Julie in Japan

In June this year Julie returned to Japan for her third teaching tour.  The trips have all been arranged by Mr Yusai Shokoin who is the President of the Bead Society of Japan, and who was also central to the introduction of the arts of tatting and lacemaking to Japan - his influence can clearly be seen in some of the beautiful gifts that Julie's students made and gave to her on this trip, photographs of several of these gifts can be seen below. 

This year Julie arrived in Japan on the afternoon of June 23rd and was taken to her hotel via the train ticket office to arrange the Shinkansen (bullet train) schedule for the rest of the trip.

Day 1 - An easy introduction to the trip this year.  The train to Akita in the north of the country takes four hours, plenty of time for staring out of the window and watching the world go by, followed by a leisurely afternoon of shopping and an early night to be ready for her first class in the morning.

Day 2 - Each of the classes that Julie teaches on this trip will follow the same format.  The teaching portion of the day is based on a design that has been pre-agreed with the organisers so that  a Japanese translation can be prepared before Julie's arrival.  This year the chosen design is the Ladybird bracelet (KT2353) which has been adapted to a necklace design for the classes. 

Pictured below the original ladybird bracelet design, part of the Japanese translation and an exquisite tatted and beaded bag presented to Julie on her visit in 2006

The day starts at 10am and starts with a short talk (with a translator, who is present throughout the class) on where Julie is from and greeting the many students that she has met before on earlier trips.  Julie then teaches until noon when the class breaks for lunch, mostly Bento boxes but, as Julie is vegetarian, she is always provided with an imaginative take on salad ... and chopsticks.  Those of you noticing her new, smaller frame, and wondering how she did it - salad with chopsticks is the answer!

After lunch Julie gives a 30 minute presentation about her designs and what she has been doing since her last visit.  That was in 2008 while Spellbinding Bead Jewellery was at the printers, so her talk on that occasion was about the forthcoming book and the designs in it.  Now that Spellbinding Bead Jewellery has been published she was able to show the class the finished book and was surprised to find that not only did several of the students have copies of the book with them for Julie to sign, but had also made a number of the projects that they had also brought with them to show her.  This year the students again got a sneak preview of upcoming projects, with designs from the new Christmas decorations book that will be out this Autumn and some of the new kit designs that are now out for testing.

The teaching ends at 3pm when the students show pieces that they have brought into the class for judging by the tutor and then a prize giving.  Julie was very touched on this visit to see that many of the pieces that were presented for judging were based on or inspired by Spellbound kits or designs from Spellbinding Bead Jewellery.  In one class a student had created a desk set from woven Delicas and accented with beaded strawberries and bees which are ideas that Julie worked on during her last trip to Japan.  At the end of the class Julie presents all of the students with certificates, followed by the formal goodbyes (with lots of bowing) and then a quick dash for the train, today this is the train back to Tokyo.

Pictured above, gifts from the 2010 visit (left to right):- a tatted leaf and berry necklace, a tatted flower; an Origami book, beaded Delica purse, hand stitched flower brooch, painted dish, fabric fan; tatted strawberry phone charm, tatted necklace, stitched phone charm; Takako Sako book and a paper fan.

Days three and four are both spent teaching in Tokyo where once again the standard of the students work, both in the class and in their brought in pieces, is exceptional.  Additional prizes are given in these groups by the Toho company, presented by the regional head of the company Mr Asano.  Among the many gifts that Julie was given in Tokyo were some Origami pieces (one pictured below on the map of Takayama) made by Mrs Watanuk, an origami master, who also presented Julie with a book (above) that had been written by the Master who had taught her.  Another student in Tokyo was Mrs Takako Sako who you may know from her books on beadweaving and also the stunning beaded Kimono (pictured above) that was displayed at the Knitting and Sewing shows in the UK in 2009, and she presented Julie with some of her most recently published books.

