Playing Catch Up

I had planned on getting on the torch today, but the morning is already half gone and I still need to dip mandrels.  So the game plan for today is being revised.  Instead, I am spending time cleaning and straightening up the house so everything is done & set for the week.  Tomorrow will be a full day on the torch with very few breaks.

This weekend went quickly, but I enjoyed the time with my kids.  I took the boy child to a surprise birthday for a friend and we got to race in a go-kart together (poor boy child inherited his momma's midget genes and had legs about 8 inches too short for reaching the pedals, so we got a two seater and I drove).

Atlanta has been hit with clouds pouring cats and dogs over the last few weeks.  There is much grumbling about all the rain.  But I just smiling, thinking to myself "I'm so thankful this isn't snow!"  I do feel bad for my honeys, though.  It has eliminated any chance for going to the courts and hitting a tennis ball, which is a huge stress relief for him.  And good exercise.  And I love his tennis buddies and that he can spend time with them.

After months of fighting friends about joining Pinterest, I have caved.  And as I suspected, I got sucked in.  Quickly.  I created a board to showcase jewelry using my beads because I 1) love seeing my beads grown up and 2) love to showcase and support other artists.  So if you have used any of my beads and have them displayed on your blog or in your shop, please shoot me a link so I can add them to my board!

I was asked to speak at the Southern Flames Demopalooza yesterday morning about photographing beads.  For forty five minutes.  I agreed and then wondered if it was possible to talk for 45 minutes about photographing beads.  But I ended up speaking for closer to an hour.  Wow.  I shared comparisons between photographing beads and photographing people (and there are many) that help make an interesting photograph.  I should have known the time would go by fast when speaking about two of my favorite things!

New changes are coming.  I'm not sure what they are, but I can feel it.  The same anticipation and nervous/excited energy are filling my body similar to what I felt in the months prior to leaving the phone company last year.  Perhaps part of it stems from my trip to Miami a week ago and I felt my spirit just get charged up.  Part is knowing that several friends and family members will be exchanging vows this year and I couldn't be any happier for them.  And I will be there to photograph they day of a few of those.  There are other things in the works (mainly with my photography business) that are moving me towards reaching my personal goals.  And part is filling a pinboard with so many crafts that I want to try with my kids.

Like this one might just have to happen this week.

I know I've been quiet on the blogwaves over the last two weeks.  Catch me up.  What'd I miss that's happening in your world?  What are you looking forward to next?

Back to the Normal Routine

After two weeks of soaking up time with my kids and a little over a week of having my honeys home, our little at-home vacation has come to an end.  Alarm clocks rang this morning.  Lunches were made and put in new school lunchboxes they received for Christmas.  Todd took off early for the office and I drove the kids to school.  I love our morning time in the car together.  This morning we talked about how cold it was (22F  brrrr!) and how the kids hoped and wished for snow.  The first thing I did this morning when I came downstairs was flip the switch to my studio space heater to help burn off the chill in there.  Today will be my first day back on the torch in weeks.  Woo hoo!!!

I am so excited about this new year and what it holds.  One of the things I will be working toward is getting more torch time than I did in 2011.  What's on your list?

Post Christmas Recovery

The tree was taken down this afternoon, along with all the other decorations hung up inside our home.  Our family room has been restored to its normal state and that feels good.  We had a fabulous Christmas which passed by in a flash.  This project was the only one involving yarn that was finished in time.  The rest will be a bit late.

The boy child proclaimed this as THE best Christmas ever.  With the exception of not having all the grandparents in our home for this weekend, I will agree with him.

And the girl child continues to wonder about Santa bringing her a bicycle after how naughty she's been.  We talked about the fact that he likely took into consideration her behavior for the whole year and not just the week leading up to Christmas.  When there may or may not have been discussions of coal, stockings and naughty lists.

