Yay!

Hello Fellow Commiters!

Reading your posts is inspiring me to go home and bead! I've decided that my journal is going to be called "Found." I have a box full of interesting found objects I've picked up over the years. Each journal page will have at least one of these objects on it. Of course, "found" is going to involve much more than just objects. Pretty broad, huh? Oh well, we'll see how this unfolds in the bead universe.

Cheers to you all,
Bunny

Greetings from MN

Hi, I'm Terri. I am excited to be a part of all this enthusiasm! I am brand new to blogging, and I originally thought the blogging part was the "journal". I went ahead and finished a beaded whale ( a wire armature piece) thinking finishing an old 'UFO' for a new project was a good energy to start with. Then I realized that this was a journal making project. Hmmm,oh, no, what to do, Ive already entered this thing.
After some scrambling and second thoughts, I came across an old Pirate poem I wrote years ago that I have always wanted to somthing with. It's been a blast ever since! Obsession anyone?
I just wanted to thank all of you in advance, for the inspiring work on the blog, for the opportunity to participate, and for the great community thats been created by everyone.
In my case two wrongs have turned into a better right than if I had planned it! Woo Hoo! Release the Muses! Have fun! Make mistakes! Laugh hard! Love your work! T

Help with finding a bead

Hi all,
I've been looking for a Toho seed bead size 11 that is a very pale blue, opaque with a cloudy look to it and not shiney. I can't figure out how to identify this bead. I also had some in a seafoam green color. Ring any bead bells?
Thanks!
Teresa

June 4th already...

I've not started stitching/beading yet but I've made a start... lots of notes and sketches in my beading journal, a piece of fabric which I've started painting... so I feel I'm making progress...

looking forward to my invite to join the yahoo group ... great idea...

must stop now as I've work to do.... I work from home so it's so easy to get sidetracked...lol...

best wishes

Tricia

Bead Journal Project Yahoo Group

I've started, with Robin's blessing, a Yahoo goup for the Bead Journal Project.

There are no membership levels and no charges to belong to Yahoo groups. I belong to a number of Yahoo groups and find they are a great way to share comments, photos, and other information. You can read and post online or via email.

This is a private group ... only members of the Bead Journal Project can participate. You need to be invited (I'll start on invitations as soon as I can) or email me and ask for an invitation ... shimmers411@cox.net.

-- Joanna in Tucson

Figured out my journal pages

Hello,

Wow almost 250 participants from across the globe, that is fantastic. I realized in my first blog I did not introduce myself.

Hi, I'm Janet Wilson, I'll be posting under JanetMarie. I'm 50+ years old and current living in Chandler Arizona, while I grew up in Arizona I spent the last 15 year in New York, initially living in Manhattan doin' the apartment living thing and finally purchasing a house in Queens. I love NY, however family obligations required I move back to AZ and I love it here as well.

As for my beading I've been doing beaded and wire jewelry for the past two years and thought the journal was a way to expand my experience.

I've also figured out what my pages are going to be, they will have a slight oriental theme to them and be post card size. I am so excited and I've already page one.

Looking forward to working on this project with everyone and seeing the results.

Success is a Journey, Not a destination.

JanetMarie

Blog profiles and how to add your personal webpage link

Profiles: Blogger has a great way of finding each members blog (by clicking on a members name in a post or comment it should take you to their profile where you can see a link to their blogger blog if they've created one. However, if you have an outside webpage dedicated to either your beadwork, quilting, etc there is no way to find an outside webpage unless you add your webpage to your profile.

Soooooo, to add your personal webpage to a blogger profile do this:

Log onto blogger and go to your dashboard. click on Create (to create a post). Look up on the tan header that shows a b, i, a link thing, quote marks, abc spell check and then a photo.

in a second you'll be using the 3rd button that looks like a 2 link chain.

type words in the text box that show the name you want to call your webpage such as My beading journal webpage or Joe Blows beading journal webpage or whatever.

now highlight them by dragging your cursor over the words you just typed.

click the 3rd icon, the 2 link chain thing.

you'll get a popup box that asks for the address of the website. type your webapage address there. click ok.

in the post text box you will now see all the code you need to add to your profile.

copy all the text you just created; by selecting either copy or control A.

now go to your dashboard (it's up in the far upper right corner). click that and look for the section on the right that says Edit Profile.

click that.

scroll down to About Me and paste in the copied code to the About Me box and then scroll down and click Update Profile.

Now your profile will show your outside webpage. yay.

if you have any questions or need help please feel free to contact me. I'll be happy to walk you thru it. :-)

Unpublished Posts ~ How to Publish Them

A few of you have written posts that don't show up on our blog. They were automatically saved, but never published.

