Forever Love Monday, Nov 9 2009

Forever Love Bead Set

Again, past due for a post.  . .”What am I going to write about?” is the question that’s been flapping around in the back of my mind like a dusty moth that won’t go away. Each day, I sit down at this keyboard and begin pounding out text,  only to later delete it, while telling myself ”I’ll try again tomorrow”.  Being a bit of a philosopher, I tend to take my “pen” too seriously. The short and to-the-point posts are more difficult for me to write than the long, personal essays that you see here on occasion. Really, this experience doesn’t need to be so difficult. . .All I need to do is choose a subject and write. Guess I’ll try that and see where it goes. 

Of all of the offerings I listed last week, the ”Forever Love” bead set was my favorite. This may be because I had identifiable source of inspiration for the set. It was created with Catherine of Aragon in mind. Prior to making this set, I had just finished watching the Showtime series, “The Tudors”. I didn’t have great expectations for this show, as I knew it would be historically inaccurate and a bit trashy. Not that I have a problem with either, but I do get on my own nerves when I watch period costume dramas about subjects in which I am familiar. I had hoped before watching that the writers wouldn’t take too much liberty with Catherine’s character. She was always my favorite of Henry’s wives. She had faith in her husband, her crown, her God and her people. As it turned out, they did a great job with her character and I loved the show.

Even though Catherine’s life didn’t end on the gallows, it was none the less filled with tragedy. Henry seemed to see her as a prudish, cursed and broken baby machine.  As far as I am concerned, she was an elegant lady of grace and far too good for the crybaby king.  When the ISGB made a call for entries for Convergence II, her majesty was one of several women that immediately came to mind.

I intend to go down my list of period women who I’d have loved to design beads and jewelry for until I arrive at the bead design that I want to submit for Convergence II.  Catherine’s set was easy to imagine. I chose Double Helix Psyche as the base glass, for it’s deep purple tone. When barely reduced, this beautiful glass takes on a iridescent blue haze. The russeted red base for the florals were provided by Double Helix’s Terra Nova 2. . . An amazing, yet fickle glass that sometimes also yields rich crimsons and purple-reds. Since no queen would be complete without her diamonds, centering each floral with a CZ only made sense.  Rather than name the set, “Catherine of Aragon”, I chose “Forever Love” per her expressed feelings for Henry that she took to her death bed. 

Later in the week, this set would inspire another set called ”Poetic Chivalry”. . . A similar design but in different colors.

Poetic Chivalry Bead Set

On a personal note, Ashley is miserable, the babies are growing and it can’t possibly be much longer before they finally arrive. (By the way, Happy Birthday, Ashley! I know this discomfort isn’t what you had in mind for you 21st. I had you only four days before my own birthday. You were all the gift I needed that year and to this day, you continue to be just that.) 

Of to the torch I go. . .Have a great Monday!!

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Beautiful Day in September. . . Tuesday, Sep 1 2009

September is one of my most favorite months of the year and today, being the first of September, was a great reminder of why I love this month so much. The air was dry, the temperature was mild and I could actually work in my garden this morning without developing sticky haze on my skin.  I’ve promised myself that I would take advantage of each and every beautiful day that September has to offer.

I’m still behind on a lot of things, but I did find time to mop my floors and wash the wee yorkies. They no longer smell like feet, so we are a happy family again. My time is becoming less limited each day, and I do expect to be listing some bead sets and focals in my store within the next few days. (REALLY! I mean it!) I think I might have a small set and a focal to list tomorrow, if they turn out okay.

I’ve had quite a response to the finished pieces that I’ve listed over the past month. A heartfelt thank you goes out to each of you who have purchase or expressed interest in them. Your encouragement has been great for my soul. I’ve really enjoyed putting the pieces together. I don’t know about you gals, but there’s just something about holding those sparkling little components in the palm of your hand that feels soothing and satisfying.  I have a few new pieces, if anyone is interested in pre assembled bling!

September Jewels

Okay, so my next post will be about new loose beads. . . See you all very soon!