This was the first Christmas in over a decade where I didn't have a blackberry to check.  Can I tell you that in itself was wonderful?  Because it was.  It was fabulous being able to soak up time and crafts and more time with my kids and not feel pulled by work, even in the off hours.

My honeys is on vacation for the rest of the year and I am excited to be spending every day with him and our kids.  I'm not sure if there will be time spent on the torch before the new year.  But if there is, you all will be the first to know!

Grown Up Beads and Torch Frustration

I just got more photos of some of my egg beads all grown up and had to share.  I LOVE what these ladies did with my eggs!

Courtney made these two necklaces with my eggs.

Next up is the collaborative work of Beth and Evie from EB Bead and Metalworks.  Beth already had a vision when she asked me for cobalt and lapis beads.  Read about her inspiration here.  And then read here to learn about the whole process that went into making this.  Great vision, Beth!

Beth and her Mom create wonderful lampwork and metal components, like this little Kokopelli.  Check out their shop here.  There are also pieces of jewelry in there.  Through emails and her blog, I have noticed that Beth and Evie love to spend time together and have a blast creating and making art.  You don't know how much that makes me smile and feel warm inside to hear about a mother and daughter being so close in their adult years.

In case you didn't notice the link in the upper left, Lorelei is having a big sale in her Etsy shop and marked EVERYTHING down $10.  Great deals in there, people.  Think about some items that you could give as Christmas presents and get some of your shopping done early.

I sat at the torch for close to two hours last night.  I made a few more eggs and tried to make more of some beads I listed and sold the other day for a special request.  But honestly, it was all drudgery.  Every other bead was a disaster.  The bead release (mud) was breaking off the mandrels.  Glass was popping and flying back at me.  I was gnashing my teeth and looking at the clock, wondering when Todd would be home from tennis and I could go walk Little Horse.  It was like I had been away from the torch for weeks/months and nothing was working right.  I am so thankful this is a rare occurrence and will be back on the torch again tonight, since it is the first NFL game.  And the Vikings game will be on.  In HD.  You can tell I'm a supportive wife, no? :D

Lampworking Demo at the Woodstock Public Library

I had so much fun this morning at the Woodstock Public Library!  I was part of their educational summer children's program and showed folks how I melt glass.  About forty people showed up and sat on the steps around the patio outside the children's area of the library.  I had to talk pretty loud because all of the air conditioners were lined up along that back part of the building and almost shout once I fired up the torch.  My voice was tired afterwards, but it was sooooo much FUN!

(Photo courtesy of Chuck Anderson/Public Relations Manager - Sequoyah Regional Library System)

You can see my two helpers standing close to the table.  I borrowed my neighbor's girls to help out and also fill that little kid void I'm feeling while my kids are still up in Minnesota getting spoiled and loved.  They did an awesome job making sure that everything I passed out to be touched and inspected came back to me.  Those goggles don't do much for my hair, do they?

After the demo was over, there were a lot of questions.  A lot!  The kids were interested and asked good questions about different aspects of lampworking and also how glass is made by the manufacturers.  The moms also asked questions.  There was not one question asked about something I had already answered...these guys were paying attention!  If only meetings with Q&A sessions at work went so well! ;)

Once we were packed up, I took the girls out to lunch at Steak and Shake.  They loved it.  We shared a mint cookie shake after lunch and that was goooooood.  I had promised their mom a month (or more) ago that I would photograph her girls for her and this was the perfect day.  We took a walk on the nature trail in our neighborhood.  We didn't come across any wild animals, just a biker (he rode down over 20 wooden steps to get to the trail!), a mud dauber and walking sticks.

There wasn't any bickering or whining.  All day.  These girls are not just sisters, but really good friends.  I'm not sure who had the most fun today, the girls or me.

They spent close to an hour in my studio this afternoon, looking at and touching everything.  I let them each pick out a bead from my bead box to keep and that was a long, thoughtful process before they each made their final decision.  

Did I tell you I had fun today?  

I did.  I really did.

