Spiral sets, NYC and while I'm gone see Artbeadscene!

I'm offering the set of Beadwork Challenge beads on my website. I had a request for a Water Spiral set, so I've created one!

Well, the intrepid beadmaker is off to the Big Apple to sell some art beads at the Urban Glass Bead Expo! Hope to see old customers, meet some new ones and talk to jewelry designers! I'll tell you all about it when I get back on Tuesday!

While I'm away, pop on over to a terrific new blog on art beads - Art Bead Scene - a new blog just started by an awesome group of beadmakers of all media who I am fortunate enough to be associated with! Great content and very talented beadmakers!

April/May issue of Beadwork!

YIPPPEEEE!! The April/May issue of Beadwork is out! I'm on pages 88-89!! I've been talking about the Challenge coming up and now it's here! I love the fresh unexpected way the editors of Beadwork used the spirals!

Speaking of spirals, they're on my website. I'll be adding more color options later but in the meantime, if you don't see a color you'd like, feel free to email me your request!

What to do with a Spiral? Instant fashion!

I've made spirals with the high twist in different places on the bead, middle, end or even all the way around - that lends itself to being worn horizontally rather than vertically. These spirals are made on a 3mm mandrel so you can run a purchased necklace through it. Voila! Instant fashion! You can interchange the spirals to suit your mood!

Spirals

I'm happily locked away in my studio winding spirals for Urban Glass, Beadfiesta and my website. If this is the first time you're reading my blog - welcome! And you might be wondering, "why spirals?" I've taken this from my website:

What is the significance of the spirals?
In the drive to express ideas through my glass, I wanted to express the never-ending cycle of life. How events will happen at one time in your life and then circle back to them again. We have our own life-spirals and we travel around on them and come back to events although maybe not in exactly the same way. A spiral can bring you peace too, the assurance that everything WILL circle back around. In that sense, it serves as a rudimentary mandala for us to meditate upon.


So, I chose to make spirals in glass to express that idea - glass is a perfect medium because of it's potentially fragile quality. A glass spiral can be beautiful, colorful, reflective yet if you don't treat it with some care, it could shatter.

Urban Glass Bead Expo March 23-25, 2007

Here's the picture of me at the Guggenheim Museum in NYC. My good friend Molly drove me up to the museum before the Urban Glass Bead Expo last year. The Bead Expo is coming up in two weeks - so I'm frantically trying to get ready!

New this year at Urban Glass! I've made Spirals that will be in the April 2007 issue of Beadwork. These are really fun beads! They'll be making their first public appearance at the Urban Glass Bead Expo!

Straddling two blogs or caught between two blogs....

Right now, I'm posting on two blogs, this one, Lampwork Diva! and my other one at Wordpress, Cindy Gimbrone Studio (click the title and it will take you to the other blog). I'd like to customize this blog more but haven't been able to figure out how. I can customize the header at Wordpress but not here at blogger. BUT I can customize the side menus here on blogger and haven't figured out how to do it on Wordpress. If I could only meld both sites together then I'd have the perfect site for a blog!

I don't plan on running two blogs on the same topic for long. As soon as I figure out how to customize Blogger or Wordpress to my satisfaction, the "loser" blog will become an archive with the post a link to the new blog. When it happens, I'll post it.

I've got the Urban Glass Bead Expo coming up on me. March 23-25th, 2007 at the Metropolitan Pavillion on W. 18th St., NYC. I hope you'll stop by to see me there!

The other blog.....

Is it Sunday night already!?! Where did the weekend go? I've been on a new schedule that includes less time at the computer and more hours interpreting....which translates into less blogging. I've been working on a more personalized blog - as I've probably mentioned before but not sure when or where anymore (hmmm my new schedule seems to be contributing to confusion!)...but here's the link to the other blog

How does it look?

Anyone...

Bueller?

Bueller?

Thanks

I just got the awesome-est (no that's not a word but I'm making it up here 'cuz it fits!) email from some KEWL people via etsy. Now, I've had the etsy shop for awhile - I really wanted to close it but I can't remember my username and password so etsy won't let me delete it! But today it brought me such a nice email, I'm happy I can't remember my username! What this person says is soooooooo nice I have to share it with the world!

