RASKOG

"At the end of every day I drive through the city of Charleston and I cross the bridge that will take me home.
I feel the words building inside me, I can't stop them, or tell you why I say them, but as I reach the top of the bridge these words come to me in a whisper. 
I say these words as a prayer, as regret, as praise, I say: Lowenstein Lowenstein ...RASKOG RASKOG!!"  

Just buy it.  IKEA.  You will be glad you did.
Look at it on Pinterest.
Also would make a great gift.


I am off bead shopping in foreign parts for a while.

Thank you for reading, see you in a few weeks!

Controlling the Chaos

Controlling the Chaos

1. You will never EVER get totally organized.
2. It is impossible to be creative and tidy too.
3. Don't waste time procrastinating organizing.
4. Also, never label a box “miscellaneous”!

Over the years, I have had some scary set ups for working in.

Our house was under construction FOREVER and I had to work around it. 

 This was my studio many years ago.

It’s still constantly evolving. (I don’t have current pictures because I am not there).

My studio has stations, so I can move from whatever medium I need to work in and leave it out and ready to use. It's the kindergarten approach.

I dabble in torching, soldering, polymer clay, sewing, wire working, metal working, paper (which includes stamping, inking and painting), resin, drilling with my Dremel plus I need a clear space for putting it all together. I have also tried many other things that didn’t do it for me. Do not ask me about making beads with glass rods and a torch. It didn't go well.

Ask me about Shrinky Dinks because when all else fails, make something with Shrinky Dinks.  It is strangely rewarding. If you have kids and you make something together with it, they will think you are a genius.

Most of my organizing systems come from IKEA. 
See in the picture the table on the trestles?
I still use those.

I keep them at the highest height and I stand while I work. 
I don’t think sitting is good for you so I force myself to stand. 
I also put a low coffee table underneath and leave tools on it to grab.

This was a few years ago, things were improving:

The boxes I have my beads in are from Michaels.
They are still too expensive at half price ($6 instead of $12) but they are bigger than the dollar store ones and hold a much larger selection.

The rest of the stuff I stack in clear plastic labelled boxes from IKEA  http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/search/?query=samla 

I have a little round holder for tools that I ADORE that came from a thrift store.
It's on the table, here's a close up. 

These soft plastic little blue trays are my reason for living. Also a thrift store find. 
The little inks and polymers and glues all sit so politely in them.

Out of that early chaos I did manage to make some pieces:

Tomorrow I will reveal my all-time favorite chaos controller. 

Wait for it. You are gonna be so envious.
You will want one. You can have one.  It’s from IKEA.

Now go sort that miscellaneous box.

How To Sort

Colour is probably the easiest way to sort beads.  

But, you could categorize a bead several different ways.

What is it made out of?  Stone, semi precious gemstone, paper, plastic, ceramic, glass, hematite, wood, crystal, polymer clay...

You could sort by origin, is it Austrian such as Swarovski or is it made in India or China (not as nice but not as pricey).  I try to stay away from them because I worry about the lead content.  

My favorite is handmade art beads, more on that later.

Is it a specific type, such as a Miracle bead?  What is the size or shape?

There are large hole beads like the Pandora all the way down to teeny seed beads (pronounced “ought” for sizes of seed beads, as in “I really ought to not buy these beads”.

I also have crazy amounts of “findings” to put it all together.  These are things like end caps and clasps, earring backs, crimping beads so they don’t fall off the stringing material you are using (that’s another topic), jump rings, etc.  Plus you start to collect focal beads and charms.
All of it can be copper, brass, sterling silver or some cheaper metal (ick).

I admit I waste significant amounts of time sorting and searching.
It's sort of soothing though, kind of like pawing through your mom's jewelry box.

I sorta sort mine by… colour. 

Next:
Controlling the Chaos
(Ecto Containment System, Containment Facility or Protection Grid)


PS. Might be good to show some jewelry too!
This is a double wrap Boho style bracelet with sliding closure and of course the ubiquitous turtle. I like using chakra colours.  

Get Started

You see some cute jewelry in the stores and on your friends and you think "Hmmm I think I could make that".  You also convince yourself "I need a hobby". So, you start collecting beads.

