Introducing a NEW limited fabric wrap...

This will be a VERY short post (for me, it is short) as I have not gone to bed at all and have been up for more than 24 hours.

Don't ask me why.

See the above wrap?

I will be introducing this fabric only in the larger toolwrap size. They are very limited so if you are attending Bead and Button (BnB), you get first dibs.

I am tempted to save one for myself since it is purple and have cherry blossoms. What's not to like? Can't go wrong with that combination!

So.....

Uhmmmm....

What else was I suppose to write here?

(Lisa is thinking....)

I intended to also post about the new Ginkgo and Serenity leaf colors I will be introducing but although I snapped the photos earlier yesterday, I am TOO exhausted to work in Photoshop.

I will also be introducing six new Botanical colors. This brings the current available colors to a whopping FIFTY-FIVE colors. There are two to three limited edition colors that will be discontinued soon due to the rods are no longer being produced. I'm always working up new variations to the existing color selection. So don't worry, be HAPPY.... more colors are coming.

I will write a blog post about the new Botanical colors when I return from Bead and Button.

I'm not taking the laptop on this trip but will have my Dell mini to check in now and then.

If you don't read from me on this blog or Facebook, then it's because I'm having a fantabulous time in Chicago... in Madison... or in Milwaukee. I will have a great time because I'll get a chance to visit with friends I haven't seen in months, beaders who are excited about creating, thunderstorms to run through, etc.

So anyways.... why do I not sleep more than 24 hours before leaving for a show?

I am NOT a last minute kind of person, this is just my modus operandi.

Why ask why?

I just like STRESS. It makes me feel like I'm working extra hard to reach a goal.

(You know I'm kidding, right?)

I NEVER sleep the night before an impending trip because of the fear of waking up late and missing a flight. So I just stay up to work and have just finished packing because earlier in the day I was still cleaning beads. After the beads were cleaned, they had to be strung and priced. There is also a trick to packing the beads compactly so they don't break.

But no matter how well I pack, I always get stopped and searched. My beads are small and piled on top of each other separated by bubble wrap so the airport scanners can't readily detect what's inside. At least that's what TSA agents tell me each time. I'm so used to it, its just part of traveling and not a big deal.

ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZ

Oh...uh

Where am I?

Who am I?

Where are you?

Why am I here?

(Lisa rubs her eyes...)

Well I'd love to continue typing to you but I'm a bit exhausted and I fear writing something here that I may regret later. I better go before my fingers start typing on their own.

These fingers, they misbehave at times. But since they have a mind of their own, I take no blame for what my hands, these fingers type.

NO BLAME.

I AM BLAMELESS!

Until next time, I'm gonna have a grand time in Chicago, my first stop. I'll take you along with my photos on Facebook upon returning. It'll be like you were with me but in reality you are NOT really and Rebel is there with me. Rebel is always with me.

ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZ...

Oh it' time to get up already?

Where is my cup of coffee?

Geez look at the time... I am CRAZY. I'll have to get some shuteye on the plane. I hope I don't snore!

See everyone soon in Milwaukee
But before then, time to have a few days of FUN first

Fun First, Work Later
Adios,
Lisa

P.S. Goodness gracious. THIS is a VERY SHORT post? And I was just mumbling nonsensical gibberish as I normally do when I am half awake. Bad fingers.... very BAD.

Introducing the NEW Metal Clay and Polymer Clay Toolwraps

What you see above are the fabrics being introduced at Bead Fest Santa Fe later this week.

What for Lisa?

Well, thank you for asking...

With the popularity of our small and medium Tri-fold Tool and Bead Wraps, we of course was planning all along to introduce the large version. Projects like these take time to develop. You can read more about the wraps on my website and see more detailed photos.

Basically this wrap is targetted for the Metal Clay and Polymer Clay artists. Have you seen all the tools they lug around and generally in plain looking toolwraps? I think having one of our toolwraps would make creating oh so much more fun. Don't you say?

So here are just some photos of what you can use our new LARGE wrap for. I'll let the pictures do the talking because this girl is WAY too exhausted right now to write any more.