>Sent by SFDglassbeads on February 08, 2007:

>HI:) Was browsing wetcanvas and read a comment you made in one of the posts, was so cute that I had to check out your web >site. Then from there was snaired like a rabbit with a carrott on a hook into your blog, hehe, and then to here- your etsy >listings.


Awwwwwww - a BIG THANK YOU SFDglassbeads!! I'm flattered you were interested enough to follow all those links! blush!



>My Partner Dan and I both think you are super cool:)


WOW! Double thank you! I don't think anyone (except my son when he was 4) ever said I was super cool! Gee whiz! Thanks!


>we just started doing lampwork a year ago- although the dream was born a few years back (took a bit of elbow grease and >time to get all the gear and get it going:). We primarily sell on ebay, but we have an etsy shop and web site also, and are >doing our first big art/craft show this summer (we are in NC). We are both just loving the path that glass has been leading >us on,


Welcome to the addiction....errrrhhhh....art - yeah, that's right, art!! Giggle! I hope you are doing well on ebay and with your etsy shop! Post a comment and tell me the address of your shop! Good luck with the summer show! I love to do shows, you get to meet and talk to your customers. It's a thrill for me to meet people who share the excitement of glass art! :-)

> and when we meet, or spy from a distance- someone >cool we just have to say something about it. so there. LOL, Realy:) >Really like your style, smiles,

It's always nice when someone appreciates the art you make! Thank you! Ok, I'll stop gushing now!

I appreciate the emails and comments. Sometimes you feel like you're just talking to the wind and no one is listening! So thanks for reading and listening and being brave enough to comment!

ok ok ok.....I'm still gushing! What do I think I'm doing? Accepting an academy award??? This is where the producers cut me off and start to play the music and go to commercial!

Where have I been?!?

I've been sucked into the year end inventory and taxes preparation. Trying to get that all in order and clean out the office and studio. Now THAT's a major task!

I've created an anti-valentine pendant. These are entitled "pins in my heart." My 14 year old was having a particularly bad few weeks and I just felt bad for him. It's tough to be a teen. Their hearts are so soft and the smallest slight can feel like needles and pins. When I went to the torch, all I could think of was how he felt. So instead of trying to put it out of my mind, I just let it in and be the inspiration for the day.

Published and going on The Road!

I've received the copy of the Annealer magazine - all the effort I put into taking the pictures paid off! I've had several comments on how good the pictures are - of course, it's not all me - the magazine layout for them is fabulous - nice clear, BIG pictures! Remember, if you're interested in the tutorial, pick up an issue of The Annealer Magazine. I've posted a couple pictures of what you can do with the knotting technique once you learn it.

Tomorrow, I'm going to get back to the glass - now that inventory is done, I've been in the studio creating inventory for the next glass show - Urban Glass in NYC and the Spirals that will be coming out in the April edition of Beadwork.

I know, I know, you're thinking, Cindy, why so early? It takes time to create each bead by hand. Every single bead is wound by hand onto a mandrel. So it takes time to create inventory. Urban Glass will be the first show for the spring - I'll also be at Beadfiesta in Monticello, NY in April - that's a new show I added this year. It's their first in NY! I'm excited as the Beadfiesta people are terrific!

Pushing...err changing website buttons?

Re-vamping the website - I'd like to change the words on the buttons - does anyone know how to do that? I'd love to use this flat spiral - such a great one - you can see where I started to wind the glass and where I took a breather then where I ended - love the texture! Would make a great button....now, if I can only figure out how? Let me know if you've got any ideas!

The Annealer Magazine - Lucky Knots!

The Lucky Knots and Lampwork tutorial is published in the Annealer Magazine! After all the struggling I did to get the pictures just right, it was well worth it! They look great in the magazine and are very clear!

Inventory or how many glass rods does one really need?

Do I really need this much glass?!?

The short answer is no.

