Stitches West - This Year It Was Playtime

I've been a vendor at the Stitches West Show for the last 2 years, but this year I decided I wasn't going to do that show.  Instead, I took a class at the show on Friday.  I've been felting for a couple of years now, but I had never taken a class.  I decided it was about time that I learn what I've been doing wrong as well as lots of new tips and tricks.  What a wonderful class it was!  Nuno felting with Sharon Costello... if you ever have an opportunity to learn from her, I highly recommend that you do so!

Here she is, assisting someone with the rolling process.

Here some of the students are looking at the result.

Rolling... rolling... rolling... holy smokes, I was so tired and sore Friday night that I could hardly get out of the chair after I plunked down in front of the TV.  This old back really let me know about it.  But I've been wearing my new scarf ever since I unrolled it and took it out of the towel at the end of the class.  I just love it!  I've had several requests to get pix of the scarf, so when I have a few minutes I'll give it a try.

The number of vendors at this show is overwhelming.  On Friday during lunch break, I went to see Carin Engen, who was doing some spinning and felting demos for Yarndogs.  Carin is the wonderful woman who got me involved in this whole felting journey.  Back in 2008, her booth was across the aisle from mine and I just couldn't stay out of it.  Carin is a felter, a teacher, and she dyes her own fibers.  So of course, I had to bring home some of her roving - back in 2008 AND on Friday.  Here are some of her dyed silk fibers.

And the wool, oh the wool...

I went back to the Stitches Marketplace today, and I was amazed at how many vendors were selling roving.  That wasn't the case last year and the year before.  I guess spinning and felting are becoming a lot more popular.  Well, I now have enough fiber to make a yurt!  I really splurged this year, but I figured hey - that show comes only once a year.  Now I must get busy in both the wet lab and the glass lab.  The Bead & Button Show is going to be here before you know it and I have to have some inventory!

I'll show you more pix of my new fiber stash over the coming week.  Hopefully I'll be able to spend time in the labs.  I got a jury duty notice a few weeks ago and I have to report on Thursday.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can get excused.

Now I'm going to head out to do some beading on my BJP vessel, so I'll leave you with a few pix that I took last week.  Here's the base of a tree trunk - I guess it decided to "take time to smell the roses"...

Later that day, I was up in San Francisco for a bit.  This is such a fun town!

And on that note, I wish you a happy and creative day!

Catching Up Once Again

In my prior post, I showed you a picture of the latest vessel that I made with a promise of better pix of it to come. I never had a chance to get anymore pictures - I sold the vessel over the weekend. But I just about finished embellishing another one and I have plans for a new one roaming around in my brain.

The weekend before this last one, I taught a bead making class on Saturday at BAGI. Here's a picture of me doing a demo as a student watches. This picture was taken by one of my students with her phone (why it's fuzzy...). Not only do I NOT wear fashionable didymium glasses, they're the first didyms I ever bought. In true geek style, the left bow has tape on it.

During that class I showed the students a technique that I've been using for almost 10 years. While they were making their beads, a picture popped into my mind and the following Monday I went out to my studio and started creating my vision in glass. I've had some drawings of petroglyphs and pictographs on my work table for a couple of years but I never did anything with them. I just wasn't sure what the entire bead should look like. I now have 5 of them in my Etsy shop! I brought them all to the bead show with me over the weekend and they were a big hit. Some have new homes. Here's my version of rock art, in bead form. All but 1 have designs on the back as well, but you'll have to go to my shop to see them.

On a completely different note, this week I took the plunge and started a new contract job back in the world of software development. I'm excited about it, and I also realize that my creative time will be that much more precious. I have a gallery show coming up shortly for which I must prepare, I have to create a piece for an auction for the place where I teach bead making, there's a holiday ornament show for which I must make some pieces, and there's another opportunity to put my artwork for sale in a small gallery kiosk at our airport. So now I'm going to take a deep breath and get back to work.

Have yourselves a happy and creative day!

