The Green Man

I received a request from a friend of mine to create a Viking knit bracelet that has some beads shaped like the Green Man on them. This friend has an affinity for this Celtic motif and uses it in her home and even has a Green Man tattoo. Of course, I love a challenge and I also love to sculpt in glass. Some of you who read my blog entry from October 7, about soul-filling, have already seen the beads.

The finished bracelet looks like this:


It's on the way to my friend in Illinois right now. Enjoy, Katie!

Edited to add: The lovely wirework endcaps are a creation of the brilliant Kerry Bogert. I want to be sure to give her credit for the design of those!

It Never Gets Old

I know that those of you who are subscribers to Interweave Press's magazine, Step By Step Wire Jewelry, will not be surprised by this, as you'll have already seen it, but *I* just got to see it, and I am beyond thrilled!

I am in the October/ November issue of Step By Step Wire Jewelry!!!



This was the very first article that I submitted that was accepted for publication, and it was so exciting to see it finally in print! Of course, I spent all of last week running to the Barnes and Noble near my house to see if it had gotten to the stands yet, and when it did, I bought two copies! (One for me and one for my mom, of course!)

The next day, a package arrived from Interweave that was my bracelets and a complimentary copy of the mag. WOO! There was even my bio and picture (taken at the Barbara Lewis workshop in Northern VA back in March)!

So. Exciting.

Aside from MY article in the magazine, there are a bunch of other great projects in there from friends of mine (and people I don't know yet!). Definitely check out Kerry Bogert's 'Sugar Plum Petticoats' -- I'm going to try those round links in a piece later in the week, I think. Also, Cindy Wimmer's 'Spirit Dancer' necklace is amazing! And Dia Daniels' 'Fetish Pendant' is fantastic....another idea I had been toying with, and it's so cool to see someone else's interpretation. If you don't already have this magazine, I suggest you go get it.

I'll be asking Santa for a subscription this Christmas, that's for sure. :)

Getting back to it...

Okay, so I think I took the month of August pretty much off. Too hot to make beads, too hot to do much, kids running around, work stuff needed doing, and frankly, I was out of inspiring ideas.

But fall is (finally!) coming, and it's on, now, baby!

My first big (real) art show is on September 26 (Arts Around The Lake at the University of Richmond), and I am in "make" mode, planning the inventory I am going to need. Thankfully the preschoolers go back on the 14th, and I know that I will be spending every preschool morning at the torch, making the beads, and at the table, making the jewelry.

Halloween is right around the corner, and so is Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's early, for the September show, but I am planning to have all 3 holidays covered in some way for my displays.

Right now, I'm working on a series of bracelets and some necklaces in "theme" colors....I am making bead sets in specific color palettes that will be simply strung and turned into earrings.

For example, the 'Hallowscream' line palettes are:
lime green/orange/black/purple
black/white/grey
lime/orange/black
orange/black/purple

I'll make sets in these color schemes and do a simple bracelet, earrings and necklace for each, and then a number of single sculpted pendants: ghosts, pumpkins, bats, etc.

Here are some of the beads from the first go-round:
I'm planning to do a Fall palette, a Christmas palette, and a Winter palette. I think I can manage enough beads to have 6 bracelets, at least 6 pairs of earrings, and 6 necklaces for each palette, plus any sculptural single pendants I think of.

I'll be making many more beads for the 'Bloomz' line I've been doing, and trying for 8 or so bracelets, earring pairs and pendants. Then there will be the rest, which will be my one-off designs, and the work that has been published recently.

God, I hope that is enough. It might not be, but there is my plan, not having done the show before.

I pray that my sales will be sufficient to allow me to buy my new torch, pay (off?) my kiln, and start paying for an oxygen concentrator.

The sales needed for those goals approaches the $1K mark. Realistically, can I do that in one day? I don't know. Should I try for it and set myself up for it? Absolutely.

And so, I pray.

Please let me stay positive throughout this incredibly busy September, let me get done what needs to be gotten done, and please let me not get to stressed out while doing it. And please help me to see the path clear to the goals I have set up for myself so I can finally, finally get to where I want to be.

And I cross my fingers, and I plan, and make, and think, and create, and design, and set-up and tear down and rearrange.

