February 2012 and plans for the year seem to be starting a little late ... maybe the frosts that have finally arrived are waking us up!

A couple of weeks ago there was a big celebration at Spellbound as the ever youthful Kev hit the milestone 50th birthday!  I think we were all more shocked by it than he was as, to be honest, not only does he not look half a century old but neither do his parents (now why don't we all get such good genes?).  Anyway, a great time was had by all, much food consumed (as you will see), great music played (follow the youtube link at the end to see the band in action) and once the children had gone to bed a drink or three imbibed as well ...

the well trained roadies get to work checking the equipment is working as it should	drummer roadie came in on her own - obviously destined to be a star ...	a few minutes to sort out those dance moves	and the all important checking your pose ...
meanwhile the grown ups check out the food table, Daniel and Rowena prowling to find the lacto free items	before Rowena heads back to Jodie, Beth and Vicky for their group shot	and we're truly hoping that it is Jess the dog Suzanne and Julie are trying to coax out from under the table and not one of the children	aaargh - come quick there are superstars in the next room ...
Skimmer in action in all their glory	sometimes they even let the drummer into the photos	one seriously adoring crowd ... the room was so crowded some people were watching from outside!!	and the man himself
the cake that says it all, band, books and football (plus a mirror and a dog lead)	Would you trust this man with a knife?	It's my biirthday and I'm having a great time	the diet can start tomorrow ...
First mini gig of the night over time for the beer (Elinore, Beth and Daniel get stuck in)	and maybe one or two more before the band start again ...	Kirstie, Kevin, Julie and Jason catch up with a few more people	and Edna and Pat retire to the kitchen for a quick coffee

and at the end of the night even Jess had had enough attention to want to retire to bed ... you can fuss me if you like but you've got to come to me!

and if you'd like to see the band in action just follow this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJmZ8Y_iMhQ to see the band (and Jess) doing their stuff

January 2nd 2012 and back to work for us all tomorrow.  We have not been idle during the break though and have two lovely new kits ready to launch tomorrow, workshops in the final stages of planning and hoping to be ready to launch at least the first phase in the next few days and some great new beads for new this month which, however, will be a little later than usual.

December 21st and the mail order office is slowing down and tidying up as the last few pre-Christmas orders go out.  The shop is ever busy though and we are helping with those last minute presents, and bits and pieces that we all seem to run out of just when we need them most!

The office is closing on Friday, last post leaving at 3pm, and then re-opening next Thursday December 29th.  The shop is shutting at 3pm on Christmas Eve and will re-open at 10am on Thursday 29th December.  For the few days between Christmas and New Year that we are open we are on shorter hours than usual - 10 to 4.30pm for the shop and 9 to 4.30pm for the mail order office.

We are all looking forward to a few days off and catching up with family, sleep and maybe even a little beading too!  We hope you all have a fantastic Christmas too and wish you every happiness for 2012.

December 6th and the very sad news that Katie, for several years now a much loved member of the team, died in the early hours of yesterday morning.  Katie was first diagnosed with a brain tumour aged just ten and, despite fantastic care by the medical profession, the tumour came back more than once, and this time the treatment to keep it at bay was unsuccessful.  Katie helped to keep us organised, curbed our worst excesses of untidyness, helped often in workshops where her quiet and encouraging nature helped many a nervous student forget their fears and realise just how much they could achieve.  She had an amazing creative gift which found voice in many media from her paintings and photography to her beadwork, many examples of which can be seen on our projects and spotlight pages.  Katie also had a strength of spirit that kept her going uncomplainingly and the most ready smile that never failed to light up any room she entered.  She will be much missed by all of us.

Katie, centre, flashing her ever present smile, enjoying a dressing up moment with Erika, Bryony, Lisa and Jodie

November 17th ... and a very late New this Month from us!  We have been working hard behind the scenes I promise, just a little slow on getting things up on the site. 

So, first of all a very big Thank You to all who have bought Pam's Poppy Pattern from us or one of the bead packs.  To date we have sold 125 patterns, raising £1,187.50 for the Poppy Appeal, the other £62.50 going to cover Pam's printing costs for the pattern.  From the 80 bead packs we have sold the 10% that we donate to the legion has come to £121.56 and we are rounding this up to a contribution of £130 so a total of £1,317.50 is going to the British Legion thanks to our customers who have supported this cause, through us, so far.

