Full recovery

I'm back! Full force...watch out world...the beady spirits have found me once again. Thank goodness! For the first time in weeks I'm feeling compelled to sit and bead and design and pick colorways. I spent one full night cleaning the bead room - I made great headway, but there's still a long way to go. At least we can now move around in there again, and I cleared off 14 beading trays that had been covering every inch of horizontal surface!! There's definitely going to be a  bead garage sale in the future and I've already started setting things aside for that as I go along.

Tonight I've been working on colorways for my new kit/class Reversible Star Shine. I'm totally loving how this one works up and all the design options for it. Necklace, bracelet, earrings, ring...no problem!

The 2012 season is basically here. I think I'm well rested and potentially well-prepared. Time will tell! But here's what's coming up in case you aren't aware:

Texas Bead Retreat, Temple, TX - Jan. 19-22  The retreat is sold out. I'll be teaching one class and have kits available.

Tuesday, January 10th - class registration goes live for the Bead & Button Show where I'll be teaching a record 11 classes, and have a booth with kits. Here's the link to my classes:
Jill's Classes
Good luck getting your first choices!!

I'm teaching in Tucson at the Best Bead Show for the first time this year in addition to having a booth. Registration is open for those four class now at:
http://www.bestbeadshow.com/BestBeadShowClasses/BestBeadShowClasses.aspx

And in early March, I'll be setting sail on the Bead Cruise! I'm so excited for my first cruise. More info at:
http://memorycruisin.com/beadcruise.php?page=ship

In late March I am totally thrilled to be heading to Seattle to teach at Quiltworks:
http://www.quiltworksnw.com/cartgenie/prodList.asp?scat=392

There's more in April (a trip to Pittsburg!) and May (Detroit!) and then June rolls around and it's Milwaukee, of course... Poor Winston is going to go back to sleeping on top of my unpacked suitcases between trips again, isn't he???

Guilty fingers

Mom asked me tonight if I was ever going to start beading again. I told her I hoped so.

Post Book Syndrome (PBS) is still holding me in it's nasty little grasp. I had started beading something that I still believe will grow up into a fine national class project a few days ago, but I haven't touched it now...well...since my last blog post about the darned Swarovski pearl organization.

This happens to me at least once a year, and usually around this time. My brain goes on hiatus. My fingers go on strike. I sit and read books and watch stupid tv and sleep a lot. I hear some people call this "taking time off." But around here, it worries folks because in general I never stop. Ever.

And it's actually an inconvenient time to close down the Jill Machine because all of 2012 is shimmering in the near future and demanding new projects. I'm trying to remind myself that this is kind of like a computer rebooting. You've got to power it down for it to reset all the systems. Then when you power it back up again it works like a charm again.

Detours

Earlier tonight (and by tonight, I mean 3am, naturally) I was working on a new design that will end up being one of my national class offerings, and I decided I needed a couple of Swarovski pearls for it. I walked into the Bead Room and picked my way through the piles to the special Swarovski pearl spot. And by special Swarovski pearl spot, I mean 3-4 random small boxes on top of some cabinets with mixed colors and sizes of pearls that make OCD sufferers start to shake.

It's already been pointed out to me that they're not in order.

All of a sudden, I just couldn't take it one more minute! Next thing you know I grabbed some storage containers, my labeler, and some baggies along with the Swarovski pearl stash, and two hours later I have this lovely pile of organized, labeled, sorted beads. And an unfinished design. This is my life - full of detours.

You may have noticed I've been absent from the blog lately. And by lately I mean a really long time. I'm blaming the detours. My last post celebrated the turning in of my last designs for The Book. You know the one - that big monster that took over my entire year? THAT book? Well, after the last box of beady fun went in the mail, the work was far from over. I still had instructions and illustrations to create for more then half of the 24 projects, and a technical editor (Judith Durant) and illustrator (Melissa Grakowsky Shippee) waiting for me to send them. So another solid month or more was spent with my hindquarters glued to the sofa and my hands to the computer getting every last title and intro and period written. Edits were made. Illustrations drawn. And then all of a sudden I was facing down...nothing. No urgent deadline. No people waiting on me. No. More. Book. Urgency.

Do you know what happens when the constant stream of adrenalin that has been coursing through your veins suddenly stops? You stop too. You crawl into bed for days. You stare into space. You spend one pathetic night crying and terrified that what you just turned in wasn't good enough. Poor Mom for having to deal with that insanity! I guess she gets Employee of the Month yet again!

I'm working on digging back out from the freefall by catching up on things that got pushed aside during the last few months. I'm slowly starting to design again. Thinking about all the fun and exciting things will happen in 2012. But I won't lie - I'm still deep in Post-Book Syndrome.

I learned so much while writing this book that as I start looking at the next book and how I want the process to go, I know it will be much better. Less detours.

