Disco, disco (duck!)

I've been having a grand time playing with a new tutorial written by my friend Cindy at Bead Origami. It's her Disco Ball beaded bead, and after making one where I actually followed the directions, I quickly began branching out and trying new ideas. Before I knew it, I had seven beads in the same color scheme that needed a home, and another pair in a different color scheme that became earrings.

But this story is not about the earrings; they're jewelry already. Nope, this story is about the seven different olive and bronze beaded beads that have been rolling around my beading board. They needed to be together in some sort of necklace; since I've been wanting to make a netted lariat for quite awhile now, I decided to get right on it.

After several false starts, I settled on a 3-bead spiral netting stitch with size 15° beads. It makes a sturdy, but flexible, tube about 5mm across; it's a good size for the beaded beads, which range in size from about 15-20mm in diameter. I'm too lazy to go look for my calipers right now, so that's probably off a bit, but you get the idea. The beaded beads will be at the ends of the ropes; four little ones on one side, and three larger ones on the other. There might be some additional ornamentation involved; there usually is.

However . . . after netting for two days, I've begun to realize that this is going to take awhile. I've got about 14 inches done, and I need about 48 inches.

Or not.

Un-decorating

It's not nearly as much fun as decorating. But it must be done, and this is the week.

I started with the biggest, and most difficult task: the Tree. We have so much fun decorating it; we all have our favorite ornaments, and there is a lot of exclaiming and showing everyone when we find them. The perfect spot on the tree must be found, and when we're done, we turn on the lights and ooh and ah. Unfortunately, it's not quite as much fun to take them off the tree and put them back in their boxes.

That task falls to me.

It's done, now; the tree is waiting in the hall to be hauled off to recycling tomorrow.

That task falls to my husband and son.

Should it stay or should it go?

When I'm experimenting, that's the question of the day. Today I've been playing around with a pattern from Bead Origami. It's her Disco Ball pattern, and in a stunning display of New Year's contrariness, I actually made an entire beaded bead, following the directions exactly.

Okay, in the interests of honesty, not quite exactly. I got off track a couple of times, and ended up exiting the wrong bead; instead of ripping it out, I compensated. I know the stitches well enough to get back on track without starting over. But the important part is that the bead came out looking exactly like the one in her picture.

I can follow directions!

So, flushed with success, and full of resolution, I began another one. Alas, this time I got to the end and realized that I didn't like my color choices. The white pearls completely overwhelmed the earthy green and bronze seed beads I was using; the beaded bead looked like a field of daisies.

Now that's not all bad; just not what I wanted. I just finished a floral piece, and I don't want to do another one right now. So now I have to choose: rip it all out, or embellish it. I chose to embellish it, thereby making my direction-following experience a solitary one.

Ah, well.

The tutorial that took forever!

Okay, so it wasn't forever. But it sure seemed like it! 39 diagrams later, it's finally done and listed in my Etsy Store.

I really didn't think it would be such a big tutorial; I was amazed at how many different steps there were, once I started writing them down. It's funny, but it takes a lot less time to do each step with beads than it takes to draw each step in Photoshop.

I'm trying to keep a good balance between beginning and more advanced projects in my store, but I have to admit that the beginning tutorials are a lot easier and faster to write! Well, yes, that's a big "doh!" moment; of course they are. But, even though the more advanced ones take longer, I want to keep doing them. It's a fun challenge for me to come up with more advanced projects.

Since it's a new year, I thought I'd ask you what sort of projects you'd like to see! Feel free to post a comment here, email me, or PM me on any of the forums I frequent. I can't promise to make your suggestion, but if I do, I'll give you a free copy of the tutorial!

Happy New Year!

And depending on how you reckon it, this is either the beginning of a new decade, or the ending of the old one. I'm not going to take sides; it's a transition year for me.

Ten years ago today, my children were 20, 9, and 7; I was caught up in homeschooling the younger two. Now, of course, they are 30, 19, and 17, and homeschooling is a distant memory. Both transitioned back to high school as teenagers. For most of the decade, we lived in New York; we moved back to California a year and a half ago. This past decade was devoted to child rearing on my part; the next one won't be. For better or for worse, they're reared; it's on them what sort of adults they will be.

I'm excited about this new phase in my life. My daughter is planning to move out on her own this summer, and I will get her room. It has a northern exposure, and yup, I'm already mentally arranging it. I want a big work table under the windows; the rest is negotiable. Guess I'd better stop buying so many beads and let my PayPal balance grow so that I can afford to fix that room up to my taste.

Over the next decade I intend to focus on developing my own interests; beading, of course, but writing, too. As the decade progresses and our trees grow, we'll be producing quite a lot of our own food; I intend to dry, juice and freeze our fruits and veggies; I love gardening and I love eating.

I feel very lucky; I have a lot to look forward to.