Check out the NEW RINGS PAGE!
This will be a permanent addition to the website and you can buy rings anytime you like. I will still have some posted on eBay and new ones will appear on the site (I'm working on a really cool design right now, in fact), so keep checking for the rings you can't live without!!
I have completed part of a special order, and posted it for you to view. Am working on orders this week, and trying to unload/unpack/put away from the past 3 weeks...finally! the studio is looking more like it should - things are put away, and not strewn all over tarnation. I hate it when stuff is out of place, it makes me crazy. I can see the tops of desks, tables and counters again! and I am happy!!
Finally ordered the CBS from Corina. I doubt I'll get it by next week, so it'll be a fun tool to play with when I get back from NY. Something to look forward to...I've been waiting *forever* like so many folks have...On a brighter note, I was just made an 'official tester' for Val Cox's frit assortments, which means I'll be having some really cool frits and glass sent to me and I'll be making beads and sending the pics back to Val for her website. I'm really looking forward to that. I have some of her larger chunked frit that I use to pull stringer and decorate beads, so this will be very useful for me.
New eBay auctions coming online today thru this week and even some coming online while I'm out of town. That scheduler that eBay has is fabulous, isn't it?
I will be gone (again) on Dec 3-10. I will have auctions coming online, and will be able to check email, but I won't be able to ship anything until Dec 11. Still, that is PLENTY of time to get you your winning beads before the holidays. So don't fret. Santa won't let you down.
I just bought a new space heater at Target - and can't figure out how to keep it running for longer than 30 seconds. Why are all the 'simple' machines hard for me, but I can master a complex digital camera with no trouble? I'm freezing while I type this, I'm not sure my toes haven't snapped off and are bouncing around in my shoes. Good thing it doesn't stay cold here very long! (it'll be 70 by tomorrow, thank god).
Now that all the major shows are overwith, I can get back to business. I'm in the midst of completing orders and working on new sets for eBay. Keep your eyes peeled, and your emails read, cause I'll be emailing you letting you know when your order is done.
A cold front has blown thru, its 47 outside, and since it was just 80 the other day, that's rightly chilly for us. Pulling out the jeans and long sleeve shirts. It'll be in the 60's this week, pretty nice for Thanksgiving dinner and football. Go Horns!
I'm ready to move my LAN phone number over to my cell number, as soon as the companies have worked out all the glitches. I'm afraid to do it today, with my luck they wouldn't get it done properly and I'd be without service till next week. We leave for NY next Wed, so I think I'll wait till I get back. I'm SO ready to get rid of my cell number - I keep getting calls for a lady who's number is one digit off from mine - drives me crazy. 'No, Karen isn't here, you have the wrong number. Her number is...'
I've been filling in the gaps for my next show tomorrow, replacing beads that I've sold out of and working on custom orders - so nothing exciting and 'new' has come from my torch yet. I haven't even had a chance to practice my newfound techniques from Loren's class or post some pics from it either.
I've sent the eBay auction wins out yesterday, so you should be seeing them one day next week. A few of yours i'm still holding onto, if you've asked me to. Otherwise, I'm all caught up there.
If you've sent me an email about a ring, I'm working on those starting Monday. (once the show sched has quieted down). I need to go back thru my emails from everyone and make sure I know what you've asked for, so please bear with me.
the Austin Bead Show was this past weekend. Brian and some friends ran the booth while I was slaving away in Loren's class. Here's a pic of the booth - they set it up better than I could have!!
Hurray! I'm back home and getting caught up on emails and unpacking. If you've won an auction and you haven't heard from me - I'm sending your beads today! That's my first task for the morning.
I had a complete BLAST at Loren's class, I can't WAIT to take another one, although he says Class II is more of the same, only harder! I think I need to practice making some murini and handling large quantities of glass before I sign up. Plus he mostly holds Class II at his studio, so I'd have to get to California to take it. We were pretty lucky here in TX to have him, he told us he mostly teaches at his studio, and at Corning or other 'class room' environments.
Ok, its time for me to get moving, I'll be back and post later. I need to get some eBay offerings going as well. Plus make beads for the upcoming show...never enough time!!
what day is it? Oh, Saturday that's right. It's 2:14am and I'm just now updating the site. another 1:30am night for us...but we're ahead of schedule and we've told him we consider this class his 'best ever'. Loren agrees.
The neighborhood cattle came by to visit and we all ran out and fed them. Loren picked out a cute one and we decided he would be dinner tomorrow - but that's not very nice. They are all really sweet little cows with big eyes and soft ears. Like enormous lap dogs.
I made my first sig cane - a 'DM' shaded in blue that I'll be using till I bother to make another. I would like to make an '04' cane to go with it for next year. Kinda late to be making 03 canes, huh...
The Austin bead show is going GREAT GUNS! Brian gave me a report and he's having a really fun time there. Thanks to everyone who's visited or plans to go tomorrow, he's enjoying hearing the comments from you and it's really pumping up his enthusiasm. He's starting to see that my beads aren't just little glass trinkets, but actually things people would enjoy owning...I appreciate your support of course.
See you tomorrow...!
the first day of my Loren Stump class and its definitely all it's cracked up to be - started at 10:00am this morning and it's now 1:40am and we are just now getting home...I"m sure tomorrow we will be even more fried, but we are learning tons and we have a guest - Uncle Al Janelle is here from Austin hanging out today and tomorrow..he and Loren and Angi (the host) are good beading friends and its been a real hoot having everyone there. plus our class is small - only 6 of us, and 4 of us know each other, so it's practically a bunch of friends all getting together and just hanging out, making murini and having fun.
