Tuesday, January 31, 2006......

I love the look of carved stone - I mimic that look with the pink "stone" flower bead. I know I've shown this earlier but it's up for auction on Justbeads now. It's early and I'm not very chatty today. I'm working away at the torch getting ready for my first show in Manhattan in March!

TGIF! Torch time!

Yippppeeeee!!! It's Friday! I'll have the day to torch! Here are some puffy squares I made a week or so ago. I used a new odd lot color called "mango-coral." It's supposed be a red coral color but because the glass color is hand mixed, it doesn't always come out the intended color that the Italian glassmakers intend. It may be not coral, but it IS lovely! This set is on Justbeads.com. Search for the Lampwork Diva or cut and paste this link into your web browser.

http://snipurl.com/la9w

Wednesday, January 25, 2006.....Mid week almost Friday!

It's almost Friday! Yippeee! You might be wondering why I'm so excited about that and not because it's the end of the work week! Friday I have the whole day to myself to work at the torch! I snuck in some time on Monday morning but that didn't got too well. For some reason, people think Monday is a good day to call! My phone kept ringing and interrupting my work. Sometimes I let it ring but Monday's callers were persistent! Hollow bead up today - I made this a couple of weeks ago. It's made of Czech glass in a lovely olive color. Love that Czech glass, it's so smooth and creamy in the flame and definitely not fussy!

Creative Spurt!.....January 22, 2006

WOW! I've been having the most energetic burst of creative energy for the past 36 hours that has me so excited! I went to the torch yesterday with a plan to work with enamels to figure out how to use them. I've had a sampler set for about a year and a half and tried several times with them but nothing came out very well - with the exception of the petals on the flower ring I made last year. Other than enhancing pink, I hadn't developed any technique using them. So with that in mind, I went to the torch planning on making some enamel square beads. I made a few and then all of a sudden, I decided to try sculptural. Not your little bunny or funky alien type sculptural, but real honest to goodness sculputure - a female torso! And I make one and then another and then another and then... well you get the idea! Just all of a sudden, I was making them! They look like a female torso too! I had to get up at 5 am this morning to see the ones in the kiln and to start making some more! I was at the torch at 6:45 am!

I've got pictures up of my auctions on Justbeads. Sweet little hearts - to make these, you make dots and then heat the dot until the glass is like taffy, then with a small pick, you pull the dot into a heart shape. This pulls the bead out of round so you then have to heat and melt the whole bead back to round. Pop into the kiln for a good annealing and then ready for you!

January 15, 2006....Brrrr! Winter has returned!

I knew it was going to come back but I'm a little sad that winter has returned! I was getting used to the warmer temperatures, 40's 50's in January and in the Northeast US! It was wonderful not to have to heat the studio! Stayed out of the studio today working on photographing beads, scheduling auctions for the next few weeks. My interpreting schedule is going to get back into full swing and I don't want to miss a beat with the auctions. I want to keep weekly auctions up and so I decided to schedule them now before the next few weeks get crazy. I've scheduled auctions up to the first week in February. My schedule should calm down after that and I'll be able to schedule more.

January 14, 2006.....

Spending all of my available time at the torch. I'm doing the Urban Glass Show in NYC in March under my artist name and I'm freaking about it already! It will be the biggest venue I've ever been in and I want to ensure that I have plenty of inventory to take with me. I also don't want to slight my auctions so I've been pushing myself to work harder than I normally do. Normally, it's a pretty leisurely pace in the studio but I've been out there early every day and staying as long as possible! Auctions up at justbeads.com. Search for LampworkDiva and you'll find me!

January 8, 2006...Lots to do!

I have another ground glass frit that I've fallen in love with - this is a golden brown frit and it does amazing things in the flame! It can turn a violet blue, gold, bronze or simply stay brown! Now who would have thought you could get violet blue out of brown ground glass?! Always something new to learn and add to the glass!

Thursday, January 5, 2006.....

Sent out a newsletter yesterday morning and got some good feedback on it. For anyone who couldn't use the links I included in the newsletter, apologies! I didn't realize the link was so long! A customer was nice enough to send an email to notify me and suggested I use http://www.snipurl.com to shorten the links! Good idea!

I like to put eye candy up with every post, afterall, that's why you come here, isn't it? This is a close up of some beads that will go on auction at Justbeads.com tomorrow (Friday, January 6). I love the colors in the beads - Moroccan blue and Ivory. Oh I almost forgot to tell you - I got some new glass today! I'm always in search of a good transparent garnet color in rod form and it's hard to come by! Through the glass boards online, I found some to purchase and it arrived today. I'll be working with it tomorrow morning and post pictures this weekend. Nothing like new glass to inspire you!

January 2, 2006.....Quick posting before torching

Good morning! Here's a photo I took of a garden statue I have of a seated Buddha. He sits outside my studio door and I see him every morning as I connect the propane to torch. This one morning, he was a profound message for me. If you're feeling overwhelmed, remember, that snow will melt! I'm sharing it with you here. If you like the print as much as I do, you can go to my CafePress store - http://www.cafepress.com/cindygimbrone to purchase a print.

I'm such a morning-person! I get up early in the morning and do about 4-5 hours of torching then off to do other things for the day. I balance my freelance interpreting with the torching this way - interpret in the afternoon and torch in the morning. I know many part-time lampworkers do the opposite - "regular work" in the morning/day and then night time torching. My energy is gone by then - I've tried but my whole body is wired to do my best work in the morning. So, better get out there before the morning's gone!

Happy New Year! New auctions!...January 1, 2006

Spent all day yesterday photographing and cropping photos of the beads I've been making over the past few weeks. I don't alter my photos to change the look of a bead in any way - the colors, the surface of the bead are just as I see them. Of course, your monitor may show the colors slightly different than mine but the picture is basically untouched.
New auctions up on Justbeads.com. I won't be listing on ebay anymore, justbeads.com is a great venue for me and the customers are great! The set I've posted today are up on justbeads.com for the next week.
A word or two about the set - I've become completely addicted to this particular glass frit (I think I have talked about glass frit before this, it is ground glass that you roll onto your hot glass). It's like having two frits in one! I always love that - if I put clear over the frit, it stays white, if I don't put clear over the frit, it turns blue. Blue and white - what can be better than that!?! It's fun and pretty! Life is good! Hope yours is too!