How exciting! Everybody’s busy and focused on THE wedding. Emotions run high. You learn all over again how wonderful your friends are.

People are watching their spending closely. It’s no different for artisan jewellery being worn by this year’s brides. Try DIY ~Do It Yourself~ kits.  You’ll learn a new technique that may send you down a path you thought you’d never follow. A new hobby is in the offing, perhaps. The DIY kits I write give you the instruction cards and some inexpensive beads to make the kit. If you already have the beads you want to use and really need only the instructions, the price would be less: it makes sense. It is hoped that the experience for the beader will be good enough that she will carry on with her own variations on the technique.

If you are like me, you work well under pressure and everything needs doing NOW.

Well!  I’ve been commissioned to work on the jewellery of 2 weddings. And for the person who wants to do it herself, I am working on a tutorial for an illusion-floating necklace. But I don’t have the exact illusion necklace made in 3D; just some rough sketches. However, as I write the tutorial I’ll be doing the steps myself to ensure nothing important is left out. When the tutorial is finished, so will be my illusion necklace.

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I spent a thoroughly enjoyable evening last night. On our Bravo channel was 2 hours of song and dance by the Soweto Gospel Choir. I loved it! The performance celebrated the 10th anniversary of democracy, the downfall of apartheid, in South Africa.

The harmonies and dissonances sound different to our western ears and yet it was not jarring in any way.

The choir’s costumes were as rich in colour and shape and BEADS as the music was. The dancers left me feeling breathless, yet they were able to sing without breathlessness. Now, that’s what I call conditionning. These ladies and gentlemen were physically fit.

The audience, made up of all races, ages and, I assume, of many religions, sitting all together, was appreciative of the performers from South Africa.

At the end of the performance the entire hall rose and sang, hand on heart, the South African national anthem.

‘Music hath power to soothe the savage beast.’  In China, I believe, the word for ‘music’ and ‘friend’  rise from the same root.  In music, it is very hard to stay angry with others.

It’s important for you to know about a charity, Playing for Change, that is building schools in many poor nations to teach children their ABC’s and their Do Re Mi’s. The school is fully equipped with instruments and recording equipment and teachers and enthusiastic students.

As with all charities, it seems never to have enough: not enough labourers to build the schools, not enough teachers, not enough money, not enough of everything to spread the word.

I offer some items of wearable art artisan jewellery for sale; the funds are sent to Playing for Change. And I can lift up my voice ~ not in song, I wouldn’t inflict anybody with my ’song.’ But in writing posts on my blogs to get the word out is a way to spread the work.

Go to http://www.PlayingforChange.com.  Support them in any way you can. As you give, so will it be given unto you. There is always somebody worse off.

Well, that’s my opinion

Helene, Glass0Beads ~Glass #0 Beads~

• Please tell my readers a bit about yourself and where we can find you on the internet.
• What is your mission statement? What best describes your work?
• What is your chosen craft and how long have you been working in that media?
• Why did you choose this over other crafts?
• What, or who, inspires you the most? In life? In art?
• What are your favourite design resources?
• Have you a special mentor? Who do you thank, and blame, for getting you started?
• What has been the hardest thing for you to do? How did you overcome that hurdle?
• Do you have a faviourite colour? Shape? Line? How is your work affected by your favourites?
• Describe your most important work.
• Have you a favourite quotation? What is it?
• What words of wisdom could you offer people who are new to your craft?

Answer my interview questions and when your interview is published get a permanent link from this site to yours.

With my thanks  ~~Hélène

Well. I did promise to add pictures of the finished amulet bags and I have been remiss in not doing so.

I’ve received a slap up the side of m’ head, figuratively speaking, so here they are.

You will note, I hope, that these pictures don’t quite match the graphs offered in Niki Tasha’s Apprenticeship. Read on and you will see why.

(See the wee speckles in the silver section on the left? Some of my silvers look so much alike that it isn’t until you’ve got a bit further that they show themselves. I am of the mind that these speak to the imperfections of Artisan Jewellery that make them truly unique or one of a kind.)

