Books Are Here!

 Not one, not two, but four BIG boxes of books have arrived! Explorations in Freeform Peyote Beading is now published! 

I was almost afraid to open the boxes.  What if I'd overlooked some terrible error in my final document files?  What if the books had all been damaged in shipping?  What if they weren't actually my book?  (okay, I was pretty sure that last one wouldn't be the case, but....)


After a series of deep breaths, I dared myself to open and unpack the boxes.  Here's what they looked like unpacked:

But a friend who watched me unpack the books said this picture was too boring.  So she made me pose with the books:

Can you can guess what I'll be working on this next week?

Actually, I'll be splitting my time between signing books and putting together packages, and continuing to work on the Kindle version of the book, (which is turning out to be every bit as difficult as I'd feared).

If you're interested, I have a very limited number of signed copies available on my Etsy store.  This first order is most of the books are already spoken for.  I will be placing another order, but likely won't have those books in until January.  Budget constraints - sigh!

As a special thank you for still following my poor, neglected blog; if you purchase my book through Etsy, write 'Congratulations Karen' in the notes to seller.  Do that and I'll include a set of five randomly chosen postcards featuring works from the book along with your book.


Just a heads up - Ordering directly through Amazon may be a less expensive option.  Because Createspace (my printer) is one of their subsidiaries and Amazon ships books in such volumes; they may be able to offer discounts that I simply can't.  Explorations should be live on Amazon by Monday. (12/2/2014 update:  Here is the link to Amazon).  But only I can offer personalized inscriptions and postcards!

This Thanksgiving weekend, I have an incredible amount to be thankful for.  I am grateful for my Kickstarter supporters who believed in this project from the beginning.  For my dear husband who led the cheerleading squad and cooked many a dinner when I was simply too tired.  For all of you, my blogging friends, who have sent me much needed words of encouragement throughout the process.  And I am so very, very pleased to be able to announce that the books are complete.  Amazing!

Thank you all for your part in helping make this happen.

Book Cover for Explorations in Freeform Peyote Beading

I've neglected my poor blog quite terribly this past year while working on my upcoming book.   In between book projects, I forget just how much work goes into self-publishing.  After designing, stitching and photographing new designs; writing the accompanying text; drawing illustrations on the computer; coordinating with my amazing cast of contributing artists; working through the seemingly never-ending tasks of page layout and design; then taking the manuscript through multiple revisions, there simply wasn't much of me left over.  But the good news is I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel! 

Explorations is heading to the printers this week, so I thought it was about time to post the front and back covers.    Drum roll please!

Kickstarter supporters got to vote on a couple of different cover designs earlier this month.   My Coral Dancer bracelet definitely came out ahead in the voting for the front cover.  Its bold colors carried the day.

The back cover features a collage of works by my seven featured artists: Georgia McMillan, Wendy Hatton, Cynthia Machata, Jennifer Porter, Nancy Dale, Janice Cuozzo and Natalia Malysheva.

The book topped out at 174 pages of freeform beady goodness.  Each of the featured artists has a five-page spread of their work.  Explorations also includes works by fourteen additional artists besides yours truly.

Once the book is at the printers,  I'll have a clearer idea of when I will have books in-hand.  At that point I'll set up my Etsy store to accept pre-orders.  I also hope to have a Kindle version out by mid-December.  That's a whole separate endeavor, and should be 'interesting' to say the least as this will be my first attempt to publish for Kindle.

But for now, I'm just going to bask in the glow of the new covers. 

Bead Shopping in Barcelona

Several people have asked if I bought beads while I was away, so before I write about our transatlantic, thought I'd share the results of my Treasure Hunt.  In my search for bead stores, I did find a few that sold seed beads, Antiga Casa Sala in particular, but I was looking for things that I couldn't purchase at home, that would remind me of Barcelona.  The search turned out to be more difficult than expected and my haul can only be labeled 'odd'.