Hope you don't mind me naming names... but you are:

1. JoTee (NM)
2. Arlee (Canada)
3. Melodie (OR)
4. Kaytee (CA)

Since this could happen easily and because I believe we'd all like to hear from you, here's how to get back to your post, edit and publish it!

When you first sign in to Blogger, on the Dashboard, you'll see "Manage Your Blogs." Below that, on the left, is where you click to start a new post. On the right it says "Manage: Posts, Settings." Click on "Posts." This will open a window showing a list of the 100 most recent post titles (by all authors). You are able to click on "view" to view any of the posts written. For your posts only, you are also able to click on "Edit."

That's what you want to do. Scroll down the list of post titles until you see the one you wrote. To the left of the title, it may say "Draft" in red. If it does, it means that particular post was not published and is not available to read on our blog.

If you don't want to publish the draft, no problem. To the right of the word "draft," there is an option to "Delete." Click on "Delete" and you'll get a little window that asks "are you sure you want to delete this?" Click "delete it," and it's gone forever.

If you do want to edit and/or publish the draft, no problem. On the same line, to the far left, click on "Edit." This will re-open the posting window. Now you can edit your writing if you wish. When you are ready, click the orange "Publish" box on the bottom left of the window. After publishing, in the new window that comes up, click on "view blog" to be verify your post is there. If you don't like how it looks, you can always edit it again.

I hope this is clear, and we'll hear from your soon!

Posted by Robin A.

Reply

When a member has posted a comment at your blog, what is the procedure for a reply? Does one put it in the comment box that appears below the post, or do you go to the posters blog and leave a reply there?

Beadmakers

Members of the Bead Journal Project who make beads, please contact me: darkhorse06athotmaildotcom. Thank you!

Andrea B

Bead Journal Blog Registration attempt

Marcia here at nearly 1 a.m. trying to register on the Bead Journal blog.
Hope I have done it correctly.
How will I know?
Marcia http://www.pottedfrog.com

All About Us

Just for fun, try Googling

Bead Journal Project.

We are ON THE MAP already!

How neat is that?

As promised, here are our stats:

We are a total of 240 members (239 women and 1 man).

We represent 37 states. WA has the most members (27), followed by CA (18) and TX (15).

We represent 13 countries (USA, Canada, Australia, the UK, France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, Sweden, Sri Lanka, and Italy).

Thirty-nine members are from countries other than the USA. That’s 16% of us.

While some of us are just beginning our beaded pathway, others of us have traveled with beads for many decades. Our collective beading experience is awesome!

Posted by Robin A.

Welcome Matilda in Italy!

I'm writing to introduce Matilda, who has just become an official member. She and I have been corresponding about it for several days. It's taken time because she doesn't speak English and I don't know Italian. But with the help of translators and dictionaries on her side, she finally got all the information she needed to make her decision about joining. Welcome, Matilda!

One of the reasons I'm posting about Matilda is to see if there are any bilingual (English-Italian) members in our group, who can help Matilda to post and/or clarify things for her if needed??? If so, please contact her directly and introduce yourself. Thanks!

Posted by Robin A.

Newbie

Hi All - 238 of us starting off on this journey. I'm new to bead embroidery but have been beading for many years - peyote stitch has been my method of choice. It will be fun to see what everyone does for their book.

Bring on the beadin'!

Hola, I just wanted to introduce myself as I have been out of town 10 days and recently able to post online. I am very excited to be a part of this venture and want to take this opportunity to complete a project on a much grander scale than I am used to.... this year long commitment will test my ability to schedule in beading time and force me to READ instructions (which is something I loathe, lol). I've been racking my brain for a theme... changed that theme 3-4 times but finally [yesterday] I sewed up a few pages and sketched the concept of my book out in my mind. I plan to post my progress to my own blog soon at www.girl-gone-thread-wild.blogspot.com. I'll definitely be checking back in here to read what you experienced beaders will share with us "newbies." Happy beading! ~Monica :)

Hello from Southern Maryland

I decided I should finally say hello to everyone. My name is Angela Plager (Angie) and I currently live in Southern Maryland. We moved here in January. I almost didn't sign up for this because I knew with my husband getting ready to leave for a 7 month deployment to Iraq around the middle of the month that it could be a bit challenging to get this started. Then my inner child spoke up and said that something like this would be fun and would be a welcome distraction over all of those months alone. My inner child won.

I decided on going slightly larger than most with a size of 8 inches x 10 inches. I am going to play with doing mixed media collage with beaded embellishments. I love to take photos and take lots of detail (close-up) photos so my theme is going to be details and I am going to use at least 1 4x6 or larger photo in the piece somehow. This will allow me to play with different photo transfer and printing techniques. I have been wanting to incorporate beading into my collage type art and this will be a wonderful opportunity to try out new techniques and ideas.