Wouldn't it be something? A new *real* torch, an oxygen concentrator AND a kiln by the end of 2010?

So Excited!!

It's ON, people!

On Thursday evening, a package showed up on my doorstep addressed to me. I almost never get exciting packages in the mail, unless I order something, so this was unexpected. The return address gave it away, though -- Northridge Publishing, the publisher of Bead Trends magazine!

In the box was my necklace, "Gaslights", and two copies of the September 2010 issue of Bead Trends!
On pages 86 and 87, you will find a far more beautiful photograph of my necklace than I could ever take, and the tutorial for making it.

Oh, THIS is the necklace, as photographed by me:

I talked about it last fall, in this post here, having worn it to a local art show and gotten lots of compliments and comments on it. (The post I am referencing is one in my 'personal' blog, mostly about my life and my friends and family)

This was the first necklace I have submitted to bead Trends, and the second piece I submitted to any magazine, following encouragement by my friends Cindy Wimmer and Kerry Bogert.

What's really awesome is that I will have five pieces of my work shown in five different magazine issues between now and probably January. It's an accomplishment for me, and I am hoping that next year I can at least do that many, or maybe more.

I'm certainly going to try!

Anyway, I really wants to say thanks for Cindy and Kerry for all of their support, always, and their encouragement, and for giving me the little push I needed to be confident and send my work out into the world on this level. Thank you, ladies, so very much!

This necklace should be in my Etsy shop later today, if anyone is interested. I'll post the link later on!

Have an inspired day!

Walking Along The Ocean

I love the beach. I spent half of my childhood living in Miami, so the beach and I, we're pretty well acquainted. I don't get to go nearly as often as I'd like to these days, but I do dream about walking along the shoreline, especially as the sun sets, and I adore listening to the waves crash on the sand. So relaxing. I've been working on some beach-themed pieces lately, combining my favorite turquoise blues and playing with different layers of blue glass. I love how, in the Carribean, the water takes on SO MANY different shades of blue. One of my favorite things about the waters around Miami is the clarity and depth of blue there is.

(And the fact that the water is so clear has completely spoiled me for swimming in water I cannot see to the bottom of. No lakes, rivers, or not-clear ocean water for me, nope!)

Anyway, so one of my most favorite creations of late is this one, called Along the Ocean:
In keeping with my goal to list something new every week in my Etsy shop, this piece is currently available at this link.

This Week's Listings! And other stuff...

I have listed a trio of new items in my Etsy shop. Some of you may recall the new beads I started making in the late spring, the 'Bloomz' series. I finally got some pieces made with those beads and got them listed in my shop. I hope to make up more sets with other Bloomz beads and get those in the shop soon, too. But go have a look at the pendant, earrings, and bracelet I have listed!

(Free shipping if you snag all three of the pieces!)

In other news, thanks for all the support and comments on my decision and plans the other day. It always means so much to me to know that I have supportive friends out there in cyberspace!

And, I am still learning how to really use Twitter, but I ahve been followed by Lindstrom USA, the maker of very fine jewelry tools. They loved my business name and tweeted about it, which is awesome in and of itself, but they also tweeted a link to my Electric Avenue bracelet, also in my shop at the moment. They thought it was cool! I LOVE the internet!

And a question for my fellow jewelry artists who operate a business.....I need business materials, like stickers and address labels and maybe even thank-you notes with a business logo on them. Does anyone have any favorite graphic designers they have done business with who could help me out?

Thanks, all. Have a great Monday, and as always, there will be more to come...

On Their Way!

Two more packages are going out to publishers today! This makes a total of FOUR publications for me this year. And what's surprising (to me anyway) is that at the beginning of January you know how many I had as a goal?

NONE.

I didn't even think it was possible.

So, get out there and "do the thing you think you cannot do", because I am here to tell you, you CAN.


You'll just have to stay tuned now to find out all the details...

And we're on Day 5 of Bead Soup!

**EDITED TO ADD.....The three Bead Soup pieces, 'Reach' and the matching earrings, and 'Wise In The Ways' will ALL be listed in my Etsy shop by the end of the week. See my shop link on the sidebar ----->


This stuff never goes stale! Check out the list of today's yummy and fresh soup designs, all served up virtually -- no calories, no guilt, and always ready to serve!

