June 18, 2009

I'm back from Bead& Button and finally able to get back on EBay as well as learning how to use FaceBook. What an interesting site! I can see why so many people use it to stay connected. Next order of business is to update my website with some of my new work...

May 28, 2009

For those of you who are interested in seeing and experiencing the biggest and best retail bead show in the nation, don't miss the upcoming Bead & Button Show In Milwaukee, WI. I'm thinking that it may be my last year to do the show. It's getting much too hard to transport my display and booth items as well as my inventory across the country. It's expensive, stressful and seems kind of crazy after doing it for the last ten years. I'm planning on doing only my West Coast shows in 2010.

The airlines make it more difficult for bead artists each year to do the show circuits. If you are one of my customers who visit me at the B&B Show, I want you to know that I will miss all of you that have made this show such a success and fun event each year. I love the city of Milwaukee, the wonderful beaders with their fantastic creations and the artists who create such supportive environment. I've met many wonderful friends and artists and will miss you all next year.

May 18, 2009

It's been a rough winter in Portland this year and the rain seemed non-stop this Spring. But, this weekend we had 3 straight days of 80 degree, sunny weather and everyone in the city was outside riding, walking, tending gardens, etc. It was so beautiful.

So, what did we do? Well, we picked up our grandson and headed to McMinnville for the annual UFO Festival. It is awesome and for a 6 year old boy it's almost heaven! I think it's one of the reasons that people love this part of the country. You should really check it out if you live in the area. UFO Festival

I spent most of the day yesterday at the Oregon Convention Center visiting my artist friends at the Art & Elegance Show (which is hosted by the Portland Bead Society) and the other art quild shows that are going on all weekend. I highly recommend that you try and make the shows if you are close enough to do so. It's quite a treat to see all that talent in one centralized location!

April 16th, 2009

Whoa.....got my taxes filed a few hours before the deadline. <<sigh>> Every year it is such a major endeavor. Today I took a vacation day to celebrate.

BTW, I took down my rant about the jewelry designer who would not return my beads to me for 6 months. They arrived in the mail today with no note or apology. Just the same, I am grateful that she was honest enough to return them.

March 3, 2009

It has been a long time since I have been able to post in my Journal. I had a major computer crash that required a new CPU and new software and then I had to go out of town for more than 5 weeks! I have never felt so unconnected. I went without email and the internet and started to realize how much I rely on my computer in my everyday life. I am now in the process of creating new work for upcoming shows and have made a resolution to update my website! For those of you who have been tryint to contact me....I am finally able to answer my emails! Yahoooo...

December 5, 2008

What a whirlwind the past few weeks have been! We just got back from Thanksgiving with our extended families in Toledo, Ohio and spent a few days in Detroit, MI to attend the wedding of my stepson, Erik and his lovely bride, Daryl. It was a week of memories that we will cherish. Now....on to the Christmas festivities! Time flies so quickly these days...

November 19, 2008

First of all, I have to apologize for the months of silence! My software crashed and I have not been able to access my website until today! No kidding! I had to buy an old software version on Ebay because they don't even make the software that I have been using for 4 years. Talk about frustrated! Grrrrrrrrr.

I had a great summer and completed my shows for the year. I have had some wonderful feedback on my new work and hope to create lots of new colors and patterns for Bead & Button 2009. Many artist friends seem to have been dropping shows this year due to the sagging economy and difficulty makind ends meet by making and selling glass beads. I miss them and hope they will be back at the shows when the economy improves. Everyone I talk to seems to be reinvigorated by Obama's election and 'hope' fills the shows even if the money isn't flowing to the artists.

Some of my new work:

August 20, 2008

Back from the Gathering in Oakland. It was a wonderful, hectic conference that allowed me to reconnect with some bead maker friends that I have missed over the past few years. I also met and saw some great new artists there that are definitely speaking with their own "voice" in beadmaking techniques. This new and creative energy flowing through the ISGB organization gives me hope. It was nice to see that some fantastic new people are now taking the helm to make the ISGB into an organization one can be proud of. There was some shameless self-promotion going on, as usual, but I think the conference has come a long way.

I bought some exciting new tools from Arrowsprings (the new Leaf Vaccum), Wales Apparatus (graphite parallel press pliers), Jim Moore (the Bead Releaser) and Zoozi's (3 exciting new bead presses. Of course, I also bought pounds of new Double Helix glass colors which are just too cool to describe! The people who make these tools and glass are almost as great as the tools they sell! I love these people!