Day four ends with yet another dash for the train, this time to Nagoya, and then a connection to Takayama, arriving late in the evening.

Day five is a real treat.  A day off to explore Takayama with Mrs Kosaka and Mrs Higashi who are with Julie in this picture in front of the Festival carts which are kept in a temperature controlled cave.  Takayama old town centre (map below) is a world heritage site with many old cedar buildings.  Today Julie also took part in a Sashiko embroidery class which is a traditional way of stitching on indigo fabric.  The purse pictured below was presented to Julie by the class teacher who also managed to get Julie to co-ordinate needle and thread - Julie may be very adept with needle and thread when beads are involved but fabric is another matter and we were all very impressed with the piece she made.  Julie was also honoured today with being presented to the Mayor of Takayama and a copy of Spellbinding Bead Jewellery was presented as a gift for the city library. 

Pictured above:  Map of Takayama; Origami paper dog; stitched, tatted and beaded lid on a decorative glass jar; photo of Julie and hosts in front of the Festival Carts in Takayama; wooden tea pot stand; traditional Sashiko embroidered purse.

Day six and Julie is back in Nagoya for a days teaching and then off to Kyoto in the evening.

Day seven is teaching in Kyoto followed by another master class.  Today Julie is invited into the home of a master of traditional braiding and knotting whose workshop produces Kumihimo braids for Tiffanys New York, some of them so complex that it takes an experience braider up to a week to make.  Fortunately he does not expect anything so complex from Julie and he teaches and presents her with a decorative knot.

Day eight and a trip to Nara, Japans first permanent capital city (until 784) with Mrs Oyama and some of the most memorable images of the trip.  A guided tour of the old city and its many important temples, and a traditional Japanese garden which has inspired one of this years kits were on the agenda, with, Julie insists, the cutest deer she has ever seen.  These tiny deer bow to you before they are fed - it is believed that these deer have never been trained and it appears to be a learnt behaviour from parents to the young with even the youngest deer bowing when presented with food.

Day nine and the start of the long journey home via Kyoto and Osaka ... and back home by 9pm on Friday night and a few hours sleep before setting up a workshop in Lichfield on Saturday morning!

July 4th - With all of the new lines that have been arriving in the last few months, yet again this page has been neglected.  Our intention remains to keep this updated weekly and lots has been happening in the last few weeks so there is quite a lot to tell. 

Julie has just returned from a ten day teaching tour of Japan and is full of ideas for new things to do with our ranges.  As always she was very well looked after by her Japanese hosts and we are looking forward to catching up with her and seeing what little treats she has picked up on her travels for the rest of us (she always manages to find a a little something special on her travels so that the rest of us don't get too jealous!)

Staff changes - Emily left a few weeks ago for a long summer of travelling before university, and as the sad date when Bryony leaves approaches ever faster we have been joined by Nina, who has recently moved up to the Midlands from the south coast.  Nina has settled in really quickly and we have to keep reminding ourselves that we haven't had time to show her everything yet, she is just so quick at picking things up we keep assuming she knows everything! We also have a new Saturday girl as a new Emily has joined Rowena and Beth on the team.  We are also looking forward to Louisa joining us in a few weeks too, and she has become a regular visitor to the shop, getting to know us all.

Stock arrivals - Beautiful new ceramic beads with generous hole sizes, lots of new C-Lon colours, the new range of C-Lon 0.9mm Tex, 4 new glass pearl shades in 3 sizes, bright floral beads, faceted glass beads in a variety of shapes and sizes, new findings, metal beads and Simples kits - all launched or on their way in the next few weeks.  We also have a massive delivery due, full of Delicas, Delica 15s, and size 15 seeds to replenish our stock; a large findings order on its way and lots of baubles being manufactured for us as I write for delivery early Autumn.