Eggs in the Kiln!

Ok, so there's only one egg in the kiln right now.  Whatever.  Soon there will be plenty more.  Todd is taking care of the kids and giving me time alone on the torch.  Church was out this morning because our house is filled with sore throats and fevers.  Sigh.  I don't have either, for which I am thankful.  But still waiting on my energy to return.  Glad I feel clear-headed enough to be on the torch right now!  And I am loving working with my window open so I can hear the birds singing!!!

I am hoping to get through Colleen's eggs today and perhaps start in on Teri's, but we'll see how long I last.  I'll let you guys know tomorrow.  Or maybe tonight. :)

Day Off!

I am most of the way caught up with work from everything I missed being out in Arizona all of last week on vacation.  I didn't have any conference calls scheduled, so I decided to take the day off to get things done around the house.  

 

 After weeks of looking at all those whiteboards resting on the garage floor, I was ready to do something about them and finally make the shelves I had promised the boy child.  I wanted to clear my desk and clean out my studio cabinets, as well as spend some time on the torch catching up on orders.

The morning got off to a great start with cheerful, well behaved kids.  Then I pulled out the power tools and borrowed a measuring tape from a neighbor, since I learned this mornings ours had been broken.

I had drawn out plans with measurements of the shelves weeks ago and stuck to them pretty closely, with the exception I built them in two sections....a top and a bottom.  Since they are 6.5 feet wide and over 7 feet tall, I wouldn't be able to get them through doorways in our house.

No, I don't wear safety goggles or use real saw horses when operating power tools.  Please do not try this at home.  I still have all my fingers and toes, but I have cut a recycling bin in half. 

I used a brad nail gun (hooked up to my air compressor) to nail the shelves together and tightened it up a little with a couple of L-brackets that I'm screwing in here.

As I shut down after finishing the bottom section, I found this feather.  I wonder how it got in our garage?

I headed inside to eat lunch and spend an hour on the torch before returning to the garage to finish the top portion of the shelves.  I started off by cleaning my rods of clear with little alcohol swipes to mitigate any smurkiness from appearing on my beads.

I started working on orders, but had only made a few beads before my tank of gas ran out.

That threw a three hour monkey wrench into my plans.  My wrench didn't work for removing the hose and regulator from the tank of gas, so I ran out to Home Depot to buy a new wrench.  Came home, removed the hose and loaded the tank to drive to a welding supply company in the next town over to get it refilled.  

Yes, my shirt says PLAYS WITH FIRE.  I love it.  Was a great birthday present last year from a good friend.  I loved that I was warm enough to wear it today. :)

I finished building the shelves and got the first coat of paint on them.  I hope to finish painting the shelves tomorrow to get them moved into Owen's bedroom on Sunday.  After the kids went to bed, I fired up the torch again and spent an hour and a half melting glass before I felt too tired to safely continue.  

I hope to get more time on the torch this weekend, but we'll see.  Soccer games for both kids will take up Saturday morning.  And Sunday I'll be helping my good friend Tabitha on a photography shoot of the newborn of one of our other friends in our neighborhood.  Good weather is coming our way and I'm looking forward to playing with my camera to capture all the good things going on.  I had fun using my tripod and remote today.  Could you tell? :)

Bead Preparations

When I opened up my blog to questions about anything, Erin left this comment: I think it is always fascinating to see what goes into making a bead. It makes me appreciate it so much more. I would be interested about the basics of how a bead is made, but also how you choose your color palette. Do you have a preconceived notion of what you want the bead to be like, or is it more organic, growing out of the flame with a mind and direction all its own?

Erin, I LOVE to know how anything and everything is made.  I enjoy watching documentaries on companies that make actual products or factory/assembly lines.  About six years ago, one of my customers that was a major carpet manufacturer gave me a tour of their factories in North Georgia.  I was captivated by the dozens of people it took to operate all the different machines and how different the materials looked at the start of the process before they were turned into carpet.  Likewise, with art or jewelry, I love knowing how each piece is made to appreciate all of the work that went into it, as well as have a better understanding of the value set on it in an Etsy shop or on eBay.