For the Metal Clay and Polymer Clay Artist:


For the Seed Beader:


For the Knitter, Crocheter and Needleworker:

For the Painter and/or General Crafter:

For the Glass Artist:

Now, can you see why we are SO excited about this new line of wraps? Now we have three sizes to meet all your needs.

So drop by Bead Fest Santa Fe between March 18th to March 21st as we will have a limited quantity. These are MSRP at $39.95 and are made in the USA by ONE person, my sister Sandy.

If you purchase more than one wrap, you will get $5 off each subsequent one. So come on by and check these wraps out. I'll do a demo for you too if you'd like.

See everyone in Santa Fe soon

Good night/Good morning!!

Lisa

Introducing Five New Fabrics

Has it really been a month since I posted here? How time flies...

I have been busy making beads for Bead and Button with spare time spent on...

Yes, knitting...

I have finished my Rambling Rows Blanket after scrounging around for the discontinued Kureyon colorway #157 from many sources. Despite having to use FOUR dye lots, it worked out since the design is mitered and not a big issue. I had to remove some of the dark brown yarn along the way so end up using more skeins than normal. I'll have a designated post showing off the blanket later. The only remaining item I need to knit on this blanket is determining the border.

Having a need to keep these hands busy...

I have since cast on TWO new projects and working on them in parallel.

Egads! I am so bad neglecting my beadwork.

I am working on new blanket (in Noro Kureyon #150) called Frankie's Ten Stitch Blanket. This blanket is intended for Nick. I also started making a Net Duffel Bag (in Louet Euroflax Sportweight in Pewter) designed by Vivian Hoxbro. I've been enthralled with mitered and short-row knitting lately.

For my birthday recently, Nick "allowed" me to purchase yarn from Webs' Anniversary Sale with little limits. I'll let you know that I did behave and control myself. I have also been collecting many knitting books and am looking forward to receiving my Addi Clicks this week. Can I spoil myself any more? Thanks Dear Husband!!

*****

And yes, I will post about Santa Fe in back dated posts later. I have been terribly bad about uploading my trip photos and now I'll soon be on my way to my next show. I have been using every bit of "spare" time to knit and I should have been more diligent in keeping all of you updated on the happenings here at Lisa Kan Designs by blogging.

You can blame these hands of mine...

itching to knit at every chance moment.

I will soon need to design the last Designer of the Year project too.

Well, here is the latest news about our new introductions at Bead and Button. We will have FIVE new fabrics in our popular toolwraps. As the initial fabrics sell out, we continually seek beautiful replacements with each new introduction. Did you see the wonderful feature of our toolwraps in Beads 2009?

Here are the new fabrics, shown in the medium size wrap, but is also available in small.






Hope to see all of you at the Bead and Button Show. We have our own booth this year (#820) for the first time after subbing for our friends Specialty Beads last year in their booth. The good folks at Bead and Button was SO nice to invite me back and we're so excited! Thank you!

We will continue to have our tool wrap specials and other great deals at our shows. See you in Milwaukee soon. If you can't make it but want one of the new patterns, just email me and I'll reserve one for you. These patterns are again limited production as we have our next batch of fabrics already waiting in the wings.

Something Right ... Right?

Finally things are just about back to "normal" as normal as things can get.

I am "almost" satisfied with the results.

After a few hours of sleep and a cup of joe, my mind was fresh to tackle the software errors I was experiencing last night while rebuilding the website.

Yes, I was pulling my hair out but I still have a head of hair.

These are just ten things I fixed or made a mental note of, while fixing the website:

1. I have fixed the Mozilla Firefox error, so now you can browse without a problem.
2. I have fixed missing page links
3. I have fixed missing photos
4. I have adjusted the site counter back to about what it was before the site crashed
5. I have BACKED UP the entire site on CD (finally)
6. I have written updates here so you are fully aware that the site was down.
7. I have spoken to "me, myself and I" to not do this EVER again or ELSE!
8. I have made a note to check out Dreamweaver for their free 30 day trial soon.
9 I have also made a note to investigate Sitebuilder from Yahoo as an alternative to ensure the site is backed up regularly should "me, myself and I" forget.
10. I have also made a mental note to make time for a workshop on web designing in the future.

