So, what's next?

I told Tony on Tuesday night, as I was placing the last price tag on the last focal bead, that I was pretty sure I never wanted to hear about / talk about / think about beads again. Ever. Of course I say that the day or two before EVERY show!

I do plan, however, on re-visiting my seed bead roots. Especially after the arrival of these little juicy gems:



The latest and greatest from Miyuki, called Tila beads. The picture doesn't do them justice, as they're still living in their little plastic bags, but you can see the promise....right? At this point I don't have anything in particular in mind; guess it's time to get out the old sketch pad.

Hope to see a lot of you over the weekend!

My new favorite thing to make!

As you can tell from the picture, they're not much to look at on their own. But, string them together, and wowser! Well, at least I think so, and after the trunk show I'll be making some for ME! I thought about making more (what you see is it) but I'm not sure everyone will be as enamored with them as I am. Another nice thing about these - every beginning bead-making kit in the WORLD includes a little baggie of murrini (or, alternately, they're called millifiori, although the two are technically a bit different) but you're never really told how to use them. (A murrini is the little patterned piece of glass you see in these beads.) And, in fact, most bead makers look down their noses a bit at commercial murrini, preferring to make their own.

New equipment goodies

The concentrator:


I know, I know - a bit like watching paint dry. It doesn't seem like much for $700, does it? Plus - bottom line - I really LIKE the idea of tanked oxygen. It just burns so clean and is so powerful. But, it's dangerous. And good god heavy! The tanks are as tall as I am, and weigh a bunch. And, expensive first and last. I have to rent the tanks (and I rent two so I always have one available), then there's the cost to refill. There didn't used to be a delivery charge, but two summers ago when gas went so high they started charging a small delivery fee. So, all in all. I will say I'll miss talking to the guys (and yes, they're all guys) at Alamo Welding. I never felt like I was anything but their biggest customer every time I called and said, "Can you bring a tank of oxygen out?"

And here's the lap grinder, more or less:


It will probably live happily in its box until September. I need time to deal with it, and I'll most likely have to use it in the garage, which in Texas in August is pretty much unbearable.

The storm before the calm

Last minute beads, and a parting shot of my work desk, so to speak. It looks a LOT different now; realized as I was uploading the messy version that you should see the desk in its incarnated state. Everything is packed up for the truck show - tools, glass, annealing bubble, and...what am I forgetting? Oh, yeah - beads!

trunk show update...

Hold the presses. There has been a scheduling miscommunication regarding the trunk show, which, unfortunately affects the Austin Bead Society show. I could have SWORN the trunk show was the weekend before the ABS show, but I finally looked at the flyer Nomadic Notions sent out through email - and, sure enough, the dates on it are August 6th, 7th, and 8th.....

I'm not sure what this will mean for sales, but personally for me it's a bit of a relief. I've been making beads like mad, and the thought of having to be "on" for two weekends in a row after all that torch time was a bit daunting. So, from that perspective, it's good.

Anyway, it means that I will not be able to attend the bead show to 1)sell or 2) to shop! Of the two I'll probably miss the shopping more.

If you're confused, check with Nomadic Notions or shoot me an email. I do of course hope to see you at NN. As in previous years I'll have my torch set up and going full blast.

On working two jobs....

Most of the time I really enjoy both of my lives - the 8 to 5 one I live at UT, and the sometimes-in-the-evening and almost-every-weekend job of my bead life. But, at times, it gets to be a bit much. How do you know when too much is too much?

Here's a handy checklist I came up with to help me know:

1. The toilets are so dirty the dogs won't drink out of them.
2. You actually lose one of the dogs because the dog hair on the carpet is so thick you can't tell the difference between it and the dog.
3. You buy a fourth jar of mayonnaise because 1) you're sure as hell too busy to use it in anything to eat and 2) you're even too busy to check the pantry to see if you even need to buy mayo.
4. You ask your husband to make an appointment for, um, well, you know. When he does ask, you tell him the first opening isn't for 3 months.
5. Just like a guy, you sniff the armpits of your shirt to make sure it's clean enough to wear.
6. You have learned to simultaneously brush your teeth and apply mascara.

