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December 6th - Where has the year gone? It seems like no time at all since we were taking down the Christmas decorations and they are back up again! Today we are both attending our last show for the year and holding our last workshops, so from tomorrow we swing into re-stocking, stock checking and ordering for the new year in earnest. We will also be getting those November delivery items onto the web-site at last plus a further selection of project packs for the designs from Spellbinding Bead Jewellery.
Just In - More colours in delicas and delica fifteens; more semi-precious and new shades in C-Lon macrame thread
On its way - Workshop dates for 2009: A special program of workshops to celebrate our 25th anniversary, we will be working to finalise these before Christmas and will release all of the details as soon as we can.
November 11th - Looking forward to the NEC - our local show and a book signing event has been arranged by the show organisers so we hope to see lots of new and familiar faces over the next few days, we will also have a selection of the bead packs for the book projects with us. Set up day is tomorrow so the kit packers are working overtime trying to get the stock back up to a full complement, and we have just had half a ton of new glass bead mixes delivered so we are also tearing our way through the cartons to get a selection of these ready for the shop and show by tomorrow - we think they are gorgeous and we hope you will like them too!
New Stock Arriving - We have had several large deliveries in the last week and are working to get them unpacked and out for sale as quickly as possible. They include some beautiful new, slightly smaller, fish hooks, an expansion of our coloured finding ranges with the copper findings finish now also available in large box lace ends and 2mm metal beads; filigree cups in 5mm and 8mm are all now available in silver, gold, burnished gold, copper and black finishes and some gorgeous new glass beads and bead mixes have arrived too. All of these will be up on the web site and out in the shop just as soon as we can.
October 25th - One very busy week for us, this weekend we have teams in Glasgow and Harrogate, after which they have a whole two days to unload the vans, re-stock and load up again before they head off to Cardiff and Sandown for next weekend, so if you hear the sounds of matchsticks snapping in any of these venues it could just be one of us losing the battle to keep our eyes open! Back at the shop it is of course half term, always a busy week for us at this time of year, but is does also mean that we have the added bonus of our fantastic Saturday girls coming in to help out during the week, just as well as we also have a big shipment due this week that we need to turnaround ready for next weekend's shows.
October 14th - Competition Winners - we have now heard from all of our lucky book project winnes now and here they are along with the projects they have chosen: Mrs Moody chose the Aurora necklace; Mrs Nutman chose the Calypso necklace; Mrs Brown and Mrs Kearns both chose the Galadriel necklace; Ms Turner and Mrs Senior both chose the cover necklace from Galadriel inspirations; Mrs Morris, Mrs Rodwell and Mrs Thomas all chose the Morgan le Fay necklace and Mrs Chambers chose the Guinevere necklace. We hope they all enjoy making them all up and wearing them.
October 14th - Lovely review! while we have been away the Beadworkers Guild magazine has arrived and their book reviewer has named Spellbinding Bead Jewellery as her favourite book for this issue - we are chuffed to bits!
October 13th - just back from Alexandra Palace and completely exhausted! Many thanks to everyone who came to see us, we saw lots of familiar faces, met a lot of new people, and we signed quite a few books so we hope that there are lots of people out there enjoying getting stuck into the new designs. The workshops were a great success, and having a demonstration stand opposite our main stand meant that Pat could do bits of trouble shooting and explaining techniques with people, as well as getting a lot of people to have a go with things they had not tried before like knitting with beads and wire. Pat will also be teaching and demonstrating at the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching show in November so if you have never braved playing with pre-knitted wire why not book yourself onto a workshop and have a go at making a bracelet? She is teaching a class on this on each day of the show and there is a link to the organisers web-site on our events page. Extra beginners workshop dates here in Lichfield for November will be posted on the web site this week and, somehow in the midst of our show mayhem, we are working on our 2009 workshop full day schedule as well. We already have two guest teachers confirmed and are aiming to have the full schedule ready by the time we get to the NEC in 4 weeks time so watch this space for more details ...
October 6th - Finally the book and catalogue have arrived and these all went in one massive mail out last Monday - fortunately our local sorting office were able to arrange a special collection for us in the morning as we couldn't move in here because of all of the bags! Many thanks to all of you for the kind comments on the book, catalogue and new kits - and congratulations to all of the competition winners. Letters went out to all ten last wednesday and we will post names and choices here once we have heard back from the last three. And now we dive into our Autumn show schedule, our next show is Alexandra Palace - the official book launch plus a couple of workshops and set up day is on Wednesday so we have less than 48 hours to finish packing all of the kits. We will also have some project packs for the book at the show but the full range will not be available until the end of the month.
July 30th ... Design Book from the Spellbound Team out Autumn 2008
Spellbinding Bead Jewellery
The last two years have flown by at an amazing rate as, alongside all of our usual shop, show, kit design, teaching, web-site and mail order commitments we have been burning the midnight oil to put together a collection of all new designs for our book, Spellbinding Bead Jewellery, that we hope will bring you as much pleasure as we have had putting them all together.
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The theme of the book - jewellery inspired by goddesses and strong female characters from myth and fiction - was the brainchild of Jane from David & Charles. having seen our range of kits she thought that we would enjoy the challenge of creating a book of strong pieces of jewellery that would appeal to confident beaders. With clear step by step instructions, an enthusiastic beginner will also be well equipped to have a go.
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Each of the ten chapters in the book has a distinct theme, both in technique and design inspiration. From the light and delicate wire links of the Aurora chapter to the densely beaded jewels of Morgan le Fay. We have embraced a wide range of techniques and materials from size 15 seed beads to pre-knitted wire, from wirework to herringbone rope. Every project is graded for difficulty level and there are also hints and tips throughout to help the less experienced beader along the way.
With photographs and illustrations throughout, the book is beautifully presented thanks to the tender care of the very talented designer, Mia, at David & Charles. Every chapter features three major projects with full step by step instructions, plus up to 5 extra design ideas that take the major project technique principles in different directions - whether changing the mood by colour or use of materials, or simplifying the idea or taking an aspect of the design to create a completely different piece.
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We will be launching the book at the Alexandra Palace Knitting and Stitching Show this October, and at this, and its sister show in Harrogate in November we will be demonstrating on our stand throughout the show and also teaching workshops to make a bracelet design based on one of the projects in the book.
For more details on these shows, or to book a workshop place, see the organiser's web site at www.twistedthread.com
Workshop places cost £7.50 each to include all materials
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This necklace and pendant project was inspired by the Morgan le Fay chapter in the book and has been created exclusively for the Bead Society for their Autumn newsletter.
For more details on the Bead Society go to their website at www.beadsociety.freeserve.co.uk
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The book may have only two names on the cover but we have been supported throughout by a great team at the publishers, by all at Spellbound, particularly by Jean, Lynn and Pat who helped with the testing and proof reading and a special thank you to Lynne at Stitch and Craft who came to the rescue with a vital piece of knitted wire when we were away from home and had left some of our essential design kit behind!
Book info: Paperback, 128 pages, full colour throughout
Page layout, design and photography all copyright David & Charles
Project designs and illustrations all copyright The Spellbound Bead Co
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