April 29, 2006....Homage to ancient peoples

Here is my homage to the ancient peoples who would thank the goddess of the earth for bringing forth the flowers each spring. Small talismans would be created representing the goddess and worn in to honor and thank her for another spring. I'm very grateful for another spring and the profusion of yellow blossoms everywhere, from daffodils to the forsythia that I see on my morning walk. Since yellow flowers are everywhere, it is only fitting that this homage be crowned with a wreath of yellow petals. She is created using Italian black glass, sunny yellow tipped with red.

April 23, 2006.....Inspiration

On my morning walk, I pass this large group of forsythia bushes....the yellow is so joyful this time of year! I love the yellow flowers that coat the entire slender branch! Although I haven't consciously been doing it, I've been creating these flowers in beads for awhile now - but with black rather than a brown - I'm inspired to try to make a more 3D sculpture of the joyous yellow blooms - I don't know how anyone can't find inspiration in these happy little flowers!

April 16, 2006....Happy Easter!

A low key kind of day today. Will be going out for Easter dinner at about 5 pm.

I've been working on jewelry pieces...lots of earrings to sell at outdoor shows this summer and more of the Lucky Knots and Lampwork necklaces for a "live jurying." I'm thinking about NOT doing any shows this summer and focusing on some ideas I have for glass sculpture and beads. If I do that, then I'll do a show or two in the fall along with my annual open house. Haven't decided for sure but think that's what I'll do.

April 13, 2006.....

This is a close up of a neckpiece I made entitled, "Mardi Gras!" It's a happy piece but I have to admit to feeling a little blah and overwhelmed this morning....I have a several things to do on my plate...I have to make a few pieces of jewelry for a "live jurying" I'll be doing at the end of the month....I have to take some pictures of a tutorial for a knotted neckpiece I make for a magazine and I have to make a custom order. That's on top of some of the interpreting work I do! So, feeling a bit overwhelmed- like "where do I start?"

Monday morning... April 10, 2006

Here's a bead self portrait . I made this awhile ago and it really doesn't look all that much like me but it's retro style. Very 1960's - early 70's in feel. I'm busy with other things right now and not spending time at the torch. I will submit to a juried show later in the month but must do it "live." I've been turned down once before for this particular show and skipped the jury last year but thought I'd try again this year. It's a very small, select show around Thanksgiving. I'd like to fill in a show for that time of year so I'm going for it. It will be finished work, though and I'm working on some pieces to take with me. I'm also working on a tutorial for an online magazine. Both of those things are keeping me away from the torch for a bit.

April 1st!.....Warmer Weather!

I returned from the Urban Glass Show on late Monday afternoon. Whew! What a trip and what a good time! I really enjoy the comraderie of the other beadmakers at a show and the opportunity to meet customers! I always see lovely bead jewelry and seed bead work! Being a very tactile person, I like it when the customers offer to take off a particular piece so I can hold it in my hands.

Weather was beautiful here yesterday - some rain but it was 74 degrees! I was in the studio working with a new prototype tool. It's exciting when you think of an idea and someone is talented enough to execute it. I'll talk more about the tool later on once I've worked with it a little more.

Saturday, March 18, 2006....see you after Urban Glass!

I'm going to put these up on my website for sale later on today (hopefully!). There will be about a 2 week "quiet" period now. I'm packing up for the Urban Glass Bead Expo in NYC next weekend (March 24-26) and won't have time at the torch or to post. I've got all my beads out and feeling like there is not enough - but I think any artist feels that way when they are getting ready for a show! Wish me luck and I'll post how it went when I get back!

Sunday, March 12, 2006.....Eye Candy!

Here's another bead made with the Wild Roses glass frit that I have been testing. This one is rolled on the Italian made pastel Ink Blue. I then encased the bead in clear to magnify the frit and dotted with Iris Gold to give it a little sparkle! After all this testing, I like the avocado and ink blue pairings the best.

