Practice, Practice, Practice

I have made a vow to myself to make a concentrated effort to master the hollow technique using the puffy mandrel.  These are two attempts, it may not look like it but I see some progress.  Each time I am going to try with clear so I can sort of see what it going on with the air inside the bead.  They are definitely not round.  I added the black glass to try to mask the wonkyness. 

I absolutely love this combination.  This is a 104 COE German glass called multicolor combined with a crystal clear frit in a 96 COE.  The bead has hints of purple, green, and blue.  The bead is very shiny which indicates that there is silver at the surface.  I will definitely use this combination on a lot more beads. 

This bead is from a cobalt wine bottle.  I then added baking soda to the outside of the bead to give it a antique look.  It seems to age the look of the bead.  I may play with this idea more, maybe etch it and see if it adds another layer of depth.

This is a set that I made with a teacher in mind, but instead she liked the small lumpy hollow.  She wants a whole bracelet out of those.  Practice, Practice, Practice.

I also have been concentrating on adding items to my etsy store.  It was empty for awhile, now slowly filling it up.  This is the first time I have finished items for sale in my store.  I do not have any Art Fairs planned for the spring, so I thought I would try selling some pieces online. 

I have also still been tweaking my web site.  So far it has had over 300 page views, pretty cool.  Although I think some are for the wrong reasons, I am getting spam emails that seem to be aimed at hosting my web page.

Until next time, Cheryl.

The Big Move

The big move to NC I think is complete. It was hot, long and sad. But everyone has survived. Maggie and Brian's apartment is coming together nicely. They did an awesome job of being organized and resourceful. The apartment is very comfortable and reflects their personalities. Hopefully the parents did not stress the two of them too much. Danny and I are back home and a little sad without her. We are also a lot poorer. Our fairly new car had issues and barely got her stuff down there. The next day it had a major melt down. Due to Danny's diligence we did get it fixed on Monday morning and were able to return on schedule.

On the way home we stopped at a Glass distributor in Asheville, NC, Mountain Arts Glass. Steven was so helpful without being annoying (a fine line with me). He was so enthusiastic. Danny was so patient and supportive also. It was awesome to see all the colors in person. They also had the Puffy mandrel that I have wanted but did not want to pay shipping on. Can't wait to try to make a hollow bead on it. I read the directions and am a little hesitant. It looks like patting your tummy at the same time as rubbing your head. LOL. I think I will try it with my cheapest and ugliest glass and when I am all by myself. The cuss words might be a problem. Karen Johnson Kane has a necklace that has several unique hollow beads on it. It is a beautiful necklace. After seeing it last fall, I have been interested in trying hollow beads. The hollows in this necklace are all different shapes and really cool.

Yesterday, trying to recuperate from the weekend, I needed to mow the knee deep grass. I was making lots of progress, although at a very high setting. Then the oddest thing happened. The blade just fell off the riding mower. What is up with that?

Patrick is getting everything together to spend a year in South Korea. It is hard to try to help him, not knowing what he has done or needs to do. We will be going to Bowling Green this Saturday to try and get a better feel for what he needs. This has been the strangest summer trying to prepare for both of our children to not only live in a different city but different state and different country. How many parents experience that in the same month? Oh well I guess we will adjust, we do not have any choice.