48. Nan, Spirit Rattles

49. Amy, Copper Diem

50. Malin, Beading by Malin de Koning

51. Anne, Gardanne Glass Lampwork

52. Alice, Alice's Beads and Baubles

53. Barbara, Second Surf

54. Amanda, Articulations

55. Heather, Humble Beads

56. Melissa, Melissa Meman, Art, Life, Love

57. Kate, Organic Odysseys

58. Patti, PJ Clark Designs

59. Stefanie, Stefanie's Sammelsurium

____________________________________________________________

I promised you guys some of my own new work, besides the Bead Soup pieces. Well, here I am to deliver....I picked up the new issue of Easy Wire (which, if you don't own it, you should go get it). In that issue, there are a number of pieces by one of my very favorite jewelry artists, Cindy Wimmer. She even had one of her pieces on the cover! I love that wire rose necklace so much that I went ahead and made one for myself!

I also made myself some earrings to go with the necklace.....

There's a bracelet, but I have not finished it to my satisfaction as yet....still experimenting with design ideas using the wire rose pieces. Of course, working with Cindy's ideas sparked all kinds of new ideas for me, which is awesome! I love when that happens!

With my necklace, I'm not especially in love with the ribbons, although I loved the ones Cindy used on her necklace. I'm thinking of adding some strung seed beads, or maybe a larger piece of ribbon or something. I also used a copper chain as opposed to a silver one. I do like the contrast between metals, but I just didn't have any silver chain available when the need to make this necklace came over me. :)

Anyway, that's what I have been up to lately! How about you? What's up in your neck of the woods?

Dusk

I listed this beautiful Viking knit bracelet in my Etsy shop last night.

Sneaky

I can't show you the WHOLE THING yet, but here is a sneak preview of ONE of the pieces I am making for the Bead Soup Blog Party kicking off this month!

I had enough materials to make two pieces, so I am working out the design for the second one right now....

This is going to be so much fun!

A quickie for the weekend

I'm learning honest-to-goodness metalsmithing!

Not surprisingly, it's HARD to hammer a piece of 16ga copper sheet into this shape. It's fun, though, and this bowl isn't quite finished yet. More hammering, some application of heat, and more hammering after that.

And....I made end-of-year gifts for the little kids' preschool teachers. Single-charm bracelets....silverplated chain with one of my Bloomz beads as the charm:

The teachers all loved them, which makes me happy. They do an incredible job for little pay, and we are grateful for their dedication to our little ones.

What else...what else.....oh! My garden is really growing now! Must be all the heat, humidity and rain we have been having. I must have a dozen or more tomatoes just waiting to get ripe. Aaah...I cannot wait to sink my teeth into the first tomato sandwich of the season!
I especially love looking out into my yard and seeing that happy pinwheel spinning in the breeze! The shot of color amidst all the lush greens of summer is particularly lovely.

I hope you all have a great weekend....next week will hopefully bring more jewelry and beads to show off, and --gasp!-- maybe I'll even update my Etsy shop with some new lovelies!

Stay tuned!

A quick update before I lose my mind!

Thanks, everyone, for all the fantastic comment-love about my birthday necklace! I really appreciate everyone who took the time to check out the latest crazy idea I had. :) I love the necklace, and I have worn it a few times, taken it to a demo I did last weekend, and have found a spot near my work area (in the house, not in the garage!) that I can hang it, so I can see it all the time. And turning 40 wasn't so bad, either. I had a terrific birthday celebration that my amazing husband put together that was attended by a huge number of family and friends. And I think I am doing pretty good for forty, so there!

This Saturday begins the summer farmer's market season around here, and I am getting my stuff together to be at the St. Stephen's Episcopal Church market. I'll be there from 8am to noon, at least two Saturdays a month until November. In May, I'll be there May 1 and 8 and 22.

I've got so many great ideas for things this year, and I am desperately trying to get my act together so I can be prepared and ready. I'll be offering custom copper mother's and grandmother's bracelets, stamped with kids' and grandkids' names. I've got a line of flower pendants called Bloomz (that I don't have a finished photo of yet!), some more Viking knit bracelets with my Bubble beads, like I showed here, and my usual assortment of charms, pendants and other goodies.