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Orphan Auction on Ebay Saturday, Aug 22 2009

Orphan Auction on Ebay

With things being so crazy, and work being more a chore than a pleasure, I have a group of 20 orphans that I listed on Ebay last night.  When I made them, I was in a bit of a funk. I was suffering from the “U Virus”. If you are unaware of this social disease, here’s a public service announcement, written in part by CUVDC (Center of U Virus Disease Control), member, Mark D. Muell:

The “U” Virus – There is not yet a cure but there have been some very promising breakthroughs. After several setbacks, we understand that this virus can cause some debilitating symptoms, like panic, rage, fear, loathing, disgust, speechlessness, insomnia, dry heaves and other extremely painful unpleasantries. Our goal is to find a cure for the “U” virus. Through research and the sharing of information and ideas, we at the CUVDC, (Center of “U” Virus Disease Control) are determined to develop an antivirus to vaccinate those infected, or are at risk of infection. Funding for this program is being collected through the AGLF fund. The “U Virus” germ is quite large and easily identifiable. It looks a lot like Veruca Salt from Willie Wanka. If you see it, do not run around screaming with your arms flailing about. Fear could induce a hybrid strain of the virus. It is best to look the germ straight in the eye as you laugh from the pit of your stomach and as loudly as possible. Further public announcements will be made as we continue to work to eradicate the online hand crafted art communities of this unfortunate disease.

"U" Virus Germ

If you are looking to shop for beautiful bead bargains that will benefit our mission of eradicating this social disease, please have a gander at Debbie Peirce’s webpage for links to products that directly benefit the AGLF. Click, Click, Click ME!

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Peacock bangle and other sparkly things :-) Wednesday, Aug 19 2009

The weather here in NC  during the month of August is always hot and humid and often times, my bead production is slower than usual. I run an ogygen concentrator rather than pure oxygen and the humidity in my studio seems to effect the oxy output in a negative manner. I guess if I’m to go through a big mess, right now is the best time. My studio is MISERABLE a place to be anyway.

I wanted to make a set of peacock beads for ebay but most of the ones I’ve made in the past few days really aren’t so pleasing. This is related to my oxyconn issue. I’m using silvered glass by Double Helix and it’s not so crazy about my sad output of oxygen. I did yield two very nice beads though, so instead of keeping them for a set, I made a bangle and mini pendant. This is especially good for my soul right now, because it allows me to spend some of my creative energy that would otherwise be bottled up and spewed in a volcanic emotional outburst.

Peacock Procession Bangle

 

Peacock Procession Mini Pendant

 

This piece is one of my most recent favorites, because I love the soft aquatic blues and shimmering gold.

Romantica Lampwork Pendant

Alrightythen! Now that I’ve spent half my day photographing and listing three measly little pieces of work, I’m going to retire to my dungeon to make more beads. Hope it’s cooler where you are!!!

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Sandy Cowen, please keep her in your prayers. Saturday, Aug 1 2009

I just wanted to pass on some information about Sandy Cowen, a very talented glass artisan who is also being targeted by the now infamous, Ullja Kuntze.  She had a stroke a couple of nights ago and was released from the hospital this morning. She is back home and resting, so please keep her and her family in your prayers during this difficult time. 

If you are an artist and find yourself “lucky” enough to be featured in her blog, don’t respond to her allegations. Just like a computer virus, she seems to be everywhere on the net. . .Forums, marketplaces, YOUR BLOG, YOUR SITE, ect. If you try to defend yourself against what she’s accusing you of, she will twist your words to make you look guilty so she can scare off your potential customers. She’ll do it in all caps, bolded fonts and lots exclamation points. She’s done this to me as well as the others, HENCE, I’m no longer commenting on those accusations. She is NOT your judge and jury! She’s simply a bitter lampworker who ruined her reputation so badly that she can’t sell in your marketplace anymore.  The IRS is not out to get you. Your state revenue office is not out to get you. Your local tax assessors are not out to get you. (Mine was not only helpful, but quite pleasant too when we spoke on the phone.) Calm down and take a deep breath. This is only a psychological game she’s playing. Email me with if you hear from her and I’ll give you my immediate attention.

As for me, I didn’t get to work today but that’s okay. Mark is taking me out to dinner for some well deserved small talk and margaritas. I’m pretty excited about that.

