Toot Your Own Horn

First off let me say a big Thank You to Virginia Miska for her great post on June 11th announcing both mine and Melanie Brooks Lukacs' contributions to this summer's edition of Stringing Magazine. Needless to say I have been thrilled over and over again as I went through this process of submitting to a magazine. I'll talk you through my steps and try to pass on some self-promotion/marketing tips along the way.

The true beginnings came when I first got to know Heather of Humble Beads and Melanie of Earthenwood Studio through the formation of this blog. I spent a great deal of time pouring over their "press" pages, both with inspiration and jealousy in my eyes, thinking to myself - just how do they do that? Over time I got to know how they do that - lots of organization and hard work. As I have said before - you gotta be out there selling yourself - as beautiful as your work is, it isn't going to sell itself....

Porcelain charms by Earthenwood Studio on page 12

Then earlier this year Cynthia Deis, owner of Ornamentea said to me in passing - "You know the deadline for the summer issue of Stringing is coming up and you should submit something." So I go home, find the contributor guidelines on the web and get to it. Several weeks later I get a letter from the staff at Stringing and Yeah! I'm gonna be in the Summer issue.

Secret detail of Lady of the Sea by Cynthia Deis on page 74 - there are two more stringing holes in the arch!

This was all new to me and the people that I had contact with there were great! They talked me through what I didn't understand and best of all, as seen on the Cascading Tangle, they slightly altered my instructions making them much easier for others to follow.

Cascading Tangle by Elaine Ray on page 22.

3 earrings by Elaine on pages:
35 and 37.

So now the ball is back in my court - it is my job to use this press to my full advantage. I blog about it on

Elaine Ray Rambles About Beads, get someone to blog about it on Art Bead Scene, and see if the people I know that are in the magazine blogged about it then leave a comment. So really what I guess I'm trying to do is find that balance between tooting my own horn so softly that no one hears me and tooting my own horn so loudly that I seem obnoxious and over eager. Any suggestions?

Here are some other people I know of in this magazine - so now I'm just name dropping.....

Jean Yates who is a regular
with entries into our
monthly challenge.






Jennifer Heynen of Jangles, known to us through Beads of Clay.






I'm afraid I may have missed some one so let me know so I can toot their horn!

- Elaine Ray