Black n Silver Amulet Bag Frontside

This is one of the patterns for Tubular Even Count Peyote Technique. It does look different from what was graphed: that’s the artistic licence we all have. I copied the graph for the back and the front sides. Once the tube had reached what I considered a  pleasing size (approx 2″ x 2.25″in or 5 x 6cm) I squished it until I hit upon the configuration you can see here. The lesson in this step is to try a pattern different ways: you can be a slave and do the pattern as written, or you can adapt the pattern to your taste. Add a bit of yourself to each pattern or technique and you will have something unique; something that will look different than all the others using this same pattern. I sewed up the bottom side by adding a couple more rows on only 1 side. Then I ran my thread through the ‘teeth’ back and forward and pulled: it’s just like pulling up on a zipper.

Blue n Silver Peyote Amulet Bag Frontside

Blue n Silver Amulet Bag

The Blue n Silver Peyote Amulet Bag is from the other graph offered in the Niki Tasha Apprenticeship. It, too, does not quite resemble the graph. Again, I have exercised my artistic licence and ’smooshed’ the finished tube to find what I liked. In this case I chose not to repeat the pattern on the backside: it cuts down on having to concentrate on the pattern on both sides. I love things asymmetrical so I  chose to have the pattern wrap around one side. A few rows of beads added to only 1 side of the tube and ‘zipping’ up the bottom and there you have it: an amulet bag.

Blue n Silver Peyote Amulet Bag Side

No you aren’t seeing things: I’ve smooshed the tube to better show that this is really one of the patterns from Niki Tasha’s Apprenticeship.

On another blog, a problem presented itself. A translation from one language to another was wished for. And such a tool exists in Google.

No matter what language you use, written text in one language can be translated into another. And that is a big step to understanding cultures other than our own. And when we understand we can be less fearful. And that makes the peoples of the world draw a wee bit closer to one another.

I think that’s a wonderful thing.   …Helene…

Hiya, Niki. We’re almost done with the peyote technique.

A decision must be made how you intend to use this small amulet bag. Will you wear it attached to your belt? or around your neck? or as a cell phone strap?

If you choose to wear it around your neck, you must decide how long you want the strap. Will you require a clasp to get it on?

If you choose to make it a part of your cell phone, you need to use wire to make the strap. And the findings will be different, too.

A – Attached to your belt: decide how far down you want the wee bag to hang. Double that measurement and that is how long your need your strap to be.

B – Around your neck: A short necklace requiring a clasp to get around your neck needs different findings than a long necklace that can easily be slipped over your head.

C – A cell phone strap: A loop will be made that fits comfortably over your hand but that is not so big that it slips easily. The idea is to keep the cell phone close but without having to hang on to it. If the strap is too loose, the cell phone will likely land on the pavement more than once.

A – A reasonable width of an Even Count Peyote strap would be 6 glass beads wide. Keep within the colour scheme you chose for the pouch itself. It works quickly back and forth and really can be made any length as long as the glass beads are in supply. Don’t get too carried away, though. The essence of grace is that the person seems unaware of herself while she is interested in you. If you are constantly tugging at your clothes or the belt adornment is being fiddled with, then you lose that grace. A belt ornament of this style really shouldn’t hang lower than your knee. You can draw out the pattern on paper before stitching or randomly pick up each glass bead in any order: this last works because you will be using the same beads that you used in the body of the Tubular Peyote.

B – An Even Count Peyote strap can work as a necklace. You will embed the thread at the side of the tube and come up in the groove between two zipper teeth. The side of the tube was established when you worked on the flap. Start the strap as any other Even Count Peyote, such as the flap and one version of the bottom. Work back and forth until you have reached the desired length. Embed the thread in the other side of the Peyote tube. If you run out of thread before the strap is its decided length, run the needle through several rows of the strap and add a couple of discreet knots along the way. Don’t cut off the tail until you have started the new thread: run the needle and thread as you did to tie off the old thread, ….. only in reverse. After several rows stitched with the new thread, go back and trim the tails left from the tying on and off of threads.

If your strap requires a clasp, decide which one you want. You will also need: jump rings for each strand hole in the clasp, bead tips to tie off the threads and you will need them in quantities to complete the job – both parts of the clasp. Check out the How-To category – so far I have the title but not the substance. It is a WIP (Work In Progress).