I stumbled upon the first bead shop pretty much by accident.  I wish I'd written down their name and address because I never did find my way back there later in the week.  They carried loads of silver charms.  Though I don't actually know the metal content, and I'm not sure 'charm' is the right word when the smallest were 2-3 inches across (like the butterfly above).  I also bought two yummy packages of sequins, thinking of my friend Sarah over at Saturday Sequins, and some 'silver' findings.  No matter what the metal was, the pin backs seemed much sturdier and better constructed than those I've found in the states. 

Doing a little internet research from our hotel,  two street names kept coming up in my searches -  Carrer de Boqueria and Carrer de Call.  Both in the narrow, twisty streets of the Gothic district, and walking distance from our hotel.  So armed with our trusty tourist map, Joe and I set out in search of treasure.


Dyed tagua nut jewelry seemed really popular - even the corner newstands carried necklaces strung with whole tagua nuts dyed in bright, contemporary colors - turquoise, fushia and goldenrod the most popular.  Kind of wish I'd picked one of those up now, even though I still have no idea what I would have done with it.  In Antiga Casa Sala (the largest bead store I discovered) I found more natural colored tagua nuts cut into pendants with darker lines that remind me of roots or brances, so I did pick those up.  I also picked up two packages of abolone shell 'buttons', just because I thought they were so beautiful.

I found the lampworked chili peppers in a that sold all sorts of weird and odd items.  Technically, they were wholesale only (if you see the sign 'vente al mayor' it means 'wholesale only'), but the saleswoman didn't even glance at my business card before ringing me up. 

Visiting Barcelona

Earlier this month, Joe and I both packed up our laptops and headed out on our much-postponed 20th anniversary trip (we celebrated out 21st anniversary while away to give some idea of how long it took us to actually go on this trip).  For years, we'd talked of taking a transatlantic cruise and finally had the chance. 

From one standpoint, the timing wasn't great - Joe's start-up was in crunch mode and I was (and am) behind with where I need to be for my book.  But from another, I don't think the timing could have been better.  The entire trip was so energizing - refilling our creative batteries to overflowing and (for me at least) giving me blocks of totally uninterrupted time to work on my book.  While I'm still behind, I am amazed and pleased to say that I made up significant ground while away.

Enough of that, let's get into the trip.  Our cruise started out of Barcelona, a city I'll admit to knowing next to nothing about two years ago when we first started planning the trip.  We decided to add several days to the front of the trip to explore the city, and I am so glad!

Like so much of Europe, Barcelona has in incredibly rich, vibrant history.  We walked through Roman ruins below the streets at the MUHBA (the Museum of History of Barcelona), through the medieval streets of the gothic quarter, toured Gaudi's incredible artistry at the Paula Güell, all within walking distance of our hotel!

I'd booked us at the Atiram Oriente hotel, right on Las Ramblas - the pedestrian boulevard and promenade that cuts through the heart of Barcelona.  I put a little red star on the map in the background of the collage to show where we stayed.  The beds were hard, but the location was perfect!  The photo in the lower left corner shows the view of Las Ramblas from our room.

A 'street' in the Gothic quarter

Our first day of exploring, jet lagged and a bit disoriented, we wandered into the narrow, crooked streets of the Gothic quarter.  After meandering a while, the little street suddenly opened out into a large stone plaza. In front of us stood the Cathedral!  We spent the next two days exploring our little corner of Barcelona on foot. It was such fun, plunging into the stone alley/streets (most of which were pedestrian only) and just seeing where they'd take us.  There's a lot of Barcelona we did not see, but that's okay.  Should we ever make it back that way, we can explore some more.

A wall on the side of the cathedral - the different materials me think of freeform peyote!

