Happy Halloween!

Well, it's almost Halloween and I have not made one dang Halloween bead this year. But that's okay, I've been working on other stuff. Making rainbows for my daughter's fundraiser, goddess and "guydess" beads and practicing more with all the silver-infused rods that I have. I am determined to get this down, one way or another!

It's hit or miss with a lot of the silver colors I have. Sometimes they come out great and other times . . . ah, not so great. I will get this, tho!

Happy Halloween to everyone out there - - hope you have lots of fun this year!

Cooler weather is upon us, what does that mean? More torching!!!

Finally the weather has been cooler and it is a great time to fire up the torch and get moving again. I am currently making rainbow beads for a fundraiser that my daughter is having next month in San Francisco. Along with this, I am also making some for myself and my website.

In addition, I have been playing around with the Striking Color glass that I have. I think I am finally getting the hang of it and am starting to produce those gorgeous, multi-colored hues that they create. I still have a little practicing to do, but hopefully I will be consistent enough to be able to start selling some of these beauties.

On the home front, we have 2 new additions to our family. Dexter and Lucy came to us recently. They were found by a friend-of-a-friend who couldn't take care of them. They are such wonderful and loving dogs that I can't believe someone would just abandon them, but it seems no one is looking for them. The person who found them checked at the local shelters and on line and I also was searching all the lost and found ads, but no luck anywhere. They are 2 sweethearts, although Dexter does like to chew on my son's toys (naughty boy!). I hope they like it here and live many happy and healthy years with us!

Weather is Getting Cooler . . . . Finally!

It's October 4th and the weather is finally starting to cool down from the triple digits here in AZ. It should be around 93-94 degrees today, but the rest of the week will be in the mid to upper 80's. The nights will also be cooling down to the 60's here, which will make it real nice for torching. I am excited to be getting back on the torch after the last few weeks away from it.

Meanwhile, I have been working on a new business card design and am hoping this one comes out nice. I would like to make 2 copies of this card, this one and also another with a more simple bead on the front, maybe a liquid swirl bead or a heart. Hope it goes over well!

Days Fly By . . .

Can't believe it is almost October here in AZ and it's still over 100 degrees every day. It is nicer that the nights and early mornings have been cooler, but geez! 104, 109, 106 - - I'm tired of this dang heat!
I haven't been on the torch for a couple of weeks now, which is very unusual for me. I am usually on the torch just about every day, or at least 5 days per week. The main reason is that it's just too hot, and without central air, my upstairs studio is unbearable. The other reason is that I have been a little under the weather lately. 3 out of 4 of us in the house have felt ill and I seem to be very low on energy and ambition lately. I also believe that my childhood RA is coming back to me as an adult (which is rare, from what I read) and have been pretty worried about what may happen in the coming years if this is true. One of the symptoms of RA is fatigue, so feeling out of energy lately is also a little frightening.

I am hoping that cooler weather will come our way soon here and that my energy level will rise to it's normal level so I can get back to work. I still have many new ideas I want to experiment with on the torch, especially for the MythosCon which is next January. At least I have some time before this show comes around.

Hope everyone is well in your households. And I leave you with a picture of a Cthulhu pendant that I made last week. These are not glass, but are polymer clay with genuine ruby eyes. At least I did something creative, although it's not glass. I made 4 of these so far, along with several of my other eye pendants like in my last post.

September Already?

Wow, I cannot believe this year is almost over! Been so busy with my artwork, family and daily life.
We are going to head into fall sometime soon here in AZ (I hope!). It's still been over 100 degrees here and I cannot wait for it to cool down a bit. I just hope we have some nice fall weather before we run into the bone-chilling, cold nights.
I recently had a booth at CopperCon, which is a Sci-Fi/Fantasy convention which is held every year. This was it's 30th year here in AZ and the event was great fun. I think this was the perfect fit for my hubby and I since he loves going to the Sci-Fi conventions, but I don't think he particularly likes sitting with me during shows. This allowed him to go off and experience the readings, projects, discussions and events of the convention while still helping me (and giving me much-needed breaks at my booth). I was also able to go off on some fun events with my son - - we saw a japanese sword demonstration and made a cool hat at the "create your own hat" event for kids.
I am definitely planning on doing other events like this - - Sci-Fi conventions, ComicCon events, etc. You meet a lot of great, new people and it's also good for expanding my glass art to a new group of people.
My next event scheduled is MythosCon, which is a large part of the Sci-Fi fans. I don't really know much about the genre but am learning. It all started with H.P. Lovecraft stories way-back-when (the 1920's). Lovecraft created a legend (or Mythos) about a race of creatures that "came from the stars" and ruled this Earth a long time before man was even here. The creatures are evil beings, hideous, and they are just waiting for the right time to rise up and control this world again. There are also secret cults of people who still worship these creatures. In all of Lovecraft's stories, these creatures occasionally come out and "play" with us humans, usually not in a nice way.
Very interesting, and I am reading Lovecraft again, amoung other writers who also have written about the Mythos, both during Lovecraft's time and up to current times. Lovecraft himself encouraged other writers to expand on his ideas and legends. The Mythos is even popular enough that there is a RPG game, sort of like Dungeons and Dragons I am guessing.

