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Hey, I'm back. I've been kind of silent these past couple of weeks. This time it was not just me being too lazy to blog - I actually had a couple of reasons. The first one was that my stupid kiln broke down. I was waiting for it to heat up one day, when I realized I'd been waiting for a while and it was still at room temperature. So I tried switching it off and on - except that it never went back on again. I guess it was a sign of two things - first, that it was time to get a new kiln. And really, it was. My old one was a piece of crap. Second, that I needed to take a little break. That was not really a good thing, since I didn't want to take a break - I don't like "forced" vacations - so I spent most of my kilnless time moping around and/or making smaller beads and praying they wouldn't crack in two by the time the new kiln arrived.
The new kiln came on Friday. It's cool. Not the kind of thing I usually get too excited about (new glass is an entirely different matter). I'm just glad to be back in business and not to be limited by not being able to anneal my beads right away. It's funny, because in my last post I was rambling about how good limitations can be sometimes. Well, I certainly did not enjoy this kind of limitation! But that's all in the past now. Phew.
Another reason for my silence - totally unrelated - is that I felt that my privacy was being invaded, on a couple of separate occasions. I don't want to go into the specifics. I will just say that sometimes people read my blog and for some reason, assume that they know everything about me. I guess that is probably something most bloggers go through at one point or another. To be honest, I find it frustrating. I do enjoy blogging (or else I wouldn't be doing it) - but my life is not an open book. There need to be boundaries. I am glad that the vast majority of my readers do respect that.
Okay, and now to the fun stuff. I got an e-mail a couple of weeks ago from Quinton of Glassworks, asking if I'd like to try out some new Vetrofond odd-lot colors for them. Would I? But of course! I was really excited about this opportunity, because I usually don't get to try new stuff out before everybody in the US has had a go at it. Not only that, but - well, more importantly - these new colors are really cool! A whole bunch of fun and funky summery shades.
I have a weird way of "trying out" new glass - I don't really make "test beads" anymore. I used to. But now I just don't have the patience. So, I just make "real" beads - throwing a bunch of colors together and hoping for the best. Sometimes that doesn't really work out, but in most cases I get nice results. Here are some of my favorite focals that I made. Most of these beads are exclusively Vetrofond.
There are lots more - I've opened a gallery on my BeadArtists.org page, where you can see them all and also read which colors I used for each one. Click here if you're interested.
A bunch of these beads are up on eBay right now. More will be available at the Bead Boutique later this week.
And if you happen to be on this side of the world - I'd like to highly recommend Glassworks. They are awesome. They always have cool colors in stock, and besides - they're some of the nicest people out there. A real pleasure to work with. And I'm not just saying that because they sent me free glass!
Also, I have a new Satake set up on the Bay - round beads, for a change. It had been a while since I made round beads - totally forgot how much fun they can be. This set is called 'Merry-Go-Round':
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To sum it all up - right now I have a new set of round beads, made up entirely of the new Vetrofond colors, annealing in my new kiln. Life is good. Now I'm off to do some serious vegging out. See ya later.
Jeez, I hope it wasn't me!!!! If it was, I really apologize!!!!! I love your blog and seeing all your new pieces.
Susan
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No Susan, it was definitely not you!
I just sent you a little package today...
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Whew!!!! I do understand what you're saying..I think people do think they know you a little from different things you've revealed about your life and work. That's why blogs are so interesting...they allow us to get a glimpse of how the art evolves. Don't stop...your beads are one of my "fixes" along with flickr and several polymer clay blogs that I check out! A package! I can't wait!!!!
Susan
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If it was me tagging you, please accept my sincere apologize because I definately didn't want to offend you.
I myself blog about my creative endeavers and try not to talk much about my personal life because that's what it is...personal. This was the first and probably also the last time I gave in to a thing like this and my tagging you was merely to express my thanks for being such an source of inspiration and was meant to be a positive thing. If you don't experienced it like that I definately take it back, because I sure don't want to invade you personal life!!
Please keep blogging and sharing your work...
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No, it was not you either.
I think the people I was referring to probably know who they are - I am talking about the extreme "cases". I was really not trying to offend anyone else.
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