Since we both had to work, we fell into a sort of pattern where we'd pull out our laptops and spend a couple of hours working each morning, then go out exploring.  When it got to hot (we are both heat wimps, coming from Seattle), we'd head back to our hotel for a siesta.  Afterward, we'd go out exploring again for a couple of hours, then put in a couple more hours on the computer.  By then it would be 8-9 at night and we'd head out for dinner (and a Flamenco show one evening).

The last day before our cruise, we took an all-day tour through Explore Catalunya.  I'd come across their site researching Barcelona, and knew that we had to do their day trip to Tarragona as soon as I saw it.

Roman aqueduct and circus in Tarragona, Spain

My husband has been fascinated by the Roman empire for as long as I've known him.  Before we'd met, he'd traveled to Rome, but this was our chance to explore a bit of the empire together.  The aqueduct spans a small valley between two hills.  The precision of the engineering is incredible - each block was so precisely quarried and it still shows.  Since it's outside of the city in a protected nature area, the air quality is quite good which means that the stones haven't been worn by pollutants the way they have in other areas. Stepping out of our little van (there were 6 people on the tour, including the two of us), the air smelled so good, redolent with the resinous smell the Mediterranean plants.

A closer view of the 2,000 year old aqueduct

In Tarragona, we also had a chance to explore the remains of a Roman Circus on our own.  I hadn't realized it, but a 'circus' is the arena where they held their chariot races.  Some of the stadium still exists - but there's even more of their underground tunnels, which run the length of the original arena.  It's a humbling feeling, walking through something built by people who have been gone for thousands of years.  I am always so awed by the sheer artistry of the Roman empire - like the draping of the clothing in the marble statue in my photo collage.

Hanging out on the rooftop of the Palau Guell

The next day, we packed up, did a little more work on our laptops, had a leisurely breakfast sitting at one of the open air restaurant areas in front of our hotel, then took a taxi down to the dock to board our ship for the transatlantic crossing.  But this post has grown quite long and I need to get back to working on my book, so I think I'll close here for now.  That means I'll have at least two posts this month, as I've promised several people I'd write about our transatlantic as well. 

Tales from the Tyler Bead Retreat

I've been home now for a couple of days and just starting to get back into the swing of things after returning from the Tyler Bead Retreat.  Organized by the amazing Belinda Defoor, the Retreat is a truly wonderful weekend with a stellar line up of classes - any of you living down that way I highly recommend you check it out (she'll be hosting another retreat in October). 

Mandi, Ralonda and me with a packed to the gills Prius ready to hit the road

Mandi Ainsworth grabbed me at the Dallas airport, then she, Ralonda Patterson and I packed the car and headed out.  Road trip to Tyler!  Facebook friends might have seen the selfie Ralonda took of us - three teachers in a Prius!   

 
 
 
 
I was absolutely amazed we all fit.  I think Mandi's Prius might actually be a TARDIS in disguise.

the main beading room, my spot is in the lower right corner!

The retreat itself was a blast!  This being my second time around, I actually knew people (besides Mandi and Ralonda) this time.  What fun it is to walk into a room and have people you haven't seen in a year recognize you and realize you recognize them in return. 

And so much space.  The main beading room was huge, with big round tables and lots of room in between.  Made it really easy to visit other tables and see what everyone else was working on.

I taught two classes.  And have to admit to a slightly embarrassing secret.  I have two different fishy classes that both go by the same name at the moment.  There's the chatelaine I'll be teaching for Fusion Beads come August.  Then there's my latest class, inspired by one of the necklaces I made for Lori's Bead Soup Party last year.  This one features a fish pendant made from a modified right angle weave bezel (RAW being my second favorite stitch behind peyote.)

Both classes are currently titled "Catch of the Day".  Technically, the title really does work for both as whichever I happen to be teaching that particular day could reasonably be considered the 'catch of the day'.  But, it lacks a certain clarity. 

So now I need to find a new name for one of them.  Ideas anyone?

Lisa Steven's freeform peyote pendant

I also taught a short freeform peyote ruffles class.  Happy me.  Since we only had three hours, the class focused on making a pendant or brooch. 