So, I am moving to the "dark side" and creating new items especially for this show. I hope the Mythos members like them! I really enjoy making these pieces, which are a mixture of my glass eyes along with Sculpy clay and paints.

Summer has Started

Well, it's the official start of summer and man, is it hot here in AZ! Take it from someone who lost their central air! It was 96 degrees upstairs today, so no torching for me, thank you.

I am anxious for it to cool down, possibly if we receive any cooling monsoon rains in the near future, but it doesn't look likely for the next week or so.

In the meantime, I will be posting items for sale on my Etsy site and trying my best to keep cool. But in keeping with the heat, here is a Fire Faerie to fuel the flames.

New Inspirations

Well, I have been working on some new items. I have previously made some small sculptural faeries, but have wanted to put them onto beads for a while now. I have been working on them for a couple of weeks now and they have developed into decent-looking beads.

I am hoping to improve more on the design, but here is where I am at the moment. I am calling these "Faeries and Berries" since they either have vines with berries on the sides or a tree with fruit/berries.

I am very excited that the nicer one (the pink faerie bead) will be making a trip to her new home in Finland with Janette.

P.S. It's still amazingly hot here in Arizona - - 110 degrees. It should be cooling down to 107 or 108 in the next day or two. Still trying to beat the heat.

Tough Times, but Working it Through

Okay, it's been a while since I posted, but much has happened in the short time I've been absent. It seems like everything has been going wrong that could go wrong lately - - major Murphy's Law in our household.

The latest in a slew of mishaps and breakdowns has been our central air conditioner. It tries to kick on, but keeps humming and then stops. I believe it's the compressor, but the part alone costs a minimum of 280.00, and that doesn't include anyone climbing up to our high peak on the roof to fix it, so it doesn't look like we'll be fixing it anytime soon.

Still trying to look on the upside, tho. We have my parent's little AC unit, which keeps the living room somewhat cooler (even tho it still has gotten up to 86-88 degrees) than the outside temps of 100+. And, hey, our electric bill should be a lot cheaper in the coming months, so maybe our bill will drop low enough to actually save to fix the dang unit.

My schedule is all flip-flopped now since I can only torch between 1am-7am since that's the only time it's cool enough in the studio. So, I am trying to get in sessions when I can, and it's still cool enough at night. Hopefully I will be able to sell a few pieces, at least enough to keep us going for a while longer and hopefully fix the air. Here's to hope!!

My latest adventure is listing some items on Ebay - - link attached. You can also search Ebay by entering my name and all my items should come up.

I also have more items on Etsy if anyone is interested. Believe me, the money will go to a great cause - - keeping us cool!!!

East Valley Artisans meeting Tonight

I had a great time at this month's EVA meeting - - hope everyone else did, too. Welcome to Marci, our newest member!

Jen had a fun project for us at this meeting, making ATC cards. I don't know about everyone else, but I have never made them before. She was great and brought all the tools and materials we needed to make some cool looking winged heart cards! We had hearts, feathers, glitter glue, gems, stamps, scissors, you name it. It was a lot of fun - thanks Jen! I posted my ATC card pic here, but I am sure our Etsy EVA Team blog will post the whole team's cards - - everyone had neat creations.

Also, our exchange this month was flowers. I made a pink flower on a base bead as a pendant for my exchange. I thought it came out real cute. Renee won my exchange piece - - hope you enjoy it Renee!

Vegas Show

Had a wonderful time in Vegas. Sold well and met some wonderful people from all over the country and from Canada.

My biggest seller was my newest creations, my Dragon Eyes, which I was hoping would make a splash (luckily, they did!)

Can't wait to go back next year! I just hope I can afford it!

Why Me?

One of my Dad's favorite phrases. Today I found myself stating this well-worn phrase yet again. For some reason still unknown to me, my studio exhaust fan decided to call it quits in the middle of my torching session. Why do these things always happen right before a big event? And right in the middle of a Dragon Eye pendant, too? Of course, I had to finish the pendant.

After that came the arduous chore of moving one of my concentrators and my torch downstairs so I could torch out the back door. The rest of my days before the Vegas show will be uncomfortably sitting on a chair in the living room, at a table too low, torch flames flapping and struggling to get the rest of my product completed for the show. Ugh.

Yeah, why me?

Here is yesterday's take from my torching session. Shark teeth, bunnies and a few odd ones. I feel good about my output yesterday. I am just hoping that I can keep up this production flow for the next week or so.

