Getting Ready for Rochester

Wow, I can't believe that I'm leaving for Rochester, NY in 3 days. I also can't believe that time has slipped by so quickly... AGAIN ... You'd think that after all this experience with that time thing, I'd be used to it by now.

The International Society of Glass Beadmakers is having their annual conference, called "The Gathering", in Rochester this year, which is why I'll be on a plane at 6 a.m. Monday morning heading east.  We have a 1-day bead bazaar at the Gathering that's open to the public.  If you're in the Rochester area on July 31, please come by the Rochester Riverside Convention Center on Main St. and stop by my booth to say hi!

Here are a few items I'll have with me for sale.  A few beads in my "Mudcloth" series...

And a brooch that I made on a piece of my handmade felt - with a lovely bird by Heather Powers of Humblebeads.  I'm hoping to have a few more of these finished before I head to the airport.

I've been a member of the ISGB since 2000, and I've been to every Gathering since then except one.  I wasn't going to miss this one - but getting to Rochester from the San Francisco area isn't easy.  Not much choice when it comes to flights, and the cost was horrendous.  Ah well... next year it will be in Louisville, KY - a much easier destination!

So today I have to do my high tech work, tonight I'm teaching a class, but tomorrow I'm dedicating the entire day and evening to making as many items as I can before I pack up on Sunday.

That's the Friday scoop.  If all goes well, I'll have a few more pieces to show you before I take to the skies.  Now I'm off to high-tech land - and you folks go have yourselves a happy and creative day!

Oh... and PLEASE don't forget to vote for Beads of Courage at the Pepsi Refresh site - we need your help to get into the top 10, and we're almost out of time.  Thank you so much!

A New Vessel, a Bit of Bead & Button

Wow, I've been so busy in my tech job that the time has just flown away!  I haven't been on the torch since I came back from Milwaukee, but I have had a bit of time to work out in the wet lab.  In fact, I've completed a new vessel.  No "official" pix yet, just a few shots from my camera to give you an idea of what I've done.

I built this vessel to go with that wonderful raku bead that I got at the Bead & Button show from MAKUstudio.  I think I shall call this vessel "Pele".  Pele is the Polynesian goddess of fire and volcanoes.  One legend has it that she was born in Tahiti, but was banished by her father because of her temper and the fact that she had seduced her sister's husband.  After a tumultuous life creating the volcanoes on the Hawaiian islands, her final resting home is believed to be in the fire pit called Halema'uma'u crater, at the summit caldera of Kīlauea, which is one of the Earth's most active volcanoes.

The collar of this vessel is very fiery, and MAK's raku bead was born in a fire pit.  I'm just hoping that I can seduce someone with the beauty of this piece!  :-)

Here is the wool stash that I picked out for the vessel.  You can see the wet vessel in progress on the bubble wrap.

Here are both sides of the vessel after I completed felting and forming it.

And here is the vessel after I finished embellishing it.  This one took a long time - the bead-woven collar is very long!  I started creating the collar before I made the vessel, and I really misjudged the circumference of that opening.  But the way in which I dealt with the excess collar really adds to the feeling of "Pele" on this piece!

This was taken in the sun...

... and this one was taken in the shade.

This vessel will be going into my Etsy shop as soon as I get some "real" pictures of it.  I have two others in progress, but pix of those will have to wait a bit.

Here are a few pictures I snapped at the Bead & Button Show.

Kimberly Affleck in her booth - oblivious, I think, to the fact that my camera was pointed at her (from across the aisle, hence the poor photo quality).  I love her banner, displaying her seahorse beads for all the world to see!

Here's Lauri Copeland in her booth - Ms. Wildfire!

And my B&B neighbor and good friend Sharon Peters, with her booth helper Juanita - whom I borrow every chance I can get.  Standing in the booth next to them (behind Juanita) is Gretchen Schueller, owner of Piece of Mind Bead and Jewelry Studio.

I just couldn't resist this photo.  This pooch spent a lot of time working the bead show with his charge.  I wanted to "chat", but when a dog is wearing a working dog vest, it's hands off.  I have such a hard time keeping my distance from fur kids.  It looks like it was break time for the pup, though...

And now I'm off to forage for groceries so my cupboards won't be so bare.  Then I'll return to tech land, and later tonight, I'll be embellishing vessel number 2.  Now you go have yourselves a happy and creative day!

Home Again, Home Again...

Well, I'm back from Milwaukee - still a bit worn out from my trip.  Wow, I had such a lovely time at the Bead & Button Show!  It was absolutely wonderful to meet some of my fellow artists whose work I include in my own work, as well as connect with friends I only see once a year in Milwaukee.

