If you’re hoping to get an explanation of the mysterious ‘beading step up’ terminology that you 
may have found in your latest beading pattern, then I’m afraid this blog may disappoint you. It’s not all bad news though, I have talked about the beading step up in its technical sense here. If you’re looking to practise your ‘step up’, then I can offer a free Peyote tutorial, or a whole booklet about netting, or a lovely beginner’s herringbone bracelet!
So, what kind of beading step up am I about to talk about? Please read on…
Katie’s Latest Beading Step Up
If you regularly follow my blog, then you may remember I mentioned at the beginning of April that there had been a few developments in my TV work. At that time I was still finalising arrangements, but I think I can now safely tell you a bit more. The big news is that I am going to be starting work as a guest designer with Jewellery Maker TV. My first show is going to be at 1pm on Tuesday 3rd May – it goes out live (help!) and it’s part of a really big day for the channel. They are going to be launching a brand new set of products…seed beads! If you already know me, then you have some idea of how much I love seed beads, so it’s really thrilling to be part of this big new direction for the channel. My two-hour show is going to be taking a celebratory, party theme 
to create some seed bead jewellery. However, I also love mixing my seed beads in with other beads, so I have some other pieces of jewellery that bring in gorgeous pearls, perhaps more the kind of thing that regular viewers of Jewellery Maker TV are used to seeing. As I see it, the seed beads are just going to open up a whole new world of jewellery-making potential and I’m excited to be a part of that. So, please do tune in to see my designs…
I should probably explain some of the background: it had become clear that the Craft Channel’s business model and my own beading business weren’t the ideal fit. I had been talking with the Craft Channel about doing another show in the Spring, but they felt that the kits I was suggesting were too expensive to allow them to include their own mark-up and still sell at a reasonable price. Before you start thinking I am criticising the Craft Channel, I’m not. It’s just a matter of basic business economics: whenever you
buy a product, anywhere, the price you pay for it is being split amongst all the different people who were involved in producing it and getting it to your attention. If you want a simple breakdown of how these economics works, then you can find some interesting blogs, focusing on the beading market, here. Basically, it costs the Craft Channel a lot of money to run a TV studio and pay the staff to film each show. Where does that money come from? Well, from the ‘mark up’ they add to my kit cost (the ‘wholesale’ price). The problem is, my business isn’t really cut out to work this way. I am not a bead shop and I have no plans to move that way. I don’t have huge wholesale accounts with manufacturers and the beads I buy may (or may not) come with some kind of discount if I buy in a relatively large quantity, but this is nothing like the discount that a shop could obtain. In order to obtain these kinds of discounts, it is usually necessary to buy in really large quantities, which costs a lot up-front and there is no guarantee that you will be able to sell the beads. So that isn’t the direction in which I want to go at the moment: I prefer to focus on the design side of things. The kits that I sell are made up from beads that were leftover after my 
design process, so some of them are always going to be strictly limited edition. This basically means I’m not able to lower my prices to the level where the Craft Channel’s mark-up still means you are paying a sensible price for the kit.
In contrast, Jewellery Maker’s business runs differently. They source their own kits and then they use a group of designers to create ideas that can be demonstrated on the show, so viewers are able to learn how to make a project using the kit that is available. This kind of business works much better with what I do: come up with ideas. So I’m hoping this is going to be the start of a fun new adventure. The good news for all of you is that the kits that I had prepared for the Craft Channel are now available at a much lower price, but I do only have strictly limited stocks of each, so if you want to take advantage of the sale kits, you can find them all here…or just browse the kits page if you prefer! Meantime, I’m off to make my final preparations for the show and start to get a whole new bunch of people addicted to seed beads, so watch out…you’ve been warned!
