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What can I say? I've been busy. A couple weekends ago I was in Knoxville, talking about feminism, and last weekend I was drumming as a part of Twisted Midnight for the first Ladies Rock Camp benefitting Girls Rock! Chicago. And this week I'll be off to the Bead&Button show, where whatever free moments I have will be spent sleeping or eating.

So what to say when I have some time?

Yes, I finally finished off the inventory for the Peoria Art Guild. They only wanted a couple more Shaggy Scales necklaces, but I thought I would send them some new pieces, too

The big chunky aluminum bracelet is a twist on an old design, with a spiffy new clasp that I just adore:

I also discovered that my new favorite weave is oval, and my new favorite rings are lavender:

Click on the images for the links to my Etsy shop with larger photos.

Off to bed!
Vanessa Walilko

QuickBooks to Excel and PDF, the inexpensive way

I've been desperately trying to get the BSGC finances off to the accountant. When I was told to send a PDF of the files, I was immediately stumped. I'm operating with QuickBooks 2003 Basic, and didn't feel like making the expense personally or for the non-profit to get the Premier or Pro version of the software just so I could export the file as an Excel document. However, with some puttering around, I figured out how to get the data to OpenOffice and then export as a PDF. Here's how, if anyone is interested.

Here's the process for anyone running QB 2003 on Vista. I have no idea if this works anywhere else. I'm a Mac person; my knowledge of--and desire for knowledge of--PCs is limited.

1) Get OpenOffice. I think everyone should have this anyway, the software is incredibly easy to use, the files generated are compatible with Microsoft Office, and did I mention it's free? Get OpenOffice here.

2) Print the report (in my case, the general ledger and income statement), to a file. Choose the "comma-delimited" file option. For me, it saved as a PRN file.

3) Change the extension of the file to .xls. A warning notice will pop up. Just confirm that you do want to change the file extension.

4) Open the file with OpenOffice Calculator. When you open the file, a "text import" window will pop up asking you what you want to do with the file. Check the box that says, "comma" in the "separator options" section. The little preview box at the bottom of the text import window will show that all of your pieces of data are now neatly in their own cells.

5) Click "Okay" and you've got yourself a spreadsheet! While in OpenOffice calculator, you can choose "Export as PDF" from the File menu and make a PDF of the information.

Anyway, hopefully someone else can benefit from my puttering around. I love QuickBooks and all, but I'm also a fan of doing things in the most inexpensive way possible.

Vanessa

More beaded talons

I've actually finished eight of them, but I got a little camera happy after finishing four. Here's the picture.



On to the gauntlets!

Vanessa Walilko
Beaded armor, unique beaded jewelry, chainmaille jewelry, Chicago chainmaille classes, and chainmaille fashion

Tiamat beaded talon fingertips

In the midst of trying to wrap my head around just how I was going to manage adding all those beads and stones to the Tiamat dress, I decided to start working on the accessories. I wanted to do something repetitive that I wouldn't have to think too much about. That way, my subconscious could work out how to line up all the beads and I could still work on the project. It's win-win.

The result is this: the beaded talon fingertip. I wanted to give Tiamat claws, for while the Enuma Elish doesn't describe her as a dragon, she does give birth to dragons and monsters, so I imagine her to have claws... and horns. I'm looking for excuses to use my onyx talons, I admit it.


Vanessa Walilko
Beaded dragons, beaded armor, chainmaille jewelry, and chainmaille classes

In progress - The Tiamat Dress

I was much too obsessed with my chainmaille jacket when I was working on it to actually to the in progress photos I had originally planned on doing. However, I decided to take photos of the dress while it was in progress, since this is the most epic project I've ever worked on.

Of course, when I say progress, I really mean, "fussily obsessing about where things are going to go next." I'm working, right now, on placing the cuneiform characters. I managed to find a PDF of the transliteration of the first 100 lines of the Enuma Elish, and the original cuneiform characters. After some editing, I sized the characters in relation to the width of seed beads and came up with a good scale for the characters in relation to the dress.

in any case, that was months ago. Today I was only concerned with the position of the characters--how they would flow with the dress. I came to this formation--the vertical formation is the characters for Mummu Tiamat.

For anyone interested in reading the Enuma Elish, you can find the full text here. These are the first four lines of the epic, taken from the site listed:

When on high the heaven had not been named,
Firm ground below had not been called by name,
When primordial Apsu, their begetter,
And Mummu-Tiamat, she who bore them all

Here's how they look in relation to the whole dress:

Back to work!

Vanessa Walilko
Handcrafted beaded jewelry, chainmaille jewelry, beaded armor, and beaded sculpture

Dreams of the Fallen

Thanks to a trip to Milwaukee on Friday and some last minute scheduling, I got my big collar/capelet photographed by Larry Sanders. I just sent it off to the Bead Dreams competition. Wish me luck!



Vanessa Walilko
Chainmaille, beadwork, art

February Classes

When I wore my dragonscale bracelet to class, I knew that I was teaching it somewhere soon. Well, here is the list of all the classes I'll be teaching in February:

Dragonscale - February 7
Briolette Beads, Forest Park

Chainmaille Earrings - February 8
Discovery Center, Chicago

Japanese Cascade - February 12
Caravan Beads, Chicago

I will also be subbing for Rebeca on weeks two and three for her Vikings and Dragons class at Lill Street starting February 11, and I'll be running the open studio at Blue Buddha Boutique on February 9.

As always, contact information for all of these locations can be found on my Resources - Classes page.

Vanessa Walilko
Gianessa Designs - Handcrafted Beaded and Chainmaille Jewelry