I have a tank of chemolene (similar to propane, but it burns hotter/cleaner) hooked up to my torch, as well as an oxygen concentrator.  I first turn the red knob on top to the left to let a little of the gas seep out so I can flip my lighter and get a flame out of the torch.  Then I roll the silver knob forward that is on the side of the torch to release the oxygen into the flame.  The oxygen mixes with the gas on the surface of the torch and turns the orangish-yellow flame to one that is filled with blue.  The oxygen jacks up the temperature of the flame to very hot temperatures.

I fiddle with both knobs to get even amounts of gas and oxygen to create a neutral flame.  If there is more gas coming out, the flame is more bushy and yellow and called a reducing flame.  A reducing flame brings the metals out of the glass to the surface which turn into different colors or turn into a metallic finish.  A flame that has less gas and more oxygen is called an oxidizing flame, but I don't remember why a lampworker would want that kind of flame.  Obviously I haven't used that much in the last five years! :)

Here is a video my friend Wendy made a few years ago to show you how I make the bead once the torch is fired up.  I need to get her to do it again for me so the setting is my pretty bead studio and not the garage with junk piled up all around.





After the flame is set up, I hold a mandrel in my left hand to heat it up (it needs to be hot for the glass to stick) and a rod of glass in my right hand to dance in and out of the flame so it heats up slowly.  Then I can start making the bead by melting the glass on the mandrel while constantly turning the mandrel to keep a round bead.  If I stop turning, gravity will pull the hot glass downward and then I will have a majorly wonky bead to contend with in getting it back into shape. 

As for my color palette of choices, I have a few hundred colors to choose from in my glass cabinet.  I had to do inventory of my glass a few weeks ago for my taxes and found I had close to 150 pounds of glass in my cabinet.  HOLY SHMOLY!  That's alotta glass!  Probably a little more than half of the glass is opaque.  I'm not good at choosing four plus colors of glass to mix on one bead.  I like to keep things simple, so I normally choose two colors or sometimes three if I'm feeling a little crazy (although may have to pull out my color wheel to see what three colors line up in the spinning triangle...I think the art term for those three colors is trident, but I could be mixed up).

Most of the time when I sit down at the torch, I have some orders to make and those are first on my list to get in the kiln.  I pull out the necessary colors and get to work on my orders.  Sometimes working on those orders will spark new ideas of variations on those same beads in color/shape or completely new beads.  A lot of times, I already have ideas floating in my head during the week of what I want to make when I do get to sit down at the torch on weekends.  If my mind is blank and no inspiration is in me when I look in my glass cabinet for colors to pull out, I'll ask my kids what colors they would like for me to use in a bead for them.  That's enough to get me started and then I easily flow in other directions with new beads.

I do try to have the colors out ahead of time and know what kind of bead I want to make because it is difficult to keep a bead warm enough and in the shape by continuously turning the mandrel while I back away from the torch, open my glass cabinet, turn on the little light inside and lean over to search for the specific color, pull it out, turn off the light, shut the cabinet and go back to the torch.  All of my glass is organized by manufacturer on each shelf and then by color, so I've got a good idea ahead of time where to look.  But still.  I try to avoid those hassles by knowing what I want to do before I even heat the mandrel for the bead.

No climbing poles for me!

Here is my only shot at climbing phone poles...training in Dallas two weeks ago. While the union did not come to an agreement with my company on a new contract, they did agree to continue business as usual until they do come to an agreement. For me, this means I do NOT have to go to Oklahoma to work as a field technician (ie. climbing poles, descending into manholes or installing/repairing phone lines for the locals).