If the clasp is for a single strand, life just got easier. You will be working from each side of the Peyote tube towards the middle back of your neck – a little less than half the length each. Make a pyramid at the end of each strap by using only the middle 4 beads and then the middle 2 beads. Get yourself some crimps and some bead tips – I prefer the clamshell bead tip. This site can provide you with what you need: http://www.firemountaingems.com/search.asp?skw=bead+tips.

Run the thread through the bottom hole in the bead tip. Now run the thread through a small bead and make a discreet knot.  Add a small dab of glue. Close the bead tip. Add a jump ring to the bead tip and to the clasp.  Do exactly the same thing on the other half of the necklace.

You can make a completely different style of necklace; something other than the peyote technique. I would suggest using stringing wire: it’s strong and flexible. Back to the side of the peyote tube: start the even peyote strap as above. Make it very short and attach it to the edge of the wee amulet bag. This is a casing for the beaded wire to attach to. You will require crimp beads and jump rings and a clasp if the wee pouch is to sit high on the chest. You will require only crimp beads if there is no clasp. Thread the wire through the crimp bead, a bead and a 2^nd crimp bead. Add your beads, run them through the casings made earlier and finish by running the wire through the crimp bead, the glass bead, and the 2^nd crimp bead. Tighten up the string and use your crimping pliers on the crimp beads. When I say ‘tighten’ I don’t mean strong arm the strand – you want the strand to hang gracefully, not all bunched up on itself.

Copyright © 2008 Helene Turnbull All rights reserved.  No part of this work covered by the copyrights hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means – graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems – without written permission of the author.

Hiya, Niki. This lesson is in Flat Peyote: if you used the simple bottom instructions and didn’t choose the round bottom to close up one end of the tube, then you already know how to do the flat peyote technique.

If you chose the round bottom technique, then good on you. You are learning all kinds of things about the peyote stitch technique.

Now, for the flap, we have 2 choices: a flap with a smooth and straight edge on which to add a fringe, and the uneven edged flap.

FIRST, the even edge:

1. Continue in the tubular manner BUT stop when you are half way around. ensuring you have an even number count.

2. Add a glass bead and turn back, adding a glass bead between each zipper tooth, until you are back to the beginning of the flap.

3. Add a glass bead and turn back. Continue until you have reached a length you like.

DESIGN NOTE: On a piece of paper draw the dimensions of the amulet bag. Draw the bottom edge of the flap. The space measurement between the bottom of the flap and the bottom of the amulet bag is the length of the fringe. If you ignore this measurement, your amulet bag will be out of proportion. And that takes away from the aesthetic balance of your work. Fiddle to your heart’s content with the design of the fringe. Make an inexpensive design board with a remnant of wide wale corduroy and lay out your fringe beads in the wales. Here is your chance to vary the lengths of the strands, the choice of beads, and even a pattern seen in the fringe.

4. From each ‘zipper tooth’ of the flap you will hang a strand of the fringe. Pick up the beads from one string of your corduroy design board. The bottom bead is the turning bead and it is best to be a small bead (but not so small that it slips through the next bead). Then run your needle through the whole string again. 

5. Anchor the thread in the peyote flap and come out at the next zipper tooth. Repeat Step 4 and 5 until all the beads have been added to the fringe. Anchor the thread in the flap and ensure the fringe won’t work its way out. That would really be too bad.

Variation on the Fringe:

a) Each strand of the fringe is double in length. You are going to make many loops instead of single fringe elements. This variation is best when the beads are glass seed beads. Having loops all across the flap makes for a thick fringe, and it will not have the same movement as the single strand variation.

b) A variation of a), string the loop of beads. Before you slip your needle through the beads of the flap, twist and twist and twist and twist and tw… until you have the twisted loop you desire. Once the loop has been twisted, slip the needle and thread through the flap to the next zipper tooth. Repeat until you reach the other side of the flap.

There are other variations and lots of scope for you to experiment.

NEXT, the uneven edged flap:

1. Slip your needle through a zipper tooth and add the number of beads for the longest point of the edge. Make sure it is an even number of beads.

2. Work back to the beginning, at the flap edge.

3. Run another 2 rows of even count peyote. When you get back to the flap edge again, slip your needle through the next zipper tooth.

4. Continue in this manner until your flap is as wide as half way around the tube. Varying the jaggedness of this flap by stopping before you reach the furthest edge: or, by adding beads as you did at the beginning of this flap, gives your flap interest.

