Hey Periscope followers!

Here is the eBook I referenced in my Periscope on Color and Design for the Bead Jewelry Artist. It's a FREE eBook to help step up your stringing game.

Enjoy!
http://www.blurb.com/ebooks/352348-color-and-design-for-the-bead-jewelry-artist

You found my FREE Project Template

Hi Gang!
This freebie goes along with my Periscope broadcast on tips for craft writers. This is a broad field covering personal project documentation, class handouts, magazine articles, and book projects.

My project template is available to download at this link. Share away and pass the word if you'd like, but please do not download and share the template on your own site. I'd love it if you would direct people to this post so they can download from here. Thanks!!

Here are the links to the Daiso organizing bins I showed on the broadcast:
Stacking tray.
This box is similar to the one I use. Mine looks like it is no longer available.

Here is the Amazon Link to purchase my upcoming book:
Metalsmithing Made Easy

All of my Periscope broadcasts can be found on my Katch channel https://katch.me/katerichbourg



Thanks for watching!

Top Tips for Periscope Viewers

Hi Gang,
So you may be familiar with the new live streaming app called Periscope. I have been broadcasting LIVE from my jewelry studio as well as on the road since last November. I just celebrated my 50th broadcast a couple of weeks ago with this epic broadcast.

"What's this Periscope thing all about?" you ask. You are not alone in asking. I get a lot of questions about Periscope from my students about how, where, why, and when to watch. So I thought I would post my Top Tips for Periscope Viewers to help clarify and make your experience as seamless as possible.

Kate's Top Tips for Periscope Viewers.

1. Why should I watch?
Periscope's tag line is "Explore the world through someone else's eyes." And that is just it. The app allows you to search out different broadcasters all over the globe that film what they are seeing in real time. It's a cool way to connect with others that have similar interests and create community.  My goal is to share my jewelry world with you through demos, product chats and information on current trends. I usually broadcast LIVE every Friday morning around 10 AM PST. Sometimes I broadcast when I am on the road to bring you along to bead and DIY craft-related shows, classes and events. It's the next best thing to having you come with me in person.

2. How do I watch?
It's pretty simple. You can watch right on your mobile device or tablet, iOS or Android. Download and install the app, follow me, and listen for the whistle to alert you when I broadcast. The video will be available for 24 hours.

3. But I wanna watch you on my computer.
No prob. You have a couple of options. You can go to this page to view on your desktop. That's my Periscope landing page and my broadcasts will be there for 24 hours. It's not as interactive as your mobile device, but a good solution for those of you who prefer desktop.

4. What about watching you later? I don't want to get in trouble with the boss.
Right! I don't want to be the culprit to get you reprimanded at work for joining me on Friday mornings. All of my broadcasts are automatically archived on my Katch channel as soon as they end. You can find all broadcasts there. I also archive the best ones on my YouTube channel.

5. What's with the hearts, comments, and shares? How the heck do I do that?
The cool thing about Periscope being live is that I can interact with you in real time while I broadcast. You guys can interact with me in a bunch of ways:

Hearts. Hearts show that you like what you are seeing, you agree, you like the demo or camera angle, think I am hilarious or whenever you just want to say "good job" without actually typing "good job." The more hearts I get, the better my ratings are, so hearts are great. Your heart matches the color on your chat box so they are assigned to the individual and I can see who is sending them.

Comments. There is a comment box at the bottom of your screen, Type any questions or comments you have. Sometimes they flood in so fast I trouble keeping up and when I demo I don't watch the screen, so if I miss your question ask it again at the end of the broadcast as I wrap up. Feel free to email me with questions or topics you'd like to see on future broadcasts.

Sharing. You can give a shout out to friends on Twitter and Facebook to view the broadcast, too. During the LIVE broadcast, tap the little person silhouette on the bottom right corner. A share box will pop up and you can share as you wish. During a replay on Periscope, you can swipe right and the share box will appear. Sharing is awesome and helps get the word out.

