Buy the Beads, or Buy the Kit??

I read a most interesting article a couple days ago on Beading Daily, about the merits of purchasing a kit of beads for a tutorial, versus hunting down all the individual beads needed for yourself. The article mentioned several benefits, including time savings, not having to own and store leftover extra beads, one stop shopping, and cost.

Maybe it makes a difference if you already own a huge number of beads.  I certainly do, but I also find several $20 - $50 trips to the bead store are part of every project I undertake.  It seems no matter how many I have, the right one is missing.

I ran a little test this evening, on my most recent kit.   The kit for "Rose Hips" is very complex, with 20 different beads involved, some of which are discontinued by the manufacturer.  Holy cow, it was a LOT of counting and weighing!

In my test, I pretended I was a beader in my own city, with access to two great local bead stores with large inventory, were I do most of my shopping.   I used retail pricing for what I hope is the smallest packaging available, and shopped locally, at the fewest possible stops.  I did order a few things online, but did not count the shipping costs.

I expected that the kit, at $60, would likely cost about the same as the beads, and other supplies included in the kit.  But boy was I wrong.  Purchased separately, the beads cost more than twice as much, $141.84.

Material	Name	Grams or Pcs per Kit	Source	Packaged Amount	Cost
A Dark  Bead	Aiko #617	3.50	Bobby Bead	14  gr Tube	8.65
B Dark Bead	Miyuki # 306 Transparent Luster Olive Gold 11/0	4.50	Stormcloud Trading	30 gr Tube	6.95
C Bead All Colors	Miyuki  # 465 24k Gold 15/0	1.80	Stormcloud Trading	10 gram Tube	21.95
D Bead Dk & Med	Miyuki #143B Transparent Olivene 15/0	0.80	Stormcloud Trading	30 gr Tube	2.75
E Bead Dark	Toho #167 Olive Green Matte Metallic 8/0	2.50	Bobby Bead	14 gr Box	4.50
E Rainbow  w/E	Too #2631F Glazed Rainbow Iguana 8/0	2 pcs	Bobby Bead	14 gr Box	4.50	Only 2 pieces needed
Aa Bead Medium	Delica #1135 Opaque Dk Olive	2.20	Stormcloud Trading	5 gr Tube	2.75
Bb Bead Medium	Toho #1007 Metallic Lined Olive Luster 11/0	4.20	Bobby Bead	14 gr Tube	3.25	Discontinued
Ee Bead Medium	Miyuki #411 Dark Olive 8/0	1.30	Stormcloud Trading	30 gr Tube	2.75
Aaa Bead Light	Aiko #1610F Moss Matte Opaque	1.30	Bobby Bead	5 gr Box	11.50
Bbb Bead Light	Matsuno #356H Lined Rainbow Olivene/Tan	2.50	Stormcloud Trading	30 gr Tube	2.95
Ddd Bead Light	Beads By Dee Unknown Peridot Transparent 15/0	0.20	Beads by Dee	15 gr Box	2.00	Guesstimated cost
Eee Bead Light	Toho #2011 Ancient Light Green Matte Opaque 8/0	1.50	Bobby Bead	14 gr Box	3.85
F Coral	9x5 Rice Coral	17 pcs	Bobby Bead	50 piece Strand	10.00	Special ordered
G Rondelles	Red Czech Rondel	11 pcs	Bobby Bead	100 piece Strand	3.15
H Stringing 6/0 Dk	Toho #617 Olive Green Metallic Matte 6/0	12 pcs	Bobby Bead	14 gr Box	4.90
J 6mm Czech FP	Unknown Color	16 pcs	Papio Gems	25 piece Strand	1.00	Discontinued
K Miyuki 11/0 24K	Miyuki  #191 24k Gold 11/0	40 pcs	Caravan Beads	5 gr Tube	11.25
L 4mm Czech FP	4mm Czech Olivine Snakeskin Fire Polish	8 pcs	Prairie Flower Beads	50 piece Strand	4.00
M Czech Drop	Czech Drop Bead 5x8	12 pcs	Prairie Flower Beads	0.12	7.00	Discontinued
Clasp	Gold Plate Toggle & Loop	1 set	Stormcloud Trading	Pkg of 10 sets	2.95
4 Soldered Rings	4mm Soldered Ring Gold Plated	2 pcs	Stormcloud Trading	Pkg of 10 pcs	2.25
4x6 Oval Jump R	4x6mm Oval Jump Rings	4 pcs	Stormcloud Trading	Pkg of 100 pcs	3.95
Nylon Core	Stren 50# Test	12"	E-Bay	100 yd Spool	3.99	Limited Supply
Thread	One-G Thread	1 spool	Bobby Bead	50 yd Spool	3.75
Spring Clamp	Beadalon Bead Stoppers	2 pcs	Amazon	20 piece pkg	13.95
				Total Materials Cost	141.84

Now there were two big ticket items, the spring clamps, and the 15/0 24k gold plated Miyuki rocailles.  But even if we assume that I could have found either or both in smaller quantity, the kit is still looking like a great deal.  Also, there are sales at Bobby Bead, so if I didn't mind waiting for what I needed to go on sale, and buying some this week, and some more the next, money could be saved.

Substituting beads would be a challenge, because the hues and values in the leaves are pretty tightly controlled and each one depends on the others.  I did many samples to come up with combinations that worked.

Just to illustrate the point...

And then, there's the fact that some of the beads in the kit have been discontinued by the manufacturer, making them a challenge to hunt down and purchase.