Coming Soon:  This Autumn we are bringing out a new book, Spellbound Festive Beading, featuring 16 of our most popular Christmas kit designs, plus two new designs.  The book will be available to pre-order from August 1st and we will be offering free postage for UK orders received prior to the official launch date.  To complement the book we will also be bringing out a set of beading packs containing a selection of beads and findings that are used in the projects in the book and we will be giving away 10 of these sets in a prize draw that will be held at the end of October.  Much more info on the book, the bead packs and the prize draw will be posted on August 1st

May 9th - we have had a fabulous workshop today for staff and friends of staff with Clare John.  We met Clare at the NEC last year demonstrating her resin work - see what she does at www.cjresins.co.uk - The workshop made a great departure for all of us.  Among the many interests that we already have are all aspects of beading, wirework and macrame, we have dabbled in making our own ceramic and lampwork beads, worked with PMC and attended silver smithing courses, several of us enoy working with textiles, including felt jewellery and one of us works in stained glass ... but none of us had made resin jewellery!  Photos below are of everyone getting really stuck in to their projects and a few of the pieces that were made on the day.  Clare will be coming back to do a follow on day for the same group in a few weeks as everyone who came had such a good time that they can't wait to have another go.  We are hoping to include a day with Clare on out workshop timetable for next year so keep an eye on the Workshops page for details later in the year.

May 4th - new this month for May is finally online, a few days late but full of goodies so we hope you will forgive us.  The next phase in the re-fit has also been achieved with an expanded findings board, easier access to some of the threads in the front of the shop and more changes in the semi-precious displays in the back, plus a lovely new wall display of cut crystal beads.  We have started getting the semi precious beads back on the website after quite a long absence, some 60+ strings have gone up today and more should follow in June.  We have a gorgeous new range of floral beads that are now up on the site, and will be in the shop from the weekend, and we have lots more beads in transit.  Currently stuck in a port somewhere (we are trying to find out why), is a selection of faceted glass and ceramic beads in bright colours - absolutely perfect for summer so we hope they get here in time!  Behind the scenes we have been busily adding new workshop dates to the schedule, with lots of demand for Beginners and Beginners Plus at the moment we are wondering if cloning the tutors might be an option as we are running out of available days!  Also in planning we have started work on the revamp of the Projects and Techniques pages.  All of the techniques will remain, with more on the way, and the existing ones are being updated and revamped, and the Project page will be losing some old favourites to make room for new designs so if you have been putting off downloading a pattern don't wait too long as it may not be there this Autumn.

April 6th - One very busy bank holiday weekend. We have been out with the power tools again refreshing some of the shop displays to make room for new lines. This time we have been concentrating on the semi precious room, and we have also just taken delivery of a beautiful new counter for this room (courtesy of the haberdashers two doors away, who are also re-fitting this week), and the old one has been re-housed by Erika as it is a perfect size for a workbench for her studio. You can see from the photos that not all of the display space has been filled yet ... it will be! This is the perfect time of year for us as we have 3 bank holidays in close succession so we can have a rolling plan for change that doesn't disrupt the normal trading of the shop.

So, what are the new lines? Well, in New This Month for April you can already see lots of new sterling silver beads and findings and they, along with more new findings on their way, all need to be displayed in the front counter, so the cut crystal is all now being re-housed alongside the semi-precious beads. New display boards have been put up all around the walls so that you can see more of the semi precious in all its glory and over the coming weeks our new hook boards will be filled with bags of crystal, lots of new metal beads (due to arrive early May), plus all the old favourites, and yet more display space is being created to make room for the fabulous new semi precious that is due to be delivered that will be available for sale from the start of May.

In all of the sorting, moving and tidying, we have also discovered a whole host of end of lines, which are now being reduced to clear. Some of these will be appearing on the web site as we re-introduce the Special Offers category, but many of the items, as there is maybe only one or two left, will not be available on-line. We have also had a big clearance of our library - books that we have collected over the years that we no longer have room for - so visitors to the shop will also find a whole host of textile related books, from cross stitch to patchwork, in our clearance section as well.