July 30, 2008

Wow! I hadn't realized that it had been so long since I posted to my Journal page. Sorry! Life has been such a whirlwind this summer that I haven't had much time to think of all stuff I normally do on a day-to-day basis.

The Gas Conference was a great experience but I missed some of the highlights by being a volunteer. I don't think I will do that again. I just got to listen to people complain at the information desk for 4 days - not the most pleasant experience!

I am leaving in a few days for the ISGB Gathering in Oakland, CA. This will be the first conference I've attended since Portland. I am looking forward to it particularly since a beadmaker friend and I will be taking a road trip there together. It will be an adventure.

I have been making some new bead designs and jewelry this month. I am trying to be more experimental with silver colorations and designs. I am really enjoying the process of exploring all the colors from Double Helix Glass and TAG. It's been a blast!

June 13, 2008

I'm back from Milwaukee, WI and another year of Bead & Button is over and done with. This year was the trip from hell. There were softball sized hailstones, tornadoes, floods, thunderstorms, lightning, fires, flight cancellations, flight delays and so many other problems that it was just amazing that so many people were able to attend the show. I don't think I have ever done a show with so many problems to overcome. You could hear stories from everyone at the show and then be just plain grateful that you were safe, warm dry and had a home to go to after the show. No kidding!

The GAS Conference is coming to town next week! Check it out! This is such a great opportunity to experience the best of the glass world and it is in my own 'back yard'. I am in heaven. If you love glass and can possibly attend....don't hesitate to do so! See you there!

May 16, 2008

It has been a hectic month, as usual, particularly for this time of year. My brother, Doug, just underwent quadruple bypass surgery which was a wake-up call for me and the family. No matter how young you feel, you are getting older every year. I need to start thinking about how to reduce some stress and make more of each and every day. I see too many of my friends having strokes and debilitating illnesses. I have difficulty imagining how I could deal with losing someone. Time to take care of ourselves. Damn ......I suppose that means dieting and exercise.LOL

Here are some of my new "Neon Chill" beads...........

April 14, 2008

Color me happy! My tax returns are in the mail! Yoo Hoo! This is one of my all time biggest pains each year and I always feel such relief to get it done. There ought to be a holiday on April 16th each year! The Bead Expo Show in Portland was a very nice venture and I was happy to hear that they will be back in Portland next September. I think they have the ability to seriously compete with Bead & Button in the years ahead. That will be such a wonderful thing to have on the West Coast and in Portland. Yay!

March 25, 2008

I finally have all my beads packed and ready for the Bead Expo Show this weekend in Portland. I spend so much time in the studio before a show like this that I need to take a few days off and just get out of the house. It appears that Spring has arrived and the flowers are coming up all over the neighborhood. Warren and I went for a walk yesterday and, as always, I am grateful for living here......particularly when our Ohio relatives are getting hit by yet another snow storm. I am so looking forward to the summer when the GAS Conference comes to Portland. I hope many of you will be able to attend the conference. It is a fantastic event! You shouldn't miss it if you love glass art and would like to watch the best glass artists in the world.

March 13, 2008

Life has been hectic and wonderful for me the past few months. My husband insisted that I take time off and we found time for a week in Maui which was all that you can imagine it to be. After a month of travel and recreation, I am back in the studio making lots and lots of beads for the upcoming shows. I have been blessed in this life and get to choose how to spend my days so I am happily back to work....creating new bead styles for the shows and trying out some new glass rods from Olympic Color Rods that I saw at our recent ORBS meeting. I am loving the effects of the silvered rods as well as the Double Helix glass that I am finally getting to play with on the torch. Such fun! Can't wait to share these new beads!

January 30, 2008

I've been working on lots of new bead designs this month. I taught some classes and have been enjoying a few weeks off to play in the studio. I added a new show for 2008 and decided not to do the Art & Elegance Show this year. Bead Expo (my new show) will be in Portland this Spring and I decided to give it a try. I was thrilled to see my table will be next to Lani Ching and Jim Jones. We are going to have a great time! They are such special people and I love spending time with them at the shows. Their work is an inspiration for all beadmakers. I am finally back on eBay and will try and stay on 2-3 weeks of each month. Sorry for the long absence! I have been so busy these last few months!