Post-show Ups 'N Downs

First, the "Ups" - a great big THANK YOU to all of you who came to visit us at the Stitches West 2009 Show. I had a wonderful time! It was great seeing old friends and meeting new folks. Thank you for your patronage, fun conversations, and great feedback. And I want to personally thank Carin Engen for getting me hooked on roving a year ago. At Stitches West 2008, Carin had a booth kitty-corner to ours and I couldn't stay out of it. I'm a color and texture fanatic, and her booth kept calling to me. I went home from that show loaded with wool roving, silk roving, and a pack of felting needles. Carin, you created a monster! But a very happy one at that.

I had so many inquiries about teaching felting workshops that I'm in the process of organizing materials, procedures, and other logistics so that we can get started. And it looks like I might (not definite yet, still in the very early talking stages) be teaching a felted vessel workshop up in Vancouver, BC later in the year.

Unfortunately, and despite the wonderful chair massage that I indulged in on the last day of the show, I caught a nasty cold. It hit me on Tuesday, so I've been trying to keep a low profile and get over it as quickly as I can. I'm teaching a bead making class in San Jose this Saturday and I don't want to pass out at the torch - yikes!

Speaking of bead making classes, I've been scheduled out to the end of the year! And there are 2 new classes for those of you who know the basics and want to expand your glass repertoire. I've added a couple of "Beadmaking: Working With Metals" classes. These are classes that explore adding metal to the hot glass while making the bead, not metal smithing classes. They're broken down into 1a and 1b - 1a for the folks who have completed Beadmaking 1 and 2, and 1b for the folks who have completed Beadmaking 2. It's a series of classes, so if you're interested you should take Metals 1a before you take Metals 1b. To see my class schedule, go to the BAGI website for the Torch Working classes - click HERE.

And now I'm off to feed my cold a cup of tea and work on my new classes. Let's see, instructions for the felted vessel or samples for the Working With Metals class? I'll let my cold dictate what I can accomplish today.

Have yourselves a happy, creative day!

Courageous...

Tonight is the last night of my Beadmaking 1 class. Despite the fact that I'm sad about the 4-week class coming to an end, I'm excited about giving a bead to one of my students. She has no idea it's coming...

On the first night of this class, I gave a demo of making a plain donut-shaped bead. I don't teach bead decorations on the first night but I always decorate my plain beads with at least some dots here and there. I told my students why - it's because I donate all my class demo beads to the Beads of Courage program. I want the kids to get a bead that's "happy". If you aren't familiar with this wonderful program, please click on the link above and check it out.

Anyhow, I noticed that one of my students was listening to my talk about Beads of Courage with rapt attention. I also noticed that she had no hair and was wearing a head wrap. Last week I had a little chat with her about her cancer treatment, and decided that even though she isn't a "kid with cancer", going through this kind of experience definitely requires courage and she needs to have a purple heart for making it through the end of her treatment. Her course of treatment isn't finished yet - the radiation treatments are yet to come. I can't even imagine what she's facing, and I wholeheartedly applaud her for attitude and courage. She told me she wants to get better at making beads so she can make purple hearts for the kids in the Beads of Courage program. Wow!

Well, here's to you, Caren - I hope you like your purple heart bead!

Let's Get Twisted...

As usual, I'm running late again. I have to teach a beadmaking class in San Jose this evening - it's the last night of class for my 4-week Beadmaking 2 session. Gosh, I love teaching - but the last night is always a bit sad. I'm sad to see my class come to an end, but oh how gratifying it is to see how far the students have come since the first class 4 weeks prior.

Tonight we'll be making complex twisted cane. There are so many different ways of making twisted cane that I could spend an entire 4-hour class on that topic alone! So the rest of my class will be spent on other types of cane, mainly cane used to make flowers, leaves, and stems. And then we'll review all the topics from the entire 4-week series. Here are some twisties that I've made both recently (in last week's class) and several years ago. I guess I really am a pack rat, I can't believe I still have these little bits of cane left over!

Speaking of twisties, here's a group of "twisties" - the Flame Dames! This picture showed up in the latest issue of "Profitable Glass Quarterly" and was taken by Greg Fuchs at the ISGB Gathering in Oakland, CA in August. Holy cow - we are now famous. Yep, I said "we" - I'm one of the dames. Now that's REALLY twisted!

I'll be back later this week with more tidbits from the world of a nutsy artisan. Hope you all have a wonderful evening!