February 20th and we are just clearing up the last few bargain bags that are left and looking forward to spending a good few hours tomorrow putting the shop back together.  As part of the shop sale we reduced the prices on a lot of books, to make way for new titles coming through, and there are more of those available so there will still be a few bargains to be had in the next week or so for visitors to the shop.  The new home page is ready to launch and we are working on putting the finishing touches to new this month for March.  The Palette Boxes are looking really good and the design grids are ready to go in them; the new facet glass mixes are really yummy, the Starter Booklet has been revamped and expanded and is at the printers so we are looking forward to launching that properly during March, along with the new Square Stitch Starter box and four new Simples designs that will be ready later in the month as well

Deliveries wise we have just had the new facet mixes delivered and are busy getting them weighed and ready for sale; we have a massive Delica order on its way, and are also unpacking crates of Crystal so will be back in stock of some of our favourite colours in the next day or so.  

February 5th - We are just in the last stages of getting ready for this years sale, bagging and pricing end of lines and getting all of the web offers set up on the system.  This means that in the very small hours of tomorrow morning some of us will be in the shop with heaps of bowls and baskets to fill with all of the bargain bags, and folders full of signage so that visitors to the shop can see where the offers are, and hopefully be ready to go when we open at 9.30!

Because many of the bargain bags are one offs it is not practical to upload them onto the website so we are offering our web customers 10% off lots of products plus free postage for all UK orders over £30 for the duration of the sale.  Included in the web offers are all Delica beads and Delica 15s, all books, hand tools and wire bending jigs, all of our threading materials, Craft Kit Co boxes, Spellbound Kits and GL code glass beads.

** Custom kits, Miyuki kits and bead project packs, for web projects and Spellbinding Bead Jewellery projects are not included in the sale, and offers will not be applied retrospectively for items that go out of stock during the sale

January 22nd 2010.  Important changes coming in for our on-line service this week.  We are moving our on-line payment service to Sage Pay, one of the industry leaders in secure on-line payment services, to optimise payment security for our customers.   To you, our customer, there will be very little change to the way the website functions.  The difference is in the way that the payment is authorised.  Instead of authorisation being obtained at the point of invoicing, as has previously happened, your payment information will be checked straight away so that any, eg, miss-keyed numbers will be picked up straight away, and not, as happens now, at the time of invoicing.  This should mean that all payment queries are dealt with at the time you are placing your order and will prevent any unnecessary hold ups later.  In the same way as happens now though, payment will not be taken from your account until your order is invoiced.

Post and Packing

UK Customers - as part of the change over to the new payment system we have also held a major review of our postal charges and are bringing in a new, reduced rate service for UK customers.  The vast majority of our UK post will now be sent via first class mail and we have introduced an option to upgrade to Special Delivery should you wish to do so.  This upgrade affects only the method by which your goods are sent and does not mean that orders choosing this method of postage will be jumped higher up the processing list.  We deal with all orders that come in in strict rotation as we feel this is fair to all of our customers and we will continue to do this.  For full details of the new postal rates please see our Terms and Conditions

Non UK customers - We now have a standard scale of postage charges for all non UK customers for parcels up to a maximum weight of 3kg.  Please see our Terms and Conditions for full details.  The rates that are displayed are for ordinary, non-insured postage.  You can choose to upgrade to an insured service for a flat fee of £6, and this will cover you for loss or damage of items in transit and we would recommend this for any items of value.

Forgotten Something?  We will still be able to add extra items to your web order, as we can do now, for those 'oops I forgot' moments, but we will only be able to add on items to a value of no more than 15% of the total value of the order you have placed.  Items above this value will be treated as a new order. 

January 10th 2010.  I cannot believe it is so long since we posted on this page!  The Autumn of 2009 just flew away in a blur of new product launches, the new catalogue and shows and here we are planning this year's activities already.  So what do we have in store this year? 