But there is it, you see it and I counted it - each...glass.....rod.....one...by....one. I have accumulated 4640 rods of glass during my 8 years of lampworking. Why would someone buy that much glass?

New glass colors are like the box of 64 Crayolas you NEED to have! You need to have the box of 64 instead of your little box of 8 because the kid sitting next to you has the box of 64.

I blame this all on streaky pink Yes, that's what I said - streaky pink. I didn't get any of it when it was around and because everyone else wants it, I want it too!

I've slipped into mob mentality! Bring back the streaky pink!

Darn those Italians! They make a color you think you have to have and then leave you!

So in order to compensate for my lack of...ummm..glass, I have acquired multiple pounds of every color. As many "odd" lots as I can get my hands on.

4640 rods worth.

Yup, it's all streaky pink's fault.

Buy some beads and help me get rid of my excess glass. Purdy pleeeease!

I'm Unique! Guerrilla Angle!

Yep, that's right! I've cornered the marketing angle for me - I'm unique! According to this survey, How Many People in the US Have Your Name? There is no other Cindy Gimbrone in the US....does this mean I may run into another Cindy Gimbrone if I go global?

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Now that I've decided to become "guerrilla" - I've got to think of all the angles, right? Well, here is where I tell you all that I'm being sarcastic since reading a blog doesn't carry tone of voice. My sarcasm comes from the marketing research I was conducting this morning - the proverbial "vote for me" buttons on everyone's webpage.

Has anyone actually looked at the statistics, i.e., how many "hits" you get from that "Vote for Me" button? I did. The most popular sites get 60. Some of the best artists have only 30 or less hits. If you get the right 30 to 60 hits then 60 is enough, but if they aren't the right hits, then you're spitting into the wind.

Listing your site and posting the "Vote for Me" button is a painless marketing strategy but how effective is it? The site doesn't give any information on how many of the 30 to 60 hits turn into sales for the listers.

Hey, I'm not picking on anyone here - I've taken the painless marketing route too. I've been spitting into the wind for about 2 years now by listing my site on an artist ring. Generated lots of hits and two sales.

Wow - that stinks.

So that's why I'm rolling up my sleeves and "getting guerrilla." I've got to put better effort into this. I've got to look for the right niche and find what's unique about me.

The first thing I've found is my name. I thought for sure I'd find someone else with my name but nope, nada, none!

Kewl!

Merry Christmas, y'All!

The Next Big Thing!

So, I'm looking at some vlogs 'cuz I'm sick and tired of reading about marketing when I come across this - The Next Big Thing! Ok, so I gotta admire the guy for taking on the concept of marketing and making it BIG! Makes me think that marketing can be done in a cynical, outlandish way that might be pretty funny. He's taken the idea of fame and turned it on its head - this guy's a marketing genius and very insightful at the same time! Bravo!

Ok, I gotta go and make some stuff today! Think marketing, Y'All!

What the heck? Guerrilla marketing

So I have to kick myself in the a#$@ for the coming year. I've taken things in hand by buying a book called "Guerrilla marketing in 30 days" - if a guerrilla can't kick me in the you know what who can? The book sounds like a fitness plan - get fit in 30 days! See results fast!

Sell more beads in 30 days!

Earn more cash than you ever thought possible!

Ok, so now I'm getting cynical.

I do need to think about the business end differently. I miss opportunities for people to see my work. Gotta do something about that. So, I've got some pictures up for you to see some of that work!

These are flat spirals - they're made along with the long spirals and are made to compliment them. I love the reactive glass - this is from Doublehelix and is called Gaia - it's their best recipe yet! They're cooking with glass!

Another opportunity to see my handiwork is in the Annealer magazine that will be coming out this month. I wrote a tutorial on Lucky Knots and Lampwork. Can't wait to see it!

Women Flameworkers in the 1940's....

While I'm on the subject of being a "baby boomer" or as I'd rather call myself, a "tail ender" - I've put up a publicity shots of my mother that appeared in brochures for a company called Fachney's. My mother was a flameworker during World War II. making glass thermometers at Fachney's. She set up a bench at home to do "piece work" - thermometers she'd blow at home and then take into work - she was paid by the thermometer or "piece."