Trunk show's a-brewing....

Yes, it's true, believe it or not I'm back at Nomadic Notions for a trunk show! There was a bit of a delay this year (it's usually in early July) because of Mick's departure (sniff) but we've got things squared away. I'll be there the last weekend of July - torch in hand (so to speak). As Mick is departing, and as I usually borrow her oxygen generator rather than lugging the oxygen tank that's as tall as I am and weighs almost as much (okay, okay, no snickers) I bit the bullet and bought my very own. And while I was at it, I bought a flat lap machine, too - Jim (of Blue Moon fame) even threw in a saw that fits on the machine. What's that mean? Well, I've always wanted to do some lap work on beads, and the saw means I can actually make substantial murrini and cut it myself.

And, because Nomads wants pictures, you get to see some, too. I've come to the conclusion that I just HATE taking photos....I bitched and moaned for an hour yesterday taking these.....

Technology time SUCKS

And, no, that's no typo. Here it is, 2:36 p.m., and I've been "with" the computer/tech stuff since 8 a.m.

The good news: wireless is now working. Finally. I've only had the router 6 months. (We used to pay TW $10 a month, b/c I thought that was the only option - then I find out that you can purchase a router and set it up through TW for NO monthly charge.) I actually called a tech support place yesterday and asked them to come out and set it up. His response? "Oh, it's EASY, you can do it!" So, after labeling every cord (in case I need to reset everything to conditions I KNEW worked), I started tinkering. Router to splitter; splitter to computer; no, nothing. You get the idea. And then all of the sudden - success! (When Tony asked me what I did to get it to work, I truthfully answered "I have no idea.")

My next task was to hook up the new desktop. Oy vey. Okay, right, this really IS an easy task under normal circumstances. But NOT with the Tony "desk I just can't live without." It's a rolltop, almost as tall as me, probably around 300 pounds of solid wood. With ONE (ONE) single, 4" hole at the back that you run all the wires through. To make bad matters worse, the hole isn't at down-on-the-floor level, but up about 2 1/2 feet. So, when you're down on your hands and knees trying to poke stuff through this hole, there's no possible way to see AND get your arms over your head enough to do said poking. You crouch, then stab blindly towards the little hole, hoping the cord falls through. I finally went and got the kitchen tongs. Poke. Hope. Get up. Go to the back of the desk. Use tongs to pull cords through. SHIT I pushed it BACK through to the front. Around again. I'm exhausted. Time for a drink.

New beads

Took kind of a last minute class with Jill Symons at Blue Moon on Saturday (Jim and Rose are determined to get every last dime out of me). The class was on inclusions, and turned out to be quite useful. We mostly just did copper inclusions, but also some mica flakes - which I'd used one time in a Japanese beadmaking class, but never again. (And the verdict for me on those is still out, although a woman here at work immediately snagged one for herself.)

I'm particularly partial to the first one, the copper flowers on turquoise. I'll definitely do more of those. One other one that I'll try to photograph and get up needs, I think, etching, so it's not quite ready. Jill also loves the Picasso silver glass; I've worked with it a little, but it's still not one of my favs, although it does look spectacular with the copper. I'm most interested in trying some freeform copper cutouts rather than the little punched pieces....

Feast or famine - pictures!

I'll provide commentary tomorrow - don't want to wear myself out....

Pam as the mad scientist

Took an electroforming class at Vickie Hallmark's house on Sunday. Although my result wasn't so good (let's just leave it at that she's taking it with her to her Bead and Button class as an example of what NOT to do) I had a splendid time. Lydia and Leslie were there, too, two people I see way too seldom. And, kudos to Vickie, who recently took a tumble, and is spending her time between a wheel chair and a walker. Also doesn't help that her bedroom is upstairs, and her studio is downstairs. And she's literally stuck in the middle. Her humor is much better than mine would be. Anyway, I did snap a few pictures, mostly so I could remember what to do later.

