And the title for World's Worst Blogger goes to:

Me.

Yeah, I know, I generally suck at keeping on top of this blog, even when I have wonderful and neat things to show you.

Like my annual trek to San Francisco! Yes, life (and my husband *blows kisses*) were good to me again this year, and I got to visit my BFF Kimberly in San Fran again for BABE. Despite a SNAFU at the very start (I'm not saying!) it was even more wonderful than last year! First, we found a fabulous new bead store to visit! Kiowa Rose in Fremont, CA rocks! They have an Awesome Selection of Czech glass! It was tough to control ourselves, I must say. It was that Awesome. Check out the link, and I'm sure you'll agree that it's a must-visit if you're in the area. They have a drawing where you win a selection of beads, then create something to enter into another competition. Kimberly won! She blogs about it here, and shows you pictures of the beads and her creation. Very lovely.

We went to Japantown again, and Kinokuniya, the Japanese book store came through again. I know have two new Beads Bee's and two new My Beads Style's and a new 50 Beads book. A little disappointed they didn't have Yoko Shimizu's new book, but Beads Bee Vol. 23 features Yoko's work with a few recipes. I'll detail in another entry. I also got my hands on some new ceramics at Shiki, and some fabulous new containers at a new "dollar-fifty store" in the mall.

Other than beading--which, let's face it, is reason enough--there was other fabulous shopping, eating, and we had a great time taking Taffy, her new dog, on walks in a vain attempt to wear her out. We have found the perpetual motion machine, and it's name is Taffy!

Thanks, Kimberly, for letting me come! It was PERFECT!

Beading for Hunters . . . .

Well, my husband recently signed on to be the area chairman for our local Ducks Unlimited chapter. He asked me to make a couple of things for their banquet auction.

My first though was a duck pattern from Motif Beads by Keiko Kitamura. Trouble is, she documents like no other artist, and I've never really figured it out. I was determined however, and once I put my mind to it I figured it out. I actually think it's easier to follow than most animal since the circular nature can be tough to follow.

Here he is. He's going on a leather cord to be a pendant because Daren thinks it should be "jewelry", but I think he's cute as is.
Those are 3mm bicones, so he's a little bigger than a quarter. :D

The second piece I made is Sakiko Kusinagi's "Camouflage Bracelet" from her second book, "Favorite Beads Jewelry." I like Sakiss, but her documentation leaves much to be desired. 400 4mm crystals, in varying shades of green, all documented in a black and white drawing with shades of grey to tell me the color pattern. Did I mention the drawing was less than scale? Let me just say I won't be disappointed to never make another one. Actually, I can't make another one since Swarovski discontinued two of the colors. I was wondering how it might look in pink camouflage?

New Works

A few pics of recent projects. Most are going for consignment, but a couple will be in my Etsy shop. I'm having a real hard time letting go of the moonstone/smoky quartz stuff. I think it's some of the pretties stuff I've every made.

New Books!

I've been remiss in sharing my new books. One the left is one I'm pretty excited about, Beads Story by Noriko Kitsukawa. At this point in my collecting, I've got to be pretty stunned by something to really want a book, (unless it's one of my fave five, natch.) This book has the most amazing treble clef motif. Truly stunning. It's a well photographed and documented book, with both jewelry and petit motifs like you see at the left. This author has a new book out this month, and already I'm watching for it to hit my sellers. *shakes fist at Amazon.jp for raising shipping rates*

The second book is one by the inimitable Yoko, another wedding book--"White Beads Jewerly for Happy Wedding." This book is interesting because it's published by Mook as a part of the "My Beads Style" series, so the size and documentation are the same as that series. I can't say as I prefer it to her earlier "boutique" books. I've not a big fan of using people to model the jewelry in pictures. It seems to result in less jewerly-oriented pictures in my opinion. The works are stunning, as usual though, and it amazes me how many American brides get married with either nothing or a boring strand of pearls when their jewelry could be as special as that dress they spent weeks picking out and beaucoup bucks buying. I've added a link to Yoko's site, Laciq Beads on the left sidebar.