yep, I was up till 1:00am making beads, then the cats insisted on climbing under the covers, so I finally got to sleep around 2:00am. I'm kinda sleepy today acutally...I hope I don't burn or cut myself any worse than I usually do during a day full of torching...i'm still healing from a nasty blister on my thumb during Corina's class...it's alway something...
I get a lot of inspiration for my color schemes from the rods of glass that are sitting on my desk...the Evergreen set is just such a set - the rods were near each other and I thought they looked good together, so I made a small set and like the subtle greens and greys - like a misty mountain side. I should have named it 'Green Destiny' like the sword in Crouching Tiger...
Its 3:30 and I have exactly 1 bead in the kiln today...argh! i've been cleaning beads for orders, taking pics, mailing stuff and I don't even know what else..oh, answering email...its time to get to the torch! good thing I increased my kiln time on the controller to 14 hours, so at least it'll be on till 1:00am tonight and I probably will be there till it shuts off...
New small set, I'm thinking of making a larger set in this color scheme too...what do you think? too much purple? Its called "West Elm" due to the catalog that arrived at my house and the very groovy monochromatic color schemes they have. I kept seeing the grape, black and white and thought "i need to make a set of beads in those colors!". There are some great color combos and texture inspirations in this catalog, if you're in need of a pick me up...
I love the PBS show "Victory Garden" because they show the most fabulous gardens and I don't have to do any of the hard work to enjoy them. This is my version of a garden, named for the show...
Yesterday's class was super, everyone had a great time and the techniques were fun to teach. Nothing hard or overhwelming. I look forward to teaching it again, we haven't booked it on the calendar, but I hope to do that very soon. I'll post the date when it's done.
Corina is coming back to Austin in October and she's asked me to be her Teacher's Assistant! I'm really excited about that. It would mostly be making base beads, pulling stringer, getting any supplies she needs, etc so she can work on the 'good stuff'. She asked ME to do it, I didn't even suggest the idea...I just told her maybe we could take her out next time and hang out. I realize Oct is a while from now, but I hope it comes to be.
Yeah! January 25! You know what that means...Metallica Class!! I'm teaching the Metallica class from 12-5 today, so the beads that came out of the kiln this morning won't get cleaned and processed until Iget home. And if there's no sunshine for a pic, they'll have to wait till tomorrow...but they are pretty fun, I can tell you that much!
New special on it's way, just haveta clean it and take pics of it in the rain...stay tuned...
ooo...Its a rainy messy day here, not all that cold but dank and dreary. Perfect day to spend 12 hours in the studio. Last night I pulled all the rods for the set I want to make, pulled most of the stringer and cane and am nearly ready to go...lets hope I can make a round bead today...
Brian is in his first woodworking class today, and he's so excited. Its about 2.5 hours N of here in a little commune kinda place where they call each other "Brother Joe" and "Brother Steve". Its called Homestead Heritage and we visited there a few weeks back and really liked their handiwork. I'm psyched about taking a blacksmithing class...everything there is about making it yourself -food, clothing, furniture, pottery. Really speaks to the Amish in me. I bought a book on how to make my own cheese, but haven't done it yet. I will, one day...
New set just cleaned, have to get some pics and i'll post them here shortly..
I recently signed up for Stamps.com after seeing so many WC folks using it and after getting so tired of waiting in line nearly every day to ship packages. Its a mixed blessing - if I weren't in line, it means I'm not selling, but I knew there had to be a better way to ship stuff than making a trek to the PO every day. I even considered buying a scooter to make the trips to the PO, since its only about 2 miles away and I hated running the car for that short distance. But Stamps.com has been a super idea and I'm glad I did it. Course it sat on my desktop for a week before I had the guts to actually print anything with it, and I'm still learning my way around it - i've only been printing shipping labels so far - not using their stickers or stamps yet (course, you have to buy their stickers whereas I can print labels using my plain printer paper). I like that it has Delivery Confirmation already built into it and now it even offers Insurance - whereas you had to go directly to the PO to insure anything in the past, I can do it now online. I spoke to the postman yesterday and told him I'd be putting my packages in a cooler on our front porch, hidden behind our bushes and we figured out a code so he knows if there's anything in there to take or not. Our little mailbox attached to the front of our little houe would never hold everything and I don't want my neighbors to see I have packages ready to be picked up. I like things that make my life easier...isn't the internet groovy...?