Fundraising?  Or looking for great stocking fillers?  We have been working on ideas for this following more than a few requests.  The results?  The angel decorations and the macrame bracelet on the projects page - quick, easy and economical.  As are many of the ring ideas that have just been uploaded too - especially the simple rings that need just one bead and a short length of wire, a little practise will give fantastic results.

We also, finally, have the last three of our Autumn kits available for sale, they took a little longer in testing than we anticipated, but the regal Francis Necklace, simply stunning Seymour Necklace, and gorgeous Elizabeth bracelet are all now available too.

Coming soon - Macrame thread - we have had an absolute run on C Lon and C Lon Tex and we have a huge order on its way, due to be here at the end of the month when we should be fully back up to speed with all of the colours.

Christmas!  On its way and as well as the angel and fairy ideas we have also been working on ideas for table decorations.  Keep an eye on the Projects page for these which will be up soon.  The napkin rings are already in the writing process and the other table decorations are still being tweaked, all being well it will all be up on the site in the first week of December.

Workshops 2012 - we are currently working on our workshop listings for 2012, we will be repeating all of the perennial favourites from beginners to tiaras, running this years new small beadork days again and adding in some half day taster small beadwork project classes and a full day Square Stitch class and we are looking to add one or more macrame classes in addition to the popular beginners macrame class for those who would like to take it a bit further.  If you have any suggestions for classes that you would like to see please let us know.  If you would like to be informed as soon as the 2012 timetable is available just drop us an email to info@spellboundbead.co.uk with the subject line 'workshops 2012' and we will let you know as soon as the dates are set.

We are also considering a gallery for customers on the site or, as has been suggested to us by a couple of customers, a Facebook page for sharing ideas and news - again, let us know what you think, we'd love to hear from you!

October 31st and we are well into the show season with only four shows left this year it has all gone so fast!   The mail order team have been working hard getting out all the new kits and beads to you all and the show team have been kept on their toes too.  We are still a little behind with a couple of kits still in testing and not making their mid month deadline that we had hoped for, they will be along soon we promise!  As always, even in the midst of chaos, we still have time to look for new things and we have just a few lovely new things coming in November, including five soft and gentle new shades of Nymo, some metal filigrees and pendants, and some lovely new semi precious.  Coming back into stock, we had absolutely no idea how popular some of the metal beads and charms were going to be and we sold out before we had time to blink, we are due for a new delivery of these in the next week or so and they will be back on the web site as soon as they some in.  Also coming up - as it is the traditional book launch season, we will be having a few new titles in to tempt you too.

October 6th and working hard on the website to get all of the new kits out for sale.  The lucky few who got a sneak preview of some of the kits at Cardiff and Exeter loved the new styles and there are lots more still to come as well that are in the final stages of testing and checking.  Today sees the start of the Alexandra Palace show - a great day out and we do like to sneak off the stand and have a look around the exhibition if we get a chance to do so and of course there is always the glorious colours of autumn as you leave through the park at the end of the day, those lovely crisp clear evenings where you can see the whole of London stretch away before you all the way to the Thames and beyond ... all of which probably means that we will now have four misty drizzly days ahead of us and no chance to see that lovely view!

In other news the demise of Jodie was very premature - as she is back with us already and is working at Alexandra Palace this weekend!

and coming soon, we will have those ring projects up and running soon, just a bit of a delay as the kits have taken over our lives these last few weeks, and we also have a lovely set of Napkin ring designs coming along in a few weeks for Christmas table decorating and a few jewellery ideas too ...

September 15th and we are getting ready for the Autumn shows and new product launches.  Yesterday was a hive of activity in the shop as everyone rushed about with lists of all the things that need to be brought together for the show in Exeter next week. 

NEW KITS - We have three lovely new quick and easy earring designs with a festive feel, lots of new Simples designs including a bag charm set and an ingenious Sunrise pendant, new Spellbound kits include some quite courtly necklaces that have had us coming over all 'Tudor' and some simply deightful needlecases.