I will be including a section of my website to the journal with regular updates on how it is going as well as mentioning it in my blog (also on my website) I should have the BJP part up and running in the next couple of days. My website is http://web.mac.com/wayneplager It is full of lots of pictures of my bead work and a few of my other pieces of art work.

Good luck to everyone on your year long creative journey, Angie

Bead Journal Project

I am a bead maker and bead artist in Northern New York and am very happy to be a part of the 2007 Bead Journal Project. I too feel it was a bit of fate that got me here as I was out of town when I by chance used my host's computer and found the posting of this opportunity by Paula Morgan at About.com Thank you Paula and thank you Robin. I am attracted to this project because I like its focus on process rather than product. I feel that I have been too product oriented lately and also a bit too rushed to make a product. I see this project as an opportunity to engage more in the intuitive which for me is where my creative spirit hangs out. I am not good at preplanned projects or simply product oriented work so now I have this fantastic opportunity to be unconcerned about the inner critic or outer judge and can really enjoy a year long journey with my creative self and over 200 other beaders who feel this way too. Wow! I hope to get started this weekend. I will be writing about this on my blog too at www.maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com

Happy to be part of the gang

Hello

This is my first attempt at a beading journal and i'm looking forward to it. I've been thinking and brainstorming with myself trying to figure out what my journal is going to be and while it's June 1st I still havent finalized my decision yet, but expect to before the weekend is up.

This is going to be so much fun I'm really looking forward it seeing what everyone comes up with.

JanetMarie

Here we go..

My goal for this journey we are on is to be able to create small 3D Art Quilts that are not totally beaded - along the style of what Robin's brother Thom makes..

So today I got my page all ready to bead on. I already that know this first page is not quite what I wanted to achieve. However, as this journey is about growing as an artist, I will work towards that goal.

My theme is Mermaids.. I already know that I am not alone in chosing this & I look forward to seeing how others interpret it. I have made a couple of mermaid dolls, you can one see here & there are several sitting around here waiting to be finished - maybe I'll finish them all this year ha ha haaa

Tomorrow I will begin the actual beading, which after all is the fun part of the whole project, right?

Oh yes & I have to say that I agree with Mary T, good posture is as important as actually doing the bead work itself. Thank you Mary for reminding those of us who have worked with beads often & those who are new to this as well :-)

Hello from Andrea B

Also checking in! I am a beginner, and I thought it would be easier to have a sort of theme for my journal as a starting point. Nothing too specific, just something I liked as a way to jump-start my entries. So, I decided each month I will choose a favorite button from my collection and sew it down on the piece and just start beading around it. Robin recommended putting a favorite bead down and working from there in her book, and it always works for me! So, I started the Buttons and Beads 2007 journal today.

I have a little extra incentive for trying to stay on track: I have signed up for Robin's class at Valley Ridge Art Studio in September, and I am determined to bring four pages to show her at the class, to get her feedback if possible! I am so excited about this project and that class! Anyway, that's where I am at today.

Andrea B in Minnesota

Hello from Megan Noel

hello, I am checking in and saying hello! And I agree with Mary about taking stretching breaks from beading. One piece of advice I used to give my students was to drink a lot of water -- it's good for you and it forces you to get up regularly for breaks! :)

Also, in this lovely weather, it's nice to take your beading outside. I pack all my beads into a tupperwear sandwich container with a small pair of scissors and make a portable kit.

I am going to try to get started on my June beading this weekend.

Happy Beading,
Megan Noel
www.megannoel.com

A WORD OF CAUTION

Personally, I love the enthusiasm everyone is showing for the BJP and their anxious need to get going. One of the things that no one has mentioned is a word about taking care of your bodies. Several people have not done beading before and don't realize they can really injure themselves if they have certain problems already existing in their body or don't keep fit. So, I hope I'm not a damper by cautioning you all in a general way.

There have been several articles in various publications over the years about doing crafts in well lighted and ventilated spaces. The lighting in bead work, especially if you are doing something with small beads, is crucial, critical or just about the most important thing there is. Have good lighting, as your eyes, fingers, shoulders and family members (furry and human) will thank you for it. I have 3 different Ott lights which simulate natural light and is great for true colors and how they will look together. The lights aren't all in one place, but in the different places where I bead.

Ergonomics is the second most important thing. Elbows, knees, backs and bottoms all need to be in the 90 degree angle position for the greatest comfort. Now, of course, you are going to be bending, but just at rest the arms should rest on the surface you are using at 90 degrees, the back is straight without the neck held too far back or too far forward and the bottoms need to make a nice 90 degree angle with chair back and the knees need to not be way up or way down, but at the magic 90 degrees.