Yep, that's my mom in the picture at the bench with her torch with the 1940's ribbon tied in her hair. She's doing the "Rosie the Riveter thing." Look at the glass! Where's the ventilation?? (Mom's 87 now and her lungs are fine!)

I wasn't born yet - so I don't remember her bench at home. I don't remember her working with glass. I don't remember her being a flameworker. Yet she was.

Tail Ender - or did I want to call the end of the boomers BOO-menders? Well whichever I decide in my own personal revolution, the reason is the same - wasn't there, don't remember - so how can you call me a baby boomer?!!?

Duh! Baby boomer vs Tail Ender

The cable internet connection hasn't been working for the past two days. We were cursing the switchover of companies when my husband realized he'd disconnected the cable - DUH! Sometimes, we're just not very bright in this household!

I've been re-evaluating my business goals seeing how it's the end of the year and all. I'm re-vamping everything including how I present myself in writing and so it's time to take a look at my nice safe bio. It's time to mess with it a little and put a little bit more of myself out there - say a few things in writing that I'd say if you were having coffee with me. Be all I can be! Deep breath, here it goes....

I'm a baby boomer but never liked it much - I just don't identify with the boomer generation - never have, never will - probably because I'm a "tail ender" - born near the end of the baby boom (an "oops" baby as my mother describes it - as in "oops" I didn't mean to get pregnant at 40). I missed most of the things that "define the generation."

I think I should start a revolution - Tail Enders unite! Ok, so maybe I do have some of the generation's 60's rebel in me but seriously, how can those born in 1947 have anything in common with someone born in 1960? So, call them the boomers, I need a new name! Tail enders - boom enders....hmmm let's merge that into one word....boomenders - say it like BOO menders. What do you think?

So, keeping that in mind, I've re-written a more irreverent bio:

Being born at the tail end of the baby boom, Cindy has never felt a part of the baby boomer generation – she doesn’t remember when Kennedy was shot, she didn’t go to Woodstock and she didn’t iron her hair. Having a parent from “the Greatest Generation” has made her a packrat - saving and recycling everything because you never know when the stock market will crash again!

Quick! Go stuff your mattress with money!

More Spirals.....

More spirals today - I've been trying them in every transparent color I have! I particularly like the "reactive glass" - Doublehelix being the best of the bunch I think. The green/blue spiral is Doublehelix's Gaia - awesome!

That time of year! Spiral Remembrance Ornament

It's the holiday season and every glass artist worth her weight in glass makes ornaments of some kind. This is the the first year I've come up with an ornament. I haven't really gone to production level on the ornaments but am testing them out for the 2007 Holiday season. Right now, I call them Remembrance Ornaments. They incorporate the spirals and I may end up changing the name later on because of that.

The Remembrance ornament combines the meaning of the spiral with the significance of a milagros. Living in the Arizona, you would see these little metal charms left at the foot of a St. Francis statue. Wondering what they were, I researched them and found out that one says a prayer for the health of a loved one or any other significant person or event in their lives and leaves an offering to the saint. Living in a city where 85% of the population is Catholic, I was familiar with the idea of praying to the saints to ask for assistance.

A few years ago, I purchased a stock of white metal milagros that were handmade in the countryside of Mexico. They are raw and aren't meant to be jewelry quality as they are left with the statue.

The milagros paired with the handmade glass spirals makes a special ornament. I've made up several and am selling them through Chochkey's on Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo, NY. I have this one up on my website. I have only one to sell this season. I have one other left, that one is hanging on my Christmas tree!

New work...Spirals

In the drive to express ideas through my glass, I wanted to express the never-ending cycle of life. How events will happen at one time in your life and then circle back to them again - or how we repeat patterns in our life - you know when you think, "why does this always happen to me?" We have our own life-spirals and we travel around on them and come back to events although maybe not in exactly the same way. But a spiral can bring you peace too, the assurance that everything WILL circle back around. In that sense, it serves as a rudimentary mandala for us to meditate upon.