Oh, wait, I just found a picture of my Bloomz beads, not yet made into pendants, but here ya go:
I love this design. Pretty and simple.

I hope if any of you are local to Richmond, Virginia and are available this Saturday, that you come on out to the market! It's a fantastic place with a nice variety of vendors -- and of course I'll be there too! But now....gotta get back to work to get ready!

A birthday

Ok, so I turned forty yesterday.....yep, I was born on the original Earth Day, back in 1970. It's a distinction I have always enjoyed, honestly. I've never had a birthday that I can remember that wasn't sunny and gorgeous, which is perfect for getting into the spirit of celebrating the planet AND a birthday. Yesterday was no different. :)

I think I had mentioned a while back about creating a necklace for myself that would be somewhat commemorative of my milestone birthday. As with most projects, I didn't get it done *exactly* on time, but it is finished now, and I love it.

Here is "The Road Less Traveled":

It's a difficult necklace to photograph, because it's long (about 21"). I wanted something that was busy and full of my favorite things....and I wanted to include beads that represented some of the best or most life-altering things that have happened in the last forty years. The overall necklace shape is a Y, or rosary shape, which for me, says much more about devotion and faith than anything else I came up with.

There is a closer look at the pendant portion:
The pendant itself is polymer clay. In making it, I thought of my favorite poem, Robert Frost's "The Road Less Traveled", from which I usually take a quote to sum up some of my approach to my life:

Two roads diverged in the wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference.

The beads above the heart pendant represent, from left to right, my middle daughter Wren (she loves pink), my oldest daughter Kira (she loves the beach), my husband Travis (his 'colors' are black, white and green), and my son, Noah (he just loves).

I made the white dove bead at the top to signify the peace in family life -- having a family, knowing your family is complete, having everyone safe and together.

On one side of the necklace, I hung beads that represent achievement of one of my most important things...education:

Here, the blue and white bead is for my undergraduate degree (SUNY-Geneseo!) and the purple and white, for my high school (Go Southwest Eagles!).
It's not a great picture, but the purple and yellow bead is for my graduate degree (James Madison University).

On the other side of the necklace, are the beads representing other life choices, some that worked out and some that...didn't:
My favorites have to be the BIG hollow beads....there are four of them, one for each decade. In the rosary, there are larger beads interspersed at intervals with the smaller beads. these are called 'decade' beads, and while they don't necessarily represent actual decades in years, the larger beads serve that purpose here. In all my favorite colors, of course. :)

I used hammered copper rings and copper links as the metals in this piece, because the copper is warm and takes on a beautiful patina all by itself as the piece is worn. Circles for the cyclical nature of life, and randomly-wrapped copper links because of the messiness and unpredictability of life.

I didn't get the piece done in time to wear it yesterday, and that's okay. I'm planning to wear it some today and maybe this weekend. I'm just happy I finished it, and was able to put it together the way I want. Even if I don't wear it that much, I have it as a labor of love and to remind me of all the good things in my life.

Happy birthday to me. :)

Creative Pep Talk

So, the world of art jewelry is not all beautiful beads, flowing wire designs, and gorgeous components. At least not MY art jewelry world. Sometimes I end up with weird stuff, or total junk, or wire marred, bent, broken and mangled beyond rescue. Sometimes I *think* I have a fantastic design no one else has ever seen, and then....then the internet ruins my Nirvana when I find the idea --that I have lovingly mused over, dreamed about, and sketched for three days-- was already done by someone else.

Today is this day.

I think I am in an artistic bad mood.

Nothing I am touching today is becoming something beautiful, and worse, I am beginning to think there are no real original ideas left in this world. well, I know that's not really true, because if it were, how would we as a human race continue to innovate as we do?

I think now is an opportune time for a re-reading of The Incomplete Manifesto. Of particular significance today are points 11, 17, 23, 26, and especially 35.

Much to think about....mindset to realign....maybe some mindless activity is in order this afternoon.


I'll close with a picture of the latest item to appear in my shop. This is 'Beachside', a Viking knit bracelet with my own lampwork beads. Available in the shop right now!

Earrings!

I love earrings. I hate making earring pair beads, because I have such a hard time sometimes getting two beads the same! However, once in a while, the glasswork gods shine down upon me and I actually manage two beads in the same size and same decoration. Then I get to make my earrings!
Dark Dots -- sterling silver earwires, lampwork beads by me!