I have spent 300+ hours over the past several months taking 57 training courses. It has been stressful working 50+ hour work weeks for months on top of my normal job, as well as thinking of the possibility of leaving my family for an unknown amount of time to perform strike duty. My time on the torch considerably decreased as a result to spend my evenings in online training. My beloved torch and source of sanity renewal, oh how I have missed you! I am extremely thankful that the union agreed to not strike and that I may stay home. With my family. With free evenings to now return to my torch or my husband's side on the sofa when he's not playing tennis. I can get caught up on 24 and American Idol. I can again make commitments on Etsy and know I can fulfill them. On time.

It is the simple things that I am returning to and that I am now running toward with open arms. I have been doing heel clicks all day in thanks & happiness :)

And an added bonus? My Dad can finally stop singing Wichita Lineman to me everytime we talk!

Counting down the days

Just eight more days until we head to Phoenix for a WHOLE WEEK with family and I am so excited!  I can't decide if I'm more thrilled about the warmer temps (in the 70-80s!!!) or seeing our fam....I'm leaning toward the latter, but the 80s are a close runner up if you know how I freeze, dress in layers and blast my space heater every year when Atlanta weather drops into the 50s or below.  I'm such a wimp.

Here is my Bean child from last weekend when she wasn't sporting hives.  Which is to say, she hadn't been at school that day because it was Sunday.  The hives have reappeared every day after being in her classroom for a few hours.  Every day since Jan 26th, the girl child has popped unbelievable hives from eating pineapple in her fruit cocktail (school didn't realize the new brand had pineapple in it).  She got a double whammy that day because her teacher brought in a fresh pineapple, chopped the top off it and stuck it in a petri dish on one of the kids tables.  Anyone who knows four year olds think that they would be inclined to touch something new?  Didn't think so.  Four year olds just don't touch new items.  I didn't see that until Tuesday night, so she had a good two school days to soak it in and play in it.  Gah!I think all of the kids rolled in it & then touched EVERYTHING in the classroom.  Kudos go to the assistant teachers for cleaning EVERY surface in the classroom to help get rid of the pineapple & stop her hives.  Tomorrow I take her to my doctor who eliminated ALL of my food and animal allergies through accupressure.  Yep.  All of them.  They haven't come back in over four years.

I have been playing with adding silver wire/drops to my beads and expect to have pics this weekend for an updated blog.  Right now, they are hanging out on a mandrel over my kitchen sink.  I take longer washing my hands just so I can look at them :)

Today is my Friday.  Taking a vacation day tomorrow to become reacquainted with my torch in the morning before I take Chloe to the doctor.  Thinking torch time in the afternoon is out as the girl child is begging to watch Sound of Music after her nap tomorrow.  Which is cool.  Any day watching Julie Andrews is a good day.  Sure beats work!

I do it all.....all by myself

No helpers or magical elves. Not even any child labor (yet! they're still a little too young to do anything other than request certain color combinations, shapes or designs).

I dip the mandrels. I melt the glass. I wind the beads onto the mandrels. I stick them in the kiln. I take them out the next morning. I twist and tug and pull the beads off the mandrels. I grind my teeth and then twist and tug and pull some more. I clean them out with my speedy dremel. I take the pics with my digital camera and then crop & edit each pic. And then I list them in my Etsy shop. All for your viewing and buying pleasure.

I'm not complaining. This. Is. What. I. LOVE. To. Do. :)

And this is where it happens. My studio; that I love so much and that I moved into in Sept 2008 after spending several summers sweating buckets and winters freezing under multiple layers of clothes & goose-down comforters in the garage. My Mega-Minor Burner torch is at the workstation closest to the window on the left, which is also closest to my fan/ventilation hidden behind the green square box on the wall. I have a second Minor Burner torch at the work station on the right. An oxygen concentrator is tucked away in the footspace under each torch station. And hoses run from the torches through the wall to my backyard where the propane tank is housed safely outside.

I've got great overhead lighting mounted under the top cabinets so I can see what I'm doing at the torch. Sooooo much better than the dismal lighting I had in the garage! Mandrels are standing upright in that wooden block in the center of the counterspace.