Variation: Make several flaps of differing widths that overlap one another. Ensure the total measurement of the flap from side to side is not greater than half the diameter of the tube. Find this spot by flattening the tube sideways (not from end to end).

Now you are ready for the strap of the amulet bag.

Copyright © 2008 Helene Turnbull All rights reserved.  No part of this work covered by the copyrights hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means – graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems – without written permission of the author.

Hiya, Niki.  This lesson is about putting a round bottom on your amulet bag.  Later you may decide to make a round top as well.  Regardless whether or not you make a round top, it’s a good idea to learn the circular technique from the inside out and the outside in.  I have taken some beading classes, taught some beading classes, read many articles and followed many instructions by other beading artists and I have never seen instructions for working the circular Peyote from the outside edge to the centre.  Once again, then, I am adding my own interpretation to the Peyote Techniques.

Remove the stop bead from the long tail kept from the beginning of this class.  Thread your needle and follow the steps below.

Circular Peyote From the Outside IN

Now you will be working with every bead and not fitting beads into the gaps between the ‘teeth.’ 

Row 1:  Pick up 2 beads, skip 1 ‘tooth’ and run the working thread through the next ‘tooth’.  Continue until you return to where you started.  Slip the working thread through the last bead from the previous round and the 1^st pair of the current row.  It is the step up needed to start the next row.

Row 2:  Pick up 1 bead and run the working thread through the next 2 beads from Row 1.  Continue putting 1 bead between each group of 2 from the previous row until you reach the beginning.  Perform the step up:  the last bead from the previous row and the first bead of the current row.

Row 3:  Pick up 1 bead and run the working thread through the 1^st  bead of the previous round.  Continue until you reach the beginning.  Perform the step up.

Row 4:  Pick up 1 bead and run the working thread through the 1^st 2 beads of the previous round.  Perform the step up.

Repeat Rows 3 and 4, curling around and decreasing in size until you have only 3 beads on your thread.  Run the working thread through these 3 remaining beads a couple of times then tie off the thread with a discreet knot and work the thread through several beads and rows until you feel sure the thread will not work its way free. 

 You will probably need to add thread to this bottom bit.  Tying off and starting a new thread in Circular Peyote is no different than for Flat Even Count Peyote or Even Count Tubular Peyote.  Pull the thread through several beads, switch back several times until you are confident the thread will not work itself loose.  You may put discreet knots in the tying off and tying on processes. 

It is usual to work Circular Peyote from the inside out.  The beads coil around a central 3 or 5 beads.

 Circular Peyote From the Inside OuT

 Row 1:  String 3 beads and tie in a discreet knot.  The tail should be about 6 inches long.  The working thread goes through the bead closest to the knot. 

Row 2: Add 2 beads, pick up the next bead of the 3 original beads.  Add 2 beads and pick up the next bead on the original row.  Add 2 beads and slip the working thread through the next bead of the original 3 bead row.  You should be back where you started.  Slip your needle through the 1^st bead of the 2^nd row.  You are now ready to work the 3^rd row.

Row 3:  Pick up 1 bead on your working thread and run your needle through the next bead on the 2^nd row.  Add 1 bead and run the needle through the next bead on the 2^nd row.  Continue until you reach the last bead on row 2.  The needle goes through it and through the 1^st bead on row 3.

Row 4:  The same as Row 2:  placing 2 beads between each bead of the previous row.

Row 5:  As for row 3:  placing a single bead between each bead of the previous row.

Rows 4 and 5 continue to be repeated until the size for the piece of beadwork is reached. 

As you continue going around there will be gaps that are rather too large between the beads.  Add 3 beads between the previous row’s bead, instead of 2, to correct this. 

 If this piece is the bottom of a vessel of some sort, when you reach the desired size of the bottom, stop adding beads and continue upward either with the even count tubular peyote, the odd count tubular peyote, or some other technique altogether.

 You will probably need to add thread to this bottom bit.  Tying off and starting a new thread in Circular Peyote is no different than for Flat Even Count Peyote or Even Count Tubular Peyote.  Pull the thread through several beads, switch back several times until you are confident the thread will not work itself loose.  You may put discreet knots in the tying off and tying on processes. 

peyote-circular-diagrams

Copyright © 2008 Helene Turnbull All rights reserved.  No part of this work covered by the copyrights hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means – graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems – without written permission of the author.

