Czech Seed Bead...a little Respect....please

I guess my subject line just sort of shout outs what I've been thinking these past few days after seeing a few comments on Facebook about the woe of having Czech seed beads.  I had to stop and give that some thought.  Do they get used as much as Japanese seed beads?  I guess I'd have to say no, they are not as desirable in the bead weaving community as their counterparts, but they do have a place in our bead world.

When I first started beading years ago, my favorite bead store had one of the largest selection of Czech seed beads in sizes from 6 to 11s.  I'd stand in front of the way where there were so many different colors "winking" back at me.  I used them in every class I took at Byzantium and incorporated them into my beaded dolls are landscapes as much as I could.  They worked so well by actually not being uniform in size.  You could always cull through the piles of beads and find that one perfect size that would fit nicely into a tight spot completing the row and making the piece look almost flawless.  Then most of the time when doing other types of bead weaving techniques the Delicas were always the bead of choice with their square uniform size that just "snapped" into place making a smooth flawless transition in color and texture.  But they were expensive to use and no one at the time used them except to do peyote caged cabochons.  Then our local bead stores started carrying more and more Japanese seed beads in 11s, 15s, and 8s.  The color selection wasn't that impressive, but they did work better in Right Angle Weave and Netting.  They still were a little wonky with Square Stitch or loom work, but they were very versatile in bead embroidery.  As more an more colors hit the market, bead stores eventually displayed them in a more pronounced area of the store.  Meanwhile the lowly Czech seed beads found themselves in the least desirable portion of the store either next to the rest rooms or in some dark corner.  It became even harder to find them online.  Once I heard a student say they had to buy their Czech beads online for their Native bead work because none of the stores in town carried little more than a handful of colors.  I looked, and it was true. 

Eventually, even myself turned from my Czech beads.  I still have a large collection of them when I "rescued" them from the two closing bead stores in town or purchased from another beader who just didn't want them any more.  They became less and less a part of my palette while doing any type of beading.  So when I read that comment about them, I thought to myself are they such bad beads?  Are they really just "trash" to be discarded in yard sales and donated to the local thrift stores?

 So I decided to pull out my stash of Czech seed beads and see if I could reconnect with them and try to show them that they are more than just fillers for those unseen spots on a bead embroidered piece.  I decided to use them in a project from Marcia DeCoster's Beading By the Bay class called Pacific Morning Glories.  I loved the pinwheel design where you can have this amazing piece twirl with the ability of motion.  I got out two different color size 11 Czech seed beads from my storage in the studio and began to construct the pinwheels.  They might not be as lovely as the ones I made with the Japanese beads while in Marcia's class, but they do have this earthy feel and hominess visual appeal.  Not even culling out the imperfection from the piles of beads, I think they look rather lovely.  I intend to experiment more by creating a necklace with this design using ONLY the Czech seed beads and some of the "rescued" crystals I also found hidden in a box of unlabeled offerings from a closing bead store.

So come on bead world...let's show the Czech seed beads a little more respect.

End of an Era

I thought today I'd write about my favorite bead store, Byzantium. As I sit here & try to come up with something to say about Joyce and all the girls at Byzantium is that I'm sad to be losing a long close friend. Byzantium has been in business for 25 years & has been a bedrock for the art community in Columbus offering beads to excite and delight everyone. It also is a haven for those looking for inspirations and imagination with all the things Joyce has collected over the years from African drums, tibetian prayer bowls, Haiti Voodo Flags, Navajo jewelry, silver pieces from Afghanistan, Nepal jewelry, beaded Hoichu masks, carved fetish, African trade beads, gemstones from all over the world, Central American jewelry, plus just about everything else you can imagine. And all of this has got to go as Joyce has decided to retire & spend time with her husband Jeff doing the things she hasn't done since being a owner of a busy bead store has kept her from just average things some folks take for granted. She wrote in an e-mail when people asked her "well, what are you going to do now that you are retired". I can hear her small laugh when she wrote she was going to work in her garden, eat breakfast AND dinner with her husband, take a daily walk & bead! Joyce has no time to bead at all! So hopefully she'll get her wish.

But for people like me it is a sad time. Every time I go to the store, there is less and less left as every day she has more & more discounts. Oh and shall I say that more & more is coming home with me! I've been helping out some selling items and it has been a thrill. I've seen more unusual and interesting thing than in all the years that I've pressed my nose to the glass cases trying to see what was hidden away. Because of that, I've got to add to my collection some interesting pieces of silver jewelry and rings. I've also purchases a string of black coral with sterling silver inlays that I'd never seen before. I have bags & bags of vintage French sequins that are someday going to make a lovely dark lady mermaid. I've also got to see old friends who I haven't seen in years & students come up to me giving me a hug and try to talk but tears are in all our eyes. Monday I went in & there was my very first bead embroidery teacher Rena standing there larger than life. It was like a big old reunion as she lives out of town & we lost track. We hugged, kissed & exchanged e-mails. Each time I leave, I turn to say goodbye to a place that means so much to me, as here was where I first got to bead bug!