Here is my glass cabinet. Front, center & easy to reach for a midget like me....it's the floor cabinet so no tip-toe reaching or counter climbing to get to the most important stuff! Bottom shelf has German glass, filigrana (clear rods with cores of color shooting through the middle) and stringers (really thin rods of glass). First shelf up from the bottom is strictly transparent rods of Italian glass. Second shelf up is nothing but opaque rods of Italian glass. Next shelf is more German glass. And the top shelf which you can barely see is filled with soft glass from China. So many colors and not enough time to play & create! Special pliers & smashers hang from the insides of the doors.

Here is a more current view of part of my workstation. Glass rods still on the counter from my last glass shipment that either haven't found a home yet in the glass cab or I'm still playing with the cool new colors. Like the Elphaba greens :) Little jars are on the back shelf, filled with all kinds of frit combinations. Rods of either half-used glass of unknown colors or 'cool' bonus colors stand upright in jars next to my large mandrels, a color wheel, the Southern Flames 2008 postcard, the necklace I won at our beadswap meeting hangs from my torch deflector. And my iPod nano & docking station Todd got me for my birthday....very important to have good tunes for jammin at the torch :)
And a view into one upper cabinet that is organized enough to share. Mostly shipping supplies where they are nicely stacked, but normally out-of-sight when the doors are shut.

I really can not thank my husband enough for supporting my fire-playing hobby and being super-cool about me moving my studio inside the house. Of course, there was a perk in it for him....for the first time since we moved into this house in 2005, he can now park his car in the garage. That alone may have been worth the cost of constructing my studio for him :)

Atlanta Artist - Metallo Bianco

Cassandra Procopio is the jewelry designer behind Metallo Bianco.  She is an extraordinary metalsmith with a great eye for keeping her designs simple, but elegant.  I even had the privilege of visiting her studio & seeing first hand how she uses her torch (yay, another pyromaniac!) to learn how she twists, hammers, solders, tumbles & polishes her work to perfection.  When I was cutting up copper pipes to make my own jewelry stands, I was calling Cassie multiple times for guidance on tools, supplies and guidance on how to not burn the ever-lovin snot out of myself as I am so not used to weilding a mobile torch.  I like my fire stationary, thank you very much!

Although mainly dedicated to jewelry, she is branching out into dog tags (below), paper weights (very cool, my SIL bought one for Christmas with our kids pic inside which was a BIG hit!) and journals which you can find in her Etsy shop at http://mbjewelry.etsy.com

I also felt it necessary to include a gratuitous pic of her beautiful cat Sasha :)

You can find Cassandra's blog at http://mbjewelry.blogspot.com/

And her main website at http://metallobianco.com/

I bought a new torch!

It is a little propane torch for soldering and I tried my hand at it for the first time.  I realized that I need more workroom space and that the garage is better than my glass studio for this.  When I saw Lorelei's stand that her husband made her, I knew that this was a great idea and I needed to try it out for myself.  I made one a foot tall for necklaces and another 6 inches tall for bracelets.  I'm so excited!  I will be able to use these next Saturday at Cas's house when we have a jewelry party and then again at my house the following Saturday.  :)

Thanksgiving was an excellent day of relaxation, hanging out with my family 

(we were several important people short this year so I didn't have to cook as much....which freed up more hours to just hang out with my Mom & Grandma, look at the sales ads and sneak a nap before dinner!)  Chloe was my right hand at preparing all the dishes Thursday morning...she even made the green bean casserole all by herself!  

I had typed a TON more, but blogger is not behaving and I'm too tired to keep re-typing since I've figured out it doesn't like for me to copy/paste within this Creation Post spot.  I'll try updating later this week, along with a pic of our Christmas spirit and all the windows bedecked in wreathes as of this afternoon.  Check out pics below of beads just waiting to be strung up!