Today we made eyeballs, noses (two different styles) and a cat murini (silhoutte). We've all decided that murini is NOT for us - ours have been snapping, cracking, breaking and otherwise blowing up. We aren't enjoying the process, but we are learning a lot and enjoying the class (if that makes sense) so it's worthwhile. Tomorrow, we make lips for our faces, letter murini and then put the face together, along with our 'sig' canes. should be fun...(?) Later on we'll learn flowers and make a paperweight that simply glows with clear glass. Learned some new and interesting things about clear glass that I will HAVE to put into action when I get back home.
thanks for the emails while I'm gone, I'm answering them when I get back from class, so please be patient with me while I'm gone. And if you're in Austin this weekend, visit the Bead Show at Murchison (link is at far left with directions) and don't hesitate to buy some beads at my booth if you can stand to. I wish I were there, but this was a class I could not pass up!!
Wanted to show the ring tree display that I'll be using at the upcoming shows. I'm really tickled at the way this turned out. Thank goodness I have a few rings to fill it with too. 2 of which are 'mine', one just came back (didn't fit) and the others were in auctions that didn't sell.
on Monday, Mick and I were playing around w/ silver and rubino and came up with the sets shown here:
I call them my 'Christmas' sets because they look like old Victorian Christmas colors to me. Yep, they are tagged and going to the shows...unless you *have* to have a set before I leave and email me telling me so...
Finally, I am very happy to be the recipient of a Random Act of Glass Kindness from a WC member. These were in my mailbox today:
Thank you Nic Valentine for the fantastic blue striped beads. I'm going to wear them with me in Houston, to keep the positive kharma you sent...
I've been busily pricing, stringing, and setting up my display area. Only a little more left to do, then it's on to the packing portion. Still have to get to the bank for some small bills, and Home Depot, so I'm about 50% done at this point. I've also been answering your emails as quickly as I can, thanks for asking about the rings and such...
I'll take pics of the setup once we are in Houston. I hope the table really is 8' long as they say in the booth appplication form - that will be perfect for all the stuff I have to display. if it's smaller, I'm going to have to squish like mad...
Is it Friday yet?? yikes!! (can you tell I'm stressing? I know I'm going to forget to pack something or will forget to bring something...ack..)
Things are slowing down for me at the torch, while picking up for me in the show dept. We leave for Houston on Fri morning, I have to be packed, labeled, priced and ready to do business before then- so I'm taking Tues and Wed to gather my stuff together, with Thursday my 'last minute crisis' day where I'll run around town finishing last minute tasks I forgot to do...Tomorrow will be my last day at the torch for about 2 weeks - right after the Houston show, I leave for Stephenville for the Loren Stump class...I won't be back home for some proper torching until about Nov 19. Hope ya'll can hang out that long - sorry to leave you in the lurch, but if you're in Houston, come out and see me at the booth! And if you are in Austin on Nov 23, I'll be at the BlueMoon show, come see me there too..(Brian will be manning the Austin show for me along w/ some friends - you can stop by and see them too!).
Feel free to email me w/ requests, especially for rings - I expect to have my various sized mandrels in one day this week and will be able to jump onto them when I return. I made one on my largest mandrel - it turned out to be a size 16...gigantic! but we thought maybe you could use it as a scarf ring or something, so all is not lost. Haven't had time to snap pics of them all, but I will...
damp, humid and rainy - today is the perfect day to stay in and torch. And as it happens, there are a plethora of folks coming over to do just that. The back room is setup and ready to rock, the kilns are plugged and we're ready to burn.
Made a new set yesterday, "Chocolat" in honor of the movie (that I haven't seen yet..eek). I made a floral focal for it, but didn't like the way the colors turned out once encased, so I used the ivory/sage focal instead and like it. I'm also diggin' the pixie dust spacers for this one - a little experiment that I think came out pretty nice. I just need to make more of them..but they add just the right amount of sheen to the set.
Well, I'm off to torch w/ the gang...back later...
Surprise! It was time to change the color scheme - so this is what we'll be for the winter months...I think of it as "hot chocolate" colors (even the white text looks like marshmallows!). Well, ok, so I'm being goofy...but I thought we needed a break from those Halloween colors - we'll bring them back next year, how's that?
managed to get about a half a set worth of beads completed yesterday, but with having to round up the cats, finish the outdoor decorating and manning the door my torch time was cut down. But I'm back at it today, to finish that set and make some more rings... (and finish updating the colors on this site! that's no small task..!)
Boo! bet you didn't expect that, huh...
More new stuff - Charade came together yesterday after my bead-blockage the day before. and the Rings are new - I am fond of both of them, but partial to the black one..probably because of the shiny gold dots on it. I'm all about shiny things... My mandrels for new ring sizes are *on their way* and hopefully will be here one day next week. Granted, i leave for the Houston Bead show next Fri, and have to be packed and labeled before then, so no telling if I'll get any made by that show...alas, I'll do my best. I can only make 1 ring per mandrel per day too...I mean, i could *try* to make more than 1 on a mandrel (I do that fine w/ spacers) but big honkin' rings might not be so smart...then again, stranger things have happened...I'll give it a shot and see if I can get more than 1 made at a time...
I have the candy in the cauldron ready to be given out. the lights are lit and I have a few last minute things to put outside for the kids. Brian will be working till 8:00pm so he will miss some of it...I'm ready...bring on the kids!