Hooked On Wire piece, some progress...

I am in Tucson right now. The Beaducation booth is being set up, and I have been given the day off to finish my Hooked On Wire project. We have rented a gorgeous house here and it has provided me with a beautiful, warm and quite place to create.

I am not done yet, but I think I have a final plan and am on my way.

This is a whole lot of symetry goin' on here...it's kinda freaking me out. Oh well, balance right?

In my head...

If you could take a look in my brain right now (which I don't really recommend), here is what you would see.
























With a little bit of this...






















It's an odd mix, but in this creative space, it's workin' for me.

Coming to Tucson?

Are ya headed out to Tucson to stock up on beads, tools, gems and all kinds of other stuff that you NEEEEEEED. If so, come visit the Beaducation booth and say HI!

We will be at the To Bead True Blue show at the The Doubletree Reid Park, from Jan 31st through Feb 8th. Technically the last 3 days of the show is called The Tucson Bead Show, but it is the same location and we will be at the same space....booths G174 and G175.

We are all packed up and headed out....hope to see you there!!!

oh.....my....goodness.....I am blushing!

A few months ago, I got an email from the editor of Bead&Button magazine letting me know that I have been voted in as one of the Top Ten Teachers in the United States (jewelry making teachers that is). I kinda stared at this email for a bit thinking "huh? really? WOW!". Apparently they looked at evaluations from Bead&Button Shows, and took numerous polls online and were given rave reviews of over 229 teachers. They quickly narrowed it down to the top 10. They wrote a wonderful article about us 10 teachers and that article comes out in the next Bead&Button magazine. We have been sworn to secrecy until now :)

To be honest, I am totally in shock! I mean, I love teaching and I am confident that I do a good job (you crazies keep coming back for more!!!) but to be put in a group with these other ladies has me blushing beyond belief. THANK YOU!!!

I would like to give a special shout out and big ol' THANK YOU to Cynthia Rutledge who is OF COURSE on this list. She has been my mentor since I was a teenager (ok, I was 22 when I met her). Cynthia and I worked at the Shepherdess together (we had more fun than anyone should have on the clock). Her bead career took off from there as seedbeads captured her and engulfed her brain. When I was learning beadwork and wirework, I watched her teaching career grow as she successfully and continually inspired students to create masterpieces. And I would think to myself "wow, how does she do it? All these shows and all this teaching? Man, I wanna be like her when I grow up". Cynthia helped me a ton when I first started teaching. She was generous with her knowledge and incredibly encouraging. Her designs and teaching etiquette are exceptional. So the most exciting thing about this super awesome and flattering Top Ten thing, for me, is being on this list with her.

um, yummmm

Peppermint Stick ice cream with hot fudge....

'nuff said!

tiny little coils

I need to come up with my 2010 Hooked On Wire project. It was due to the lovely Susan, well, like last month. I have finally come up with an idea. My hope is to crank out a pendant similar to the classic French wrought iron work I am so darn fond of. I have this book (pictured left) , and I am thinking that maybe if I sleep with it under my pillow it will inspire me beyond conscious recognition.

I have spoken about my love for ironwork about 2 years ago in this blog post. It is very typical of me to obsesses on something, dive head first into it, loose sleep over it and then put it aside. So here I am 2 years later, reworking and re-getting excited about this work. But this time I plan to cover the scrolls in little tiny 26 gauge coils. Part of the draw to this class will be to learn to coil long lengths of tiny wire onto another tiny wire (no, not with your hands...forget that, we will be using a drill, and no we won't be coiling onto a hard mandrel, we will be coiling onto a 3 foot piece of 22 or 20 gauge Sterling Wire...yes, with the drill) and also learning how to shape that coil without distorting it.

So that is my plan. I am only writing it here in hopes that it will help in executing said plan. I gots the plan in my head...now let's see if I can get it into wire...stay tuned!

Bead&Button Show class registration NO OPEN!!!

Registration opened this morning for the classes and workshops at the 2010 Bead&Button Show. I can not say enough about this show. There are loads of classes and loads of vendors and loads of crazy ass bead energy! It's good times!



One of my classes has already sold out. I would love to see ya at the show. Click here to view my classes :)