But I'm happy for Joyce & blessed that she has been there to encourage me & LOL! help me with picking out colors for my teaching kits! Joyce knows I have a real problem doing blue kits! Joyce also gave me the confidence to teach and to publish articles. Roxanne, Corby, Tammy, Larrisa, Laine and all the other girls have given me hugs & thumbs up with every item I bring in to show. So you see, it is like having a long time loving friend pass away.

I'm going in Saturday to find more treasures to add to my collection & to see if they need help with customers as Saturday is the 75% off day. Yikes! So far, I've heard the last day Byzantium will be open will be August the 7th or longer. I saw that I'm off that day & will go in hopefully to see bare walls as all the goodies will have found their way to new homes, and to say my last farewell to friends.

Fiona progress

Well, Fiona has turned the corner. She started to want to eat Wednesday night. I wasn't sure if my Fiona was even going to be around this time of the week as she was very close to leaving Chris & I. I'd come home every morning & see her just laying on the floor near the water dish. I couldn't see her breathing & was so afraid to see if she was cold or not. I'd call her name, and they she would stir slightly. I'd pick her up and give her such a hug that she made it another night. So imagine how on Wednesday evening when I gave her a tin of Cesars and she gobbled it down. Both Chris & I were in tears. He looked at me. I looked at him, and it was relief. We were so happy we opened another tin of the Cesars & merrily she gobbled it up. Naturally she had Frodo & Arwen to help her clean up the mess as she cannot see what she's dropped.

Friday morning we took her in to Dr. Miller. Her blood sugar was still elevated so we are going to increase her insulin and try to feed her more protein rich food and snacks. Oh, she loves boiled eggs & pork rinds. He laughed & said whatever she'll eat is great as we need to get her to eat & gain some weight. I know this might be hard to believe to dog owners, but she lost 7 pounds in 3 weeks! Last night she devoured 1/4 cup of Iams kibble and a whole can of Alpo. I know all those prayers that people have been sending to me have been answered. We have a ways to go to regulate her blood sugar, but she is alert and knows her name. She's even investigating the downstairs & navigating areas around the table. I just need to remember to shut the basement door or put the gate up so she doesn't fall down the stairs. But I'm so happy that Fiona is showing some improvement. Thank you everyone for thinking of me & my sweet old Scottish lass.

I almost have my BFAC completed. The beading is all done, and all I need to do is to finish one last assemble piece then it is pictures, posting, and mailing away for next years auction. I can't believe that it has taken my 3 months to complete this project & she is going away to live at someone's home forever. I just hope she finds a good home next year & we are able to get a nice hunk of cash for our charity. Oh, I'll post more next year when the auctions start.

I'm not much at sewing, but I want to finish this sample for the Lily's September class. I have it 75% done & need to sew with Hal some components to finish. Guess what? Can't find the power cord to my Janome! I had to actually clean off my work table & some of the racks of fabic, but can't find. I wonder if I #1 lost it someplace/somewhere-god-knows-where, #2 misplaced it in the piles of stuff in the back section of the studio, or #3 it was stolen my those mysterious trolls that hide in the crawl space and always get blamed for missing things. I wonder if my old 30 year old Brother will still work? I do know where it is! I have pants to mend too as I have to put a little hem in Chris' new trousers. And did I say, I'm geared up to sew on that blasted machine for a change. Oh well, hopefully Chris knows where "I" put it! Probably the same place "I" put the power cord to my cell phone!

And now for something interesting. Lark is having a give away on their blog for three fabulous books. Check it out & put a comment to have the chance to win.

hots as Hades in Ohio...but I'm chilled out in my basement trying to find that blasted power cord!