Catching up and feeling human

The deed is done. Wait - my editor reads this blog and she's totally going to bust me. So let me rephrase that - the deed is partially done. I mailed off the final set of beaded samples for Jill Wiseman Teaches the Ropes, and now the design portion of my first book is complete. How I managed to conceive of and bead up the majority of the projects in the last six weeks is still a mystery to me. There was very little sleep. A few meltdowns (usually when the tiredness overcame any sensible thought.) A bunch of giddy, silly moments when something turned out even better than I'd envisioned it. And much heartburn for all involved as we wondered if the deadlines were obtainable.

As I sent the last bits in, though, and was able to take a moment and look it all over as a collection, I was really proud of the accomplishment. It looks like it all goes together. It looks like my kind of design aesthetic, which is so important to me - I feel like I have a slightly different style that I sometimes struggle to keep in line. It's easy to gild the lily! The harder part is editing it down to the more streamlined, graphic, modern sense I work for. But I feel confident that every piece in this book belongs in this book. And I'm teary and emotional about it from feeling like I did good.

And as happy as sending that box made me, it's far from over. I still owe them about a bazillion sets of instructions that need to be written and illustrated. I am finishing some samples showing variations of the book projects that will be shipped Thursday for the photo shoot on Friday. I have the Basics section and some other smart sounding words to write.

But all of that seems so much more manageable than the last six weeks of my life. I'm working on finding my life under the piles of beads again. I slept for roughly two solid days. I got a massage yesterday. I'm finally unpacking the suitcase from my trip to California four weeks ago. Laundry is drying at this very moment. And a pedicure is in my very near future.

But don't worry, Nathalie - I'm working on what I still owe you too! :-)

I leave you with a photo of Winston that I took tonight as he laid on my lap, keeping me company during the night shift. I suppose he thinks he deserves the Employee of the Month title now!

Great blog post re: inspiration vs. exploitation

I talk about the subject of design copy all the time...but Pat has put together a blog post I wish I had written, so let's let her do the talking! Check it out at: The Crafty Retailer.

The good, the bad, and the ugly truth

I'm discovering that writing your first book is full of one learning experience after another. And by discovering, I mean the hard way! Just when I think I have it together...well, you can imagine. Here are some of the lessons I've learned:

• You make an outline at the start that has a visual description of each project that you have in your head. And when you actually start beading that design, it laughs at you and shows you what the real design is. Takeaway: Be flexible
• When you sign that contract, the deadline for turning in your completed projects, instructions, and illustrations seems like a million months away. And then the calendar laughs at you and time speeds up and all of a sudden you're behind and panicked. Takeaway: Pretend like it's a race to get it finished as fast as possible and then you might make that deadline without having to take anti-anxiety medication.
• The good news is that you've spent the last 10 years of your life collecting all the coolest seed beads, focal beads, clasps, and crystals, and it finally pays off as you're making the collection of your life for the book. But then the beads laugh at you as you discover EVERY SINGLE TIME that while you have the perfect beads, you don't have enough of them to finish the project in question. And remember that deadline? Yeah. Me too. Takeaway: Overnight shipping is your friend.
• Above all else, trust in your vision. Because through the twists and turns, it will come together in the end - and you will look over the mountain of designs you created as you were feeling slightly out-of-control and off-kilter, careening down a steep mountain with no brakes, and like a miracle, the laughter stops and you realize it is beautiful and you couldn't imagine making a single project any other way. Takeaway: Dang. This is so much fun!

Sparkle!

From June: I have now counted over 32,000 special color coat 2mm Swarovski crystals into individual baggies of 51, and I've updated the website. Yes, it was a lot of work, but only what you'd expect from Tapestry Bead's Employee of the Month (for 2 straight months!). If you haven't used 2mm Swarovski crystals before, they're about the size of a size 11 seed bead. Tiny. Yummy! Here's a list of the colors we have in stock.

• Aqua AB
• Black Diamond Vitrial
• Champagne Aqua
• Chili Pepper
• Crystal AB
• Crystal Copper
• Cyclamen Opal
• Emerald/Sahara
• Indian Pink AB
• Jet Doroado
• Light Amethyst Verde
• Light Colorado Topaz/Tabac
• Light Rose Rosaline
• Light Sapphire AB
• Light Siam Iridescent
• Olivine AB
• Peridot Sphinx
• Sapphire Sahara
• Tanzanite AB
• Tanzanite Light Vitrial
• Tanzanite Titan
• Topaz Glazier

What's your favorite 2mm Swarovski color?

And the winner is....

Drum roll, please!

I used the online random number generator, and it picked number... 

ONE!

So the first Natalie to comment (I'm sorry - it doesn't show your email address) should email me and we'll get you all set up with your free class!

I've been busy working on projects for the book like a mad woman. I'm so very pleased with the way things are looking and coming together at this point. It's an interesting challenge, not only in the designing of projects, but also having to keep an eye on the overall content and how it flows. Making sure the mix of bracelets/necklaces/earrings is good. Being consistent with a color story, but not making everything the SAME. Keeping true to my own design vision of modern, contemporary pieces that you'll wear in your daily life. It's keeping me on my toes!