Alaskanbeader's Weblog

New Peyote Stitch Kits in the Store and on Web

alaskanbeader — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 11:37:38 +0000

I am pleased to share that we are now stocking several kits in the store, which will be available on the website (www.pristines-beads.com) soon. The kits are for Peyote Stitch beaded “Pilot G2 Pen Sleeves” and are gorgeous. Currently in kit form we have The Alaskan Forget-Me-Not, The Alaskan Fireweed, Poinsettia, and couple of snow men. We have a larger selection of patterns available for the pens, as well as Bic Lighter covers, Amulet bags, and Kaleidoscope covers. I hope to have the kits added to the web as a new section in the next ten days or so. Take a look! The intructions are clear enough for a nonbeader to succeed!

Looking for website feedback.

alaskanbeader — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:51:12 +0000

Hi All, I am just touching base to say that I now have all the Miyuki beads we currently (new beads are coming in all the time) stock in the store on the web site and available. I am still working on “better” pictures, and in some cases “a” picture. The web site is at www.pristines-beads.com and I would truly appreciate some feedback on how things are looking. I understand that there are several areas that are still in need of a different photographer, ( I am working as fast as I can!) My primary question at this time is if instead of the “thumbnail” shots of a few strung beads you would prefer a shot of the beads poured into a bowl. I have come to like the idea, especially as I have been working my way through the czech hanks. For these shots I took the hank and circularly laid it in a bowl and shot it. (By the way, I am working on redoing the czech hank shots at a better quality. I am about 1/3 of the way through the 11/0′s and will probably upload them this weekend. I recently got a lot of the threads uploaded and I kind of like the pictures, but again feedback would truly be appreciated. Joan

Miyuki Magatama 4mm beads in all their photo splendor

alaskanbeader — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 05:33:27 +0000

If you are looking for Miyuki Magatama 4mm beads, they are now available and have pictures on the http//www.pristines-beads.com site. They are an unusual bead that make great spiral necklaces, fringe and other assorted items of beauty.

Updating pristines-beads.com

alaskanbeader — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 11:11:18 +0000

Just to let you know that I have been working on the beadstore’s website, (and will be for a few days to come). In particular I am adding bead pictures, new beads, and new books. We now have almost 400 bead and lapidary books for sale on the site, and the Miyuki bead selection is wonderful. I will be adding more of the bugles, drops, triangles, cubes etc. over the next few days.

To take a look at all the pretties, and possibly select a few that you want to have, just click on this link http://www.pristines-beads.com

Winter, Balance, Settling in for a Pearl (Stringing) party

alaskanbeader — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 09:30:13 +0000

As landlords my husband and I occasionally find ourselves faced with cleaning, remodeling, and shoveling out various rental units. In the last 40 days we have processed 5 units. But it appears that we will be mostly full for the winter and operating at a slower pace. That is, once we have both had a couple of good long naps.

I had a good chuckle at the slower pace of winter about 9:30 the other evening, I was headed back to the current clean up property, and found myself in a slow lane of traffic. Four cars in front of me wasn’t a car, it was a Moose. She was moving carefully on the slick roads, she stopped and looked both ways at the intersection, and did not turn the corner until traffic had cleared, it seemed that she understood the traffic laws better than my younger brother when he started driving. The cars behind her took their time and while being sure not to crowd her, kept moving in their appropriate lanes. It is nice to live in a land that has time to abide a Moose on the road for a whole mile.

Winter has finally shown itself with a thin blanket of snow that seems to be sticking. Which means it is time to wrap up the final fall details, and begin settling into the quieter winter activities. To assist with that process, we have new beads, books, crystals, and several other goodies that have just arrived at Pristine’s. I am beginning to get excited about the new size of Delica’s. They are just a bit larger, but seem to be small enough to maintain the detailed look that we beaders take pride in. Our color selection is expanding quickly in this new size.

Personally I have been on a suncatcher kick, and have spent the last couple of months creating several new looks. They results are hung for view and sale in the store, come see what you think.

Another activity that several of the group seem to want is a pearl party. So it is time to come select a strand or two of pearls, a spool of silk, and vote for when you want the party.

Pearl parties are a great way to learn to knot pearls, and come away with a new necklace that is tailored to your particular tastes and needs. After all every woman needs pearls. Especially as we mature. And for all you newbies that don’t believe that you have anything to wear your pearls with. Just remember that with pearls, clothing is optional.