6. What's with the followers with the "naughty" profiles? And the weirdos that sometimes pop on?
As you know with any live broadcast, anything can happen and once in a while "trolls" pop into the broadcast and try and be funny by saying totally random or offensive things. Meh. It happens. Don't engage and they leave pretty quickly.

Fortunately it's easy to block them. If there is a troll commenter, I block the offender by tapping their comment. They are removed and blocked from future broadcasts. Also I have found that periodically I need to review my followers and block the ones with suggestive profiles. It's not something that happens all the time, but I am really on top of keeping my feed and broadcasts a "troll-free" zone. You can also block trolls from your screen by tapping their comment and blocking. It will just block it for your view, though.

Hope that helps! Follow me on my social media Insta, FB and Twitter as well as my newsletter to keep in touch and see when and where I am broadcasting next. Thanks for watching!

Torch Enameling and Metal Dies

Hi Gang!
Thanks for watching my Periscope broadcast on torch enameling and using metal dies in the hydraulic press. It's so much fun to mix metal and enamels and this technique lends a whole new dimension (literally) to the process.

If you missed it, you can watch it on my Katch channel https://katch.me/katerichbourg or on my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/katerichbourg.

As promised here are the links to the resources I used in the video:

Enameling basket in my Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/listing/270918848/torch-basket-for-enameling

Etsy shop for Brass Dies from India: Obsessive Impressions https://www.etsy.com/shop/ObsessiveImpressions

Hydraulic Press and Dies by Kevin Potter: http://www.potterusa.com

Facebook Group for Indian Dies: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MadForMetalStampsandTools

Steven James New Enameling Book

You can catch me every Friday morning broadcasting LIVE from my studio in South San Francisco, CA. Follow me on Periscope so you don't miss an episode.

See you soon!

Periscope Beaducation Stamp Set Giveaway! (Comments Closed)

***UPDATE***
YAHOOO!!! We have a winner
Thanks for all the comments and love. The random number generator chose comment #5. Congrats to Web Design Farm, Bobbi Benton Stewart. Bobbi, I will hook you up with Beaducation and and they will get your stamps out to you right away.

Thanks for playing along, gang and watching my Friday broadcasts. More giveaways to come. See you next Friday!

Hi Gang!
You have come to the right place! This week I am hosting a giveaway sponsored by my buddies at Beaducation.com.

For those of you who watched my Periscope broadcast, thanks so much! I broadcast LIVE every Friday morning from my studio in South San Francisco CA, so if you are not a regular viewer, you can download the Periscope App here and join me on Friday mornings.

If you can't watch on Fridays, you can find archived broadcasts on Katch or later on my YouTube channel.

So here are the giveaway deets as a reminder. Go to the Beaducation.com Facebook page and/or their Instagram and give them a follow. Add a comment below and I will pick a random winner for the Southwest Stamp set on Monday morning. I'll share your contact info with the Beadyo gals and they will send your stamp set out to you.

Thanks again for watching and see you next Friday morning!

My NEW eCourse Group Class available now!

YAHOOOOOOOO!!!!!

You guys I am so excited. About a year ago when I made my goals list for 2015 I wrote down "create online class." I kept thinking about it all year. What I really wanted to do was create something on my website. Don't get me wrong. I love the online classes that I have done for various companies... those have been fun, and exciting and they look fantastic. But I really wanted something that seemed more intimate. Something from my studio right to you. More like a studio class with lots of info packed in. 

So fast forward to late in the year. I had been mulling over ideas and I thought if I was gonna fulfill this goal I had better get on it. I had received some valuable coaching earlier in the year on the subject and had spent some time adapting it to my vision. So I got to work.

And I did it. I wrote instructions, filmed some demos, shot A LOT of photos and threw them up in the air... and they landed in the form of my first online eCourse, Dapped, Capped, Riveted and Soldered. Full details are on my website, so you can get all the info there. Enrollment is going on now, and class starts on January 18th, so if you want to join in on this fun adventure sign up soon, as class size is limited.