No matter how I am kicking myself or have beaten myself over this stupidity the last 24 hours and for having to spend time rebuilding the website, my thought is that you learn from your mistakes. I always learn from my mistakes. I don't enjoy making mistakes but they are good for me (sometimes unless I'm leaving for a BIG show! Egads, bitting nails.)

Now I know more about website designing and development ... or do I?

(sigh of relief)

Please visit the site and enjoy. Take a look at the new tool and bead wraps we are launching at Santa Fe in a few days. Note that I will only have about 3 of the medium sized wraps in each pattern, but will be offering FREE first class parcel shipping, if things sell out at the show. I'll take care of you.. don't you worry.

Sandy is human after all and did not have time to make more for the show. She needs rest/sleep for the day job, but will be ramping up the production of the medium wraps while I'm in Santa Fe.

Help me SELL OUT of these wraps! (gotta keep Sandy busy!)

Now it's time to clean beads

...string beads

...price beads

..and pack beads.

We are leaving at a crazy hour on Wednesday morning, like 3:30 a.m. to drive all day to get to Santa Fe. It's TWELVE hours to Santa Fe with no traffic. We will also start setting up Wed night so you'll know we'll be totally exhausted with the LONG day. Why do you think I'm bringing along Nick? Who do you think will be driving all that distance. HAHAHA! I'm not THAT stupid (smirk)

I will be knitting and working on my Rambling Rows Blanket (which is 1/3rd done) on the drive and possibly getting motion sickness but who cares? My friend Lynn tells me to just knit by touch. I will try that out! I hope to finish the blanket by end of March or early April to share here with you all.

(When does Lisa find time to KNIT?)

I'm looking forward to seeing all my friends, exploring Santa Fe, dining at some great eats, taking photos and talking to all of YOU. I'll post show details later today for those considering coming to the show.

Come to the show, okay?

(WHAT? Lisa is going to write on the blog again today?)

Yes

(and I heard that!)

Time to get busy,

(when am I NOT working!)

Lisa

Introducing the New Wraps

I am warning you... if you don't like visual stimuli... then

Don't look...

I mean...

Look...

Please look...

(below)

What happens when the Robert Kaufman fabrics below get into the hands of the Kan sisters?

Huh?

Kaboom!

Bang.

Bang! Abra ca dabra (Lisa waving a magic wand... towards Sandy)

Magic...

Simply magical... hocus pocus

Whoopee! can I have more fun than this?

So folks, here you see a sampling of the new fabric wraps we are introducing at BeadFest Santa Fe. We decided not to kill ourselves with introducing too many selections at one time even though we have some secret stash of more fabrics. So for each show, we will introduce new fabrics in both a small and medium size. This way attendees will get first dibs for coming to visit my booth and chat with me.

Come chat with me! Yay! (yakkity yak!)

The two sized wraps should cover all the different sized tools everyone has. The wraps are great gift ideas and we're doing a special when you buy two in the same purchase transaction. Come check the new wraps out at the show.

Just look at all the beautiful fabrics!! Ordering for the general public will be available after March 16th on my website. You can email to reserve the pattern but to give Sandy time to "pump up the volume" she needs time to make these.

So introducing...

Wisterias and mums

Marrakesh Kaleidoscope (perfect for the guys!)
Iris, Japanese Maple, Sakura, Fans and Ribbons (black)
Iris, Japanese Maple, Sakura, Fans and Ribbons (green)
Iris, Japanese Maple, Sakura, Fans and Ribbons (burgundy)

Mum Burst in Fuchsia, Magenta, Rose, and Gold
Mum/Kiku Garden (returning for second debut due to popular sell out)

Take a bow Sandy.

You did good sis!

You did GREAT! Excellente!

See all the goodies you can fit into the medium wrap!!!

The hard part of it all is which fabric do you like more!

Decisions. Decisions.

And if you buy an extra wrap for a gift, do you really want to gift it away?

Aahh....

I have one for each day of the week and one on each hand

(teasing) Pssst...