I've been in the studio all weekend working away. Going through my beads now to make sure I have a wide assortment for the Urban Glass Bead Expo coming up in a few weeks. I've made the hotel reservation and ordered one more bead display - on that will fold flat. I want to have everything as compact as possible! Tomorrow, I order a banner to pin onto the front of the table!

Saturday morning.....March 11, 2006

Warmer weather is starting to slowly arrive! Spring and fall are my favorite times of the year for working in the studio, not too hot and not too cold, even with the kiln and torch running! I've been working on a new business card and printing up a sign for the Urban Glass Bead Expo. I'm a one-person business so I have to do all the details myself! Got to get back to work! Hope you all have a great day!

Thursday, March 9, 2006.....Musings on creating in glass

I got my copy of the Glass Art Magazine the other day. As usual, I sat down to read it cover to cover - there are always great articles in the mag. Anyways, I'm already an admirer of Milon Townsend's work and his ability to make a good living from his art - so when one of the articles interviewed him, I was interested in what he had to say. One of the things he said was that at the beginning of his career in glass, he was completely enamoured of the physical properties of the glass and that was what he focused on for a number of years. This struck me because it's exactly what I've been focused on - I've spent lots of time experimenting and learning the behavior and characteristics of each color of soft glass - i.e., black glass is "stiffer" than coral colored glass - when heated to a specific color, it will do this or that. I rarely use any tools to shape basic forms, rather, I choose the right color for the piece and work with heat and gravity to coax the glass into flowing into a shape rather than tooling it. But I wouldn't know how to use the heat and gravity if I hadn't spent a great deal of time learning and understanding what each color can do. Most of the glass artists and crafters I talk to aren't focused on that aspect of the glass. It was a revelation to see such an esteemed glass artist talk about that! Milon went on to explain that he's moved beyond that but that first step was a development of a vocabulary, a language to create in glass that he uses in his current work.

My good friend keeps telling me that I'm a sculptor and what is in my head to create is certainly in that direction. I'm still evolving but it is clear to me that the work I have done in understanding the characteristics of the glass is and will be invaluable in the pieces I create in the future.

Monday morning... March 7, 2006

Here's another test bead I made with the Wild Roses frit. I used the Italian Effetre red-brown for the base. You can barely see the base bead here but I think it looks only so-so. It doesn't really detract from the frit colors or react and turn black but I don't think the red-brown enhances the frit colors. I'm also not sure adding the 3 petaled flowers over the base and frit was a good idea either! Like I said, test bead :-)

I haven't put up any auctions lately because I'm feverishly working up inventory to take to the Urban Glass Show in NYC later on this month. I think every beadmaker always thinks that s/he hasn't got enough inventory for the show. You should see my home office right now - I've got trays of beads laid out from one end of the room to the other! I keep thinking, should I take mostly focals or sets? Advice to artists is to find a voice and stick with that - I find my voice is versatility! I like to do many different things. When I was in high school, I was voted "Most Versatile" - it sticks with me. There's so much to do and learn with glass, how can I stick to just a few things?!? I can't - so I always offer a wide range of "voices."

Saturday morning.....March 4, 2006

I'm calling this one "Yellow Leaf Goddess"....I've been working on a goddess series lately inspired by all of the creativity going on the glass boards with this. Most of my goddesses are torsos rather than full figures. This one is a full figure with a golden yellow crown. I like to work in the black glass because of the depth and reflection it has. I think that too much color and decoration takes away from the figure. Color is nice but sometimes I want only the shape and form to be what draws your eye to the bead. Sometimes I just want it to be wearable sculpture.

More test beads of Wild Roses....February 28, 2006

Here's another picture of the wild roses frit on a different color - this color is "pastel avocado." You'd think "avocado" would be green but no, it's a taupe color. Some say it has a cast of green but honestly, I don't see it. I believe that the name comes from a literal translation of the Italian word for the color but someone needs to talk to the interpreter with this one! It's taupe! Lovely, taupe!

