DEATH IN THE FAMILY

Hi Everyone
I just got a call that my brother-in-law died today. My sister and I are very close and she is in a bad way. I am flying out early in the morning to be with her. So I will be off the air for awhile. Please send us your prayers and well wishes.

Thank you
Nicole
Bead with Honor and Integrity
Nicole/Beadwright

STILL CLOSING OUT SUPPLIES

Hi Everyone!

I am still closing out the supplies section of my Beadwright Business. To help that along I have coupon that discounts, the already low prices, by another 15%. You can use this code on any item in my Beadwright Artfire store, and you can use it as many times as you like until December 17th. This code is good on all items, books, looms, beads, and kits.

Simply copy and paste this code in the coupon section when you check out and the 15% will be taken off your total.

T6U7XO5CWK-0PG9F4MG7U

Just a few of the items in my Beadwright Artfire store

Vintage Navettes

A mix of 125 cabs

Learn Flatwork

Bead those Gourds
Don't forget the code

T6U7XO5CWK-0PG9F4MG7U

Bead with Honor and Integrity
Nicole/Beadwright

KYOTO JAPAN RICKSHAW RIDE

Hi Everyone!

If you don't already know I have the best husband on earth. OK so some of you may disagree, however, for me Mike is the best! Mike told me, before I left for Japan, to do everything I wanted to do no matter what the cost. On one of the beautiful days we spent in Kyoto we came across the Rickshaw stand. I watched a young girl being helped off the rickshaw she was in and thought, OMG! what is a trip to Japan without a rickshaw ride. Ann, one of my traveling mates also wanted a ride so together we were off. It was so much fun and our driver was as animated as I am. We had so much fun and laughed the whole trip.

This was not a posed photo.

We just both turned and stood with our arms crossed

Getting ready

Ann goes first

Then me.

Getting situated.

All tucked in and we are ready to go


My thought was this poor guy, we are starting up hill!

He didn't seem to mind and posed for the camera


We rode the back streets and saw how and where people lived. The law is if a car approaches the rickshaw has to move over and come to a complete stop.

Bead with Honor and Integrity
Nicole/Beadwright

BEAD MUSEUM JAPAN

Hi Everyone,
This week has been a whirl wind of just being busy. A quick trip to my mom's house to get her ready for winter and home again to do my own work.


Here are a few photos of the Bead Museum in Japan.

















African Bodom bead










This is all beads including the tail feather.

Bead with Honor and Integrity
Nicole/Beadwright

MAKING BEADS TOHO

Hi Everyone!

Here are a few more photos of a day in the Toho Bead Factory.

This lady was so fun and funny

After the stringers are cut and weighed they are bundled.




The bundles of glass was like touching silk

Bundles are stacked on shelves waiting and ready for bead orders.

This is just one shelf of hundreds. It is quite a site

Bead with Honor and Integrity
Nicole/Beadwright

COOKING LESSON IN JAPAN

Hi Everyone!

I feel pretty rested today. So I will share with you the fabulous cooking class we had in Japan. In the Glass Village there is a restaurant.( Oh before I forget, in front of every eating establishment there is a window display of fake food. We all got a kick out of it. It is the exact replica of the food you get in the restaurants only it is made of resin. It looks very appetizing and you really do get exactly what the fake food looks like.) Soooo we stepped into the restaurant to find it empty. I think they closed it just for us. We were escorted to a large room with long tables. One table had a gas grill for each of us and all the ingredients set up for us to make Japanese Pizza. Our instructor, a happy lady, demonstrated first then it was our turn. Oh what fun and the jokes went flying around the room. Ann's was perfect, she definitely won the cooking award. My fire was too low so it was a mess. Iwao, the head guy of Toho, came over and cooked mine for me. He is a fun guy to be around. Afterwords, we got to eat our meal with beer of course.




Our cooking instructor

cooking stove and ingredients



Everything is very presice


Kaoru overlooking and making jokes the whole time


Iwao fixing my mess. It was so much fun


Ann with her perfect Japanes Pizza


Good friends, good food, and good beer!

Ahhh fake food. Interesting how I got a photo of myself.

Bead with Honor and Integrity
Nicole/Beadwright

SHARING THE DEALS

Hi Everyone!