NEW BOOK - well, more of a booklet really, this is a quick and easy guide to making a beautiful collection of jewellery without breaking the bank.  A short time ago we challenged Julie to see how many pieces she could make out of just two strings of pearls and two strings of crystals - plus a few other bits and pieces - and this book is what has resulted from it.  With step by step fully illustrated instructions, and full colour photography throughout, the book includes five necklace designs, each with matching earrings, plus a bracelet and a ring design.  20 pages long the book will cost £2.50 and will be available by the end of the month.

Alongside the book there will also be bead packs available.  Each bead pack contains sufficient materials - beads, thread and findings - to make one of each of the projects in the book.  The packs will be available in a choice of tempting colourways and cost just £22.50 each.

In other news, we have just had huge deliveries of C Lon, C Lon Tex, and Delicas.  We are expecting our annual bauble delivery very soon (we hope) and a new range of wooden beads that have been stuck in customs in China for what seems like an age.  Julie went off for two weeks teaching on a cruise over the summer and met lots of fantastic people, not to mention getting to go to some fabulous places too.  The rest of us have each managed to get a few days away too, Cornwall as ever a favourite destination for several people, camping in Lyme Regis for one, a week in Turkey for someone else, and the trip of a lifetime for Jill who spent a month travelling down the west coast of America - we are all very jealous but it was great to hear about it and she did bring back some rather lovely goodies for us all to share.

Sadly we are also saying goodbye to two members of staff this week.  Jodie who has been with us for four years is off to a part time job so she can spend more time building up her jewellery making business - she promises she will be in regularly to pester us from the other side of the counter when building up her supplies so we know we won't lose touch.  Emily, a Saturday girl and regular for holiday cover for the last two years is also off, this time to Aberystwyth University, having been delighted to get the grades she needed in her A levels.  Both our other Saturday Girls, Beth and Rowena, also made the grades they needed in their A levels but have chosen to take a year out to pursue part time courses at Birmingham's fabulous school of jewellery, and will be spending much more time working in the shop so we will be seeing a lot more of them.

August 1st and still drowning under boxes and boxes of new lines (not to mention plaster dust and cables).  All of which is very exciting as it really is almost like Christmas every day (just with dust instead of tinsel)! 

In the last few weeks we have also had three lovely work experience girls to help us in the shop.  Millie and Florence both joined us for the same week, and then Lily worked with us on the following week.  Millie and Florence were with us for one of our staff training afternoons and made some beautiful pieces - see a bracelet by each of them on the Spotlight page and a necklace by Millie on the Projects page.  We have lots of other spotlight and project ideas too, using the new crystals and pearls that have been added to the range recently, and some of the new copper and black findings.

July 13th and we have spent a month of something approaching mayhem as deliveries of all our new lines for the Autumn start arriving, along with re-stocks of old favourites and more than a few updates.  We are also in domestic chaos as very overdue building work is being done at the warehouse the battle between stock organisation and multiple tarpaulins to keep the dust off the beads is making stock moves rather more tricky than usual! 

In terms of deliveries we have had Delica's coming in thick and fast with each delivery bringing a few more of the Duracoat range, then a big C-Lon top up brought with it 24 new colours in C Lon Tex.  Findings galore have arrived too, just one new findings line so far, the burnished gold French crimps, on their way we have a beautiful range of new and existing lines being expanded to include some more antique copper and grey black beads and findings as well.  We have also taken delivery of new pearl colours and sizes, loads of new short strings of cut crystal from China and lots more coming in all the time. 

And for inspiration?  A bit later than usual we have some more semi-precious ideas coming to the project page this week and for August a crystals and pearls theme ...

June 4th - PayPal is up and running and so far so good!  The change went through quite smoothly and we trust that this will make life much easier for you, our customers. 

May 26th and we have just had the go ahead from PayPal.  As always with these things there are lots of forms to fill in, details to sort and we have not finished yet!  All being well we should be ready to make the change in the first few days of June.  So what does it mean?  For our customers we believe it should just mean a more convenient way of paying - not everyone likes using a debit or credit card, and some of us don't have a PayPal account.  This new system will give you the best of both worlds, you can still pay by card through a secure portal or you can use your PayPal account.

The main difference to the way we process payment is that money will now be automatically taken at the time of ordering, rather than our current system whereby although payment is authorised at time of ordering it is not physically taken until the order is ready for packing.  This should speed up the whole process and enable us to turn orders around even faster than we do now although, of course, there may still be delays at busy periods but we will always contact you if the delay is likely to mean more than 3 working days between placing the order and despatch.  The vast majority of orders will still be processed within one working day of receipt as happens now.

