It's 2009! I hope everyone has had a fun holiday season and managed to stay warm and dry, at least most of the time. We've been spoiled here in Nor Cal with crisp blue skies and very little rain, and just a touch of fogginess here and there. Still, I've been spending most of my time at my computer or in the studio, working on the newest title for the Visual series, Teach Yourself Visually Beadwork.

This book is all about bead weaving, and I'm having so much fun with it! We're detailing all of the popular stitches - including pesky increases and decreases - in their flat, tubular, and circular versions. You'll learn how to read patterns and project instructions without feeling overwhelmed, and the sampling of projects will give you a chance to try some basic, colorful, and ultra-chic designs.

I don't have a release date yet for this one, but of course I'll post again when I do. In the meantime, next week to be exact, I'll post my thoughts on the Quick Tips books scheduled for release this month, to help you decide whether to add them to your personal library.

Before I sign off today, here are some pictures "from the trenches" of book writing this week. The process isn't always pretty - but it's fun watching it all get whipped into shape, little by little, over the course of a year.

A shot of the messy, messy desktop today. As you can probably tell, I need to bead while working at the computer for this project, so there's not a lot of extra space. That weird tan thing on the left is a wrist brace for the carpel tunnel I keep giving myself, and it's sitting on a Thesaurus, which rarely comes in handy but at least makes me feel like a diligent writer. ;)

Here's a rather un-glamorous, rough sketch of a prototype for one of the new projects. The strange code scribbled along the bottom and side is evidence of me recording experimental beading maneuvers as I work.

If you're familiar with the Visual series, you know it's heavy on photographs. Almost every photo has its own individual prop, like each of the little swatches shown above. These are samples for the Ndebele herringbone stitch chapter. In a few months they'll pose under the lights at our photographer's studio.

Ouch! Here's a jumble of what were once well-organized beads and supplies that are now seriously suffering from the "creative process." Some will appear in projects in the new book - where I promise to treat them with much more respect. :)

If you have any questions or curiosities about the book-developing process, don't be afraid to comment.

~Chris