I had the pleasure of meeting Carol Dean Sharpe of Sand Fibers, whose work I admire greatly - and also own!  Carol and I have many things in common, and when we met, it seemed as if we've known each other for years.  I also had the pleasure of meeting Marianne Kasparian, a.k.a Mak, of MAKUstudio.  Mak's work is truly drool-worthy.  I've used some of her raku pieces in several of my felted vessels, and I scored more of her fabulous work while I was at the show.  I've already picked out the fiber for 2 vessels that I'll be making for some of her raku beads.  Here are Mak's pieces that I now own.

These are all destined to become part of my felt work.

It was great to see Lisa Peters again!  I spent a lot of time hovering over her table, trying to discipline myself to not buy half of her inventory.  Here are some pieces that I acquired - I'll show you more of Lisa's work next time.  These, too, will be incorporated into my felt work.

And what's a trip to the Bead & Button Show without replenishing some of my seed bead stash?!  Here's the latest installment in my size 11 rainbow.

I'm ready to take on just about any felting project I can dream up!  And I did dream up a few while I was on the road.  I took a few pages of notes during the show's "down time", and I'm just itching to get out to the wet lab.  Four of my vessels found new homes at the show, so it's definitely time to make more.  I'm teaching a bead making class this weekend, but I'm hoping that I can mess around with fiber before then.  If not, then definitely on Sunday!

Until next time, go have yourself a happy and creative day!

Packing, Packing... Heading For Booth 1221

Well, this is it.  I'm leaving in the morning for Milwaukee - another year at the Bead & Button Show.  I am really looking forward to getting away for awhile, looking forward to seeing old friends, meeting new folks, putting faces and voices with many of my cyber-friends - this show is always such a pleasure for me!

If you are planning on being at the show, please stop by and see me!  I'll be in booth 1221 - same bat time, same bat channel.  If you are not planning on being at the show... well, why the heck not?!  LOL!

I'm off to run some last-minute errands and get back to my packing.  See you at the show - and if not, I'll be back out here when I return.  I fly home on June 14, so you should get an update shortly after that.

Now go have yourselves a happy and creative day!

One World One Heart Drawing - Are YOU a Winner?

I just went out to random.org to get the 3 random numbers for this year's One World One Heart event!  I've been trying to "roll out" the results one by one in this post, but the blog editor is giving me fits.  So I'm going to now post it all at once.  Drum roll.........

First number is........................... 259

And the winner of the single green leaf bead is..................

Congratulations, Carol!!! Carol is also a Magic Carpet ticket holder - number 255 - and you can visit her Creative Expressions blog for some wonderful art.

Second number is........................... 152

And the winner of the short strand of beads is..................

Congratulations, Becky!!!  You can visit Becky at her lovely blog Just A Moment In Time.

Third number is........................... 429

And the winner of the small set of leaf beads is..................

Congratulations, LisaC!!!  Check out Lisa's terrific art on her blog Random Veracity.

I want to thank all the ticket holders who participated as well as all of you who left comments here on my blog!  It was so much fun visiting you - well, as many of you as I could.  I just didn't have the time to go to 1,105 blogs - what an amazing number of people!!

And a great big huge thank you goes to Lisa Swifka for creating and organizing this event.  Lisa, you rock!

Now all of you go have yourselves a happy and creative day!

Back From LA!

If you're looking for my OWOH post, it's HERE.

I'm finally rested from my trip to LA.  I was supposed to return last Friday evening, but we were deep into the work session and neither of us wanted to stop.  So we worked until a bit after 9 pm, then again on Saturday.  I flew home late Saturday afternoon just in time to get off the plane, fetch my bag, and head straight to BAGI's Great Glass Auction.  Everyone was dressed to the nines and I was in my office "work duds".  Oh well, I had a great time anyhow.  I had donated one of my vessels to the auction - they put it into the silent auction - and I was really happy to hear that one of my students, Lisa, had the winning bid!  She and her husband sat at the same table as we did, and she caused a bit of excitement.  She got into a "bidding war" over a gorgeous piece made by the artist couple Melissa and Keith Bispo, who were also sitting at our table.  And she won it - Go Lisa!  To see the piece, you can check out the auction catalog HERE.  It's on page 8/20 when you use the arrows to page through the catalog (page 12 of the actual catalog on the left), item L-108.  And if you're curious about my vessel, use the arrows to page to 12/20 (page 20 of the actual catalog on the bottom left), item R-303.