Note to self, before deciding to write a tutorial, and kit a project, it might be best to have everything needed on hand.  Sigh, learning curve.  Perhaps simpler would be best, but as a designer, this is what I like to do.

SO...  before you think kits are expensive, and before you think you can find everything you need for yourself, consider my little test above.  It surprised me.  Did it surprise you too?  

Springtime Dragon

There is a new Dragon kit in my Etsy shop.  Meet Springtime Dragon.  I think they are all girls.

You can name your own yourself.  Maybe, for you, it's a boy dragon. :)

Last year, I started playing with the idea of using gradation in Chenille stitch.  I also decided to try working a series of similar pieces, instead of bouncing around at will, as I usually do.  So I made friends with dragons, and dragon scale beads, and the idea of multiple colorways.  It was kind of a quest for mastery of an idea.  I began with gradation that ran vertically around the cord.

I did the fuchsia one first, with a Fuchsia jewel, and a pink to purple rope ombre.

Then I used a Crystal Astral Pink jewel, and used color from the jewel for my ombre. from gold, through pumpkin to pink.  I gifted that one to a dear longtime beading friend.

Because she liked it.  :)

To better explain the ombre gradation, I have laid the rope on its side.  The outside edge of the rope is chartreuse, which deepens across the top to a middle value and then to a dark forest green on the inside.  And since I was thinking of writing tutorials, I gave this third version a fuchsia "belly" because I knew it would be easier for students to see mistakes in the pattern if there was a bold reference point.  I think there is some mastery to be had with repetition.

Here's a similar ombre, from "Second Hand Rose" which I have other plans for.  

Then I worked with spiraling the ombre around the rope, and that too, is a tutorial in my Etsy shop.

And I did a couple dragons with that gradation as kits. The Volcano sold out really fast, and two of the Chili Pepper are still available in my shop.

I think Springtime is the last Dragon kit I will do.  How many dragons might people want to bead??

I think she (or maybe yours would be a he?) would be fun to wear for Valentine's Day, or St. Paddys, or maybe even Easter!  For sure the vernal equinox!  The project takes about 10-12 hours, (intermediate level with a knowledge of Peyote required and the ability to follow a chart) so there is plenty of time if you get started right away, lol.

But I have a couple other dragons to show, and if this is the end of dragons for me, now is the time.

Expect more gradation.  It is one of my favorite things to do.  And I love Chenille, so meditative.

But if you want a dragon, now is the time.  

Find her in my Etsy Shop here!

A Goal is a Dream with a Deadline

I should begin by crediting Napoleon Hill for the title.  They are his words.

Well, I did it.  I was afraid to voice my New Years resolution for 2015, because I has doubting both my ability, and my willingness to devote the time and money to learning to illustrate. But I did it!

See??  Diagrams and everything!!

Kassie Shaw Inman showed me the way.  Kassie, author Beadweaving Beyond the Basics, has written a tutorial teaching the use of Microsoft Word to create beadwork diagrams.  If you have ever considered learning to work with vector graphics, but were hesitant to commit to paying Adobe a monthly fee of $19 for the rest of your life for the pleasure of working with Illustrator, (a daunting thought to a 62 year old hoping to retire sometime soon) this tutorial might just be for you.

Kassie's tutorial is written specifically for Microsoft Word, but I applied her information to Apple Pages with reasonably good results.  Her ease and relaxed confidence is infectious.  Whenever I could not find a way to solve a problem, I went back and watched the tutorial again, sometimes only for a few minutes, and with her encouraging attitude in my head, went back and FOUND A WAY.  I highly recommend this tutorial.  And Kassie, for that matter, because her simple, Can-Do attitude is an anodyne for all things on which you think it might be best to give up.

And before I leave this topic, Cynthia Newcomer Daniel has an equally fine tutorial introducing the basics of Adobe Illustrator for beady purposes.  But I just could not make a commitment to the monthly "membership".  Plus, I bought a fancy pants Mac Book Pro, and I am trying to make it earn its keep.

I also used Pages for layout, instead of Adobe Publisher, (thus avoiding another monthly fee) and while it was not without its problems, I conquered enough of them to manage to mostly get it to do what I wanted.  One Apple Genius suggested that I plan better before starting the document, when I went in for help with why the document parts jumped freely from section to section without my permission.  I am really proud that the guy is still alive.  I did try to explain that it is hard to know if you are going to need an explanatory image to go with your words until on second final edit, when it seems clear.  I have just one word of advice.  LOCK.  "Stay on page" and "no text wrap" although important, are not sufficient to the task.

Also in Pages, when starting your document Begin with a NEW DOCUMENT, and in the file menu, before you do ANYTHING, "Convert to Page Layout".  Put all your text in text blocks and size them to the size of your text.  Otherwise, things jump about at will.

SO, here it is!

And it has a friend too...

And as you can see, while I was having the tutorial experience, I thought I would also try making a kit.  And that was a VERY BIG learning experience too.

You can see this tutorial in my Etsy shop.  The 12 Volcano kits sold out, although I have more dragon scale beads on order that will enable me to create one final kit in that colorway.  There are still a few Chili Pepper kits to be sold. and the listing is HERE.  (Note: these kits sold out fairly quickly, but I am working on a new set of Volcano ones for late this year, 2016)

I am so deeply thankful for the support for these, my first kits.  If you purchased one, THANK YOU! Please let me know if you have any problems or questions, and show me how it turned out when you are finished.

Note the publication date.  December 10, 2015.  I think a 2015 resolution needs a 2015 deadline, and I think I sneaked in under the wire.  :)  Dream fulfilled!