You can still make additions to placed orders, provided they have not already been packed, by phone on 01543 417650 but we would need additional card details to enable us to do this for web orders.

May 17th - for visitors to the shop there is a special treat in store right now.  We bought out the stock of an online company as the owner is retiring so we have a lot of short run lines to tempt you with in addition to all the usual goodies.  There is a lovely selection of size 8, 10 and 11 Czech seed beads, charlottes in sizes 8, 11 and 14, some metal charms and findings, a few packs of bugles in various finishes and sizes, a small range of horn, bone, shell and brass summery chunky beads and pendant pieces and some lovely African glass.  All of these are short run items so won't be appearing on the web as we have such limited amounts but we will be taking a small selection along to shows while the stocks last.

New Magazine info - lovely to see three pieces made by the Spellbound team in this months Beads & Beyond - left to right below Jodie's tiara, Vicky's comb and Vicky's brooch all featured in the top 15 bridal tiaras and hairpieces section.  Go to www.beadsandbeyondmagazine.com to download the instructions or take a look at our own Projects page for the instructions to make Rowena's lovely decorated comb (far right)

Also in the same issue of Beads and Beyond there is a lovely review of one of our classes - we were lucky to be able to fit an invitation to one of our workshops into the Editors' busy schedules earlier this year and they came down for the day to join one of Julie's Hair Decorations classes.  They had a fabulous day and made some beautiful pieces ... and then topped it off with a bit of a shopping spree at the shop later!  If you would like to join one of these classes we have just one more date for Hair Decorations this year on July 3rd so if you fancy a go, give us a call, there are still places left at the moment!

May 1st and a gloriously sunny day here - too good to stay inside maybe but so much to do on the website ... where would we be without WiFi!  New this month has just been launched, some very nice new crystal that we will be having a play with for next months Spotlight and Project pages along with a look at working with semi-precious so keep an eye out for those appearing here in early June.  During April we looked at all things floral and moving our wirework techniques up another notch and and so that is the theme for the new uploads this month.  I particularly like Jean's spiky flower pendant, the silver stamens highlight the greens beautifully and there is loads of texture in the design too ... but then I also like Katie's brooches ... and Louisa's layered pendant and ... and - oh always too much temptation and not enough time!  The new techniques download on making flowers and leaves with wire covers some fantastic ideas - work through these techniques and there is so much design possibility for all sorts of jewellery and embellishment ideas that you won't know where to stop.

There has been lots of activity at the shop too this week, with the displays in the front room all being completely revamped - photos to follow in a day or two - and we are also taking advantage of that extra day closed to get lots of cleaning and re-stocking done.

Coming up - as well as ideas for using crystal and working with semi precious there are some simply splendid wired butterflies on their way - also part of the new shop display they have been much admired and will be a new project in the not too distant future.  Stock wise we have lots of new glass beads on the way and new metal beads too and some more developments on the web-site (but they are taking far longer to get sorted than anticipated so more on that when we are closer to getting them ready to launch).

April 21st - and a gentle reminder from one of our non UK customers that we hadn't offered a postage discount to them too!  Big apologies from the office here - the unexpected spring time sun must have gone to our heads, we have rectified the situation and reduced all NON-UK postage charges for orders over £40 by £2 for the duration of the sale. 

April 19th - and time for a bit of a sale.  Not our full blown annual sale, just a bit of discounting so that all our lovely customers can have a bit of a treat this Spring.

From this Thursday April 21st to Wednesday May 4th we are offering free postage on all UK orders over £40 PLUS in the first week, April 21 to April 27 10% off all Spellbound Starter Packs and Spellbound Simples.  In the second week, April 28 to May 4 10% off all FG and GL code glass and faceted glass beads.  In addition to this we will also have a daily changing offer for shop customers - picked at random each evening for the next day from ten different offers, one for each of the ten days we are open between April 21 and May 4 (we are closed on both the Bank Holiday Mondays but open on the Bank Holiday Fridays).  Each offer will appear only once and we will post the following days offer on the website, on the Shop page, each night, once someone has put their hand into the hat and seen what comes out!  The ten offers are listed on the shop page now, and will be removed once they have been featured.