I bid on several items in the silent auctions but was outbid big-time, so I wasn't able to take home any of those items.  However, Rich Small had made glass heart centerpieces for all the tables - yes, there was a banquet dinner during the live auction - and those were also available in their own silent auction.  I bid on two of them and came home with the heart that was on our table.  Yay for me!

After I got home from the auction, I went through my mail that had been delivered while I was in LA.  What a thing to be greeted by...

The last time I had jury duty I was picked for the jury, and the trial/deliberation went on for a month and a half.  Yikes - I just don't have the time for that right now!  But I guess I'll have to do my civic duty.  It was actually quite fascinating, being on a jury.  It was also very frustrating.  We spent a lot of time deliberating, and we came very close to having a hung jury.  But in the end we came to an agreement.  Given what I heard during the trial, I was sure that the defendant was guilty - but the prosecution didn't have enough evidence for us to return a guilty verdict for the greater of the two charges.  There were several times during the trial that the defendant sneered at us, and looked as if he was gloating.  I wanted to go rip that smirk right off his face...  ah well, that was awhile back and I need to just forget about it.  I did learn something very interesting, though.  We all wondered why the police report wasn't part of the evidence.  A few of the jurors assumed that it was because it would show something that the prosecution didn't want seen.  I told them that was crazy - if the prosecutor didn't want it seen, then the defendant's attorney would have put it into evidence.  It turns out that the police report isn't allowed into evidence because it is hearsay.  What WAS in evidence was the tape of the 911 call to the police.

Well, enough about trials and evidence and bad guys... today we were supposed to have a huge storm, with possible thunder showers (rare here in the San Francisco Bay Area).  When I went into the bedroom a bit earlier, I saw that Peanut was digging in - a great way to spend a rainy day, sleeping on dad's sweatshirt!

But now we have sunshine, so perhaps there won't be a storm after all.

"Did someone say sunshine?"

Now I'm going to head out to the glass lab to make some objects that will go into my next big felting project.  I have a deadline - the project must be done and photographed in the next three days.  I'm just about there, thank goodness!  Once it's photographed and submitted to the "proper authorities", I can give you a bit of a hint what it's all about.

So go have yourselves a happy and creative day!

One World One Heart Coming Soon!

Do you blog? Would you like to get to know other bloggers? Perhaps find kindred spirits? Do you know about One World One Heart? Gosh, all these questions I have. If you've answered "yes" to more than one of these questions, check out the big event coming soon.

I'll be participating in this event this year, so come on back. It starts on January 25, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, go have yourselves a happy and creative day!

Give It Away Give It Away Give It Away Now...

My friend Carol of Sand Fibers is about to achieve a major milestone. She's on the brink of having 1000 sales in her Etsy shop - woohoo!! She might even be there by the time you read this blog post.

To celebrate this event, she's having a major giveaway. Yep, a bona fide freebie! Well, almost free. You have to visit her blog and "do stuff" in order to participate. But hey, how can you possibly live without a Sand Fibers original? I love my Hugs & Kisses cuff! Without further ado, here is where you'll find Carol...

Go ahead, click on it! You know you want to... Get yourself over there and join in the celebration!

Assets and Tax Law and Whiskers On Kittens...

Now THERE'S a title for you, eh? I've been back in the world of high-tech, revisiting a subject area that I was intimately familiar with many years ago. In order to be most productive I've been doing research into what has been added to the tax laws since I left that product. But that's not why you're here...

Whiskers on kittens being among my favorite things - well actually, whiskers on puppies - I'll now get on with the "favorite things" part of my post. I haven't created the raindrops on roses, but since leaves are definitely up there on my list of favorite things, that's where I put the raindrops.

Here are pix of my latest leaf beads, which I just listed in my Etsy shop.

I'm also offering FREE SHIPPING on all of my beads and jewelry in my Jumping Jack Glass Etsy shop. How's that for a holiday treat?!

Tonight is the opening gala for the Holiday Show/Sale at the Olive Hyde Art Gallery in my home town. I have several items in the show, and I'm hoping that some of them will find new homes. I worked very hard putting everything together, so tonight I'm just going to enjoy munching, sipping, schmoozing, and admiring the work of all the participating artists. What fun!

But now, for me it's back to tax stuff and accounting. For you... go have yourselves a happy and creative day!

Last Day Before Delivery

Holy smokes - where did the time go? I was very happy to have had a 4-day Thanksgiving weekend to work on all the items that I will be delivering to the Olive Hyde Gallery for their annual holiday show/sale. But here it is, Monday, and I still have a ton of work to do before my scheduled delivery time tomorrow morning.