You make the ridiculously long drive to Michael's, clutching your  "50% off one regular price item" coupon. Trouble is, everything is either 30% or 40% off already (Michael is not stupid) so you wander around aimlessly looking for something that is regular price to buy.

Do not try to use more than one coupon in a day, they will give you serious stink eye, even if you wear disguises.  

I loaded up on library books when I first started, and, I took some courses at the local bead stores. They want you to buy the supplies at their store though.
 
Youtube is handy, so are all the zillions of beading blogs. (zillion +1 here).

My favorite resource is beading magazines, I drool over the ones from Stampington, but they are really expensive. You get them at Chapters. The styles are up to date (they keep calling that "on trend").  They list lots of resources and showcase the work of the rock stars of the jewelry world.

Other hot spots to find beads are estate sales, V.V. Boutique and the Goodwill stores. 
I will take pieces apart and use some of the elements in other pieces. 
Sort of like quilting, buy fabric, cut it up and sew it back together.

Suddenly, beads are mutating all over the place. 

The next dilemma: how to sort.

More Bead and Jewelry Shopping In London

Covent Garden. 

 At the Royal Opera House, they have a big plexiclass container with the discarded ballet shoes from performances. It is also a fund raiser. The dancers can go through more than one pair in a performance. We had pre-bought tickets for a behind the scenes tour. There was only four of us in the group, and they let us watch the dancers practicing in their studio. It was great! I think "ballet shoes pink" has to be my favorite colour.

 Lyndon's Stitch and Beads on Portobello Road in Nottinghill.
Unfortunately I think it also has closed.
It was really quaint and had that 60's feel.

Saved the best for last....

First You Shop....

I'll start by posting pictures of me shopping for jewelry and beading supplies.
I do that a LOT!

Like many jewelry makers, I like to collect beads, maybe even more than actually making jewelry. I love sea glass. I also like fabric, polymer clay, inks, paints, ribbons, ephemera, stamping, paper crafts, resin, whatever catches my eye. 

My studio is in British Columbia, however, due to some circumstances, I haven't been able to go there lately.  Instead I have been stocking up and plotting.

When we travel, I hit the bead/craft/fabrics stores. We went to London in the fall of 2014 as a treat for me, to add to my bead stash and see what was shakin' in the stores in the UK.
I even studied and researched jewelry in the Victoria and Alberta Museum and the National Gallery.

The fabrics and notions in Liberty's were fabulous. I bought a few gorgeous buttons that became clasps on bracelets....

Camden Market, Spitalfields Market, Covent Garden Market.....

Sometimes you don't realize how much like a dork tourist
you look until you get home and see the pictures.

Would I use a back pack at home? Heck no.
  

Look how cute those ladies beside me are.
I had serious purse envy everywhere I went.
The women in London dressed really well.
The prices on bags, shoes and clothes  
is pretty steep but the quality is good.

 Spitalfields Market 

The jewelry seller had just been skiing in Banff!
We talked about jewelry making.

We should have been discussing our tragic taste in hats and how
soon we would be burning those grey numbers we were both wearing.

It was c-c-c-cold and damp and I was glad I had it at the time though.

 Brick Lane

Hirst Antiques

Finally found Seven Dials and Neal's Yard where, sadly, Bead Aura was going out of
business...but they still offer online sales. Got some sweet deals though.

The Big Launch. Turtles Lay Eggs.

March 10, 2016

Yep. Here it is. A blog.  The pressure is intense.  We will see how this goes!

Why the name "Turtles Lay Eggs"?  Well... when I was a little kid, my parents were having a large dinner party and discussing the usual law, politics, state of the Union, etc. All topics that were well over my head. There was a lull in the conversations, and with my usual perfect timing, I chirped up "TURTLES LAY EGGS!"  I thought it was well segued in...hmmm... strangely to me, all the grown ups roared with laughter, ouch.
Anyway, the phrase became one of those family catch phrases, handy for filling in gaps in the conversation and ending diatribes.
I have a Facebook page too, it is a bit lame, as I would rather watch the animal videos!