**please note all offers apply to in-stock items only and will not be applied to special orders or out of stock items

April 12th.  We have just had a lovely weekend.  Saturday was one of our triple workshop days with Beginners, Beginners Plus and Floral Jewellery all being held at the same time, and then on Sunday we had one of our (very) occasional staff Sundays where a group of us all get together for a workshop.  Lynn Bennett very kindly agreed to come and do a macrame day and all who took part had a great day and learnt a lot about a very popular craft and came in modelling their pieces that they had taken home to finish yesterday!

While much fun was being had at one end of the shop, the other end was a hive of activity as two of us stripped the semi precious display and completely rebuilt it, adding in crates and crates of new lines that came into the country a couple of weeks ago but have taken what seems like an age to price and get ready for sale.  Happily it all seemed to go quite swimmingly, and most of it is now also available online with a few more to come in the next few weeks ... by which time the next shipment may have arrived so look out for lots of lovely semi-precious on the website.  Because of the nature of semi precious though, sometimes we can only get a few pieces of some things (we have one display wall just for strings that we have only as individuals), there will still always be much more choice at the shop than online but we will continue to bring new lines to the web as often as we can.

In the midst of all this creativity, cleaning and re-stocking we also had a lot of cake!  Coincidentally it was also Nina's birthday so proceedings were interrupted for Erika's homemade beetroot cake - absolutely delicious. 

We have just taken delivery of the new Beads and Beyond and are delighted to see that three pieces from the Spellbound team are featured in the 20 to Make - one lariat each from Beth, Vicky and Jodie and Beth and Vicky both also took part in the Designer Challenge for this issue, making some beautiful pieces from a nautical themed bead collection for some very bright and breezy summer jewellery.

Coming soon we have new shipments of plated plastics and large crystal pieces on the way, hopefully to be here for a May launch, new links on order, new Brick Stitch Starter pack due to be released any day now and 'floral'was the theme of our latest spotlight and project afternoon so we are currently getting all those written up and photographed ready to launch at the end of the month.

April 1st.  Lots of activity on the website in the last few days as we have completed the new spotlight ideas, and project and technique sheets and got them uploaded, made a few changes to the home page and got the new lines that have come in this month all uploaded online and into the shop. 

Last weekend was the Hobbycrafts show at the NEC.  4 days of non stop activity, we were all a little tired at the end although a selection of goodies from Linden Lady (very nice chocolates) did help to keep us going along the way!  The show was bigger this year with more exhibition space which included lots of inspiring displays from artists and colleges including some stunning felt and fabric work, beautiful tailoring and some great iindividual pieces.  My favourites were a pair of decorated deck chairs - painted, embroidered and appliqued with sea gulls and beach huts on cushions - and a fishy mobile about four foot long and created in circles with all the fish made from plastics, really eye catching and very cleverly done.  We all came away feeling thoroughly inspired ... even if a little miffed that the storm troopers did not come to visit!  For those not familiar with the show it takes place in a hall next to a memorabilia show so for the two days that that was on as well the NEC was very well populated by a huge cast of characters from all sorts of shows, from Star Wars to Star Trek, Ghostbusters to Bleach.

And before we got to the weekend we had the chance to thoroughly spoil (and embarrass) Robert, who turned 50 on Wednesday ... first he had to fight his way to his desk through the banners and balloons ... and then find out that the one of the photos that had been taken the previous week (on some pretext or other) had made its way onto a birthday cake! 

Up and coming - two busy show days this weekend as we are off to Sandown tomorrow for the Big Bead Show, then on home territory as the Beadwork Fairs come to Edgbaston on Sunday.  In the meantime some of us are also frantically unpacking crates and crates of semi-precious as we have had an enormous shipment arrive with lots of the beautiful pebble beads in two sizes plus lots of other stones too.  All being well we will be re-vamping the shop display over the next 10 days and also updating the website so that they will all be here for all to see and enjoy in the next week or so.

March 15th.  It has been a terrible weekend for news - the devastation in Japan has shocked everyone.  From her teaching trips Julie has made many friends in Japan, as has Kevin from touring with his band in Japan several times and they are all very much in our thoughts at the moment.  We have heard from Miyuki, whose factory is south of Tokyo and outside the zones affected by the earthquake and tsunami, and the staff and factory are all OK.  There will undoubtedly be disruption though as the energy supplies and infrastructure of the country have been so badly affected.  We did take delivery of a large shipment of Delicas just last week, including the first of the new Duracoat galvanised range, so we have plenty of stock at the moment.

