Hot, Hot, Hot!

I have really been itching to get back to the torch, but with the recent heat here in AZ, it seems almost impossible!  It's has been over 110 degrees for over a week now and the forecast calls for 113 or so for at least the next few days.
I am not sure when the temperature will get back down to a tolerable level, but also hoping that our swamp cooler purchase in July will help out.  Isn't it convenient that we will be purchasing it right in the middle of monsoon season when it's likely not to help much at all?  (story of my life!)  I am just hoping for some low humidity days after bringing it home.
Stay cool!

A Lovely Bead for a Lovely Mom

    Happy Birthday to my Mom!  Her birthday is coming up soon and I hope she likes the present I will give her, a lovely Faerie bead in black, natural tones, silvered ivory and a little silver striking color for accent.
   I love the way this bead looks and I hope my Mom will love it, too!  I will definitely have to make more with these color combinations - - there is just so much going on in this bead!
   Now, I just have to string it all up for her (always the part I dread!).

First Day of Summer is Here

Hi All,

First day of summer has come.  I don't know if that means much to us folks here in AZ since it seems like summer has been down here for about a month now.  Been over 100 degrees the last couple weeks and it only seems to be getting worse.
On the home front, I really want to get back to the torch, but with this heat not sure if I will be on very often.  There are so many things I want to play around with and experiment with in glass and it doesn't seem like I am getting enough torch time.  I feel like I am falling behind.
I hope that getting a new window swamp cooler in July will help out, but being in the middle of monsoon season, I am worried it won't cool the area enough.  And that's a whole month away!
Only time will tell . . .

Been Working Tirelessly . . .

Howdy All,

I have been working a lot lately on the tutorial for an upcoming issue of a well-known glass magazine (name to be release later) and I haven't had the time to work on my Dad's special Father's Day bead.  I am hoping to finish up with this tut and get back to the torch.

I hope my tut is well received and that my pictures are decent enough.  My camera isn't the best so my pictures aren't crystal clear (it's also hard to take pics with a flame).  I think they look pretty good and hopefully the magazine designers will, too!

Best!
Jeannie

Hot Summer, Even Hotter Studio!

Hi All,

Summer is finally here since it seems like the temperature is going to be over 100 and stay there for a while.  Being Arizona, it may be there thru September!  (oh, hope not!)

I will be heading back to the torch this weekend even though I don't have any air conditioning in the studio (yet!).   I have been honored to receive a personal email request to do a tutorial in a glass magazine (don't want to reveal it yet, just in case) on how I make my unique glass eyes which I then place into pendants and beads.  It will be exciting, altho hot and sweaty, to complete this project.

This should be an intense tutorial, being separated into 3 parts - - how I make my iris stringer, how I create the layered eye and how I then place the eye into a finished piece.

It took me months of experimenting to come up with the best design possible for the unique and realistic look that I imagined it to be.  I hope many glass artists find my tutorial useful and create their own awesome, realistic eyes!

Branching Out

    Being an emerging artist in this day and age, not to mention in this economy, is a tough one.  Each day, I think of ways to "branch out" and expand my art as well as my exposure.  It is sometimes daunting, often time-consuming and always brain-racking.
   The best way that I have been able to imagine this, which helps put some things in perspective for me, is to imagine myself and my glass career as a tree.  In the beginning, I was a little sapling, with maybe just a couple of leaves which represented my very naive and limited experience with the craft.  Over time, my tree grew and started to branch out in different directions.  Now that I have been in the art for a while, I have many branches with many leaves.  There are even some fruits beginning to sprout.
   The question is:  Which branch or branches do you take, and at what time?  I have many "branches" which I am eager to follow, but which to take now and which later?  There are some that aren't achievable now because of lack of equipment, materials, etc., so those are easy to avoid.  But which branch is the right one for me at this moment?  Which one might bare ripe fruit?  And, if a particular branch is avoided at this time, will the ripe fruit at the end of that branch be rotten and spoiled by the time I reach it?
   Here's to hoping that all of us, sooner rather than later, reach that fruit baring branch!