Dangly Dots -- sterling silver wirework and earwires, red and white lampwork dot beads by me!


The Blues -- sterling silver wire, blue and green lampwork dot beads by me!

They should all be in my Etsy shop in a few minutes!

Ideas

Maybe this post will be somewhat of a tease. I have SO MANY cool ideas right now....but I can't share them just yet.

Bracelets, earrings, necklaces...ideas from ancient Greece and Rome and old Celtic symbolism...all very cool stuff. I promise I'll share, as soon as I get to a point where I can do that.

For now, though, enjoy some of these:
Egg earrings...


Farmer's Market charms....in the Etsy shop (as soon as I finish posting this!)


And Tea With Honey and Lemon...


It's raining like crazy here today, so no photography. I should probably get a few more necklaces and things done today, and work on those top-secret ideas of mine.
Heehee...enjoy your day!

New Stuff Day!

I've been working on some new things....bought a ring mandrel from Jeanette at Fundametals, and have been trying it out!
The third one from the left is my absolute favorite in this bunch. I did learn a few things doing these, though....one is, half-hard wire is NO FUN to try to work this small with. It really just does not want to spiral and bend easily. I have no dead soft, hence the trials with the half-hard. :(
I also learned that I need three hands for getting a ring started on the mandrel! I hope that improves with practice.

I'm keeping this one for myself.

Another thing I am working on is my birthday necklace. I'm turning 40 next month, and I am planning to make myself a necklace that is symbolic of my life thus far. I've already started working on the beads for it, but here is a quick shot of my sketchbook with some of my ideas.

I'll show more pix as I get more of the necklace done, and tell you the whole story about it in a few weeks. My birthday is April 22, the very first Earth Day, and even though I am rather bewildered by the fact that I am turning 40 (HOW did I get to be 40!?!), I'm actually starting to be okay with it. I think.

Happy Spring!!

Still working.....

The weather here in Virginia has been truly sublime the past few days. After a much harder, snowier, and colder winter than we have had in years, spring is welcome relief. I gathered all my metalworking tools, wire, beads and everything I thought I might need and went out on the deck in my bare feet to bask in the warm sunshine and do some creating.

I'd like to thank the glorious sunshine for these new creations:


In other news, the show I did yesterday wasn't so terrific. Boo! The saving grace was the beautiful weather, though, and some cool fellow vendors. I'm gearing up for the summer market season, which opens around here on May 1.

Until then, I will be listing at least one new item every other day or so in my Etsy shop. Go and check out the new things I am making! Everyone needs something new and colorful for spring!

Don't forget to become a fan of A Hot Piece of Glass on Facebook, too!

Working....

This is part of my workspace. In our house with five people in it, space is always limited. My glassworking stuff is in the laundry room, next to the washer and dryer. My kiln for batch annealing is in the garage, next to my husband's workbench, on which my metalworking tools and equipment now live. The office (really part of our garage converted into a room) is home to not only our home office, but also my sewing machines and other textile fun and games. And in the corner of the kitchen, next to the fridge and near my laptop on its stand, is my jewelry-making stuff. I call this corner of the room my Command Center, because I do spend a fair amount of time here, either on the computer, cooking in the kitchen, or making jewelry.

I can't really complain, though. I am lucky to have the space that I do. We won't discuss the ginormous sewing and craft room I had a few years ago in this house...it's now my eldest daughter's bedroom, because her room was given over to Wren, and Wren gave up her room for Noah. All the bedrooms are taken now, so I have spread out all over the house. I think the only thing that is slightly difficult is that I can't put hot beads right into the kiln as I work them, because my husband, as supportive and wonderful as he is, put his foot down about my running even my teeny kiln inside the house. :)

Anyway, I keep saying we need a 5 bedroom house, or at least one with a basement, but I do not want to move. Nope. I love this house, even as I peruse the real estate ads on Sunday mornings (it's a habit I think I acquired from my dad, who's always looking). Someday, maybe, we'll have a big house in the country on ten acres of land, but for now, I still make pretty things all over the place. And I'm fine with that.

Savoring Saturday

Just a look at some of what is making me happy right now....