So, I chose to make spirals in glass to express that idea - glass is a perfect medium because of it's potentially fragile quality. A glass spiral can be beautiful, colorful, reflective yet if you don't treat it with some care, it could shatter.

I make these spirals out of soft glass and the "silver" glass. The silver glass reacts in an unpredictable manner, changing colors as I create the spiral. You can see this in the spiral entitled Spiral of Kronos II. I use two different transparent colors for the Water Spiral.

The Kronos style spirals were sent to Beadwork for the April 2007 Challenge. I'll be excited to see what they do with them! I've made a few into Christmas Remembrance Ornaments and placed them on my website along. If you like them, you can see more at my website

Beadwork Challenge!

If you're familiar with Beadwork magazine, there is a regular column called "The Challenge!" (I added the ! - it just needs to be ! don't you think?). Artists, shop owners send in a "kit" of beads for the editors to incorporate into jewelry. Apparently it is a very popular column. I had to sign up last year for the April 2007 Challenge. The kits have to be sent off early of course so they can make the items and then photograph them, etc.

I'm giddy and nervous!!

Ok, so I've broken the first law of business, "never let them see you sweat!" My business goal for the past year has been- pimp my beads! If I had my druthers, I'd do the middle child thing and just be quiet! Pimpin' the beads is a HUGE step for me! So, I'm excited that I actually have done it and scared to death at the same time!

Ack! Feels like the first time I performed with my tap dance group when I was 5 years old! People are looking at you, Cindy, smile and keep tapping!

I'm tapping off the the post office now to send out the kits! My beads will make an appearance in the April 2007 Challenge column of Beadwork magazine! (tap, tap, tap!)

Guilty pleasures.....hooks and patterns

November 26, 2006....Ahhhh today I confess my guilty pleasurs! Totally off the glass topic, I'm a crochet addict when not in the glass studio! I've mentioned this before but today I'll come clean! Along with hording glass, I'm hording crochet patterns!

My mother taught me how to crochet many years ago when I was a kid. Mom didn't know how to read a pattern like she never followed a recipe - crocheting was all trial and error and figuring out what looked good. I think she probably had memorized a few patterns taught to her like the granny square or an afghan pattern and the rest of her work was done in a combination of the stitches from those memorized patterns.

A few years back, I decided to pick up the hook again and knew I needed to know how to read a pattern. So off I went to JoAnn's and signed up for a crochet class. Within a class or two, I had the knack of pattern reading and was so pleased that I started buying every pattern book I could get my hands on! Ponchos, shawls, shrugs, sweathers, mittens, hats, purses, scarves....you name it! I have a pattern for it!

Here's my latest guilty acquisition....Japanese Arigumi crochet dolls and Hello Kitty pattern books. I won't tell you how much I spent for a pattern book that's written in Japanese! But there aren't any English books like this and I have a hankering to crochet some dolls! (Darn that Crochetville!) I believe or hope that between the international crochet symbols and the pictures, I can figure out the doll patterns. Otherwise, I have spent alot of money for some great crochet eye candy!

Crocheters who make dolls are really sculptors at heart. Crocheting 3D objects is sculpting with yarn. Funny how most of us go into the yarn shop and don't see a 3D object when they look at skeins of wool and acrylic. Doll makers do.

My mother was able to crochet dolls without a pattern. That's the reason for the Chilly Willy picture. I loved Chilly Willy - you know the penguin that cried ice cubes?! He was soooo cute! Mom made me a Chilly Willy once without a pattern....hat, scarf the whole penguin! I'm pretty sure I still have it in the basement somewhere. Kewl she could do it without a pattern!

I'm sure that after I do a few, I'll memorize the pattern just as I've done with the mittens I've made this season. I've made so many, I no longer need to look at the pattern to make them. Then I'll be able to crochet just like Mom!

Glass artist required to be graphic artist!