What we had been hoping to talk about this week were all the exciting new lines that are on their way, the big shipment of C-Lon that has just arrived, the huge range of semi precious that is being shipped that we will be taking delivery of in the next couple of weeks among other things, but more of that in a couple of days. 

February 19th and first a bit of old news!  Back in September of last year the delightful Nina was finally whisked up the aisle by Andy.  As is always the case with these things, by the time they had got through the preparation, honeymoon and finally relaxing back into real life it has taken a while to get the photos sorted, but sorted they are and Nina has chosen these three for us to share ... needless to say the ever present Nina smile is evident in each one!

Today is, of course, our first workshop day of the year too and we have a full house for both beginners and tiaras and fortunately the wire has arrived in time!  With all the rush and excitement of the sale the order did not go in as early as it should but fortunately our supplier was able to perform a small miracle and get a delivery to us for the start of the week!  It was fabulous to come in on Monday to all the newly cleaned and filled trays, and on Wednesday we had a staff training afternoon where, on top of more work on our wire working skills, we also had a sneak preview of the metal beads that are being launched next week - we all really like them, we hope you will too!

February 13th and a busy day for the shop.  We may not be open but the last of the sale items need to be removed, all of the signs taken down and the shop given a good clean and be brought back to its usual state.  While the sale has been ongoing many of the trays that are usually on display have been taken away for a clean and a refill so these are being put back out on display. Then, when the shop is back to rights, we are going to take advantage of a group of us being together when we are not working - a very rare occasion so definitely time for a little R&R - and sit down for a wirework class with Julie to polish up old skills, learn a few new ones ... and possibly have a chat and eat some cake too!

February 2nd and the sale is in full swing, and for once it isn't snowing!  It has become a bit of a standing joke that the minute the sale posters go up the weather closes in but for once it seems like we will get through some, if not all of the sale without being unable to get into the shop!

Lots of new lines for this month have just gone up on the web site; Vicky has designed a beautiful pink pendant for the '20 to make' in Beads & Beyond April issue (picture below alongside one of the proud auntie with new nephew Hamish); the planned February project launches are a bit delayed however as several of us lost last week to a rather unpleasant bug, which, as is always the way, creates a bit of a backlog so we will endeavour to bring you the Delica mat project, odd count peyote stitch technique sheet, knitting with wire and using pre-knitted wire technique sheets and new knitting projects by the end of the month, along with a whole host of earring projects too.

January 5th and time for us all to get back to normal after the festivities.  We all had a fantastic rest and hope you all had a good Christmas too and are looking forward to a Happy New Year. 

Thankfully the bugs that hit most of us in December seem to be on their way out, possibly frozen out by all the cold weather we have had, so maybe a bit of freezing what just what we needed.  Yesterday we had a bit of a snow flurry in the morning, which felt much more like walking through flying ice shards to those of us on foot in the morning.  Not the most pleasant walk to work but it did make that first hot drink of the day feel very special.  Today though it is nice and clear and, hopefully will stay that way as we are still waiting on several deliveries that should have been here last year!

We are just bringing together the last of the workshop information ready to launch them for booking tomorrow.  All the old favourites are there and we have three lovely new small bead days with Jean Hall this year too.  This is just the first schedule that we are launching tomorrow (see the website this evening for the first set of dates), with more to follow throughout the year, keep an eye on the Workshops page for up to date information.

Mail order and the shop are back to normal opening hours too and the team worked like lightening yesterday to clear the backlog from the bank holiday weekend, and, fingers crossed, deliveries seem to be back to normal too with most first class getting through the next day instead of the 3 or 4 days we were experiencing just a couple of weeks ago.   And talking of deliveries, Vicky is now a very proud auntie, hence the even broader than usual smile.  All being well she is hoping to be off to visit next week so if we can persuade her to pose for a 'proud auntie' photo while she is visiting we will be posting that here soon.