About the frit - it leaves a nice brown outline on the taupe color. To me, it looks Klimt-like. I'm thinking of the Klimt backgrounds, not the women in the paintings but the backgrounds - those lovely patchwork of colors in the background. This bead reminds me of that.

February 22, 2006....Busy, busy, busy!

Working with some new glass frit called Wild Roses - here is basically the same bead but one has silver leaf in it and the other doesn't. Kewl effect isn't it?

Spending all of my time re-vamping my other website and getting ready for the Urban Glass Bead show in March. The intense cold makes it hard to heat the studio but I still go out there! Lots of layers on and my heating pad sitting on my stool! No auctions up because I'm so busy preparing for the show

February 19, 2006.....Brrrr!!!

If you've been following the blog, you know that I have new heaters in my studio. Well, today it is soooo cold, they're not making much of a dent in raising the temperature! It was 8 degrees farenheit when I got up this morning - that's negative degress in celsius! I'm going out to work but expect it maybe not to last too long. I've got 4 cotton shirts and turtlenecks on plus a cotton sweatshirt. My bead release was frozen! Waiting for it to thaw out a bit so I can coat some mandrels and then get going!

Monday, February 13, 2006......I hate when that happens!

Yesterday, I spent 5 hours at the torch experimenting with some new frit (for those of you learning about glass, frit is ground glass that gets applied to a base bead). I learned alot about the frits I was using, but very few of the beads are presentable! One of my favorite frit colors, copper blue, turned to black on most of the beads I made. So I learned that copper blue reacts with the chemicals in most of the plain colors, ivory, white and silver leaf - so much so that it turns black. There needs to be caution on the copper blue frit that says not to overwork (heating the bead to orange glow over and over) the color. I was using the Italian glass, I'm thinking that I've used the copper blue on the American made glass and it didn't turn to black. I'll have to do some more testing with it to see.

I've mentioned this before, but this is what I mean about being a "hands on" learner - I have to make all of these mistakes and make all of these rotten beads to learn the properties of the glass and how color works in glass. Color in glass isn't the same as mixing paints or pastels or even colored pencils. The compounds that create the color will interact with certain other compounds and you may get a great color or you may not. This weekend I didn't get much of anything. I hate when that happens!

Sunday, February 5, 2006....Who should paint your portrait?

I have been surfing some bead blogs this morning to figure out if I want to join a ring or not. On one of the blogs there was a "who should paint your portrait?" questionnairre. So I clicked the link and did the quiz.This is all in fun and it captures the Diva in me! :-)

Not having a very good week at the torch. Last Sunday, I dropped everything I had made the day before and broke most of the beads! ARGGHHH! Then on Monday, I wasn't able to get to the torch like I had planned. I had to wait until Friday and it didn't work out on Friday either! I finally got to the torch yesterday but things were going so slow. If my schedule at the torch is regular, I am more creative. When it's not, I find myself fumbling. Yesterday was a fumbling day. Trying out some frit I don't normally use and working off mandrel. Most of the frit beads came out kind of "eh!" and the off mandrel items cracked. I keep telling myself it's a learning process and I'll crack less off mandrel sculptures as I progress. Sometimes, though you just need a good day!

Ok, rant off for the day! I'll go out into the studio today and everything will be fine!

Auctions will be up on Justbeads.com. I have one up now, will add a few more this morning! Hope your day goes well!

Who Should Paint You: Roy Lichtenstein

Larger than life, your personality overshadows everyone in the room A painter would tend to portray you with a bit of added flair!

What Artist Should Paint Your Portrait?

Friday, February 3rd, 2006......

I'll be putting this set up on Justbeads this weekend. I've got a LOT of beads I've made over the past few weeks that I need to take pictures of and put up on the blog! I'll schedule the auctions on justbeads so they list over the next several weeks.

I'm readying inventory to take to the Urban Glass Bead Expo in NYC during March 24, 25 and 26. I'll be debuting new sculptural style beads. I'm looking for a particular style, voice to the sculpturals combining enamels and texture on the beads.

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