(wink left, wink right)

(nudge nudge)

Lisa

Developing the Tri-Fold Tool and Bead Wraps

The Story Behind the Tri-Fold Tool and Bead Wraps

The classy logo above was designed with the help of my friend, Michael Brown, a man with many artistic talents, one of which is being an award winning graphic artist. He is currently studying at the University of California at Berkley and took time out of his schedule to help me create our signature logo.

I selected the colors for the final label and here is what they represent to me. The red color for "Kan" symbolizes good fortune and prosperity in many Asian cultures. While the gold color for "designs" symbolizes the richness of the Japanese culture and aesthethics that influence many of my designs. The gold also compliments the many gold outlined fabrics we select for our wraps. The white color for "made in the usa" represents purity and the fact that these wraps are made proudly in the USA. The black color for the label background represents the visual balance when the three other colors are combined. These colors are also represented in my show display with similar meanings.

What do we "Kan"s know about manufacturing these tool and bead wraps? Am I not a jewelry designer, glass bead maker, and writer with an ex-engineer status? What else do I have up these sleeves of mine. (looking up sleeves)

Uhmmm... I won't tell if you won't!

My sister Sandy and I have combined our knowledge to develop these wraps. Sandy loves to sew and I love COLOR/texture/textiles. It was very clear that the introduction of this line would have the influence of Japanese print fabrics and aesthetics which has come to greatly influence my work. We may also venture into Victorian and Art Nouveau fabric prints. These historical eras also influence my design sensibilities. And it is with these influences that we present the Kan Designs signature "look". It is all about quality and functionality as well as the careful balance between price and affordability. These wraps are cut and sewn one at a time by ONE person, Sandy. I warned her that she will need to bring along a staff soon once the line takes off. We have many ideas of other wrap ideas to introduce this year. There are so many beautiful fabrics we have yet to explore! How utterly exciting to see the product being created from start to finish. By manufacturing in house, we have more control on the quality.

We learned our skills from our master sensei - otherwise known as Dad. My parents operated textile manufacturing facilities throughout the 80's to late 90's for a few Los Angeles based clothing design firms. These firms supplied high end fashions and ready to wear designs to fine department stores. My father is a master tailor who is mostly self-taught. He can look at any outfit and recreate it. His skills were highly sought after for creating production samples for the showroom. My parents have since retired from production work and operating the manufacturing facility. However, we still have access to much of the machinery required.

Aha!

Aaaah...

Of course... huh?

Now do you see how we came to design these tool wraps... let me summarize the events of the last few years culminating to where we are now!

The engineer becomes a glass bead maker... who begins to do silversmithing and wireworking...who begins to seed bead on a challenge from a customer... who gives up engineering... then begins to write... writes a book... continues to write articles... then uncovers precision engineering tools that will make everyone's wirework even more EXCELLENT... next becomes the exclusive distributor of said tools to the bead and jewelry field...

Uhmmm... there's more...

Then goes back into time and rediscovers her family's roots in textile manufacturing to introduce an innovative beautiful tool and bead wrap design with her sister. The connection is finally clear... (this girl gets herself in a lot of trouble it seems!)

Maybe the Kan sisters DO know something about manufacturing and developing beautiful tool and bead wraps. Do you see the progression of events?

*****

Below is a sampling of the new Robert Kaufman fabrics for our next wrap launch in Santa Fe. Seven of the fabrics below will be converted to both the small and medium wraps. Ooooh...

Also, check out the five new fabrics from Kona Bay waiting to be converted to beautiful tool wraps too but will be launched in May or April. Sandy does need time off to sleep you know.

In Santa Fe we will have more of the small and less of the medium size so if you come early you get first dibs. The fabrics in the launch will be on the website catalog. So as to not kill Sandy from sewing, sewing and sewing... we are launching select fabrics each month or show. She can only sew so fast and makes every one of the wraps on her "off" hours while holding a full time job working for the City of Los Angeles. How does she do that?

Well, we inherited our extreme work ethic from our parents!. I handle all other logistics for the wraps like ordering and selecting the beautiful fabrics. I get to work directly with the manufacturers, research and ogle lots of beautiful textiles! I also serve as the "slave driver" to ensure we have sufficient stock for the online store, the shows and wholesale accounts.

Five new fabrics from Kona Bay with closeups

(with more on the way!)

What?

Why yes...