You know me I love sharing about deals that are going on. One of my favorite places is having 10% off and free shipping to the US with only $1.00 to Canada! All you need to do is go to Artbeads.com shop and then type this code into appropriate space. It is good until the end of the year. SCF10P-ARTBEADS-0424. How easy is that? Have fun shopping.

Bead with Honor and Integrity
Nicole/Beadwright

VENDING MACHINES IN JAPAN

Hi Everyone!
There are vending machines every where in Japan. The drinks have every thing from juice to beer and saki. When asked about the teens buying the hard drinks out of the vending machines it was explained that it would never happen. That it was such a dishonor for them to do that. The same with the cigarettes machines. What a difference from the US.

A typical vending machine with recycle bins. They recycle everything!

Bead with Honor and Integrity
Nicole/Beadwright

GARASU NO SATO THE GLASS VILLAGE

Hi Everyone!
Today I have photos of the Grarsu No Sato "The Glass Village". A beautiful walkway from the Toho factory leads into The Glass Village. It is an amazing display of glass sculpture, glass art, and... things you would not see any place else. Located around all the glass are the Toho Memorial hall, where there is every bead Toho has ever made. The display of beads is a seed beaders delight. There is bead work that boggles the mind as well. The Bead Museum is a collection of beadwork from around the world. I was impressed with the different types of African and Native American work they had gathered. I have been to a lot of bead museums, this is one of the best. The Glass museum was breath taking. Some pieces collect from 600 AD. The glass collection BC is some of the most sophisticated old glass I have ever seen. The Stain Glass Pavilion was another incredible display. There is one building to watch a young man blowing glass. Also in the same building there was a young couple with their baby getting her feet set in a sand cast mold. Later they came out with a beautiful piece of glass of their daughter's feet. Kind of like our Bronzing of baby's first shoes. Oh, and let us not forget the fun house. Charmain and I were laughing so hard we were crying. Another way to show how fun loving the Japanese people are. There is a retail store as well where you can purchase anything glass and a small bead store. While we were there we had a cooking lesson in the restaurant and made our own lunch. It is called Japanese Pizza. All of us are going to make it here at home.
Here is just a bit of the inside of The Glass Village.
More photos later today.

Ann, Charmain, me, and Ayako

Be sure to click on the photos to see them better.

This is all glass, except for the hose of course.

There are motes around most of the sculptures.

This is the Glass Castle

Now, long before Toho contests and even the idea of going to Japan, I knew about and had seen photos of the Glass Clock. The is a working clock that all the flowers, each petal, leaf, and stem is made of glass. As I walked up to it I thought we were in the wrong place. All of us thought the flowers were real. It is stunning!!!!

Bead with Honor and Integrity

Nicole/Beadwright

TRADITIONAL JAPANESE TOILETS

Hi Everyone!

OK OK OK! Since I have been home from Japan I have to date exactly 22 emails asking me about the traditional Japanese toilets. So here it is! All the toilets are in enclosed stalls. The doors go all the way to the floor. Hey, it is just like when you pee in the woods. Soooo, that might be a bit graphic but you asked.

We found "western" toilets everywhere and they do everything but fly. Heated seats, bidets with any kind of water spray you like, some even had driers. In some of the public bathrooms you could move your hand across a small black window on the wall and the sound of a babbling brook sang out. It is for privacy. That was interesting. As in every thing else in Japan the toilets were not an issue. LOL!!!

Bead with Honor and Integrity
Nicole/Beadwright

Japan Toho Bead Factory

Hi Everyone!
I am hoping to post several times today with photos of inside of the Toho Factory and the Glass Village which includes the Bead Museum.

This is Mr. Kaoru Yamanaka one of the family owners of Toho. He is the warmest gentleman you would want to know. He also has the best sense of humor ever. We laughed so much with his happy ways and joking manner. A wonderful man. Ayako our translator and the young man is a reporter and editor of Japanese beading books.

More of the Toho grounds

Ahh secrets in this building. It is where the Aiko beads are manufactured!

Getting ready to make purple transparent bugles. A glass stringer is pulled across the very hot tray and put into the machine in the next photo. Beads are set to diameter and cut for the next step.

Glass stringers come off of this machine then off to the cutting room for length size.

The green computer keeps everything to the right dimensions. The use of old and new technology is amazing and the entire process is down to perfection.

A keen eye to check for color and dimensions and the glass is off to the cutting room.

Sorry no photos were allowed there.

Bead with Honor and Integrity.

Nicole/Beadwright