The Craft Daily

Silly Monkey

Sigh - all pictures of Isla usually involve a pose of some kind. She's quite proud of her new haircut as well. As you can imagine, she did it all by herself. ;-)

 

Treasury Saturday

Happy Saturday everyone!  I've slept in, enjoying coffee number 2, and have a kiln full of beads from a late night torching session. Perfect start to a Saturday  :-)

I made two lovely treasuries last night/this morning on etsy. Enjoy!

 

   Secret Garden

 

Peaceful Bliss

Busy Week

However, someone is kinda preventing me from getting much done this morning.

 

 heh, he's just so cute. I've now moved him though, and he's gone off to torture Luna the dog for a little while.

I haven't had much of a chance to get in the studio this week, it's amazing how quickly an entire week goes by. Hopefully, next week will give me more time there.

I did however decide to give ebay another shot...Yes, ebay - really. Do people still buy beads over there? I was curious and decided for fun to try it out for a few weeks. I've started the listings at 99 cents - You may get a bargain - although I hope not too good of one ;-)  Worst case scenario is that no one is really shopping over there much anymore, and I give away 3 sets of beads at bargain basement prices. I can live with that.

All of my ebay listings can be found here

New beads just listed

I've got a couple new ones up on etsy, and a focal that I'm listing here only.  Scroll down for more info on the lonely little focal.

I have a wonderful and admitedly kinda weird little focal bead. She's a little smaller than most of my focals, and pretty rustic.  This type of bead is created using enamels and copper foil. The copper foil is boiled into the enamels to create this lovely soft blue verdigris. Normally, I encase a bit thicker, and as such - the surface is pitted, and mottled with tiny little droplets of fine silver. That all said, I would normally relegate this bead to the 'bowl' where I keep all of my other less than perfect beads...It's a pretty big bowl after all these years ;-)

Except....This bead is the most absolutely stunning shade of blue that I have ever got out of these beads. There is a subtle, beautiful glow that I'm not usually able to capture. The bead is gorgeous, with character...and would look stunning in the right piece of jewelry. If you want it - Click below. $23 including shipping anywhere in North America. 

Details:

30x18mm wound on a 3/32 mandrel.

Back at it

March break is over, and the kids are back in school. I think the break was good for them - Maya especially. We received some fabulous news from Maya's teacher last night. She has increased her reading and comprehension by 6 levels since the last time she was tested! (just before march break)

We're both so happy for her - and she's thrilled as well. Maya has struggled with reading for a while now. She 'wants' to learn, but she is so hyper focused on her artwork, that she had little patience for anything else.

In other news, I've been back on the torch making beads - lots of them! I started making lampwork beads well over 10 years ago now. I was completely obsessed for years, and I spent every available free moment at the studio making beads. That all completely changed once I became pregnant with Maya and I developed pregnancy related carpal tunnel syndrome. That pretty much ended my bead making career. Over the years I've tried to get back into it, but there 2 major factors holding me back. 

1) I simply didn't have the time  (yes, yes - we can all make time. Like making time for the gym) ;-)

2) I was deeply disappointed in the quality of beads I was making.

The problem of course is that when I stopped making beads - I was good. My beads were technically excellent, and I never seemed to have a lack of anything new to play with and master.  When I started making beads again, I had a really hard time making a non lopsided spacer. I felt like I was back at square one - and I just didn't want to be there. Simply put, I was far too hard on myself.

I've eased up on myself finally - and i'm just simply playing with the glass. I'm letting the glass lead me. Yes, I'm back to basics. However, I'm not beating myself up over a slightly imperfect end - or if my stringer control is not what it was before. Lastly, I'm allowing myself to have fun with the glass again. We'll see where it takes me :-)

I have a paperwork day today, but hopefully I can squeeze in a few hours later. I do need to at least make up a batch of soap for myself soon though. Can you believe I'm almost out? Lol! I've been looking at the soap making blogs - and I do miss it. I just don't think I'm ready yet though to start up again. For those of you following along waiting to see when I'll reopen. It definitely won't be any earlier than the summer - possibly longer. I have to wait until after I see the specialist before I make a decision.