December 14, 2007

I realize that many of you have been worried about me. Thanks for your emails. I'm back in Portland and doing fine. Warren and I have been doing a great deal of traveling and I have been without a computer for several weeks. Needless to say, I have not been back on Ebay yet and I promise to fix that by January 1st. This time of the year is always crazy and 2007 has been exceptionally hectic. Recently, we purchased a second home and I am trying to set up another studio with a friend in Eureka, CA. Traveling back and forth has been difficult and time-consuming. It's nice to be home again for a few weeks!

October 30, 2007

Sorry for the long absence! I have been trying to get so much done and there have not been enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to get done. I'm sure you can all relate to that sentiment. The ORBS hosted a seminar at Bullseye Glass on Sunday with Gwynne Ruckenbrod, the Executive Director of ISGB. Fire and Rain, Washington's ISGB chapter from Seattle joined us and it was a fabulous learning experience! It was inspirational in more ways than I can relate to you. I'm glad that I took a break from the studio to attend the seminar.

This week in the PBS Bazaar and next week is BABE! See you there! Then I can take a rest and get back on EBay! Thanks for your patience!

September 27, 2007

I have been trying to keep a delicate balance with my eBay auctions-studio time-and personal time and find that I need to give up something for a few weeks. Looks like I will be taking a few weeks off from eBay. Not enough hours in the day to get everything done!

September 24, 2007

Yesterday was our ORBS picnic meeting at Laurelhurst Park. It was a nice way to end the summer. It's so hard to believe it is over already but the temperatures are chilly and the leaves are changing so I know it's not my imagination. I am back in the studio making beads for the shows in November. The holidays are just around the corner!

My beads were featured in a design photo in Belle Armoire this month (jewelry by Erin Klein) and I wish they had mentioned my name but c'est la vie!

August 23, 2007

I am finally recovering from 2 weeks of a bronchitis/pneumonia that started while I was attending the Frantz Bash. I guess I can't fight off the 'bugs' like I could when I was younger! The weather here would have been perfect to work in the studio but I was in bed for a week trying to get well. Damn! I bought some fantastic new colors from Double Helix and I am dying to use two new imprint tools from Jim Moore! I hope to get back to work soon.

August 7, 2007

Oh the lazy days of summer.... I've been traveling for the last few weeks and have finally returned home and an trying to get some work done. It's so hard to get out of "vacation mode"! We went to Hawaii for a week and in a few days we are leaving to spend some time in Puget Sound, WA. Actually, we went to Oahu to walk in the Hawaii 2007 NAMI Walk to honor one of our friends, David, who died several years ago from cancer. He spent the last few years of his life trying to help the mentally ill in Oahu. The 2007 Walk was in his honor.

Well....now to get back to the studio and eBay!

July 19, 2007

I haven't had this much free time in years! I'm really taking advantage of my down-time from the studio and just enjoying the daily life at home. Warren and I took our family to the coast for a week and then took a road trip to Northern California to visit my relatives in Eureka. I planned on getting back into the studio last week but a major heat wave took Portland by surprise and I just couldn't bear to get in front of a torch when it was that hot.

It's funny how an extra 10-15 degrees temperature outside can throw off your timing at the torch and just make it miserable to work. When I was a glassblower in Ohio, I could barely work in the summer due to the combined heat factors. Our glass shop had a glass wall and the sun would beat down on us while we were working at the furnace. I used to drink a gallon of water when I worked more than 3 hours in the shop. Sometimes, I would nearly pass out at the glory hole. It got rather dangerous when the summer heat was really high. It gave me visions of what Hades must be like! I suppose that's why I have an aversion to working in a hot studio even now.

June 18, 2007

Bead & Button was bigger and better than ever this year! I was able to see lots of friends and fellow beadmakers. Milwaukee weather was great and my energy level was fairly good for a change. Even so, I am glad it's over for another year. I plan on playing with some new colors and designs this summer so it will be fun to try out some new ideas.

Erin Klein, a lovely person and a wonderful jewelry designer, presented me with a necklace that she made with my beads from last year's B&B Show. She and I are both thrilled that it will be featured in the Fall issue of Belle Armoire Magazine. I got to wear the necklace all week and it is just plain gorgeous!! I received soooooo many compliments!

Kate McKinnon invited Warren and I to stay at her new mansion in Tucson next winter while we take in the the Tucson shows and take a road trip to the Grand Canyon. I can't wait!! I don't know if you are familiar with Kate's work but she makes the most beautiful jewelry and is truly a beautiful and generous person. It will be so nice to spend some time with her again!