As some one who has Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, I even have my glasses bi and trifocals line higher than normal, so they make me hold my head in the proper (or as near as I can get) position. As we are beading it is all too common to see people hunched way over the table with their shoulders hanging up about around the ear level. Everyone does this once in awhile when the bead pile of 15's you are after are at the far end of the work space, but most of us forget to straighten back up. If I forget, it cuts my hours of beading in half, or I can't sleep that night for the pain. So, the minute I find myself doing that, I straighten back up. Another trick I use so I can bead more hours a day is to set a timer for 50 minutes in another room. Then I have to get up and go attend to shutting it off and that reminds me I need to move around--stir the soup, fold the laundry, let the dog out, the cat in or whatever--for 10 minutes before I can go back to beading. If I do this faithfully, I've found I can bead for up to 6 hours a day. If I don't do this my time is cut down to spending maybe an hour an a half beading a day. I mean really, how can so little make such a difference? But, it does.

Another thing I would suggest is that if you need a magnifying glass there are several available; probably as many as there are needs. Make yourself really as comfortable as possible so you have many happy hours of beading ahead of you.

In order to begin deciding what, how and if I want to bind my pieces together, I've checked out several books on Book Binding from the library. Yesterday while doing my volunteer thing, I was able to read two of them and found lots of ideas on what and how to do it. Haven't spent a dime and gotten lots of new knowledge. I also did my quick mile walk this morning to keep the rest of my body functioning well. Happy and safe for the body beading everyone.

FAQ ~ Frequently Asked Questions

As I've been registering all of you for the BJP, there have been many questions. Everyone seems to be getting into this pretty smoothly. But just in case, here are a few of the questions that have come up many times.

Q. Do I have to turn in my piece every month?
A. No.

Q. How do I report that I finished my journal page at the end of the month?
A. There is no BJP police force. You do not have to report to anybody except yourself.

Q. What if I don’t finish my page by the end of the month?
A. Again, there is no PBJ police force. Try to keep yourself on schedule as best you can.

Q. Can I start my page before the beginning of the month?
A. Sure. Try to pace yourself, one piece per month.

Q. Can I publish pictures of my journal pages on the web?
A. Yes, but not on the BJP blog until after September 1st. You can publish pictures of your work on your own blog, website, or any other site any time you wish.

Q. Is there a charge for being part of the BJP?
A. No, not for the 2007-2008 BJP.

Q. Do I have to do solid bead embroidery or can the beading surface show?
A. This is entirely up to you. You don’t even have to do bead embroidery. You could do some type of bead weaving. You must use some beads on each month’s journal page.

Q. What do you mean by page?
A. Think of it as “page” (not literal), or maybe “piece.” It could be three dimensional, as in a doll form. You must pick a size/shape and stick with it for the entire year.

Q. What if I have to drop out?
A. We’ll miss you. Please let me know via email if you decide to drop out of the BJP.

Q. After I finish all 12 pages, do I have to bind them into a journal?
A. No, but you may if you wish.

Q. Is it OK if I’m just a beginning beader?
A. Yes. There are several beginners in the group. Like everybody else, you start at a certain level and hopefully stretch yourself both technically and creatively during the twelve months of the BJP.

Q. Can all 12 pieces be part of the same large piece? Can I divide one piece of cloth into 12 sections and bead one per month?
A. Yes.

Q. Will there be any instructions or a tutorial about how to bind our journals when we finish?
A. Not officially. There are many possible ways to bind pages, and some members don’t want to bind their work at all. But if you want assistance, you can ask other members for help by posting on the BJP blog.

Q. Do I need to write in a journal or on my BJP monthly page?
A. You may if you wish. Think of this as a visual journal. Try to express yourself with color, shapes, lines, forms. Words are OK too. A companion written journal to your bead journal pages might be nice.

Q. I have a friend who just heard about the BJP. Can she join?
A. Sorry, official membership closed May 30th for the 2007 BJP. Your friend can participate unofficially and is welcome to read the BJP blog.

Q. Do I have to have a website or blog; and do I have to read/write on the BJP blog?
A. No. The important core of the BJP is to challenge yourself to grow as an artist. The way to move in that direction is to create 12 bead journal pages, one per month for a year. Everything else is gravy; you can take it or leave it.

Posted by Robin A

Let the beading begin...

Start your beading ...
Isn't this exciting, aren't the possibilities endless and the decisions ... will I won't I, should I, shouldn't I ???
Thank you Robin for your inspirational brilliance!
HuRu BJP'ers till September 1 for the unveilings!!
Beady Blessings from Downunder.

June 1 - Start your Needles!!

I'm soooo excited. It's the first day of our journal journey project and I can't do any beading until I come home from work. But I have everything ready and waiting. The thread is in the needle and the beads are out. Can't wait to get started. It's 7:00 a.m. in Connecticut after a thunderstorm last night it's actually comfortable. Enjoy your journey everyone! Bead On - Heidi (Heidibeads)