Still Gearing Up

Why does it always seem to get hectic when I am trying to gear up for a big show? There has been so much going on that it's hard to find the time to torch (something I really need to do if I want any product on my table at the Vegas show).

Finally, I was able to torch today, making several shark teeth which I hope come out well. I will try and post a pic of these tomorrow. Also made a few more bunnies for my parents and for the 3 little neighbor girls who love stringing beads (although they are usually plastic). I think they will adore them.

Here's a pic of the bunnies I made a couple days ago - - the center on is on a keychain clasp with 2 eggs. This was donated for an Easter exchange at my meeting Wednesday night with the East Valley Artisans group.

Las Vegas, here I come!!

Trying to get ready for the big Vegas show at the South Point Hotel and Casino - - the Annual Glass Craft and Bead Expo event. Should be a good time!
But for now, it's work, work, work!! Trying to cram in loooonnnng sessions of bead making along with stringing, and trying to get all my display stuff together.
Besides the Expo, I am also working on the Bead Inspired event for the Beads of Courage charity which is happening next Saturday, the 20th of March. i am also doing a show this weekend, Friday and Saturday in Downtown Mesa. Much to do!!

Here are some of the pendants I made last night for Vegas and these will also be with me at the Blues, Baseball and Balderdash Mesa show this weekend.

Have much of my sales section of my webpage now up and running. Still have to put more product online, but I have quite a few items listed now.

http://www.jeansbeads.com/sales.htm

My new soft glass tutorial is now available through my website. It is a 2-part tutorial showing how I make my flattened green aventurine stringer and then how to make a hummingbird bead using that stringer.

10 pages packed with over 60 photos.

http://www.jeansbeads.com/sales.htm

The Worst Part of being a Glass Artist

Waiting, waiting . . . I think that's the worst part of being a Glass Artist. I made another Aquarium Fish today and a bunch of bead which will be donated for the Beads of Courage program.
I probably won't see the beads, and find out how they "really" came out until very late tonight or tomorrow morning. Ugh - - - waiting, waiting . . . .

Back on the Torch

Finally was able to torch yesterday and today. Today, I just made new murrine and stringers for my aquarium beads, something I hope to be working on in the coming days. Yesterday, I made a couple of aquarium beads with existing stringer I had and a few implosion pendants.

Yet another day, no torching

Well, no torching for me today. I am obligated to yet again make a ton of beef jerky for my brother. So I spent most of this afternoon, trimming the fat and slicing up about 6 beef roasts which are now in the marinate in the fridge. First batch will start dehydrating at about midnight. Last time, I was making beef jerky for 4 days straight - - batch after batch. Today's jerky is about half the size, so hopefully won't take me quite as long.

The one upside in this, is that we get to enjoy some jerky also - - my whole family loves this stuff!

Hopefully I will be back on the torch for a bit tomorrow, probably in between the jerky batches. I have so much to do!!

Blog Beginnings

My first real blog - how exciting! This new year starts out with ups and downs, just like any, but I am really hoping that this year will bring more inspiration, happiness and success to our family.
The old year did not end well, the worst being the death of my Gramma, at age 95, which is still hard on my Mom. She puts on a tough act, but I still see the tears in her eyes when she doesn't believe I notice. Other than that, 2009 brought a consistent breakdown of items in our house. It's somewhat funny when you think of it, Murphy's Law at it's best. So far, these are the things that have broken down at our place, most of which is still broken. The power to all of the upstairs is out except for the bathroom outlet (my son's room and my studio are being run by cords to the downstairs), the dryer's heating element went out, our coffee maker burned out, our kitchen sink broke (we were able to replace that), our upstairs shower is out because of a serious leak and damage to the stall walls (leak is fixed, tho) and our downstairs toilet does not flush on it's own - even after routing, plunging, filling with chemicals, etc.
Sometimes it's hard to see the upside, but we keep trying!

On the upside, I was the first featured glass artist on GlassCommunity.com - very exciting! I was also very excited to have also gotten into a couple of great local stores in the area towards the end of last year - - Evermore Nevermore in Mesa, AZ and also The Artist Studio at the Farm at South Mountain, Phoenix, AZ. Check them out if you have a chance, they are both neat places!

Also, I have started gathering items for the BIG glass show this year in Vegas - - The Glass Craft and Bead Expo, April 7th-11th. This is a huge event that has everything glass - classes, demos, and vendors with finished glass art, tools, and equipment. They also support ALL glass art - stained, slumped, fused, etched, lampworked, etc., and they have classes for all as well as for wire-wrapping, enameling, electroforming and finishing. A GREAT venue!

I am starting out the new year with hopefully a new look to my webpage - www.jeansbeads.com. I have been working on it almost daily but just can't seem to achieve the look I am after. Not being a web designer, I am still fumbling with the web program, but I am determined to get this done. My site still shows the old version, but hopefully a new one will be up soon.