New Year's Plans - a New Take on Freeform Peyote Beading

It's time to write the sequel to Freeform Peyote Beading!

My first book, Freeform Peyote Beading was totally a labor of love, born out of the belief that there must be others, somewhere, interested in the same crazy beading that I was.  When I began that project there were no other books out in the field.  Writing Freeform Peyote Beading I worked in largely uncharted territory, deciding what were the most essential elements necessary to be successful in this medium.  I know there have been comments that my book could have been more.  I have to agree - even then there was so much more I wanted to add.  But in the interest of actually completing the project, I decided it was 'enough to be getting on with' as one of my friends would say. 

In the past four years, my comfort and skills with the entire writing/editing and publishing process have grown tremendously.  Better yet, I'm now part of a community of individuals from around the world interested in beadweaving in general and freeform beading in specific.  And I know I'm not totally bonkers thinking that someone, somewhere might also be interested in my finished book.

So, after much thinking and plotting and planning through the second half of last year, I decided that 2014 is the time to create a new and improved version of Freeform Peyote Beading.  I committed to that first project on January 1 of 2010, so it seems only fitting that I announce my intentions to create it's sequel here on my blog on the first day of 2014.  Some of you may have seen my comment in the Freeform Peyote Beading group, but here's the formal (at least as formal as I tend to get) announcement:

The new book will be:

Larger and Longer  The new book will be a full 8 1/2 x 11” paperback topping out at 150 pages - nearly twice the length of my original!

Full-bleed photography  The full-color interior layout will include full-bleed photographs allowing me to expand the images all the way to the edges of the page. 

More Designs, More Artwork, New Projects Most of the additional pages will be devoted to more and expanded beading examples and more in-depth tutorials with new designs.

Works by Other Artists  I am in awe of the wonderfully vibrant community of artists working in this medium and hope to include and promote other artists through the medium of my book.  As such, I am and will be actively soliciting participation through a Call for Artists.   While I plan to post a Call for Artists here on my blog, let me know if you’d like to receive an email notification when it goes live.  

Not Just Jewelry  I'm adding a completely new chapter entitled “Beyond Jewelry” which will focus on freeform beading as a sculptural medium, including beading over ready made forms such as glass bottles and free-standing sculptures.

Index Amongst other things, I'm currently at work developing a list of keywords and phrases for a comprehensive index to make finding information even easier. 

Digital Publishing I am also hoping to publish in both Kindle and PDF digital versions as well.

Expected publication date: December 2014.  My plan is to have it available on Amazon by or before December 1st.

It's a long journey between here and there, with many, many steps.  To help guide me on my way, I have my detailed outline along with my somewhat daunting production plan with deadlines for each element of writing, beading, photography, illustration, editing, page layout and more.  And I'm ready to start.  Excited, a little scared, part of me wondering what in the world I'm doing, but excited to dig in.

Is there something in particular you'd really love to see in the book?  Now's the time to let me know!  I'd love to hear your suggestions.  

On January 15th, I'll be launching a Kickstarter campaign to continue building a community of supporters and to help me fund this project.  In a project of this scale, community is so important.  I want to continue to show the world what Freeform Peyote is all about and share some of the best and brightest from our community in the pages of my book.  It will also be great to have that financial support while I work on a project of this size. 

With this great new book project and my first Kickstarter, 2014 looks like it will be a fantastic year and here's wishing that yours will be just as wonderful!

Happy New Year!