June 10, 2009

I'm excited that two of my classes are listed at the Gibson Gallery for July - Wire work bracelet is being offered on a Saturday, everything included to complete one bracelet...extra wire available for a second. And Knitting - the new yoga - two monday nights in July - some people say that it's becoming a lost art - but I see alot of young people taking it up, and there are so many new and fashionable things to be made - everyone should learn how to knit....We'll start with a scarf and see how it goes.

Picture posted of two bracelets I've made, showing techniques you will learn from the wire work class.

April 22, 2009

I've been in a rut, not knowing what kind of beads to make lately, but yesterday, I thought I'd give racu a try, and I really like the results. Now up on Etsy.

We've been taking Aila, our Belgian Terveran to a refresher course in basic training - and the trainer's site had a quote I think is worth repeating.....

"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his leader. He will be yours faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."

April 19 2009

Well, it certainly has been awhile since I've added anything to this blog. Probably because bead sales haven't been that great. I'm thinking it must be the economy - I still have good beads, don't I?? Faith was rekindled yesterday when a beautiful person came to my home, looked at my beads and bought a whole bunch full!! Needless to say, I was thrilled. Thanks - you know who you are.

On the dog front. Aila and I had another refresher course at our local dog training place. We did good. Let me tell you, it is scary to be in a yard with 18-20 other large dogs, all walking around in close quarter....and one dog decides he doesn't like the dog near him - lots of growling and snarling going on....we survived. That was during the first 15 minutes. Now, envision this - 8 dogs and masters facing 8 other dogs and masters....3 feet apart. Remember folk dancing in grade school when you and your partner had to go through a line of people - that's me with my dog - only we couldn't race through - we sat our dog, walked to the end of the leash, then called the dog, who would sit, then we would repeat. ...through a line of dogs and masters...and my dog doesn'e like other dogs. All went well. We survived - we did good. After a little more than an hour, Aila had had enough, and we were lucky enough to play - jumping over barrels, going over ladders, climbing up slides. She had fun, and was more than happy to go find Bruce and head to the truck.

Beading went well in the afternoon also. Maybe I'll get pictures tomorrow. I have some encased red and green, as well as some silvered glass flower type beads.

Feb 28 2009

And winter is still with us. I did manage to run outside once....and was going to try again today, but during our walk with the dogs, I changed my mind.....cold, damp, sharp wind is not what I enjoy running in. I'm looking forward to going to Florida next week.

There are some days when I shouldn't even bother to turn on the torch, and I think today was one of those days. The bead release didn't want to stay on the mandrel, the bead release broke off the mandrel and decided to become entrenched in the bead I was trying to make....There may be a couple of beads that worked - will see when then come out of the kiln. This is a bead I made last week - still dots - There are so many combinations one can try out.

Feb 16 2009

More dots - it was a dot week. well, not really dots, but flowers and distorted dots. I hope to work with some Boro tomorrow though. My first couple of attempts with this glass were nothing to brag about, but I think that I am starting to get the hang of it. Alot of the effect I want to achieve is by using a really oxidyzing flame or a reducing flame - something I need to practise. In the meantime, a picture of more "dots".

Winter is still with us, and I still haven't had a chance to run outside. There was one day when I thought I would - but the morning greeted us with 3 inches of new snow. Bruce found a road route today, though, that looks promising.

Feb 11 2009

Well, I did start writing a new blog, and the power kicked off for a moment....just enough to kill the computer......OK, where did I leave off...As you may well know, I like "dots", and this week, I have been making more of them, along with flowers. I've come up with a couple new complex designs that I'm happy with...pictures attached. I'm also working with different colors than I normally use. They may not be shown here, but look for them on either the etsy sight, or the artfire sight. I'm really happy with how the "berry" transparent is working for my flowers, and will always like "pea green" and "leaky pen" - a couple of my favorites. Check out the hearts. These were re-used from beads that I didn't like. I've re-heated them and formed them into hearts....If anyone tries this, PLEASE be careful. Even though these were re-heated on the top of my kiln, at my first attempt, I introduced them to the flame much too quickly, and I had big pieces of glass flying.....