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!