July 25 2008

Well, it certainly has been awhile since I have updated this blog. I'm still here - Still enjoying "retirement", and most importantly, still torching. I have upgraded to a Mega Minor torch, with an oxygen concentrator, and let me tell you, "it is GREAT". No more burnt glass...no more funny colors. No more waiting forever for the glass to melt. I am also having some luck with the reactive glasses.

Here's a picture of the beads I have listed on ETSY tonight. Tomorrow I will list more, and then, on July 30, I am off to Florida for a couple of days. Ya, sure, who goes to Florida in July!!! My excuse is that I have family there. The beads will continue to be up on my sight, but just to let you know, any sold between July 30 and Aug 4 will go in the mail Aug 5.

July 1 2008

Happy July 1st to all Canadians.

Aren't these necklace's awsome! Designed by Patricia Weppler and incorporating my focal beads. Please visit her blog at http://patriciawepplersjewelry.blogspot.com/ She tells me she is getting ready for a show she is doing this coming September. Should you be in the Glen Falls, NY area this September, see her at the Colors of Fall Art Festival.

I often wonder what becomes of the beads I create. Thanks Patricia, for showing off your stunning work! Glad I could be part of it.

June 28 2008

Sparticles

I have a hard time with naming my beads. My daughter helped me come up with this name though. I took a private lesson with Corina Tettinger this summer, and as part of her lesson, she showed me how she makes Quarks. Having a daughter who is a physics engineer, and having learned about quarks previously from her, the name immediately intrigued me, as did Corina's beads. I came home from Corina's lesson, and practiced, and practiced, and did some more practicing….and have come up with the following beads.

Now to name them…I can't name them quarks – that name has been taken. I went to my daughter for help. There are lots of physics names out there, but none had the ring to them that "sparticles" had.

Sparticles. There is a supersymmetry theory out there that says for every particle we know of, there is a sister particle that has yet to be discovered. For example, the superpartner of the electron is the selectron, the partner of a quark is a squark. The whole group of these supersymmetric particles are called sparticles for short. Sparticles have not existed naturally since the "big bang"

At CERN, Geneva Switzerland, the world’s largest particle physical laboratory, where my daughter happened to work for a summer, there is a really big Hadron Collider, where they are trying to smash protons up by having them run into each other at a very very fast speed. When they collide, they will unleash energies similar to those found during the Big Bang. That's when scientists hope to see supersymmetric particles or sparticles.

Till scientists can give us a picture of real sparticles, wouldn't it be neat if they looked something like this series of beads?

June 25, 2008

What a perfect day for beadmaking today - and what neat beads came out of the kiln. After hmmming and hmmming this morning, Aila (our faithful dog) and I went for a short run, and then spent about 2 hours at the torch. I have been practising encasing murrini, and finally, today, the results are worth showing. It's just the pictures I have to work on. There is so much reflection and gleam coming off these beads, I am having a hard time getting a picture that replicates their clarity...will post what I have for now, and see if I can improve on the photography later.

June 22 2008

What a beautiful day today- sunny and warm, but not too warm. We started the day with a short 3.5 mile easy run. I wonder if there are any other lampworkers/jewlery designers who run? Anyone signed up for the Marine Corp Marathon? Let me know! The dogs certainly enjoy these runs, although the older dog runs about 1 mile and then goes home for a rest in front of her fan. The younger dog could run all day if we let her. After some weed pulling (and there are lots of weeds), it was torch time. Not a very good day today - I did finish one set of beads, but spent the better part of my torch time practising "stringer control". I took a lesson with none other than Corina Tettinger while out west, and am trying to undo some bad habits I have acquired, as well as learning some of the ideas she showed me. She is really an awsome teacher as well as lampworker. I'd recommend workshops with her anytime.

June 20 2008

It's been awhile since I've added an entry to this. We've "retired" from our full time jobs, and are adjusting to "retired" life. So far, it been very hectic. We've traveled from Detroit Michigan to Vancouver, BC to visit our son, and are settling into a new life style. Today, I have also started training for the Marine Corp Marathon that well be held in October. This is the first marthon that I have entered - with my daughter. My sister in lay, as well as my niece and her husband have also entered. Today's run - 8.9 miles was pretty good. I was tired after 5 miles, but managed to finish feeling OK. Torch time went well. I have been experimenting with some reactive glass and like the results. Now on ETSY, a set of turquoise and white, as well as red and white.

Thursday May 22, 2008

It's been awhile since I have updated this - time flies - I retired from my daytime job, ran a half marathon with my daughter in Virginia, and am now getting ready to drive cross country to visit our son.

Before I left my day job, I gave everyone there a bead pendant/key chain to "remember" me by. The next day, one girl told me the story of how her eight year old daughter drooled over her bead, just itching to have her mother give it to her, which didn't happen. Well, I brought her daughter some of my orphan and extra beads - this is a picture of the thankyou card she wrote in return. It's a card that I will keep.