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June 20, 2008
I'm still confused about today...
Its been a kinda weird day today...Part of it was great, part of it was disappointing...The great part- I got to sit and visit with Al Janelle at Bluemoon this afternoon, and watch him make (sorta) one of his awesome chicken beads...do you know who Al is? He was in the beadmaking world a while back, and after awhile he walked away from it to become one with the earth and tend to his wildlife garden...full of snakes, spiders and wild animals...his stories are cool...anyway, he's starting to get back into the bead world and I've never seen him making a bead before so it was a real treat..the 'sorta' part was his bead release gave way and even after many attempts to recover, it just seemed to go downhill...but, I got the gist of what he was doing...can I do it? no...I don't have the stamina or patience...it took him over 2 hours and he still wasn't finished...I've never made a bead that took over 30 min...I get a little wiggy with long-term beads...but his work is fantastic and I hope he makes more so i can buy one one day...soon...
The weird part happened earlier in the day...I was SO JAZZED to go to one of the two local clay shops in Austin...I was ready...buy buy buy...rah rah, I'm ready to buy clay and glazes and tools and find out about firing and just get INTO it...here I come! So, the first shop I go to - closed...what? Its lunchtime, and I guess there's only ONE person in the shop, and when its lunch, they just close...too bad, so sad...can't come in...great...so, with much traffic dodging, I jump back onto the road, and down the street to the next clay shop...they are open! hurray, that's positive...pretty pieces are all over the shelves, that's great...there are 3 people inside! Yea! They are attentive and realize I'm in the store...that's a good sign...and then it all goes wonky...I explain to the woman, who is walking and talking in what seemed like a daze, that I took a class in Milwaukee, have started to make beads, would like to buy some clay, glazes, tools, etc....She slowly wanders to the clay, saying she only has red clay in stock, and I said that was fine with me...its .50 a lb, she says, great, I say...I say AGAIN that I'm looking for glazes, and she asks me if I'm from around here, or if I just moved here...um, I guess the Milwaukee comment has stuck in her brain, apparently we are about 10 minutes behind in the conversation...No, I'm from around here...she weighs the clay and slowly hands it off to a co worker who had been on the phone...she mentions they might be able to fire the clay for me, but they don't really ever do beads, and maybe there is some wire I could use, but they don't know...all this is said in soft, slow, airy words...ok ok, but I want GLAZES!! That never seems to make it thru her brain, its never addressed, answered, referred to or mentioned, even tho I've said it now 3 times...they tell me its 3.25 for the clay, I pay, they say 'thanks' and I leave...wow...Here I am, n00b to the max, ready to jump in, sign up, buy goods, take classes, the whole thing, and all they can manage to do is sell me $3.25 worth of clay...did no one LISTEN to me? apparently not...and as such, I will be forced to order my supplies over the internet and pretty much continue with what I learned at B&B and ask questions of my teacher via email and do what I can...I prefer to 'shop local' - to keep local shops in business...I didn't HAVE to visit these places, I coulda just ordered the stuff and left them alone..instead, I made trips to both shops and didn't get much more than a nod back...ok...so be it...
I've received my clay beads from my B&B class, I'm planning on taking pics and posting all bout my B&B experience on Sunday...there's lots of pics to take and lots of things to say...don't worry, you won't miss anything, it'll be posted a long time (my other trips are still posted on my Links page, in fact)...
Its time for some dinner and to chill out and reflect...and do something fun tonight...we'll see what happens...
Posted by Donner at June 20, 2008 04:45 PM
Comments
Hey Donna,
Al Janelle rocks!! His beads are amazing, but yeah, more than 2 hours??.... I used to read his stuff on the ISGB site.
So, was one of your clay shops Armadillo? We've been doing more clay things at my craft store and I'm looking for a 'local' source. There's apparently a ceramics place near me - in Marion. I am diggin' the clay myself! HAHA - not physically 'digging'... tee hee.
Can't wait to read / see more about B&B - And dang, since you were such a good girl, we don't get to benefit from your overspending this year! HA!!
Take care,
dana
Posted by: dana at June 20, 2008 07:14 PM