Have a wonderful weekend!

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Peacock Beads Thursday, Jul 9 2009

Peacock Bead Set

 

Peacock Procession Closeup

The idea of the peacock bead is one that has been marinating in the back of my mind for a pretty long time. Actually the term “marinating” is a bit too gentle. . . ”Simmering” is more like it because it seems the idea stayed warm, even though a part of me just wanted to give up and move on.  When I first started making them, the peacocks were arranged on an ivory background. I liked them, but to me, they screamed, “HEY!! LOOK AT ME!! LOOK AT ME!!!  I”M A PEACOCK!!” Which to me, was sort of okay because peacocks carry themselves in a way that seems almost arrogant. Kind of like, they are looking at all of God’s other creatures and thinking, “Yeah, I’m sexier and more beautiful than you. My feathers are magically artistic and yours just keep warm.” Still, that’s not how I wanted to portray them, when it came right down to it.  When my work makes an abrupt statement, I always feel less than satisfied. I knew I wouldn’t get where I was going with my peacock idea unless I brought down the contrast volume a bit. What I really wanted was to portray the peacock in a way that was graceful and proud, yet subtle. Finally, I think my ideas were well communicated when I made the “Peacock Procession” set. This is a good thing, because I was totally ready to throw in the towel and move on to something else. I dunno what. . .Maybe beads that look “Stewie” from the Family Guy? lol

Overnight, I received a couple of emails, asking me what glasses were used to create these beads. So, I thought I’d share a bit about them here. The base glass is Double Helix, “Nix”. Nix is a fabulous silver glass because it shifts in blues and greens and sometimes I’ve seen a lovely irid purple. The peacock’s bodies were made with Double Helix’s “Triton”. The feathers were made using several different striking browns, (“Striking Color” and a little “Da Vinci”, by “Precision”), layered with blue and green transparents. As for the process, well, each bead took me about an hour and half to two hours so I can’t even attempt to try and explain the hows. I will tell you this though, the stringer was literally hair thin and I had to keep chasing them around my counter top because my fan was blowing them all over the place. LOL!! Ah. . .Fun times can always be had in my studio.

On a personal note, I did my first round of baby twin boy shopping!! (I wasn’t shopping for babies, I was shopping for stuff for babies.) I bought blankies and booties that look like little puppies. It was SO much fun, but this is a very small drop in the bucket. I intend to greet these little ones with lots of gifts from grandma. The babies are due in December, but we are expecting them sometime in November, since Twins rarely go to full term. Poor Ashley, she’s already showing pretty good. . .I can’t wait to see the belly a couple of months from now!

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Full Blum Beads Thursday, May 28 2009

I’m in a total stupor. . .I think it’s this South Beach phase one thing that I’m doing.  My goodness, how I took carbs for granted. I keep telling myself that this is for the best and when my two weeks of diet bondage transitions into something more tolerable, I’ll feel better for having put myself through this two weeks of hell. It’s not the food that I miss. I’m on day four and all cravings for food have disappeared. I just feel crappy and have ZERO energy, which makes my workouts that much more difficult to bear. Bet if someone holding a chilled glass of pinot were to stand in front of my treadmill, I’d huff it for an hour with no problem as long as I could actually have the glass when my hour was over with. Either that, or I’d simply step off of the little moving belt thingy, punch their lights out and chug that chilled delightful goodness in one mammoth sized GULP. I miss my nightly glass of PINOT G!!!!! Oh well. . .maybe I’ll learn some new habits and I’ll also learn how to properly deal with my aggressions when I can’t have what I want. lol

Enough about my diet woes. . . Seems like I’ll always have them. I finished the first set and focals in my hydrangea series. The first set is called “Full Blum” after Cheri Blum. I guess it’s sort of my way of acknowledging her for the inspiration that she gave me all of the many times that I’ve admired her hydrangea work. For the most part, I know that blue is what most of you love most, but I wanted to start with brown, simply because I love brown. Well, not just any brown, but really warm burnt sienna brown for it’s reddish undertones. This first set and focal has an enamel base and multiple layers of tiny florets that makeup the hydrangea bloom. I didn’t want the hydrangea to be full on blue, but more of slate blue with gray and off-white petals to bring attention to points of light and shadow. I really love them, but I’m sure most of you will prefer the blue.

