The Beading Beat - Portable Desk

Welcome to the Beading Beat! Every Friday (except for Tutorial Friday's) I'll discuss various beady topics like tips and tricks, some of my favorite beading products, and more. Some weeks it will be a quick discussion, some weeks it will be longer. But every week it will be fun and full of beady goodness.

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This week I'm going to feature one of my favorite products that I use on a daily basis when I bead. My favorite beading surface. My lap desk.

I like to bead all over the place. I bead in the living room. I bead on our back porch. I bead outside. I bead wherever my little heart desires. And to do that I need a surface that I can move around. Something that will hold everything I need and move with me.

I have used a few different lap desks and my favorite one is from Ikea. I bought this desk from my husband so he could work in the living room. Buuuuuuut, I decided I liked it much more than him and I knew I would put it to better use then him.

So, what makes this my favorite lap desk?

I love the fact that the legs are adjustable. You can put them up or down. Using it with the legs up makes it possible to use it in bed or outside. It puts my beads at a height that puts less stress on my neck and makes beading easier. But sometimes I don't need that height, so I can fold the legs down and just use it on my lap. I love that I have the options.

And having adjustable legs, means you can fold it up and store it away easily. I've had other lap desks that don't fold up and now you have to store a huge lap desk somewhere. So it folding up is nice.

Next, I love the lip that goes around the whole thing. It is nice and deep, so nothing is going to fall off the sides. Everything stays safely on the tray.

I also love the little area on the top that you can put your phone or a tablet. You can watch a show while beading outside or keep your phone at arms reach. I've been using my tablet when keeping track of my patterns, so I can pop it in there and have my patterns right where I am looking (I will have a future post about switching from paper to my tablet, so stay tuned for that).

I also like that it's sturdy enough that I can clip my magnifying lamp on it and not have to worry about it tipping over or even breaking the tray itself.

Now like everything, this tray isn't perfect. It does have a few things that could be improved.

The legs are adjustable, but only two heights. It would be nice if you could adjust them to a few different heights. The legs are also a little tricky to get in and out. They also will come out of the tracks if you are not careful. I had a lot of problems getting them in and out when I first got it. I have since gotten really good at it, but there is a learning curve to the legs.

The tray is also very deep. It works great from my beads, but I can see this being really annoying if you try to use it for a computer. The sides will get in the way of doing anything. Now I only use this tray for beading, but if you are looking for a tray to do multiple things, this one might not be for you.

So it's not perfect, but it's one of the best I've found. What is your favorite surface to bead on? Leave a comment below and let me know what you use.

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Other Helpful Goodies

​Want to know how I keep track of where I am in a pattern? Click here to read about my method for staying on track.

Find out what kind of bead boards I use. Click here and here to read about my favorites.

What are my favorite beads to use for peyote? I love me some Delica cylinder beads. There are a number of awesome choices HERE.

Beady Tutorials

Even Count Flat Peyote Stitch - Click Here
Ladder Stitch - Click Here
Brick Stitch - Click Here
How to Read A Peyote Word Chart - Click Here
How to Read a Peyote Graph - Click Here

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