This first one is just a snap of my beads in the beaker, ready for their bath. At this point they've been coated with copper paint and processed:



This one is of the beads all hooked up, ready to coat:



The last one is pretty boring, but does lend to the whole mad scientist thing. It's also a reminder of how to hook stuff up once I get the equipment home.



Vickie has a PhD in Chemical Engineering, so she was able to give quite a bit of insight on the whole process. Needless to say, I'm anxious to try again. Take a look here to see some of the amazing electroformed work she's done.

Emily - deer (almost) slayer

I went out to get the mail on Saturday - and looked up just in time to see a deer clear the back fence, hurtle towards me, and bound off to the neighbor-across-the-street's yard. And who was on her heels? Well, okay, until the back fence, at least. Miss Emily! She of the arthritic hips....LOL Her muff was about fours times normal size. I'm sure she was dreaming of venison tacos.

Tomorrow is bead making day!

So, Saturday is the day I get to sit down at the torch. Maybe I can get super motivated and even take some pictures.

Later!

Another day....

And not much to say. Work is winding down - today is the last day of finals, and it's QUIET around here. I got two major projects out the door - one yesterday, and one today. Did I say it's QUIET?!

Too bad I can't bring my torch up here. I guess I can spend some time thinking about designs, doing some sketching, maybe. I'm just totally not good at wasting time.

On the bright side: a guilt-free hamburger!

Oh, yeah - beads!

Well, no beads, really, but pictures from a few classes I've been to recently:

In February, Trey Cornette - all about stringer control:



In March, with Caitlin Hyde - drawing on beads.



And, in April, a BHB (big-holed bead!) class with Heather Trimlett



Next up is Vickie Hallmark for an electroforming/carving class, then Haley Tsang in June.

First pedi of the summer

I just LOVE that first pedicure of the summer. Kinda like getting new tennis shoes when I was a kid, I guess. I don't get them over the winter, even though I'm fanatical about keeping calluses at bay year 'round (probably goes in the "more than you wanted to know about me" category). Anyway, toes are a beautiful shade of hot pink, with little yellow flowers and shooting glitter leaves on the big toes....Breaking out the Birki's tomorrow!

How pathetic is this.....

Yes, there's a reason I make beads. And there's a reason I don't bake:



Tony said he'd bake me a cake for Mother's Day. Yeah, right. I finally did the baking about 3 yesterday afternoon - German Chocolate. The first picture is about 30 minutes after the cake was iced. After about an hour, it looked like this:



Given another 30 minutes, it acheived full Balcones Fault status:



I'm blaming Betty Crocker.....

Woo hoo!

Two days in a row. Loving the cute little computer. Er, digital clutch....

Really enjoyed seeing everybody at the bead show. Often the only time I get to see many of you - always reminds me of my hermit ways. LOL I guess the only down side was the astonishing amount of chinese (assuming) beads at $1 per strand. I understand the economy is tough and all, but geez....oh well. I do have to admit that when I was a newbie beader I would have snapped them up to, and congratulated myself on my bargain-securing talents. I wonder if it's like that with all addictions? I mean, do you start out on crap heroin, then say, "Oh I want THAT heroin because it's better quality?" Just random musing here, but I do remember that when Tony and were first married we thought round steak was the bomb! We'd never had anything like that growing up.

Also very excited because Syfy is premiering Mongolian Death Worms Saturday night....

Blogging, part deux

Okay,trying this again. One reason I haven't been posting is just simply the logistics of my schedule. I have most often posted from work - typically over lunch breaks - but of course using my work computer. My bosses here are terrific, and I know they wouldn't technically have a problem with this, but I've always been a bit queasy about it. (And, I'm totally on board with a policy like this.) Anyway, I thought I'd pretty much shoot myself if I got fired for something this stupid. And, YES, of course I have a computer at home, but it's just hard to sit down and think even MORE, even just to blog. Deciding that the only reasonable solution all the way around was to take a portable computer to work, well, sorry, but laptops are still frickin' heavy. So, voila, a solution:

Vivienne Tam Butterfly Digital Clutch

As I told Teresa, it is just so friggin' cute I can't STAND it!

Peeking out....

Yoo hoo.....