or lump it. I told him I was in the green with him and that I didn't even want it and I quit. I told him I wished him the best and walked away with my head held high.

This was not the first time he had threatened me and this week he had been unfair a couple times and on the first time, I made a mental note that it was going to be a case of three strikes and you are out. I deserve better than that. EVERYONE does. I worked in a job years ago where I got the panic attacks from a boss that was just awful. So after one strike on Tuesday, one Wednesday, today was the straw that broke the camel's back after being so sick yesterday and the boss was as uncaring about it as possible. His product nearly put me in the emergency room and he really didn't care. But then he doesn't seem to care about anyone but himself anyway, so I'm not surprised. The two that run the biz deserve each other. Both so miserable in their own lives that they share the misery with all who are near them.

I found another place to work for a day or two, so it's not an entire loss. I feel free.

I worked for this company and I learned lots and got lots of cool beads over the years. I even got sent to Hawaii to work a show. It is not all bad but I'm guessing stress from the economy sucking and the market flooded with way too many shows, is taxing all the dealers. More is not always better. Maybe that is the cause of all of this.

I know the song is "suddenly I see" but in my head tonight, it's "suddenly I'm free". I feel like a huge weight was lifted off my back. I am working for a completely stress free company for whatever days she will have me. It's a fun crew and I am looking forward to working tomorrow way more than I was this morning.

Day 2 Tucson

Sorry I didn't post yesterday - I was pooped.

I got beadz!!!! And I had such a nice couple days!!!! We skipped the Beadwork party tonight as we were both wanting to get home and relax.

I am going to take pics and will try to post them soon.

I have been having fun with customers - helping them pick beads out, beating the customer service happening at our other booth *VBG*

Off to bed and on to more beads!!

Tucson or Bust!!!

Well, Greyhound to Oakland... Bart to Fremont.... Brother's house for the nite and out from San Jose this morning stopped in LA for 20 min to off load and reload passengers and I'm FINALLY in Tucson!!! Well I did leave out the part about almost not making it out of Redding due to snow in the mountains to the north.

Southwest Airlines still sucks. I thought that years back when I volunteered to stay longer eons ago. They charged my credit card for it and my luggage went to LA without me and didn't get back to me for 48 hours. Today I experienced the worst landing I have ever rode out... even the flight attendant commented a dig at the pilot about it. I was not advised about the LA stop over - I paid for a non-stop flight.... It was not non-stop.

But I'm here!!!! BRING ON DA BEADS!!!!

Work a bead show.... come home with money AND beads! :-D

Life Resolution

Unlike a New Years Resolution, this one is for the rest of my life! I'm going to try my hardest to stop playing the social game.

You know the people - friends who keep track of who initiated the last contact. Friends who sit near the phone or the instant messaging buddy list and never initiate contact because they initiated contact the last 365 out of 700 times and that means that if you like them - you will know this and initiate contact with them. It's a game and I hate petty games - this one worst of all. If you call and I'm home, usually I'm thrilled to talk. If I'm online and you message me, I'm happy to chat. But to keep track of who did what last or more often and use that as a gauge to who is the better friend? Not for me. Just because I didn't initiate it, doesn't mean I don't want the communication. I might not be in the mood to initiate it but the contact itself might improve my mood.

And no - if you are reading this, I'm most likely not talking about you. It would be people who don't read my blog, and I'm just venting :-)

Have a great day!!!

Tucson Bound!

In less than 5 days, I will be on my way to Tucson for the anual Gem shows!

I will be working at the Bead Ren show with San Francisco Arts & Crafts, so if you are there - please come by and say hi!

I have been working furiously on beadwork to wear at the show... better late than never! I do well with deadlines, so it makes sense that the airline ticket in my name sparked my creative side.

So Tucson in 5 days and counting!