The Bead Spot

I had big plans to make heart-shaped jewelry to list on my Etsy shop for Valentine’s Day. Now the holiday is only three weeks away, and I have yet to map out a pattern or even to decide if I want to make a bracelet or earrings or a necklace. Instead of taking time on my days off from work to make progress, I’ve been basking in the downtime, and now I kind of regret that. Here’s hoping that the rest of this week is productive enough that I’ll have something to list by Sunday. If not, I might as well just focus on creating something for the next holiday: St. Patrick’s Day. *** Thank you for stopping by. Though I've had a craft-less week, my 6-year-old hasn't. My most recent post on another blog I manage, "Shrinking Carbon Footprint," talks about how my daughter makes crafts of "trash." Find it here .

Screen grab from a Facebook group for seed bead fans. I recently joined a couple of beadwork-related Facebook groups. I love seeing what people make in my feed mixed in along with posts about which of my high school classmates recently became a grandparent. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to look for some FB beading connections sooner. The best part is that I can get feedback fairly quickly. If I'm working on a project and cannot decide between two shades of green, I can post a photo of what I have so far and the two colors, ask for other group members to weigh in, and within a couple of hours, I'll have enough responses to feel like I'm making the best choice. But there is a small downside: Most of the people in the group, I feel, are much more skilled designers than I am, and I cannot help but feel like an amateur compared to them. But I also feel like they inspire me.

Armed with the light/magnifier my husband recently bought for me, I am back at trying to take photos of beadwork . I spent most of Monday night putting the light and the camera at different angles, and I think I finally see some improvement, though I have a ways to go. Here is a side-by-side comparison. On the left is a photo I took last fall. I took it outside in natural light, but the shadows are way too deep. The photo on the right is the one I took using the light my husband gave me. I think the image could be sharper, but it's more true to the colors of the pumpkin earrings I made. I'm working on it; I'm determined to get the hang of this. Etsy shop additions I've added a couple of new items to my Etsy shop, both made by my older sister. She's been doing beadwork longer than I have, and I think she's got a great eye for design. Here are photos of her creations. If you're interested, please pop over to my Etsy shop, Beadwork and Woodwinds ,...

Some of my beadwork is seen through the magnifier on a new floor lamp my husband bought for me. My husband surprised me with a combination light/magnifier that I can use while working on my crafts! How sweet is he? It has a flexible arm that can be positioned however I need it to be. It also stands firmly on the floor, which I love, because every time I've had a light on my table, I've knocked it over or have accidentally knocked it into my beads, which is never a fun cleanup. One section has a stronger magnification than the rest of the glass, which I assume I'll be using a lot as I work with my seed beads. I also love how big the magnification glass is. When I've beaded before, using my reading glasses to see my beads or doing (more often) without glasses altogether, I could only see a small section in detail at once. But this magnifier is big enough to show a large area, making it easier to see how all the pieces fit together. I'm so excited! We...

I got a pleasant surprise while I was looking for books to inspire me recently on Amazon. I found a free e-book that contains 11 patterns. I immediately downloaded it to my Kindle Fire. It's called "Making Beaded Jewelry: 11 Free Seed Bead Patterns and Projects." I haven't had a chance to try to make any of them yet, but in scrolling through it, I can say with certainty that I'll give each a try. As a bonus, at the front page of the e-book are links to free downloads to other craft e-books, including ones with patterns for jewelry making, crocheting, knitting, quilt making and children's crafts, just to name a few. I had no idea there were totally free craft e-books. This little find has made my week. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Over the past few weeks, when I've been away from this blog, I've been struggling to get decent photos of my beadwork for my Etsy shop . I haven't had much luck. I tried the tips for setting up an indoor home studio that I mentioned back in October last week and the week before. I searched for a full-spectrum light bulb. I bought poster board to reflect light back. I tried different ways to diffuse the light. All of that experimenting, and this was the best I could do: I debated whether I should post those on Etsy, and I decided to give it a try. However, the colors are wrong and the earrings are out of focus. They look better in the photos I took before and featured in my October post. Is it the black background? Do I need a different item to diffuse the light? Sooner or later, I hope, I'll get the hang of this. Until then, I have a lot of work to do. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising pro...

Six or seven years ago, my mom, who does beadwork, too, commented that the size 11 Delica seed beads I like to use were way too small for her to see. She works mostly in seed beads, too, but she sticks with size 10s as much as possible. It made no sense to me that one size would make that big of a difference. But now I get it. The last time I did a marathon of seed beading, I realized that I couldn't see the beads well enough to work if I had my glasses on. It seems my distance vision has gotten bad enough that my glasses are too strong to see tiny items (such as words on a page or seed beads in an earring) very well at all. Because I like to watch TV while I do beadwork, I chose shows that I could mostly listen to. I wore my glasses, but pushed them up on top of my head while I stitched beads together, then dropped them back down on my nose if I thought I needed to watch something on the TV screen. I hope my vision doesn't get much worse than it is now, but I'm ...