Firstly there is the workshop timetable - I have just finished uploading all of the course info onto the website and we have emailed all those who left enquiries with us over the last few months, posted out all of the envelopes and will launch the course schedule on-line at the end of this week.    Full details on the Workshops page.

Extra projects?  We have contributed designs to several magazines in the last few months.  The current issue of Bead features Spellbound as part of its series looking at bead retailers across the country, and Beads and Beyond has several new Spellbound designs in its '20 to Make' feature.  The Beadworkers Guild have also spotlighted our new double spiral rope starter kit in the latest journal.   We have lots of projects out in the ether that will appear in various magazines this year and Julie will be making a return trip to Japan for another teaching tour there.

Show wise we have the busiest schedule we have had in many years.  The organisers that we have exhibited with for several years are trying to reach otherwise untouched parts of the country so we will be heading to Poole, Lincoln, Plymouth and central London among other places and hope to get to meet even more of our customers this year.  Our full show timetable for this year is on the Events page

New Lines?  Lots of them coming in all the time.  In the last few months of last year we brought in some gorgeous new glass and metal beads and more of these have been added this month; Delicas - we now have the full ranges of both Delica 11s and Delica 15s plus a couple of new Miyuki Kits and the lovely Miyuki thread.  Lots of new kits were launched in the Autumn and we are already working on more designs for this year as well as revamping our complete tiara range and the projects and techniques pages on the website.  Once we have revamped the existing pages we will be bringing you basic techniques and projects in more small bead stitches plus blank design sheets for you to create your own projects and we are also working on some wirework pages.  We have also almost completed a new booklet for those just starting out with jewellery making that we should have ready to launch by the time of the first Spring shows.  Also on their way we have the new C-Lon Tex - a 0.9mm thread from the makers of C-Lon (which is 0.5mm diameter), so excellent for larger scale macrame projects, and a fantastic range of high quality plated plastics from the USA.

Other developments - well, despite the snow we have managed to get enough staff into the shop each day to keep both shop and mail order ticking over very nicely, not that we have seen many customers in the flesh (sensibly staying at home in some cases, completely snowed in in others) but we have at least maintained contact with many of you via phone, email and internet.  The website will be seeing some changes in the coming weeks as we change over from our current payment system to a new, pre-authorised service.  For our customers this will mean that when entering card details the information will be checked straight away so that any, eg, miss-keyed numbers will be picked up straight away, and not, as happens now, at the time of invoicing.  This should mean that all payment queries are dealt with at the time you are placing your order and will prevent any unnecessary hold ups later.  We will still be able to add extra items to your web order, as we can do now, for those 'oops I forgot' moments, but we will only be able to add on items to a value of no more than 15% of the total value of the order you have placed.  Items above this value will be treated as a new order.  At the same time we will also be introducing a new system of packing charges for international orders and all of this will be announced on the home page of the web site once we are ready to go live.

Congratulations - to our lucky 25 winners of our 25 giveaway.  We have all had great fun diving into the big sack of names to pick out the winners and they are: Ms Covey in Lichfield; Miss Craig in Helensburgh; Miss Cornish in North London; Mrs Condry in Retford; Mrs Black in Glasgow; Ms Hellon in Kings Lynn; Ms Nicholl in Lichfield; Mrs Goodman in Castleford; Mrs Johnson in Bishop Auckland; Miss Williams in Enfield; Mrs Siddle in Leighton Buzzard; Mrs Gullick in Cannock; Mrs Chambers in Armitage; Mrs Gidlow in Burton on Trent; Mrs Graves in Lichfield; Mrs Dickson in Glasgow; Mrs Steel in Chelmsford; Mrs Parker in Bournemouth; Mrs Nicholls in Lichfield; Mrs Edge in Warrington; Ms McGee in Stafford; Kris in Derby; Ms Hyde in Lichfield; Mrs Joesbury in Tamworth and Ms Carey in Cheshire.  The gift vouchers are being sorted out as I type and will be in the post to the winners on Monday.

