Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Step Two Challenge

I have been making glass beads like crazy. As many years as I have been doing this, it still amazes me that when I absolutely must have exactly 'this' bead, I can't make it work. In the perfect world, I would 1) make a list of what I want at the next show 2) sit down and make the glass 3) marry with the stones/pearls/whatever/ and make jewelry. It is step 2 that doesn't always go as planned. Sometimes, I get great new glass designs because what I was trying to do didn't work out as planned, thus, a "happy accident". Lots of times, I just get mediocre glass.
I have been trying new kinds of glass in an effort to elimate a major problem ( as I see it ) in one of my heart designs. So far, no luck. No happy accidents either.
I'm going to check the kiln and see what I got this morning. I am leaving on Friday morning for Kings Mt., so my fingers are crossed.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

New Macha Chain Dangle

This new dangle was inspired by Emily Harris, pictured below ( (Fun) Woman of the Year in Technology 2008.)Three beads dangle from a sterling loop that slips on your Macha Chain. I am also doing these in colored beads as well as the crusty black and whites, and on snake chains in different lengths. Some of the earrings to match are assymetrical as well.
The head I used here for the photo is very small, but you can guess the proportions if you own one of the machas.
I have a kiln-loaded waiting for me! Hope I get some good ones!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Kings Mountain Art Fair Labor Day Weekend

I havn't posted for a while since I am working madly for Kings Mountain. This show is in Woodside, along Skyline Dr. south of 95. It is the most beautiful setting in the redwoods! It is a benefit for the fire department there, and it has a long history. It is a very successful show, which you can see from the incredibly nice fire house built there with the funds raised over the many years of the show.
If I get any good photos before the show I will post them. I have lots of glass in the kiln -I need to go check!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Lake Tahoe -Homewood Ski Resort This Weekend

I will be at Lake Tahoe this weekend, at the Homewood Ski Resort, Friday Saturday and Sunday August 15, 16 & 17. Homewood is on the Western shore of Lake Tahoe, on Hwy 89. Homewood is about in the middle, between Tahoe City and South Lake Tahoe.
I won't have a "mail list" special, so I must apologize ahead of time.
Hope you can make it!!!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Is it just me?

Is it just me, or does it also seem to you that nothing is moving right now. People are slow to return calls, things that normally happen instantaneously are, well, not happening at all. I am slow. I mean, slower than normal.

A lot of people are on vacation right now, so perhaps that is part of this energy. If I don't hear from someone, I just assume they are on vacation. This is one very good thing about making jewelry for a living. It isn't like a heart by-pass, something that has to happen right now or look out. A necklace, while perhaps desired for a special event on a certain day, most of the time can happen at it's own pace.

Now the house we are currently in escrow with, certainly has it's own pace and time reality. I remember the show we did in June just after we made the bid. That show is so far in the past!! How many shows since then, and how many pieces of jewelry I have made since then. But the house is still in escrow. Perhaps this is where my feeling of S>>L>>>O>>>W>>> is coming from. I wonder if it is setting a world record for the longest escrow ever.

I am looking forward to the new house, but I am also very excited about the possible return of the focus I have lost while waiting for this house. Not that I was a champion of focus pre-house,
but I have set a personal record lately for total confusion and lack of direction. My mind is stuck.

Enough of this. I need to go make stuff!!! I will use my hands, and not my mind. Could be interesting!

Saturday, August 2, 2008

August Already!

I just can't believe it is August already. I am busy making glass to catch up with the time I lost in July due to smoke and heat. Yesterday, I used both kilns in a way I never had.....I thought I would blow a fuse, but it worked OK. So my production will go a little faster.

There is a BIG Art Glass conference in Oakland next weekend, and I am hoping I can go for a day or two. It is a yearly event, and the locations are across the country, east coast one year, and this is the year for the west coast. Of course, for me, the timing couldn't be worse. We may be moving to a new house ( escrow is taking forever) and then we need to move two studios, and the house. THEN be ready to do some shows. Whew. Better get to work!

About Me

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Calaveras County, California, United States
I love the stones and pearls, and the magic that happens when I combine them, and then again combined with the glass I make. You can find me at an Art show somewhere in Northern California most weekends during the spring and summer. Email me at FUNGIRLSJEWELRY@Gmail.com if you like.