On Thursday, I was looking forward to a three day weekend at the torch. By 7 pm Thursday night, I was sitting at home with my son and the power was out. It lasted until Sunday evening!
Thursday night was a night of no sleep - the trees were bent over heavy with snow on the leaves that hadn't turned completely russet yet. They looked like wilted flowers in a vase. Around midnight, I could hear creaking and snapping as they finally yielded to the weight of the wet snow. Trees fell on our house (as far as I can see, no serious damage), a tree fell across our driveway and in the back yard. There was nothing I could do but listen and watch. Since the power was out, my son and I slept on the couches in our great room where we have a fireplace. I kept the fire going all night to keep us warm.
The next morning I awoke to a scene similiar to "Clobbered" (taken from the Buffalo News and photographed by Derek Gee). We were stranded because of the tree blocking our driveway and the 2 feet of snow. My husband was out of town in Michigan where the storm actually started. We spent Friday wondering if he would be able to fly home and trying to keep warm.
Friday night, we ran out of firewood but my husband made it home. He said it was eerie walking through the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport when the power was out - he had to de-plane on the runway and walk through hallways lit only every so often.
Saturday we drove an hour and a half to Rochester, New York and spent a few hours standing in line to buy a generator. Funny how you can bond in a crisis with people you don't know. We stood in line with a variety of other people from Buffalo or those who had family in Buffalo - chatting away as if we knew each other as neighbors. We were fortunate to get one of the 15 generators delivered to the store that day. It kept us warm for the rest of the power outage.
Last night at about 8 pm, the lights came back on. Happy and relieved, we shut down the generator and took it to a family member who was still waiting for power to come back on.
I didn't think about the "lost weekend" of glass. I was just glad to be warm again! I still have alot of trees to clear out from the yard - hmmm firewood for next year?
I put a bunch of pieces into the kiln yesterday and only one came out presentable. It's not the one you see here, but it's the same type of cabachon - a bead not quite up to par that has been slumped with a murrini chip. I'll take a picture of it and post it in the next few days. 
Here's another in the Glyph series - This one is entitled "happiness." I've been showing these on the glass boards to give them some exposure. Although I am a little reluctant because of some of the members believe if you put your beads out there, then it mean you are giving them permission to copy the *design.* Notice I say *design.* I don't think it does - if you publish a book, you aren't giving everyone permission to copy chapters from your book just because you have put your story in print. To me, it's the same with the beads we all put up in the "show" sections of the boards. So what do you do? 
October 22, 2006....I've got to clean up my office! I've always been one of those people who has order in disorder but sometimes the disorder takes over! We re-modeled in our bedrooms in August and September and that caused me to neglect my office. So now it's much more disorganized than even I can handle! 
October 19, 2006....I've finally gotten some good pictures of the Glyph series beads! I've been drawing with enamels on beads but I wanted to develop another way to "draw" with just the glass rods. This is the result! I like the way the beads have turned out. Lots of garbage beads on the way to this but definitely worth the learning process!
October 17, 2006.....I should have a logo shouldn't I? I have business cards and postcards that I change yearly because as I continue to evolve, I don't want the same old newbie beads representing me. I don't consider the bead pictures to be a logo, though - afterall, they aren't the Nike "swoosh." I like the pictures of my work - I like the photo so people know what I look like and I like using my name - but all that is not a logo. 
On Thursday, I was looking forward to a three day weekend at the torch. By 7 pm Thursday night, I was sitting at home with my son and the power was out. It lasted until Sunday evening! 
....that's what I'm doing with the glyph series. Some prefer not to do a design over and over again...I do because once I've mastered the skills necessary, I can start to play and create with the design. It's how particular series of beads evolve....another Glyph series bead today....this one is an animal of some kind....the Glyph Series are inspired by ancient cave drawings. I like the way I can take glass, apply basic techniques and make it took old and worn out. The bead is 14mm by 20 mm with a nice large hole - 3mm.
I'm developing in two ways....developing a series of beads, the "Glyph" series which is today's picture and developing myself as a business owner. First, the bead series, "Glyphs"....I've made some of these as donuts on a large holed mandrel - I like it but the technique of creating the glyph on the side of the donut is lost...the pattern created isn't recognizable as a "glyph" but is still very nice. It won't end up in the glyph series but is a lovely set of beads all on their own! This is a good example of the trial and error of development - it isn't what I had in my head, but is lovely anyways! 
October 2, 2006....We all have good days and not so good days....the orange dot with murrini looks like it's not have such a good day...my lapis blue dot bead was just perfect with the murrini...the orange one is a little off - not completely but looks as if it's not having such a good day. I like the flameworked multi-layered dot beads slumped into a cabachon like this....the murrini in the center...so much so, I'm digging through my rejects bowl to find more! 
