Mother's Pendants

Now that the gifts have been delivered, I can post pictures of what I was asked to make for two friends. One, a mom of a little boy named Liam, and the other, her sister, new mom to Roman. Katie, the mom of Liam, asked me to make these for her and for Dominique as Mother's Day gifts.

I might have to make something similar for myself.

of course, now I must buy more tools. I need a Swanstrom Disc Cutter, and the Euro-Tool Power Punch, and many, many font stamps, and of course, design stamps and more sheet metal and oh! a rolling mill!!! YEAH!

Um...and a pickle pot and soldering torch...and solder...and hammers....

I love tools.

Colors

Okay, yeah, I'm playing around with the page again....let me know if anything is too hard to see on this page. I'm trying to get the right balance of neutral and warm. :)

More later, I swear.

Soup Goodies!

Okay, so I wrote before about how I am participating in Lori Anderson's Bead Soup party this time around. I've made up my package of goodies and sent it off to it's new home in Indiana, and MY package from my party-partners arrived the other day!

Check this out!
I got TWO sets of yummy lampwork beads:


and the most awesome enameled frog shape, done in beautiful red-browns and yellows and greens:

Oh, and a silver toggle clasp, too!

Now, I have to be honest, at first I thought...hmmm...a frog. A frog? Not really in line with what I normally do. But, this is all about the challenge, right? And it is a beautiful piece and I just knew if I thought about it for a while, I'd come up with something that was spectacular.

The idea is in my head....and almost in my sketchbook....and about to be made into something real....

And I'm not sharing! Nope, not yet!

You'll have to hang on til the start of the party....which is the week of June 19th.

Stay tuned! There are going to be so many just amazing and beautiful works to be seen, I can hardly wait! I'm just dying to see what else everyone is doing!

Ahhhh....Bliss!!!!!

I have to let you all know about something fantastic that is happening right here in Virginia this fall!

Two of my very favorite jewelry designers, Cindy Wimmer of Sweet Bead Studio, and Jeanette Blix Ryan, of Fundametals, have joined forces to create ArtBliss! It's a fantastic new undertaking designed to bring nationally-known art, jewelry and mixed-media instructors to the East coast, specifically, the Washington, DC metro area.

Their inaugural event is going to be held in September, and it will feature several OMG-awesome instructors! Go to the ArtBliss site to check it all out! Oh my gosh, lampworking, jewelry-making, enameling, mixed-media and altered art...it's like art heaven!

And the best part is, it's CLOSE. (well, for me anyway. The DC area is only about an hour and a half from Richmond -- two if there's traffic -- but it's easily accessible from all up and down the coast!).

I have already decided to alter my plans for that weekend. I'm going, one way or another. :D You should, too!

I see a metal and enamel class in my future.....what are YOU going to choose?

SOOOOOUP!

I am participating in my first-ever Bead Soup Party, hosted by the wonderful Lori Anderson, of the blog Pretty Things, and Lori Anderson Designs. The assignment is to trade a small collection of beady goodies in a sort of challenge to then make a piece of jewelry from the goodies you receive from your trading partner. You must include a focal bead and a clasp, but anything else is up to you. I don't want to spoil the surprise of my package of beads for my talented partners at EB Bead and Metalworks, so the picture I am posting here is just a tease.

Of course, the beads are BRIGHT. That's all I'm gonna say....there's a dotty hollow focal, a silver hook clasp, and a few other things. I hope they enjoy the package and find something in there to inspire them. :)

When I get my package from them, I will post a pic of what I received and then the party will be ON! I'm so excited and I can't wait to see it all!

Stay tuned!!

A Monster!

No, I don't mean an actual monster, or even a bead shaped like a monster....I mean this:

The biggest honkin' hollow bead I have made yet. It's one of my favorite glasses, too, a dark cobalt blue. I love it because it is pretty, but also because it is very much a color used by ancient glassworkers in Rome and even Egypt to make items for personal adornment and daily use.


I made the hollow bead as I worked on beads for my other stuff, namely, the "Bloomz" beads I have been making lately.

Excuse the mandrels and remnants of vermiculite in the photos.....I was too excited about the hollow to wait til I cleaned them!

I think the hollow is going to be part of a necklace of all hollow beads in blues and greens. I have an idea....and it involves Greece....

Drinking the Kool-Aid

How many of you know the origin of my Kool-Aid reference in the title? :)

And no looking it up on Urban Dictionary! ;)

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Anyway.....I have decided to add another layer of social networking to my already-networked life. Yup. I'm on Twitter now. Go find me @hotpieceofglass and follow along!

(I can't wait to get a smart phone now....joining the 21st century, that's me! ;) )

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And for today's jewelry-related content that I just know you all are waiting anxiously for (ha!)....

I found a robin's nest with four tiny blue eggs in it the other morning, and HAD TO make some egg beads. These are them:
This is the nest:

How cool is it that I could make beads that look just. like. that!? :)

Now I have to decide how to use them....

I'm Occasionally Late...and forgetful....