Christmas at Spellbound ... Santa is a regular visitor to the shop, collecting beads and kits for his Christmas deliveries, and on Saturday he treated us to an official visit

Everyone got into the Christmas spirit, with a full complement of elves in, and all the snow outside we are not sure if Santa recruited a few of them to help him on Christmas Eve!  Beth looks great in matching red and her elf hat (still celebrating getting a project published in January's Beads and Beyond - a very special Christmas for her); Edna with grand daughter Megan; Emily with slightly tipsy antlers; Jean bringing a little green to the festivities ...

Jill, matching her hair to Santa's coat; Louisa not passing up an opportunity to sit on an attractive gentleman's knee!  (fortunately two of her children were there to keep an eye on mum).  Nina made a splendid elf so we think she might be one of those tempted to a bit of helping out in Lapland this week ...

and then Pat (taking advantage of that knee again), Rowena and Vicky all hoping a little of that Santa magic will rub off on them ...

A great day was had by all so Thank You to Father Christmas for taking a little time out in all the snow to brighten up a very cold day in Lichfield

December 18th - Most of the new projects are now up on the site, and we have taken delivery of an enormous bead shipment from India.  Lots of the fancy mixes now back in stock, with a few changes so they will be available once the new photos are done.  The luscious matt Hockney beads are also back in and with two new colourways too.  Fortunately this all turned up a few days ago as we have suddenly been hit by more snow than we can cope with!  So far we have managed to be relatively unaffected by the weather, with all of us getting into work each day, maybe not as early as we like (and definitely colder than we would like) but we have been able to maintain the opening hours and get lots of post out.  Today however, the weather has started to win.  Julie was unable to get to her class in Evesham and we had to close the shop a little early, as the poor weather had not only prevented most customers getting in but was starting to look like no one would be able to get home either.  Hopefully the rest of the weekend will see a little improvement as we need to get all these lovely new beads out for sale and they are all stuck at the warehouse in a snow drift!

December 10th - Wow - we have just taken delivery of the latest Beads & Beyond magazine and have been voted favourite UK bead shop and listed for favourite online store too!  We are absolutely thrilled.  Thank You, to everyone who took the time to vote.

We will definitely not be resting on our laurels though - so many things to do and with only 2 weeks till the Christmas holiday we know it won't all be done by then!  Lots of new lines on their way, stock checking and  re-organising at the shop, more projects for the web site, and lots of re-structuring on the web site to make it easier to use too. 

December 2nd - One fantastic Autumn.  Many thanks to all of our customers, the staff who have worked unbelievably hard and the organisers of the shows we have attended who have enabled us to get out and meet lots of both new and familiar faces.  The new book, Spellbound Festive Beading, has had a fabulous reception with great comments both from magazine reviewers and lots of people who have bought it and are having a great time trying out all of the projects.  We have just taken delivery of the new Bead magazine and have found a lovely review of our Starting to Make Bead Jewellery in there too, recommended as a great stocking filler, which was a really nice surprise. 

It has been great to be so busy and we hope you will all keep us busy for many years to come, but it is nice to be finally in sight of the last show of the year and starting to catch up on all those things that we thought would be done months ago!  The projects page ... we are so sorry that it has been so neglected, I am sitting typing this quite literally surrounded by projects that have been made by the shop staff in the last six months that we simply haven't had time to get written up and uploaded onto the site.  This is being corrected, I promise!  All of the projects are quick and easy with more than a touch of sparkle about them and they will all be up there very soon so with plenty of time still to get them made in time for the Christmas party or as presents.

Also on the radar for this week - absolutely loads of new beads to get up on the website, including large hole beads, bracelet lengths and new rocailles, a couple of lovely new books too.  And then there is lots of re-stocking needed at the shop, sorting out our Secret Santa's and next years workshop schedule, due to be released early January so we need to get that sorted out very soon.  And very importantly keeping an eye on those posting dates - December 21st is the last date that the Post Office recommends for first class parcels and letters this year so we still have a few weeks to go, and mail order will be up and running right up to Christmas Eve, so plenty of time left to get those presents sorted.

And on that note I had better get on with those projects as I am already several weeks behind schedule with them ....

