30 September 2008 Another busy week working on Bead and as always lots of variety. I visited Arundel last Thursday and had a great time meeting Rosie and Tjobbe who are both currently travelling around Britain on a craft tour. You can check their website out at www.thegreatbritishcrafttour.co.uk or watch my interview with them when it appears on Bead TV at www.beadmagazine.tv in a few weeks. Whilst I was at Bead TV I also fitted in some more filming, this time I decided to do a useful technique and it was 'using gimp'. This is a really useful little tool which is ideal for protecting the ends of your thread. So check out Bead TV and watch it when you get the chance. I set up lots more project photos whilst I was in Arundel. These were mainly for issue 14 and included some lovely beading and wirework projects and even our first metal work one! Don't be frightened- no heat or solder are involved. It's a very simple project using ready-made silver discs and a couple of tools to make your own bead-caps. I was delighted to see how beautiful the finished necklace was and will definitely be making my own caps as soon as I get the chance!   17 September 2008 Do you have a favourite beading or jewellery making book? If so then why not join in the new discussion on our forum and let everyone know what it is and why. All the books mentioned will be entered into a poll and the thread and polls will form the basis of an article on books in a future issue of Bead.   09 September 2008 Phew- just spent a busy few hours on Bead's forum adding new forums and moving messages around which will hopefully make it a lot more user friendly. Not visited the forum yet? Look to your left for a direct link to the forum and join in the fun!   25 August 2008 Issue 12 is just finished, just the cover to complete, and I'm racing along with issues 13 and 14. I'm currently enjoying a working holiday in Northern France and hoping at some point to be able to leave my laptop and get some beading done whilst sitting out in the sunshine! Issue 13 is looking lovely with some more 'advanced' beading projects- including one bead embroidery one, and a great, versatile wirework fibular which is surprisingly easy to make and sure to be popular. I hope you're all getting some summer and managing to enjoy the sunshine when it does appear!   19 August 2008 Another visit to Arundel yesterday and once again it was a joy to open the post! This time I got to see, amongst other things, lots of Bead Soup pieces, some items for the readers' challenge/ gallery and a crystal project that's coming up in issue 14. Most of my day was spent opening the post and responding to letters and emails and then photographing readers' work for the challenge/ gallery before moving on to taking some step-by-step wirework photos for a brooch going into issue 13, planning out the cover for issue 12 and photos of finished items for issues 13 and 14. Because myself and the page designer, as well as the proofer and project designers, all have other jobs as well, we have to make sure we keep well ahead to allow for our schedules, holidays, illness etc so whilst I'm just finishing off issue 12 to go to the printers, I'm well ahead on issue 13, some of issue 14 and gathering items for issue 15! it can get very confusing at times!   12 August 2008 Issue 12 is almost done and on its way to the printers. I find it so hard to believe I've been working on Bead for almost two years and have managed to get 12 issues done and out there! That's over 150 different projects we've featured, over 50 different profiles, 12 reader's diaries and hundreds and hundreds of gallery photos full of inspiration! I dread to think how many emails I have read and sent in that time- but I know it's in the many thousands. A quick check has just revealed I have sent over 3000 since this January alone- now I know why I'm always so busy! It has been a joy editing Bead for the past two years and I hope you will all continue to read us for all our years to come.   25 July 2008 Wow- what lovely weather! I took my weekly trip to the publishers offices at Arundel yesterday to open post and take photos and it was so lovely. I have been visiting Arundel for almost two years and up until the last month or so it had actually rained everytime I had lots of lovely projects to work on yesterday and take the full page photos. I have to say I can't take any credit for those as they are all done now when I'm not there so I just have the nice job of helping to choose which ones are used. Yesterday was a day of variety with photos needing to be done of some horseshoe charms, the back of a beaded phone/ iPod holder, some lovely crystal keyrings/ handbag charms, a beaded necklace and a wirework curtain holder- a real mixed bag! All of the projects will appear in issue 12 which is due out 17th september.   09 July 2008 Phew- Issue 11 finally got to the printers today and will hit the shops on the 23rd July. Once again I've tried to cram in as much as I can. With a total of 12 projects I hope there's something for everyone. The projects featured are: - A netted collar with a floral theme - A Peyote stitch necklace with a leaf motif centrepiece - A pair of wrapped wire and bead earrings - A braided cord and big bead necklace - A dragonfly charm pendant - A star motif bracelet and earrings set - A strung dagger bead necklace - A poppy-themed choker - A new chain for you to learn - Wire and lampwork bead dangly earrings - Parcel and gift charms to continue our series - 'Swags and Tails' a more advanced beaded choker Add to that a 'Why not try' feature on braiding, a follow-up on a readers trip to Ghana, a designer and beadmaker profile plus all our usual items and features and you'll see it's a jammed packed issue! I'm beavering away on Issue 12 - can you believe Bead has been going almost 2 years now? As it's our second birthday I'm working to ensure it's a project packed bonanza with a whopping 15 projects in total. There wil be a mix of beading, wirework, stringing, PMC and even French- wire knitting so it will be a real mix. Check back nearer the time for more details and in the meantime I hope you enjoy Issue 11 when it comes out!   27 May 2008 Once again I'm working hard on the next few issues of Bead. Although I mainly focus on the next one to come out I am always working on pages for the four or so that come after that. Two months may sound like a long time but trying to put together a whole magazine in that time frame means a lot of forward planning! Fortunately I constantly have projects submitted to me and can plan the main parts of each issue well in advance. Then it's just a matter of chasing up the designers for the actual directions, materials lists, diagrams or photos and then the finished item for us to photograph. Once everything has been checked and double checked it goes to our page designer who trys to make sense of what I've written and put it all into an understandable format- that also has to look good- I'm sure you agree she does a great job! Once the pages come back to me they're checked and then sent out to the project designer for checking and approval. Often there are errors which only come to light once the whole project is laid out, so corrections are made, diagrams re-drawn, materials lists edited etc and it goes back to the page designer, then back to me, then back to the project designer- and so on until we're sure we've got it all right and the project designer and myself are satisifed we've manged to get across how to make the item as clearly as possible- not always easy! Add in the fact that the project designers almost all have 'proper' jobs, the page designer works on multiple magazines and I work part-time from home as well as teach, design and write myself and you can soon see that 8 weeks is not nearly long enough to get a project from a submission to the printers! Add in the review pages, market place, notice board, ask bead, articles, contents pages, cover, basics, readers diary, 3 profiles per issue, the letters and gallery pages and much, much more and you'll soon see that 8 weeks can pass by in a flash! So coming up to christmas, when you're working away on our beaded decoration project, you can see that you're the final step in a process that began way back in August 2007!   09 May 2008 It's always hard coming back from holiday and having just spent two weeks in Cornwall I wasn't looking forward to returning to London- but coming home to such great weather softened the blow! I was back in the office this week taking photos for the next two issues of Bead. Some were of a project I worked on whilst away- look out for 'Stargazer set' in Issue 11 of Bead, and lots were of different threads for an upcoming 3-part article reviewing all the different beading, stringing thread and cords etc we could track down from around the world. It was originally meant to be a 1 off but we managed to track down so many it's had to be extended!