In particular one needs a traditional strand of pearls to pet, love, wear to church, and dinner with the in-laws, etc. After that, all bets are off, the diversity of pearls available allow a woman to tailor a pearl necklace to her individual taste. If you doubt that, come see my 10 foot pearl choker. There just isn’t anything that can compare to the feel of having your own pearls.

Using RSS (Really Simple Syndication)

alaskanbeader — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:09:01 +0000

Hi all,

I have set up and been experimenting with a RSS feel to simplify the blogs and other web sites that I tend to try and keep track of. It seems that the process takes away a lot of the click here, and remember how to get there, and get past all of their advertisements and instead just provides you with the articles, and other core data that you go to your chosen sites for.

While I was learning the basics I found that several of the “converted” track 80-some feeds a day. The thought made my head hurt, but the reality is that I will probably be just as “engaged” as soon as I get my favorites linked.

The reality is that this is a positive change regarding my “surfing” habits, but the word change always transports me through fits of rebellion, memories of coffee-table-surfing, and basic heel-digging. I don’t suffer change quietly, politely, or well — just ask my family.

As a new couple, we had been in our home for more than a year, I was pregnant with Wyatt, and had been spending a lot of time on “my section of the couch.” Because I could see and be involved in the family flow, but did not have to “move my girth” to do so,” and I had a direct shot to the stairs and the bathroom, which being pregnant I did frequently, and fast. Anyway, I got up one morning to find that my husband had placed my favorite coffee table where my couch spot had been (evidently he had rearranged the entire living room, but I was pregnant and – alas- not that observant at the time). The coffee table was a heavy, flat surfaced, 3 foot by 6 foot, and solid oak, and as it was in my spot, I settled myself on it, got comfortable, and went on being pregnant, until about two weeks later, when still laying on my coffee table, hubby quietly went berserk.

Hubby had had it, evidently he had watched me and waited for me to shift to the couch, but I never did. So finally he announced that I needed to get up, and he moved me, and my coffee table, out of the way (with me protesting that it was fine where it was — after all, I was use to it), and put the couch and other furniture back where it had been.

Yes that was more than 30 years ago, but we still don’t move the furniture. So when a new piece comes home, we take the time to put it where it should be at the start. I never have liked wandering in the dark and having my toes find a “freshly moved item” — it is just nasty. — (Honest I am not stuck in my ways, but they do fit rather nice, so I don’t see the need to change them often.)

So now that you have a smattering of how I feel about change, you can understand that for me to declare that I am willing to give the RSS method a try is really something. My poor toes are quivering though, can you blame them?

The RSS aggregator that I am trying out is called Bloglines and can be found at http://www.bloglines.com/ Give it a look.

Flickr and del.icio.us and easing the toil of work

alaskanbeader — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 07:21:58 +0000

I have spent the last day or so playing with Flickr and del.icio.us and here is what I have to report. Flickr, which may not end up my “most favorite” of web tools, should ease some of my beading explanations. What I mean is that once a photo is uploaded, I can post it’s link on the blog so fellow beaders can “see what I mean.”

The following link http://www.flickr.com/help/blogging/#55 walks one through the posting to a blog process. To experience a bit of Flickr, check out my moose 11 post or click here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/alaskanbeader/sets/72157602151479428/

Last spring Dee, my good friend, fellow beader, and the photographer for my last pattern book Pristine’s Beaded Beauties; Wolves, Bats and Other Critters of Travel, and I took a set of how to do peyote stitch beading photos. Flickr may be a way to offer them to you. I will be looking into the details soon, I promise. (You see the photos are sitting in a computer about 20 feet way from me, but that 20 feet is not an easily surfed distance. — It is going to take some intentional effort, a lot of remembering, and a bit of learning.)

And now for del.icio.us — http://del.icio.us/ I am offering you the link to the site, because as a researcher at heart, I feel that I will be spending considerable time with this web tool. It is structured like the brainstorming webs that we were taught in school by the “strange” teachers. It is nearly like a game of whispered telephone tag, but where you see it in print, the distortion is minimal, and the wandering is great. While I do not yet specifically have “a” useful site from del.icio.us I am itching to get back and do a through web search on a string of search words that I have been developing for my new book. And just so you know that I haven’t forgotten that this is my beading blog, “Know you know why I don’t always get as much beading done as I would like, I wander off and get lost in thought.”