Not easy and another sneak peak

I'm back from a 4 day class on Tambour beading with Bob Havens who teaches costuming at the University of Kentucky. If you are like me, after watching this YouTube video on how Bob does this incredible beading stitch, you'll think...oh I can do that. I thought that, so when I signed up for the class and headed down to Kentucky last Tuesday afternoon, I was full of excitement in learning a new beading technique. The first day we spent the morning mounting our piece on to the frame, drew out the pattern, and was introduced to the tambour hook. It was all downhill after that. I became so frustrated trying to work the hook, that I was almost in tears. The second day wasn't any better after Bob tried to help me get the mechanics of the hook. I could feel my stomach aching so around 11am, I left the class and went back to my hotel. I was ready to go home and just say forget the fact that there is 2 1/2 more days. I didn't go back to the afternoon session, but instead took a nap & drove around Lexington checking out the bead store (okay, don't bother) and the thrift stores (again, don't bother). I had a nice dinner all by myself and slept 9 hours. I dreamed about that tambour hook. I dreamed about holding it, manipulating it, and trying to work with it on the frame. I woke up with an idea, but since I left my frame back in the class room, I couldn't experiment. So on the third day at around 10am, I had that "aha" moment when it all clicked. So I spent the rest of the day just practicing with the hook doing rows and rows of chain stitch. I hadn't even picked up a bead or sequin at this point. Bob was happy that I the "slow" one finally got it as everyone else was just speeding along. He then tells me that it took him 10 years to figure it all our & that most of the other students had taken a 2 day class with him in Chicago the previous year. Then one by one the other students told me they had taken many embroidery classes. Me? This was my first. Bob then noticed that I sew left to right. I've always sewn left to right for bead embroidery, cross stitch and crewel. Well, I guess to correctly be able to securely hold the beads/sequins to sew them down using the hook, I have to sew right to left. Talk about trying to teach an old dog new tricks. So, then I had to practice trying to do chain stitches right to left...it was hard! I did get some fibers out to play around with as I need to relax so I wouldn't feel so frustrated. I enjoyed this, and Bob thought it a great new way to use the hook. So the question that everyone was asking me...did you have fun? No, not really as it was frustrating and hard. Will you do it again? I am not giving up on tambour beading, but I see that it is going to take many many hours of practice before I can even get to the point that the other students were when I left Saturday. Will I ever get to the point that I can make something using the tambour hook...after 10 years, maybe? So all in all...valuable lesson....if you are going to take a class that falls out of your comfort zone...ask more questions than I did and be prepared to struggle before you finally get that moment of "yes, I got it".



To keep myself from totally getting to the point where I would break down, I sewed on Mother's Love to keep my fingers nimble and to relax my screaming mind. Didn't I say how much bead embroidery is a therapy? It is! So here are a couple pictures. I have not done any surface embellishment and the face needs more work.

WOW! Good stuff yesterday.

Yesterday I woke up feeling really tired. It has been a struggle at work this past two months as we are down two whole full time positions on night shift. We've been lucky to have one person from second shift work with us, but she's been difficult at times to work with. It takes a certain kind of personality to work the graveyard shift & keep your faculties straight. This person has gone from buzz to maniac. She's not sleeping & now is aggravating to all who work with her. Two of us went you our boss & told her we'd rather work short than have someone who argues with us & the nursing staff all the time. I think I'd rather be physically tired from working super short than mentally tired from not going off on this person who only wants to help. It is really hard to keep my cool. So, yes, I was mentally tired when I got up yesterday afternoon. I come downstairs with slits for eyes as I could not wake up, and there was this box sitting on the counter waiting for me. I made my coffee and was listening to the hiss it was making when Chris came inside & asked me what it was. For the life of me, I couldn't remember. Then I saw the return address was from Fran.

Fran is a wonderful dollmaker I met last year when I was out in Albuquerque at EDAC. Fran is from Las Vegas & belongs to a very active & fun doll club there. Fran also has a blog & was so excited about her 200th blog entry so she was giving out two gifts if you commented. I did not thinking I'd be the lucky girl, but there I was...lucky! And after I opened the box, look how truly luck I was! AMAZING hand dyed lace & ribbons, and lovely yarns. Included were batik fabrics to die for with some gold dust, and other things. Boy was I one extremely happy dancing girl. It made me forget all about my problems at work.

Then my day went sour again. We decided to go to McDonald's for a late lunch...wrong! It was cold, cold, and even colder. I wasn't in the mood to argue with the manager or to even combat the pimple face teenagers behind the counter. Funny, but some restaurants are decent, but then some are just mediocre. I think it all depends on the manager & we could tell this manager didn't give a damn about his customers. I'm never going to that franchise again as there are McDonald's that actually ARE clean & DO serve hot food. So there I was coming back home in a foul mood again. Chris then asked me if I was going to the garage sale at the bead store.

I put answering for an hour thinking would me in this foul mood really be happy there. Then I decided 15 minutes before 1 Stop Bead Shop would open its doors for the garage sale that I'd go. I jumped in the Element & was there 5 minutes after the doors opened. There were 14 vendors there besides the store staff selling things that they didn't want anymore. It was crowded, but not as bad as I thought. I looked at one table, nothing interested me, then I saw some findings that told me...dot buy me & make a doll with me...WOW! My mood changed with my Muse kicking me, or it could be seeing prices that shocked my senses straight. I then went crazy. Funny, but I was wearing one of my bracelets from a class I taught & two of my students said they saw it & realized it was me. Others saw it too & lucky I had cards to hand out as now I think I'll get a few more in my bracelet class in November. Also met Dixie who I met in Sherry's purse class. We talked about the fun time we had in the class. Dixie asked me if I'm done yet...not yet, but close. So here is the big stash of beads I got from the garage sale. I WAS HAPPY! FINALLY! I knew beads would redraw me out of my funk.

Then a couple episodes of X-Files (working on my box set I got for Christmas last year) and a wonderfully cool night to sleep & dream & wake up happy, refreshed & ready to work on that purse which will be in tomorrows post. Now to finish this up & get ready to watch Mad Man on AMC. Love this show.