Hiya, Niki.   This lesson brings your personal sense of style into this peyote tube amulet bag.  You have finished with the graph for a short time.  Don’t get rid of it:  it has your notes about the pattern on it.  Just tuck it away in a safe place where you can easily find it again.  Right now it’s time to simply look at the tube you have created. 

In photography and the different software packages you can ‘crop’ an image by moving the borders in and out.  You can manipulate the size of the photo and you can focus on just a section of the picture, too.  That’s what we are doing now but in our hands, not on the computer.

Gently squeeze the tube to see what one side might look like.  Then make the tube round again and squeeze it in a different place.  What you are looking for is the most attractive design, in your opinion.  At this stage , you don’t have to stick to the design as graphed.  Perhaps you like the design to wrap around the side of the amulet bag.  You might like the side to cut the image by 3/4’s:  3/4s of the image on one side, and only 1/4 of the image on the other side.

Flip the tube upside down:  you may prefer the design that way.  

Keep in mind that you will be making the bottom of the amulet bag, a flap, a strap, and fringe, too. 

Keep in mind, also, that there are 2 bottoms and 3 tops you can apply to your design.  This Step 11, will give you one alternative bottom. 

Youhave chosen the part of the design that will show on the front and back.  Gently squeeze the tube flat, paying attention to 1 detail.  The teeth that were formed when you started this tubular peyote glass bead amulet bag need to be lined up at the bottom like teeth of a zipper.  ZigZag. 

With the long tail kept at the very beginning of this project, remove the stop bead, and thread your needle.  The working thread needs to be at 1 side, decided by you when you were tube squeezing.  Run the needle through the next ‘tooth’, pick up a bead, run the working thread through the next ‘tooth.’  Continue in this fashion until you reach to other side. Run through the last ‘tooth’, pick up a bead and put the needle through the first ‘tooth’ of the next row.  Return to my diagrams of starting Peyote Technique My Way.  Go back and forth for a couple of rows. 

Now,run your needle through the teeth alternating from side to side.  After every 3 or so ‘teeth,’ pull up the thread and the zipper will begin to close.  It is easier to obtain a nicely closed zipper if you pull up your thread firmly every 2 – 3 zigs. 

When the zipper is closed, neatly tie off the thread by running it back and forth through nearby beads.

peyote-even-flat

Without doing another thing to this item of glass bead  artisan jewelry, you can tell people you have completed an amulet bag. 

Pick a bead or charm that represents you.  In our First Nations each family and person has a totem.  A person may be of the bear clan and that person is a water bear:  s/he might add a bear paw charm to his/her amulet bag.  This token is a ‘totem’ by which s/he can be identified and it brings him/her good luck.

Thissame idea can be used by all races and religions:  Christians might wear a cross or crucifix, Jews may wear a Star of David, the Star and Crescent belong to Muslims, a Kirpan for the Sikhs.  Individuals may identify strongly with  something in the animal world:  dragons, bears, parrots for example, and that would be their personal totem.  A charm indicating this personal totem might be slipped into an amulet bag.  Have you such a totem, Niki?

If you add lucky charms to your amulet bag it is a good idea to tie them in:  use a piece of thread knotted and tucked inside, or run a thread of beads through the charms and loop it neatly inside to secure your totem.

You can also finish the bottom with a round flat piece of peyote and for that technique see the next lesson.

Copyright © 2008 Helene Turnbull All rights reserved.  No part of this work covered by the copyrights hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means – graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems – without written permission of the author.

Well, Niki, I finally gave up my efforts to decipher my designing software.  Okay, not really ‘gave up;’  I’ll continue in my discoveries with the software but for now I did the work freehand.  Please excuse my work when you find minor differences in spacing and alignment;  my work is a representation of my human-ness:  imperfect.

even-tubular-peyote5

This graphic assumes your are right handed.  If you are like me, a leftie, you already have the skills to read a graph ‘backwards.’

The stop bead seems to flip sides a lot:  once you’ve joined the length of beads to make a tube, the stop bead stops changing sides.