I finished embellishing 3 vessels, made another vessel and embellished it, and made a scarf. And made some beads, which I will turn into jewelry today. Then I must tag everything and pack it up to go. It wouldn't be all that bad, but I have to teach a class tonight from 6 - 10 p.m. so I can't work on it this evening. So I am going to cut my post a bit short today. But I will leave you with some pictures of the work I did over the weekend.

Here are details from the first side of the scarf.

And details from the other side. The wool fibers are on both sides of the silk chiffon.

And here are the embellished vessels. I really went over the top on the sunset vessel - I added my beads to both sides.

Sunset Vessel - Side "A"

Sunset Vessel - Side "B"

Sonoma Vessel - Side "A"

Sonoma Vessel - Side "B"

This next vessel is one that I created last year, but I didn't like the way that I had embellished it. I removed the embellishment, then redid it with a beadwoven collar.

And now I'm off to get a bite of lunch, then work work work! Have yourselves a happy and creative day!

Busy Weekend, Busy Week

I'm in crunch mode now, getting several creations ready to be placed in shows and galleries. This past weekend I spent Saturday making a few more vessels. Here's an in-progress picture of my wine country vessel. I have to embellish this one, but I haven't made the bead yet. It will be a small leaf bead (of course...), this vessel isn't large. It's going to the Olive Hyde Gallery in my home town of Fremont, CA for their annual holiday show/sale.

Here's the second vessel. I finished the beaded collar for it last night, I just have to sew it onto the vessel. I already have the leaf for this one. This one is for BAGI, and I'll be making another vessel for them. One will be for their annual glass auction and one will be going into the BAGI kiosk at the San Jose airport.

I need to finish these soon because they're going out to their respective temporary homes by December 1, and I really want to get professional pictures of them before they depart.

Speaking of BAGI, a few days ago we had our first "Super Sunday", and I was on hand for 2 back-to-back 4-hour torching sessions to answer any questions that came up during the sessions. These are sessions for any of my current and former BAGI students so that they can spend 4 hours of devoted torch time practicing any/all of the techniques that they've learned in my classes. It was nice to see all of these folks again, and wow - we sure had a full kiln! We'll be doing another Super Sunday on December 13, so if you've taken a class with me at BAGI and want to join us for 4 (or 8) hours of creativity, contact Chris at BAGI and let her know.

And now it's time for me to grab a quick bite of lunch, then get back to my tech job. "Making stuff" will have to wait until this evening.

Have yourselves a happy and creative day!

Glass Blowing Demo, Quilt Show, And Another Vessel

I've been busy in the wet lab lately, preparing for the upcoming holiday show/sale at Olive Hyde Art Gallery in Fremont, CA. Here's the latest vessel that I finished - I just put the collar and faceted lemon quartz on it the night before last. The collar is a spiral rope, and the vessel is also adorned with peridot chips.

I have three more vessels that are ready for embellishments - all I need is time, yep. But alas, tonight and tomorrow night I'm teaching bead making classes so my vessels will have to wait until Friday night.

Over the last two weekends I've hauled mom along with me to a couple of events - here are some pictures that I took.

The first event we attended was a glass blowing demo at BAGI, where I teach glass bead making classes. I had the pleasure of watching Marc Petrovic create a blown glass fish, with assistance from Treg Silkwood, who teaches glass blowing classes at BAGI. I was sitting a bit far from the action, so my pix aren't the best - but you'll get the idea.

When Marc initially blew the piece, the mouth end of the fish was attached to the blow pipe. After Marc shaped the tail, he attached a punty to the rear side of the fish and removed the fish from the blow pipe. In this picture, Treg is holding the punty steady while Marc shapes the mouth of the fish.

Here's Marc giving the fish a good heating with the torch.

After Marc has applied some fins, he uses the torch to heat the fish while he does more shaping.

And here, Marc is applying hot glass to make another fin, with assists from Treg and Jon Scally.

And now for something completely different...

The second event was the annual Pacific International Quilt Festival. I think that show gets bigger and bigger every year! We were there for 6 hours on Saturday and didn't get to see any of the wearable art or vendors. I was going to go back on Sunday, but there's just too much to do here in my "labs". I'm glad I didn't wait until Sunday to take pix of some of my faves. Unfortunately, I didn't get the artists' names who made them. Here are pix of my absolute favorites in the show. And go figure... most of them involve trees and/or leaves. :-)

These are definitely not your grandma's "just throw it on the bed" quilts...

And now I have to get ready to go teach my bead making class. It's a special topic class - we're going to be making hearts! I'll be bringing some of my own purple glass so I can donate purple hearts to the Beads of Courage program. Each child receives a purple heart bead at the end of his or her treatment.

Now go have yourselves a happy and creative day!