I feel that I should clarify my decision to pull the Toffee Hearts auction. I don't normally pull auctions once listed - in fact this is the first time I've ever done so. I'm still fairly new on eBay and am working my way around it. I don't expect everything I post to sell, in fact I've had sets go unsold, so I realize not every set suits everyone out there. My concern with this set was that after 70 views and 24 hours of being available, no one had bid on it. Even at the starting rate of 49.99, which I think is pretty reasonable for that set. So, I concluded, perhaps incorrectly that folks were not interested in it. I also made the mistake of seeing another beadmakers auctions who posted 3 at the same time Toffee went up. Her's were listed at 45.99 or so, and all 3 had bids within minutes of being listed. So again, I figured folks were not interested in this set, right or wrong. I try not to view other people's auctions too much because I don't want to be influenced by their colors, style or anything else - i want my beads to reflect me and what I like. Forgive me for being impatient, impulsive or wrong. I'm still learning, still figuring out what people expect from me, what they want from me. While I've been making beads for me and selling locally for awhile, most people haven't gotten to know me on eBay yet, so we are still trying to figure out each other. I DO appreciate everyone who has written saying they are bummed that I pulled the auction - so what I've done is create a NEW set in different colors (pictured at left) and that will be listed on Friday as a Featured Auction and I'm running it for 10 days as advertising - so folks will see the set for awhile and get to find out who I am. I'm also offering the set of lentils FREE to the winner, as a way to say 'thanks' for bidding and supporting me. Please email me with feedback if you have a thought about this. I don't plan to pull auctions int he future unless something catastrophic happens, like I drop and bust the set into a zillion bits. Thanks for understanding and bearing with me as I snowboard down the eBay mountain and hit a few mogals along the way...bump bump bump...
I decided to cancel the Toffee Hearts auction - it sat for 24 hours with no bids, so I figured it wasn't something anyone was interested in right now. I'll post some new things tomorrow, though...
A request from a customer to see the layouts that I do at my shows (what few of them I do) spurred me to put up this Shows page...no captions yet, just simple pics of my stuff...
Taxes went well, was finished with them in a couple of hours. Thank goodness I didn't sell to that many folks in Texas, so I didn't have to pay a whole lot - there's nothing like writing huge checks to the tax man...(or woman in our case).
Two new sets going on eBay tonight...check back around 9:00pm EST for their debut...
I received my first 'snipe' on an auction last night and I was tickled that someone would go to the trouble of setting up a snipe bid on one of my sets. If you don't know, a 'snipe' is when someone submits a bid in the last few seconds of an auction (6 seconds in this case) to ensure they will win the auction regardless of how much they have to pay in order to win it. So my $56.00 set that sat for 3 days at that price went to $100.99 in the last minute of the auction. Thanks to all who bid on the set, I hope to have more sets in those colors down the road...
Today is definitely Sales Tax day. Its due tomorrow and although I don't have a lot of sales from Texas, I still need to take a couple of hours to process this. So, I may or may not have something new to offer later today. Most of what I made yesterday were for Frit testing, or practicing new techniques from Corina's class, so check back later today (the kiln is still too warm to open)...
Just a quick note - no mail on Monday Jan 19 for MLK day. All bead orders and recently won auctions will be mailed Tues Jan 20th.
We're back from the retreat, and we had fun - not that we had much time there. It rained on the way down, traffic was really slow, then we hit a restaurant for dinner, then the grocery for sodas/ice for the cooler. The retreat started at 5:00, we got there at 7:30..stayed till 10:30 and went to the hotel..checked in and played around w/ stringing beads...then one of our roomies got sick in the night and was heaving in the bathroom - which was interesting, I realized Ihadn't heard that sound in a very long time...Got back to sleep, woke up at 10:30am on Sat - breakfast had been served at 8:30 at the retreat...got there around noon, just in time for lunch. Made a frog on the torch and then we took off around 3:00 (retreat was over at 6:00). So, for the most part, we weren't even there..But we had fun all together and laughed the whole time. Heard some interesting stories, learned some neat techniques and bought some cool shoes. All in all, a good day for shopping. Oh, Ibought some CZ's to play with, we'll see if I like how they work into my beads...it will be interesting to say the least - if I don't break them all first. I've heard they can be tricky to work with, and that they can crack, or the bead around them can crack. Kim Miles makes great flower beads w/ them as the centers, they'd also make nice stars in a nighttime sky...I hope I have success with one or two...
for everyone who bought stuff from me in the past 2 days or so, I've addressed all the labels, and will be mailing your packages out Monday or Tuesday. I'm working on my sales tax this weekend - its due Tuesday, and I hope to have them done soon, but if things get ugly it might take an extra day to sort them out. But never worry, all the beads will be ready to go and you'll have them by the end of the week!
<--my class comes up next Sunday - i'm really looking forward to it!
I have a ton of beads ready to go, that's what I'll be working on this morning- getting them up on eBay for you...
I'm heading out of town for the weekend - the Central Texas Bead Retreat for a bunch of us lampworkers. I haven't decided if I'm taking my laptop or not - I'm not sure how much time I'll have to update so if you don't hear from me, that's why...
it's raining here, which is good we need it. But it does disrupt my picture taking quality - since I do it all outdoors on my deck. So the pics I have are of wet beads and are darker than average - it made the beads stand out to darken the background. I think they look kinda cool, but that remains to be seen - you might hate them. I still think it's better than regular indoor lighting, tho - that stuff is all purpley and yellow...lemme know what you think...!
New lentil set will be coming up soon - have to get some pics of it. I have to stop running to the post office, its making me nuts. I think I need to figure out how to do this shipping business online...argh!