I can't believe I forgot to mention this! The other day, I was the lucky, lucky winner of a drawing on Art Bead Scene! I won a set of wonderful ceramic buttons by Jennifer Heynen of Jangles!

Check these awesome things out:

They are gorgeous -- the colors are right up my alley, especially the little orange and red dotty one at the top, and that star! And they came wrapped in tissue paper in my favorite color -- ORANGE!

I haven't decided yet what I am going to make with them. I sew, and am highly addicted to fabric as well as glass and metals, so really, I could use them in any number of projects sloshing around in my brain. Hmmm.... I have some silk cord to match the bottom button....but my middle daughter has declared the star her "favorite, favorite", so it *could* go on a dress for her...

So many options. So little time (sometimes). :)

I'll think of something great. Those terrific buttons are definitely calling out for a fiber of some kind. When I nail it down and make the design, I'll post pix, for sure!

Announcements and Other Good Stuff!

Okay, so I think THIS week I can relax a little and get myself together. Maybe. LOL!

As I mentioned before, it's been a bit crazy around here....multiple things going on on multiple fronts, and that combined with my tendency to overschedule myself sometimes, well, it's just not always pretty.

HOWEVER.

I am practically beside myself with happiness to tell you all that....

My cupcake pendants and other cupcake-y jewelry pieces are being carried by a local specialty bakery! Pearl's Cupcake Shoppe on Grove Avenue here in Richmond has begun to carry a selection of my work!

The best part is that they were thrilled with my interpretation in glass of some of their signature cupcakes! Their cupcakes are fantastically yummy (I know, I have tried about three of them...) and their shop is just adorably decorated. I delivered an order on Thursday this past week, and had to run back on Friday with additional items that they wanted for the Strawberry Street Festival this weekend. I took Noah with me, since Wren was at preschool, and relished a little Mommy-and-son time with a couple of the cupcakes after the business part of our trip was taken care of.

He definitely loved his Plain Jane cupcake -- vanilla with vanilla icing and some sprinkles. It's one of the cupcakes I make in glass for them (which I failed to photograph before taking to the shop! D'oh!).

On Saturday, I had a space at the Market at St. Stephen's, also on Grove Avenue. It was a windy day, but sunny, and I had lots of traffic and good sales. That's always good. I'm also working on improving my display, and I really feel like I am getting there.
I'm moving toward having four 'trees' made from copper pipe and wire to display pendants on, and a brown divided box like the one on the left in the picture, for earrings related to each tree of pendants. So far, I have two trees already made. I know my table coverings look like heck in this shot, but the wind was so strong, they were constantly looking crummy. They needs curtain weights in the corners, and I think I need to get off my butt and actually make the fitted tablecovers I keep saying I need. I like the overall color scheme -- black, orange, dark brown, some red, and a bit of white. I feel like I should change my earring cards to a buff or tan color....what do you think?
You can see one of my copper trees in the back. I really like them for the pendants. Apparently, I also need walls for my tent. My car, while a beautiful shade of red, is not that nice of a background. :)

Anyway, it has been a great weekend overall. I am looking forward to stopping by the cupcake shop on Tuesday to find out how things went at the festival! Now I am all inspired to go out and find other shops and boutiques that might be a good fit for some of my work...hmmm...there are a couple of higher-end maternity and children's boutiques.....I wonder what else might be good?

Definitely, that has been added to my goals list for 2010.

JOY

Because sometimes I forget.....

JOY is

--riding across the Huguenot Bridge on a gloriously sunny day and feeling like I'm riding my own personal rollercoaster.

--"I wuvoo Mommy"

--meeting a goal I didn't know I really had.

--finally letting go and letting the pieces fall in place.

--taking the kids to the zoo with MY father.

--fresh strawberries in season.

--literally smelling the roses along the way.

--glass.

--having a partner in life.

--MUSIC.

Whew!

I had a booth at the Market at St. Stephen's on this past Saturday. It was the opening day of the market, and it was pretty busy. And hot! I guess spring-almost-summer has arrived in Richmond, VA! I think it was over 90 degrees, totally sunny, and insanely windy. I forgot my tent weights and one of my earring stands kept getting blown off the table. At least nothing got broken.

I also forgot my camera, so I didn't get any pictures of my display. Actually, I didn't forget my camera, I just thought I did, and I found it in my purse as I was packing up to go home. Ack!

The market wasn't the best for me....most people were more interested in the freshly-picked strawberries!...but I had a lot of interest, and that is always a good thing. I'm looking forward to going back next Saturday.

Right now, though, I am going crAAAAzy working on at least three custom orders, two that are due this week, and one due next week...but this is all good, right? :) I swear, when it rains around here, it really pours!

In other news, my dad was visiting us and my brother for the past month (Dad lives in Miami), and last week, we took the little kids to the zoo. It was great fun, as always, and my son Noah even fed the giraffes!

It was a great day, and I'm sorry that my dad had to go back home today, but I am always so grateful that he is able to make the trip up here and stay with us.

I think I should get to bed now. More beadmaking must happen in the morning....