Let me tell you more about it in my promo video...

Here is the info/enrollment link for you. If you have any questions about the class, toss 'em in the comments and I'll get right back to you. Hope to see you in class!

For 2016. Creative Tiles for Creative Ideas.

Hey everybody!
If you watched my LIVE broadcast Thursday morning (on Periscope) or later on my YouTube Channel, you saw my new idea to boost my creativity for 2016.

In case you missed it (it's up on my channel, so you can give it a peek) I'll recap for your here.

The Backstory:
I have been fascinated lately by black and white drawings. Simple lines and shapes. I find it is making me pay attention to space, negative space and pattern in a lot of things I see everyday. It's inspiring and distracting all at once.

It started a few weeks ago when I got out my Spirograph that I got as a gift last year and started to experiment.

I began with color pens, but noticed that the color was kind of getting in the way of the shape. What was drawing me in were the lines and patterns. So better to see them, I thought I would switch to a black pen. WOW! I loved how the shapes came to the fore. They were almost 3D.

That put me in mind that I really have been wanting to investigate the B&W doodling sensation- Zentangle! The simple lines, shapes and shadows of the drawings really spoke to me.

Luckily my friend Andrea, owner of A Work of Heart Studio in San Jose, CA is a certified Zentangle instructor. I checked her schedule and took a class on Wednesday. It was really fun and meditative. Which I guess is the whole point. The idea is to let go of perfection and just DO and DRAW using the simple basic shapes that all of the designs are made of. It made what looked complex actually very simple. I didn't fuss or fret and just DID. It was awesome.

So it got me to thinking. Those paper tiles have a lot in common with the sampler tiles in my book Simple Soldering. You learn the basics of soldering and metalwork on simple, inexpensive 1x1 metal tiles and create a sampler. I tell my students to let go of perfection and just learn and make. It removes the fear of messing up and make way for learning and skill to creep in

I have been doing a lot of designing lately for classes, projects, and demos and really want to keep my creative flow going. I have been making notes everywhere... my notebook, napkins, envelopes... so I thought, why not use paper tiles to jot down my ideas so I can keep track of them. Just quick B&W drawings, with notes and ideas on them. Then at the end of each month, or whenever I need a bit of creative infusion, I can pull them out and look 'em over.

Here were my guidelines for what I wanted to use:
Inexpensive and easy to find supplies. Maybe with a reuse or re-purpose element.
Simple to use.
Portable.

This is what I came up with:

I call it my Creative Tiles Kit. It's small enough to toss into my bag with simple supplies that can be found just about anywhere.

Here is what's in it:

I make some tiles by cutting 3x5" index cards into two pieces.

Then I cut the smaller piece into two pieces.

Ending up with three tiles to use for my creative drawings and ideas.

Like this.

I used three black pens from my gigantic stash of pens (c'mon... tell me I am not alone here. I'll bet you have a pen stash or covet a pen stash.)

A Fine Line Sharpie. A 01 Micron Marker and a 03 Hybrid Technica by Pentel. I stashed it in a little mesh bag that I got in a holiday gift and my kit was complete.

So I am committing to making one creative tile a day for an average of seven separate tiles for each week. They can be for anything creative that I want to work on. Notes on ideas. Quick project drawings. Inspirational quotes. Anything that helps me on my creative journey for 2016. Jewelry. Knitting. Mixed Media. Maybe even a recipe.

I hope you like the idea and I'd love it if you want to play along. If you do make your own Creativity Tiles kit, send me some photos if you'd like and let me know if I can share them. I'd love to see how you use this idea. Tag it on social media with #CreativityTiles. I'll check in every month or so with a report on how they are working for me.

I have embedded the Periscope broadcast below. You can catch me LIVE every Friday morning or later on my YouTube channel.



Happy New Year to you all! May 2016 be the best yet.