But the following article will show you Berk’s study on laughter Activating the Immune System — so go laugh it up folks.

http://www.holisticonline.com/Humor_Therapy/humor_therapy_benefits.htm

moose11

alaskanbeader — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 06:54:45 +0000

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moose11,
originally uploaded by AlaskanBeader.

This is one of 12 photos in my SSW set “Alaskan Moose goes to Lunch” if you haven’t had a good chuckle today, I recommend the set. Especially if you are not the waiter.

Wikis as a way to learn stiches and more

alaskanbeader — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 09:59:15 +0000

Hi all, I had the opportunity today to play around with creating and posting to a couple of Wikis. In particular, I posted a Wikipedia page about the Alaskanbeader at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Alaskanbeader and while the post may not be stunning, what it could do for our beading community is. For example here is a link http://www.pristines-beads.com/howto.php to the How-To section of our website which explains such thrilling things as length of thread, needle size, to knot or not, etc. And here is a link on peyote stitch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peyotestitch. The neat thing about a Wiki, is that you the beader reading this blog just though, “Oh she should have included a link to how to do brick stitch.” Or something similar. Well, if this were a Wiki, you could just tap “edit this page” and insert what you had to share. This could be a great way to collect some of the old stitches before the few beaders that still know them are gone.

While I do not feel that my current knowledge base is officially up to crawling yet, as far as competently operating a Wiki, and truly understanding the pro’s and con’s of a wiki “room” over a blog, I am continuing to sort the details out. Like most of us, my Wiki experience has been primarily with Wikipedia, and while it may not always be perfect on insider details, the editability of the Wiki format makes adding to the collected body of knowledge nearly as easy as sending a neatly typed email. – Yes I know that CAN BE excruciating, but I am hyped, so I am ignoring those realities. Tonight folks the glass is at least half FULL. –

Reviewing previously recommended blog sites

alaskanbeader — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 10:47:50 +0000

The general idea of the blog site http://www.thethinkingblog.com seems to be that of a “stream of consciousness intended to be succinct and thought provoking.” I like the blog because while diverse, it appears to value the growth and self improvement processes of its contributors.

What I don’t like about this blog, (and many others) is that you will come across a bit of swearing here and there. It is not that I am a prude, or that I never swear myself, but rather that I view swearing as a declaration by the swearer that they are too dumb (at the swearing moment) to know what else to say. I see swearing as a glitch in the minds flow of intelligence, and do my best to avoid routine glitchers, because of how easily I, this imperfect human, can join them.

As with most blogs of any substantial posting duration, the need for improvement often comes in the form of “how does a newby to this blog find a good wave to surf? I commend the blog master for addressing this in the following post: http://www.thethinkingblog.com/2007/05/most-thoughts-all-time-posts-roundup.html

Okay, my second recommended site http://the-bead-place.com/beading-blog seems to operate under the idea of providing a community forum for beaders country, if not world, wide of learning, information, and inspiration. And having been in the beading community for more than two decades I understand that this is no small accomplishment. A secondary, element is that is seems to be providing beaders a way to hook up with other beaders in their physical areas.

I like that the Admin seems to frequently post quality information on a variety of mediums, crystals, pearls, stones, etc. But I am not particularly fond of the impression of “this is all there is to know on the subject” that the reader comes away with.

Improvement could be made by offering a “list of sites” or that goods and information are available through rather than, just the one. The Admin posts impress me as stated facts, and are not seemingly conducive to comment. They feel more like lectures than conversation at times. To see what I mean check out this “good Lecture” http://the-bead-place.com/beading-blog/?p=25

Moving on to the last of my three recommended sites http://www.slashfood.com

The site seems to be a place to come together over good food ideas and directions and while there being able to connect to anything else that may interest, kind of like gathering at a comfortable kitchen table, with good friends and good coffee.

I like that the recipes range from real cooking with old fashioned ingredients http://www.slashfood.com/2007/09/11/a-delicious-40-year-old-recipe-for-broiled-eggplant/

to the more modern “cool whip” when it fits http://www.slashfood.com/2007/09/21/heavenly-fruit-trifle

and yes even the unique

http://www.slashfood.com/2007/09/11/wasp-crackers-are-creating-a-buzz/

I am not fond of how much hunting and pecking it is taking me to find specific recipes, and am hoping that experience with the site will get me over some of these difficulties.

An improvement I would suggest would be a recipe list of previously posted recipes.

But so far, my most interesting post is the wasp crackers. http://www.slashfood.com/2007/09/11/wasp-crackers-are-creating-a-buzz/

take a look or be left without the buzz. — Joan