Productive

I'm a little sad that March Break is just about over. Having the kids at day camp gave me an extra 3 whole hours a day to get work done. What a huge difference those three hours make!  I usually try to spend my morning doing necessary paperwork/computer work - and then head down to the studio in the afternoon. This of course is a great idea in theory only. The paperwork always takes longer than planned, and then by the time I manage to make it down to the studio - it's time to get the kids.

I think I'll have to have another look at my schedule and see if I can come up with a better plan.  In the meantime, I have goodies this week. Here's what I made during my March Break (cuz it was just as much of a break for me)

 

 

I haven't yet decided what I'm going to do with all of these gorgeous little bits. Some will probably go into beadfx, and others will be made in jewelry at some point. I think I may just put them all in a bowl for a while...kinda like zen sand  ;-)

Someone...Please stop me

Seriously - I've long been enamoured with those tiny little glass terrariums flled with moss, and little ceramic mushrooms. They're cute - and I could just go BUY one.

 

Like this one below - It's adorable, and doesn't cost a fortune:

Handblown Glass Orb Moss Terrarium Kit

Alas, as with most of them on etsy - They cannot/will not ship to Canada. Whichever, I still want one. And of course I could make one - but I shouldn't. I can't keep any other plant alive, why should I think I can keep moss alive?  So tempted....

Does anyone know where I can buy one of these little orbs of cuteness locally? Please save me from taking up yet another hobby! I just don't have time.

Heat Patina on Copper

Last night, I made a little video on applying a heat patina to copper for the beadFX Blog. You can read the whole post here

 

3 whole days!

The kids are off at art camp for March Break, and I've just finished up a whole whack of paperwork that had to get done. Which means of course, that as of now I can spend the remaining week of March Break holed up in my studio - guilt free!  Today, I'm mainly focusing on doing a video demonstration for the beadfx blog tomorrow. I'll be showing just how easy it is to create heat patina's on copper. With luck, the video editing process will go off without a hitch.

I then plan to spend the next three full days on the torch - I haven't spent that much time on the torch in years. I'm also working on some new class ideas. I haven't yet started back up teaching yet, as I'm still waiting to get into the specialist. I'm hesitant to start scheduling classes, and then have my 'problem' return. At least I can plan them, and once I'm back in full swing they'll be ready to go.

Signing off from the computer - and trying not to spend all of my time looking at the devastating images from Japan. Maya, who's seven, is anxious to get back to school to talk to her teacher about fundraising for a shelterbox to send to Japan. I'm thrilled that she's starting to develop a social conscience, but it's just so difficult to try to explain what has happened.

In praise of rusty things

I've found another new obsession. I'm completely, and utterly smitten with patina's and copper. We have the patina queen herself Shannon @ Missficklemedia to blame entirely for this. Last year sometime I purchased her patina tutorial (get it here!), along with a sizeable selection of patina colours. Some like the verdigris are traditional patina's, others are dye oxides which must be applied using a heat treatment.

Making these really fits in with my love of making components, beads, and 'bits'. I love making jewelry as well - but I can get lost for hours making 'bits'. Plus, I love to see what other people do with my 'bits'.

I'm thinking I really should offer more handmade bare copper and bronze pieces in my etsy shop. I would love to see others do with them.

Here are a few pieces I was playing with. Now to decide what to do with them ;-)

The two on the top are copper sheet, with a fine silver ring soldered on. Domed, and patinated with a traditional verdigris patina. The two on the bottom are copper clay with the verdigris patina.

'Fresh' patinas on copper clay. I have not sanded these back, or applied any sealant yet.

The above two pics show the pieces almost finished. I've got them sanded down, and buffed with a microcrystaline wax. They still need to be sealed further to ensure that the patinas don't come off, or further develop with wear.

Love, love love :-)