Full Blum Bead Set

 

Full Blum Lampwork Focal No. 1

Full Blum Focal Bead No. 2

In closing, I wanted to let you new lampworkers know that I’ve not forgotten about you. . .It’s just been SO long since I started making beads that I couldn’t much remember the best way of learning the basics outside of my spacers suggestion. I’m still thinking and will put up a post for you new folks within a few days.

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Inspirational Ideas Friday, May 22 2009

My husband, Mark comes to this blog each day because he wants to see if I’ve actually taken the time to write something. He’s challenged me to write something every single day, even if it’s a short and silly two line entry of text. . . So, I’m taking this challenge, even if I don’t post something every single day, I WILL post much more often.

Classical Rome No. 1

Today, I’ve chosen to talk about inspiration. I’ll start with my new “Classical Rome” series. As I mentioned in another blog entry, I’ve been watching the HBO “Rome” series on DVD. I think I more so watch it for it’s artistic set than any other reason. The villas on Palatine Hill are so beautifully decorated with very authentic looking classical murals and home decor. Of course the rich fabrics and elegantly hand crafted jewelry worn by the Patrician women tends to inspire me a great deal too. I love the scenery and I think the people that built the set for “Rome” did a fantastic job.

Classical Rome No. 2

I have been inspired by the Classical since I was a little girl. My homemade Barbie doll dresses looked like togas. I have no clue why that is, perhaps maybe I watched some historical fiction movie with my parents or something, and thought the togas were cool. I also drew all over my walls and bordered some of my artwork with scrolling motifs. Again, have no clue why or where I got the idea. Perhaps I carry some weird sort of classical design gene? lol Well, my point is that with or without the “Rome” HBO series, this need to create things of a classical nature is very much a part of who I am as an artist. In fact, it’s this style of work that granted me notice during my second year as a lampworker. I feel most alive when I communicate my ideas of the classical, so why did I seemingly leave the look behind and move on to other works? Well, as an artist, it’s necessary to spread your wings and fly outside of the coup from time to time. I needed to evolve and build upon the skills that I had and the only way to do so was to develop and practice new techniques ad nauseum.  The cased beads and murrini work that I have been doing over the past six months have been fueled by my need for evolution. Never can you sit still and become comfortable in your skill in this business. You must always push to the next level, and that involves a great deal of soul searching for means of inspiration. 

Getting back to the “Classical Rome” beads series, I plan to make this series full of different bead sets in the classical style. I’m very excited about it because I know how much I am going to enjoy exploring my ideas. For example, what where the colors, fabrics, murals like in the bed chamber of Caesar’s wife? I bet they were far beyond fabulous! See, with that one little question, I now have an idea of what my next bead set, “Her Bed Chamber” will look like and I even have a name for the set. Really, it IS this easy when your inspiration comes from the heart. My heart is tied to the ideas of ancient Rome. Not the bad part of ancient Rome, (division of the classes, the brutality), just the romantic part of it, (fabric, decor, cobblestone, jewelry, shiny armor, men in kilts).

At this point, I’m sounding a bit contradictory by telling you to evolve your skill and not get too comfortable, while also telling you to stay true to your heart’s inspiration. Confusing? You bet it is and that is exactly why you must dig really REALLY deep within your own soul to find new sources of inspiration. It is there, but often times a sort of dust covers the inspirational layers of your mind. When you begin to dig, you’ll find that those layers are infused with nostalgia and that nostalgia yields a creative fuel that can’t be found elsewhere. For example, grandma’s copper kettle. . . It wasn’t all that beautiful but there was something so incredibly graceful about the handle and even the dings and decades of patina lent one the idea that it was indeed a real treasure. Try it for yourself.  Think of that lost loved one and watch for the icons that pop up around them. Often times the things that they cherished are very closely associated with their memory. The copper kettle used by my grandmother was one of many things that pops up in my mind when I think of her standing in her kitchen, using that kettle to warm the water for her morning tea as she made my breakfast. This particular memory is so filled with nostalgic fuel that it almost brings me to tears.