I wish someone would have told me that I needed to become good at graphic arts, photography and business when I started making beads! There's really no end to the number of times I need to have an ad made or tweaked for a magazine or website. Including my own! This is the new banner I made in Photoshop for the Cindy Gimbrone Beads website. I had a lovely ad made from a graphic artist - I really loved it! The problem came when I needed to tweak it for the website or a web-ad I wanted to take out - I couldn't tweak the ad! I decided as well intentioned as it was to have someone else make the ads, I just had to make them myself. It was the only way I was going to know how to tweak it and update it regularly. I like what I've come up with and I know that I can do the adjustments on it as necessary. When I get my logo completed, I'll be able to tweak the banners and include it.

Memberships and Logos.....

November 15, 2006....Flare up with overuse syndrome has kept me from posting as often as I like. Today I'm going to circle back onto the idea of logos and memberships. I'm a member of the International Society of Glass beadmakers and I've posted their logo today. It's a nice clean logo in blue and white. It makes the point and is very recognizable in the glass world.

Along with it, I've posted a photo of a drawing my son made of me. It's "mommy anime style." He actually drew a complete anime figure but I've only included the head here. At one time, I thought of using this as a logo. Afterall, how awesome is it to have your logo be drawn by your son!?! I love this drawing and keep it at my desk but I don't think it qualifies as a logo. Logos need to be simple and convey the idea of what I do or my name in a basic way. So, I continue to tinker away with ideas of flames, beads and image. I'll continue to circle back around to the logo idea every so often until I find one I like. Stay tuned!

Knots and the Annealer...November 13, 2006

My tutorial for the Lucky Knots and Lampwork bracelet will be appearing in the Annealer Magazine in December. I did a bracelet because in teaching the class, I realized that a necklace takes too long for a beginner. I've also changed the closure/clasp on the bracelet from the original design (shown in the picture).

Let me tell you that photographing knots can really tie you up in knots! You'd think black cording on a white background would work but it's hard to see which cord goes where. So I had to choose two colors of cording and show the knots in progress. You get to see the "reject" photos here, I sent the two colored pictures to the magazine. The entire tutorial will be in the Annealer magazine in December.

Lost blogposts.....

November 3, 2006....Do your posts sometimes go off into cyberspace and disappear? I've had a few that once I hit the publish post, the screen blinks repeatedly and then tells me that there was an error. My missive has disappeared and errored! When I go back to re-write, the moment is lost!

I've been working on the other craft that makes me ruin my hands - crocheting. I love the fact that a generation of young women (in their 20's) are hooking! I see alot of fun and innovative patterns coming from them and it's fabulous!

I've been on a mitten and fingerless glove kick lately - hooking up a mitten in a couple of hours gives me a sense of satisfaction - I can complete something and don't just have an ongoing throw or shawl project - I actually get something made!

Oct 28, 2006.....

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.

This morning, I am itching to get out to the torch. Got some ideas rolling around in my head to "draw" and need to go while the ideas are fresh (and before I forget!)

Writing funny in the blogiverse....

October 27, 2006....Wow! I've been reading some crochet blogs this morning and some bloggers can be very funny! Their work has a sense of humor and they're able to convey funny even in their profiles. I really admire that! Here's one whose URL is funny:

Monster Crochet

Take a look at her profile: Artist, wife, mother, crocheting fool, wanderer, creator, knower of adhesive tools.....knower of adhesive tools?!? How funny is that?!? Every mother is good with adhesives and I just had to laugh in recognition!

Not crochet related but glass bead related is another funny writer I came across while reading a thread on "do descriptions matter?" on one of the glass boards (of course they matter but then that's another blogpost not this one) back to the writer - Nikki the Sheep Goddess! In one of her auctions she writes this description for annealing:

"All beads are made by ME, Nikki Carollo, the Sheep Goddess in my studio. Most are Moretti glass, but if I find anything else laying around I'm not against using it either. Everything is kiln annealed so my colleagues don't stone me."

Ha ha ha.... so my colleagues don't stone me! I've got tears rolling down my cheeks! Hats off to you Nikki! Keep those descriptions coming!

Now, I know I'm funny in real life....people do laugh when I make a joke or at least I *think* they're laughing at the joke.... but it's much harder to *write* funny than to *be* funny. I admire those who can do pull it off. Bravo!