Where my fish class was packed - I think I had something like eighteen students - there were only two people in my freeform class.  Some of that may have had to do with the freeform class starting at 8:30am!  But it was such wonderfully restful, yet creative class. Interestingly, both of the students in my freeform class had been in my fish class the night before, too.

Lisa Steven's finished up her freeform pendant later that day and allowed me to take a picture.  Didn't it turn out beautifully? 

snapped this picture as they set up one morning

One of my favorite (and most dangerous) luxuries of being at the retreat was that the local bead store, Bead Crazee, moved the better part of their shop into the other half of the conference ballroom.  This included an incredible selection of Toho Bead seed beads laid out in an easy to browse rainbow array. 

Perfect for designing. 

Just steps away from my seat! 

See what I mean about dangerous? 

My beady purchases

I was amazed and impressed that I managed to get away so lightly. 

I bought the spools of 0ne-G from Cynthia Rutledge - she turned me on to the beading thread at last year's retreat.



Now, it's back to work on my book.  

Double Header Beading Workshop August 2nd & 3rd

The first weekend in August, I'll be teaching a Beading Double Header, with back-to-back workshops on Saturday and Sunday at Fusion Beads.

Catch of the Day Chatelaine, Saturday August 2nd

First up is my debuting workshop, Catch of the Day Chatelaine. These are a larger variation on my popular Fancy Fish pattern. Still working with right angle weave, these fish a considerably larger, with seaweed fringe tails and fins and designed to hang as a pendant from a 'float' bead with decorative bead caps to complete the look.

 

 

Lacework Bracelets, Sunday August 3rd

Followed by my three-hour Lacework Bracelets workshop. This is one of my favorite classes and techniques! Random right angle weave is an incredibly versatile stitch and the finished bracelets have the organic look of freeform lace.

Signups started last week, but there's still space in both classes. If you're going to be in Seattle this Summer, definitely check out Fusion Beads' full class schedule. They have classes in bead weaving, wire-working, metal smithing and so much more!

 

 

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Artists' Roster for Explorations in Freeform Peyote Beading (First Draft)

A month after the Call for Artists officially closed, I can now announce the names of many of the artists whose work will be included in Explorations in Freeform Peyote Beading.  I've tried to hold off until I had the final photographs and signed contracts from everyone, but this process has turned out to be far more involved than originally anticipated, with delays on both sides of the equation.  

Rather than continuing to wait until I have absolutely everything in hand, I thought I'd give at least a partial list of names today, with more to come.  The current list includes:

Mary Kearney

Bobbie Rafferty

Cortney Phillips

Marsha Melone

Lisa Jones

Beth McGowan

Marlene Oman Emmons

Sherry Eagle

Liz Hart

Mary Foyes

Mandi Ainsworth

These artists contributed jewelry and sculptural works spanning a huge range of styles.  From the sleek simplicity of Bobbie Rafferty's freeform peyote and wireworked earrings to the stunningly organic Seahorse sculpture by Beth McGowan, their work helps tell the story of the possibilities of the medium.   I am excited to announce that Explorations will be a truly international book, with work by artists from three countries.

Featured Artists

The book will also include a more in-depth look at the works of four to six artists.  Right now, I have locked down

Janice Cuozzo

Natalja Malysheva

Georgia McMillan

Jennifer Porter

I'm hoping to square things away with two more amazing artists here very shortly - as soon as I know for sure, I will let you know.  One has had family issues which may keep her from participating.  If she can't participate as a featured artist, I'm hoping to at least include images of one or two of her pieces.  Keep your fingers crossed!

freeform fish by Georgia McMillan

Figuring out which images to use in this blog post has been really tricky, as I don't want to 'spoil the surprise' as it were, but I also do want to give you a taste of what's to come.  I finally decided to settle on just the one picture of a freeform fish by Georgia McMillan.  Hope you like.