I’d love to hear the inspirational ideas that some of you come up with when you envision that lost loved one. Please do feel free to share here, whether you are a jewelry designer, lampworker or both. Mark will be helping to ensure that your posts are moderated and published so you won’t have to wait a day or two for me to screen and publish them myself. lol

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Gaffer Chalcedony (G109) Saturday, May 16 2009

Before I begin talking about Chalcedony, I just wanted to say that there is nothing like a refreshing sugar-free margarita to put you right again on warm Saturday afternoon. My neck and shoulders were screaming in pain before I even begin my hour long treadmill adventure. Now, I’m relaxed, freshly showered and ready to talk about my experience with Gaffer Chalcedony. I know I promised I would like, forever ago, but really I’m just now beginning to give it the attention that I think it deserves.  

Chalcedony is like Raku on steroids. One of things that I appreciate most about it is that when used for layering,  the glass doesn’t bleed, nor does it pit. It’s a bit darker than Raku too and holds it’s color a lot longer. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate Raku also and still use it. It’s especially great for leaves and it makes beautiful opal-like encased florals. Chalcedony doesn’t seem to be good for those applications, as once it strikes, it holds a very low tonal value. However, if you are looking for a dark colored glass that has the ability to shift in dark earth tones, this glass is pretty awesome.

Both of these beads were capped with Chalcedony. I applied the Chalcedony layers last, as I knew the longer I worked the glass, the less color I would have. Still, the bead was in and out of the flame for a good 45 minutes after the Chalcedony layer was applied to it. The second bead, “Never-Never Land 2″ was in the flame a bit longer but as you can see it still held it’s color fairly well.

Never-Never Land No. 1 Never-Never Land No. 2

 

Last weekend I started watching the “Rome” series again, and being the classical gal that I am, I was overwhelmed by inspiration. I chose to give it over to Chalcedony again and boy was she up for the test drive. These beads were  inspired by the studio sets that were created to be used as the Roman villas. The florals are Raku but the base glass is Chalcedony. As you can see in the below photograph, the pallet of color ranges in quite an awesome pallet of earth tone color. These beads were in the flame for a pretty long time so the colors a bit muted. Worked for me though, as I wanted them to be less rich. So, way to go Gaffer! I love this glass!

Roman Villa

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Evolving or Just Spinning Out of Control? Thursday, Oct 9 2008

Hi you all! I know, quiet again am I. I can’t help it. When I become either overwhelmed with inspiration or depressed due to creative block, I almost always become withdrawn. When I’m on a roll and my progression is coming along swimmingly, I’m much more chatty and even almost organized. Right now, I’m obsessed with the new direction that I’d like to take with my glass work and that direction required a new torch. Last week I purchased a GTT Cheetah. I installed it over the weekend and have been getting to know it’s complex flame environment. Although the torch is hotter than my Mini CC, it still not hot enough thanks to my limited oxygen setup. I either need additional oxygen concentrator or a new oxygen source altogether. Woe is me. . . I suppose I’ll get there eventually.

First, I’ll talk about my new Dragonfly series. Funny, huh? Summer’s over. Shouldn’t I be doing Autumn leaves or Christmas trees? I suppose I should, but my muse has no sense of time or season. Hence this bead, “Early Snow”. I’m pretty sure that this dragonfly wouldn’t have wanted to come out from his hiding place to take a peak at the unexpected October snow storm.

Early Snow

Also, a couple of new urn shaped focals. . .

House of Vettii Urn

Garden Wishes Urn

I’ve also been working on blown glass pieces. They have been the biggest source of my frustration but the feeling is actually bitter-sweet. These made these two pieces into oil lamps.

Hanging Dragonfly Oil Candle

 

Gazing Ball Oil Candle Lamp

The Gazing Ball lamp was a total pain in the A$$!!!! It was a good experience though. She stands a full 4.5″ tall and is the largest piece I’ve ever made. I’m keeping her, as my little trophy.

Here’s wishing you all a wonderful weekend!!!  

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