At the very bottom of the graphic, Niki, is what your beads will look like and the direction of travel shows with the arrows.  This is a ‘1 drop’ Peyote technique.  

Step 1, Niki, is at the bottom of the graphic.  It really has 2 parts to it:  the way the beads look and the thread travels is at the very bottom.  You will tighten up the thread as you work across and that will cause the 1st line of beads, the pinks, to bunch up.  That is the 2nd part of Step 1.

The Peyote technique, no matter how you do it, has the beads running in a diagonal direction.  A new bead is picked up by the needle, skip a bead, and the thread then goes through the next bead.  Once the first 2 rows are done, it will appear as if you have done 3 rows – count on the diagonal. 

When you have completed these 2 rows you must join the ends to make a tube.  Your 2nd row will be a different tension than the 1st row and now is the time to make sure those grey beads are sitting properly on the pinks below, the thread has not been caught on a previous bead and corrections to the tension are made.  It gets easier with practise, Niki.  No really, it does.

The thread has gone through the grey bead and through the last pink bead.  If you wish, you can make a knot with the tail that has the stop bead on it;  but don’t make it a bulky knot.   

Step 2:  Now it goes through the 1st pink bead, the next diagonal pink and the 1st grey bead.  This movement of your needle and thread will occur on every row as the tube gets longer.  A mistake here will change your pattern which is designed for a 1-drop Peyote technique.

Step 3has you adding the next set of beads; in the graphic it shows up in orange.  I’ve shown only the 1 bead just to keep things tidy on my bee-oo-T-ful picture.

Notes on Tension

I took several classes from Marion Scoular many years ago:  she is a very talented embroiderer and has published several booklets and she teaches at national embroidery seminars.  Marion taught us that there are 4 kinds of tension:  loose, gracious, taut, and tight.  The difference of each tension can be seen by the way the threads of the fabric move.

The same can be said about beading:  there is loose, gracious, taut, and tight here, too. 

Loose -   ’Hand’ or texture refers to the way a fabric feels in your hand.  The thread can be seen and the beads make a ‘cloth’ that wiggles and wobbles; its ‘hand’ is soft and drapes well.    You could probably hear the beads knocking against each other.  Laid on a table, the beads will lay flat:  hold it at the edge of a table and the beads will bend and flow over the side.

Gracious - The ‘hand’ of a cloth of beads sewn graciously is still soft but with more body:  the threads won’t be seen and, when laid on a table, it will lay flat.  At the edge of the table, the graciously sewn beads will dip a bit but remain flat:  no flowing over the side for this tension.

Taut - The beads are decidedly side by side and a fold would be needed to see the threads.  The needle now has less space to operate and that makes the cloth of beads is stiff.  You can stand it up and it will remain upright but with very little sagging.  Great for use in peyote ruffles.

Tight – Broken beads.  The needle needs to be small and pointy but even then there is a bigger chance to break the beads.  The tight hand is hard:  there is no room for movement.  If you want a line of beading to stand erect – or proud – then tight is the way to go.

My preference is a gracious tension:  tidy but with a bit of give.

NEVER bead when you are angry.  There is chemistry between beads and your emotions and if you are angry, muscles tense, clenching your jaw, the very same thing will happen in your beading.  Something that started its life as a gracious length of beading will suddenly turn nasty and you find the needle doesn’t move as nicely and you have either broken a bead or two or the eye of your needle snaps, or both.  Go off and have a relaxing bath:  your beads will thank you.

Do I bead when I am anxious?  You bet.  And I break needles.  I’ve had thread snap and I have had to sew in beads where there are broken ones.

Should you cut back to where you began to tighten the beads?  Unless it is really bad and will badly mar the look of the finished piece, I would say leave the tight bits in.  They will add a degree of originality and may enhance the texture of the finished piece. 

Some of the greatest discoveries started life as a mistake.  Before ripping anything out;   whether with beads, or clothing design, or almost any embroidery technique, consider how you can make that mistake work for you.

As always, Niki, all your comments and questions help to tailor this apprenticeship for you. 

The same holds true for everybody reading along:  please, add your comments, questions, and observations.

Copyright © 2008 Helene Turnbull All rights reserved.  No part of this work covered by the copyrights hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means – graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems – without written permission of the author.