Ok, you can stop envying me now - my Corina class is over and I'm back in the land of reality. Class was great, lots of beads and pics, but half of them are still at the studio and I'm going to get them this morning. The days were long and I'm catching up yet again. I thought only out of town classes made me fall behind, but even the ones in your own back yard cause you to lose track of days and have to get back into the swing of things. Its like you're in a little bubble- you don't know what's going on in the 'real' world and you don't get anything done during those days except make beads. But it was of course a blast and we laughed through the whole thing. I think we teased Corina endlessly, and she stood up for herself against this pack of Texas Crazy Women. At one point she poured water down my back to get me back for something I said in class. I think all of us were the focus of attention and getting in trouble at one time or another. But I guess we didn't scare her off too badly - she's coming back in October!
I need to overhaul my eBay, get some new sets up and get things rolling again. Stay tuned...
I'm in class all day today (with Corina - envy me) and I don't know when I'll be back...i'm taking my camera and hopefully will have some shots (I'm not big on taking pics during class, I take notes instead) for you here.
We are underway with a total studio redesign. If you've seen my Studio pics, you have an idea of the space I've been working in - I really like it, everything in it's own little spot within easy reach. Well, I've also been having friends over to torch with me, and from that design, we've decided to take it a step further.
This is the original layout of the multi-torch space. Notice how Jar-Jar wasn't able to participate, but only observe...and not even observe properly because his hat was covering his freakish eyes...
new photos of workspace are coming...
Alrighty, the eBay page has been updated - new auctions are posted...these guys are small sets that won't break the bank.
Pulled LOTS of new beads from the kiln, but they need to be cleaned - look for them later today...
Will be working on more Valentine style sets today - if you're still in the mood for hearts. And frankly who isn't, am I right?
I'm so excited - I just had my first Buy It Now (BIN) sale on eBay and it happened in only 90 minutes. I still have the set listed on my eBay page, if you want to see it, since it wasn't up for long - and I like ya'll to see the different styles of beads that I make, so feel free to take a peek at it - but know that it's merrily skipping through the postal system on it's way to its new owner.
I turned the kiln on yesterday, but between packaging up previous eBay wins and orders, running errands, taking pictures, creating webpages, posting auctions and moving part of my studio around, I never made it back to the kiln. So...*today* is torch day. All the orders are caught up (well, new ones just came in, so I'll be working on those) and finishing some new goodies that I started two days ago...
I'm really tickled at how these Newberry English Rose beads turned out - a customer, Jan Newberry from the UK, spotted a couple of beads on my Frit Testing page and asked for more. I was happy to oblige and delighted with the results, so I had to name them after her. Now *she's* happy, so much so that she's asking for more more more...
-updated Jan 7 2004-
Ok, I'm updated and here's whats new:
New rings
New sample beads on Frit page
eBay will have new offerings
Yesterday was 'Fab 4' day - where the 4 of us who are torch buddies get together at my house and all make beads and goof off. I have a couple of sets made from yesterday, but they aren't cleaned yet...will post them soon.
a cold front blew thru, so its 35 out and feels like winter again. it was 78 yesterday and we almost turn the A/C on. in January. no no no..
Thanks to all who've bid on my auctions and placed orders with me - I'm busily putting those together for you...
somethig that I've failed to mention, and now its almost here - Corina is coming to Austin this weekend and we are all taking a class from her at BlueMoon. There's a reception on Saturday evening, we'll get pictures and autographs posted here for ya...
Wet Canvas has a monthly challenge - a set of colors is chosen and you make beads using those colors. This month's colors are Red, White, Black and EDP (purple). At first I thought "ugh", because I'd never put them together - but WOW, I really like the results. So much so, that I posted the set on eBay - look for it to come up tonight and run for 5 days. The Black Gold Heart set is also coming up on eBay tonight - I really like that set too, its all about shiny for me...
Frit testing prevails - I just received a new shipment from Arrow Springs and can't wait to get to it today. All redux frit, so many metallics will be working their way from my torch today.
Its rainy and warm here today, not a bad combination actually...I've got a set of Valentine beads waiting to be cleaned, and then I'll post them here for you. I don't work in red and white for Valentine's, I guess I'm unconventional that way...
More frit testing has taken place, I've been working with the Cherry Red some more and have beads to be cleaned there too. And I've been making new frit beads with the samplers from Val. Its been a busy day in the kiln, time to get some of it up here for you to see!
FRITS! I've been testing new frits for Valerie Cox - she of the Glasspoet website, who supplies wonderful, magical frit. I've created a page devoted entirely to my testing, you can visit it here: Frits
We are off to have some breakfast, but I have more beads to post, so check back later today...
New star beads in the Gallery.
I've been making more of these focal bicones with reduction stringer decorations, pictured is a Cranberry one with the same blue stringer as Galadriel - only I played around in the flame and kept it darker and more 'blue'. Its also a little shorter and fatter than the other one, but I like the color combo.