Just a quick update - Everyone had a great time at Nina's wedding, especially Nina and Andy, who are away on honeymoon at the moment, they just got out of the country before the snow closed us all down, we hope they are having a fantastic time.  Bryony is loving her midwife training and we are not sure if she is more excited by that or her recent engagement to Anthony ... although possibly it is the engagement!  Louisa is settling in brilliantly at the shop and, we find, has a daughter with a talent for writing, more of which later.  Beth has had a project accepted by Beads and Beyond which will be in the January issue, a really pretty wirework floral set so we can't wait to see that.  Vicky is about to become an auntie and is terribly excited and Pat is almost off her crutches ... but only almost!

October 30th - 5am, just waiting for the van to take us down to Sandown for the Big Bead Show, so with a few minutes to spare and a large coffee by my side I realised that an update here is well overdue!  We are coming to the end of the most hectic show month for us, 7 shows in four weeks is no mean feat and I think it is fair to say that there are a few bags under the eyes in the Spellbound camp right now!  As always it has been lovely to get out and meet lots of the people who we speak to throughout the year, to see new people, getting lots of feedback on all of the new lines that we have introduced and of course those all important moments when we get to sneak off the stand ourselves for a little shopping.  I bought a couple of rather gorgeous pendants at Sandown when we were there in March, let's hope I get a few minutes today for a bit of shopping too.

The launch of Spellbound Festive Beading has been a great success, not just lots of books sold but so many emails and phone calls from those who have bought it saying how much they like it and are enjoying the projects, and we are looking forward to running the prize draw next week so that ten lucky people will also have a lovely box of beads to play with.

More news - the last of the new kits will be available to buy by mid November, we have just had huge deliveries of Delicas, glass beads (still unpacking that one but some beautiful new large hole beads are already at the shop and will be at the show today), C Lon, C Lon Tex and Nymo.  Due in this week tigertail, glass pearls and lots of ceramic beads, with huge amounts of findings and more glass beads due mid November too.

and with that, the van has just arrived so I'd better get going or we won't be set up by opening time!

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 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

July 28th - this afternoon we had our first run through of the Stocking Fillers Workshop with Erika.  One of the many steps on the way to a new workshop is the testing, and with a half day workshop this is particluarly important as time is limited and we always like to pack them as full as possible to leave students buzzing with ideas and inpiration when they leave. 

So, How do we come up with a new workshop?

First comes the idea - this can come from customer requests, tutor suggestions, conversations between us, someone coming in wearing something a bit different that is greeted with a universal 'how on earth did you manage to make that?' ... many, many ways to start an idea - and then the hard work begins.

The idea:-  Stocking Fillers - came from Erika's suggestions for gift ideas on the website last Christmas.  With a great eye for using all materials to their full potential and incorporating sewn and found objects into jewellery, Erika truly does make the most of all the materials around her.  In the last six months Erika has been working through her ideas to distill them down to a selection of projects that offer a variety of techniques for the class, achievable projects in the two and a half hours allocated, and lots of inspiration around each idea so that the class can really see the potential of developing the basic techniques.

The testing:- Having brought together the projects for the class now we go into testing - this is the fun bit for most of us as it involves a trial workshop.  So today 3 of the staff sat down with Erika for a trial run of the workshop.  This is also the first time that many of us had seen the workshop samples and they are fabulous - photos on their way very soon!  This bit is really important as it helps to distill the projects down into what can be achieved and also helps to find out where instructions need to be tweaked - an explanation that makes perfect sense to one person may need to be explained quite differently to another and testing really helps with this, and helps the tutors to be prepared for all sorts of questions in the class.

Refining:- Having run through the workshop with the first set of testers Erika will now refine the ideas and come up with a materials list so that the class has exactly what it needs on the day, as it is easy on the first run through in the shop to just get those little extras, not so easy to abandon a workshop full of students because you have forgotten to pick up something vital!  Erika will also now  work with Julie to create a set of instruction sheets for the workshop.  This will go onto a second testing workshop in a few weeks, with a different set of testers and more of them, this is the real test.  Apart from a few tweaks, the workshop should be as good now as it will be for the first 'real' students.  The idea of the testing is, more than anything, to plan for all eventualities.  In every workshop there will be someone who doesn't understand an explanation, someone who works a little more slowly than most and someone who works so fast that they seem to be picking up the ideas even before the tutor has finished explaining them.  The testing helps to hone alternative explanations, provide plenty of moving on ideas so that the really fast people can keep moving on during the workshops, and give plenty of explanation in the worksheets so that those who take their time in the workshops can take away the information they need to complete their projects at home.