August 1st - No time to update in July, we have been absolutely run off our feet, so a big thank you to all of the customers who joined in our birthday celebrations, and good luck to all who entered the draw for gift vouchers.  Winners will be picked from the sack later today and 25 lucky people will receive their vouchers in the post next week.  So, one very busy month.  Not just the birthday offers but also lots of shipments in from all over the world.  A huge delivery of C-Lon - it seems that everyone has started to find out just how versatile it is, and the lovely colour range is definitely a bonus as well.  More delicas, both old lines back in stock and a whole host of new ones too.  Lots of lovely findings, now coming in in ever larger quantities and we are reviewing our storage as well so that we can offer more choice in bulk packs in the shop.  A new range of size 11 seed beads and smaller bugles in wonderful colours, a big shipment in from the Craft Kit Company yesterday ready to be unpacked today so more of those will be available on-line later today.  We are also expecting rather a lot of books in any day now so be prepared for a sudden jump in the number of titles on offer.

June 27 - we have just had a lovely week in the shop.  All of the usual running around but with the addition of a bit of sunshine and a fantastic afternoons training on Wednesday.  Julie came across for the day and, as soon as the shop closed, settled down for a very intense afternoon of wirework teaching.  I have never known the building so quiet!  It has also been a very busy week for deliveries - lots of findings, crates of Nymo, a small emergency shipment of Delicas (we are mystified - where is all the DB0010 going?), a lorry load from India, mostly replenishing existing lines (you may have noticed that the Sunshine and Marine mixes are now available again among other things), but some new lines too and we should have those priced up and photographed ready for our new this month for July.  This of course if we can tear ourselves away from the tennis ... which we must as, although most of the preparation for our birthday month is now done we still need to do all of those essential final checks - see the Birthday Offers page for full info, plus a bit of background on us and some very rare photos of the staff (possibly the most photo phobic group of people you could meet, getting hold of the photos has been quite a challenge).

June 1st and the last two months have flown by in a flurry of shows and workshops, the most recent this weekend being the creative bead embroidery day with Jenny and Lynne.  They not only brought a fabulous selection of their own pieces to inspire us (all of the shop staff were treated to a private viewing as well), but they really challenged their students to put their own creative stamp on the projects they were making.  A great day was had by all.  We are coming to the end of our current workshop program at the moment with only a few places left on the remaining classes.  If you were unable to get onto one of the workshops but would like to be on the waiting list for the next time it is on, let us know and we will let you know when we can arrange a date.  Yesterday was the Dorking Bead show - and for once no roadworks on the M25, we couldn't believe our luck!  Lovely to meet new people and catch up with lots of old friends as well and we are looking forward to the return trip next year.  In the meantime we have several shows all over the country in the next few months - take a look at the Events page for full details and links to the organisers sites for more info on the shows and venues.

And coming up.  This July we celebrate our 25th anniversary with a number of offers on the web site and in the shop so keep an eye on the web site for more details closer to the time.  We haven't been able to get all of our planned new techniques up onto the site because of technical difficulties uploading pdfs, but we are still working on them so once we get the technical bit sorted there could be a real flurry of activity.  Spellbound Simples are ready now, the first seven were launched today and the dozen will be completed by the end of June 2nd.  A new range of kits, the designs in the Simples range are each based on a single technique and each pack will make either a necklace and bracelet or a necklace and matching earrings, and most people will find that they can make a complete set in an afternoon.  Some of them are very quick, some use a few more beads and will take a bit longer, but all are great for beginners needing a starting point or more experienced beaders looking for a quick project.

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.  

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.

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.

We launched the book at the Alexandra Palace Knitting and Stitching Show in October 2008, and at this, and its sister show in Harrogate in November we were 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.

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

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