Thursday, October 26, 2006......

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?

To show your beads or to not show your beads
That is the question

(sorry for the bad Shakespeare paraphrase!)

The dilemma is, if you don't put your beads out there, then no one sees them. People have to see your beads in order to want to buy them. Although, by the tiny number of hits I have on any of the "show" threads I start, no one is seeing them anyways! LOL! I'll keep plugging away - trying to find that happy medium just as many other artists do.

Getting behind.....

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!

Because I haven't talked about it, I'll tell you a little about the remodel - We had texture paint in our master bedroom - yikes! I don't like texture paint! and it was covering all four walls. So you can imagine that my quest was to get rid of it! We knew it would be difficult and messy - we didn't want to sand it and we didn't know how to drywall. I hear drywalling is easy but you need to have some basic carpentry skills, we only have very rough skills - not enough to drywall and make it look better than the texture paint!

We used Ventian Plaster - a finishing plaster with coloring to makes it look like old Italian plaster - yup, it was a hard, messy, sweaty job but we did it and very happy with it! We just covered up that bumpy, ugly texture paint and have a nice soft pale yellow wall.

That job was the reason I neglected the office too long. Now I have a hard, messy but not sweaty job awaiting me in the office! I better get at it!

Glyph Series.....

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!

Logos and business cards....

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.

I'm going to have to think about this for awhile and come up with something!

Suggestions and ideas are welcome!

Lost weekend!

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?

Pink!

October 10, 2006....ARGH! That's me tearing my hair out over yet another shade of pink glass available! Do I buy this one? Do I already have it? Will it be pink after I work it in the flame? You're wondering, "hey, Cindy, what's the big deal? It's just pink!"

You're right - but in glass, pink is a hard color to achieve. I don't fully understand the chemical content of the glass except that the pink color is made with gold. You can burn it out and discolor it easily in the flame so it makes it a hard color to produce. Therefore, pink is a much sought after color simply because it's so hard to achieve. When a new pink is offered we all go running but will it keep its color in the flame? The only way to find out is to test the pink glass.

The test beads here today are lavendar-pink - I can live with it. I think the alabastro pink is the best though (that was the pink nude I showed a few weeks ago). Alabastro glass has a reputation for being difficult to work and incompatible (it will cause cracking) with other Italian glass so many of the glass bead artists avoid it. I did too for a long time - sorry I did. It's a lovely pink.

I posted a question to the glass boards and they're all just as confused as I am. No one has heard of the dark pink I'm working with (Super Dark Pink) so they post their 6 different shades of pinks that they have. None of them are the same! Oh no! Which of their six different pinks match the 6 different pinks that I have?!? You call yours "raspberry pink" - mine is called "super dark pink" or is that an odd batch of "orchid" that happens to be light? Is that the dark batch of the normal light pink that was made in the spring of 2005? Or is that the light batch of the dark pink made during the summer of 2006? Is that the "bubble gum" or is that the "cotton candy?" Is that the old streaky pink that everyone talks about with dewy eyes? Or is that the imposter bubble gum pink with the same stripe?

I'm confused!!!

So is every other glass bead maker.

Ahhh oh well! I'm telling you, we don't have to be confused. The perfect pink is here - it's alabastro dark pink!

Practice, practice, practice!

....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.

Development.....October 4, 2006

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!

I recently took a business leadership assessment, the Enneagram. Very popular now within the corporate world - so I have to think about the results in terms of a self employed business person. Despite the focus on corporations, I found the results to be very useful and shed some light on how I approach the business end of things. It's all a process - I continue to develop in business and glass!

Good days and not so good days....

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!

Yesterday I thought I was having a good day at the torch....all the beads I made I liked....one imparticular was definitely "Bead Review" worthy - that is until I took it off the mandrel! It chipped around the beadhole - ARGHHH!! Not quite enough heat to the ends while I was making it - but it'll go into the slump line and I'm pretty sure it will be a great cabachon!

Off the the torch! Hope today is a good day for you - but if it isn't, you can always put it into the kiln and slump it!