The Glass Slipper

Stop talking about my cat as if he were a pair of socks.

2008-07-06T10:41:13Z

It's irritating.

I love my Fuzzboy like a child. He's been living with me for over seven years. So what if he's not human? We are bonded just the same. Would you allow your child to be locked up in a cage for 3 months? Would you just hand him or her over to someone else for your own convenience?

Yeah, didn't think so.

Moby is NOT "just a cat". I'd give up glass before I'd give him up. He's certainly been around for longer.

Tonight is my last night in Australia, but I'm pretending that it's not, because I really can't deal with this - so I guess that's all I'll say for now.

See you when I get back to Israel.

Signs

2008-07-06T03:40:04Z

2:30 AM here in Oz. See? Three weeks on the other side of the world, and I'm already falling back into old and familiar sleeping patterns. Ced'n'Avril are probably lying in bed wondering why they invited a crazy sleepwalking beadmaker to come and stay at their home, but they'll get it tomorrow morning (sorry guys - I tried my hardest to be soundless, I swear).

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On our second night together, we sat out on the balcony of my ridiculous Redcliffe apartment, watching the moon and the clouds and the water. It was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. Dark clouds were floating over the round, full moon, causing the moonlight to break up into separate beams, reflecting on the Pacific Ocean like giant spotlights, gliding slowly and constantly changing around.
"You just can't take a picture of this", I felt the need to explain, even though he didn't even know me well enough yet to ask why I wasn't running off to get my camera. "To see this, you just have to be right here, right now."
Next thing I said, after a few moments of silence, was "Oooh, this is so romantic, I think I'm gonna puke." I have said that at least ten times since then. (I haven't actually puked yet.)

Our last night in Sydney ended with a Virgin Blue flight attendant asking us (on loudspeaker, mind you) to behave.

Every moment in between has been packed with "romance" of the sickeningly-sweet practically-unreal kind, and "signs". Reoccurring numbers, names, likes, dislikes - you know the "signs"? The silly little signs are everywhere. He calls it "the energy". He's a hippie at heart.

I don't believe in the signs. I used to. I used to love, cherish and worship the signs. If there was a sign, or anything that could somehow be interpreted as a sign, it just had to mean something. Something good. An illusion of something good. Since then, the signs have popped up so many times, only to later explode my face, that I just can't allow myself to believe in them anymore. Call it cynicism. Call it realism. Call it self-defense. The signs flash past my eyes and I allow them to escape, not wanting to over-analyze or lend too much importance to what will most likely become just meaningless little bits of silliness.

But suddenly, looking beyond the romance, the signs and the geographic impossibility, I can see something else. Something that feels "right". Something that feels like a "yes". Something inside me that just knows, from past experience or from a random gut feeling, that there is probably no chance that anything like this will come along again any time soon. It's real. It's crazy, it's surreal, it's imperfect, but it's real. We both want it to be.

The fact that I'm even writing about this in my blog should tell you something. A few days ago, I asked him if me writing about him here is weird for him, or if it freaks him out or anything (which would, I guess, be completely understandable).
He just shrugged. "No, not really", he said. "It's what you do. It's you. I get that. I would never want you to stop being you."

Sometimes the signs keep screaming and screaming at you, till you just can't ignore them anymore. Is this a "meant to be"?

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CONTEST OF THE MONTH:

Girl meets boy. Girl likes boy.

Girl lives in Middle East. Girl has cat. Girl will never willingly be separated from cat. Girl will never put cat through two days of travel or three months of quarantine.

Boy lives in Australia. Boy has child who also happens to live in Australia. Boy must go on living in Australia.

Give me a nice and easy solution to this one, and I will send you every fucking bead I have. Shipping's on me.

Hello Again From Australia

2008-06-28T15:16:51Z

Today was my last class in Australia, and I'm sitting out here on my little balcony in Redcliffe for the last time, enjoying the peacefulness, cursing the slowness of the WiFi and listening to the waves of the Pacific ocean. I haven't had much time to write over the past couple of weeks, or much computer time at all really - just barely been checking my email.

Now that the work part of my trip is over, I find myself overwhelmed with mixed emotions. Being through with all ten workshops is definitely a relief, but on the other hand, I'm feeling a bit sad. Part of me wishes I was going back to Peppertown next week to teach a whole new group. Any one of the old groups wouldn't be bad either. Everyone here has been just incredibly wonderful, making me feel very comfortable in every possible way. Who would've thought I'd ever grow to enjoy this teaching thing so much?

My original plan was to spend all of next week in Sydney - but as the days here have gone by, I've come to realize a few things. So, after much pondering and even more mind-changing, I decided to stick around Brisbane till Wednesday night, and then head out to Sydney just for a long weekend. I have my own little social circle here in Brissie, made up of a few people whom I haven't known for very long, and yet I feel very close to them, as if we'd met years ago. Even though Murano is on the other side of the world, the magic still lingers in the air here, making me want to just hang out and not worry about cramming as much touristy stuff as possible into this trip. I know I'll be back in Australia someday. I won't have it any other way.

I'd like to thank each and every one of my Aussie students for making my classes so much fun to teach, and my wonderful Murano Magician friends for hanging out with me and making sure there was never a dull moment during my very limited free time. You guys rock. Thanks to Hamish, Julie, Leah and the rest of the staff at Peppertown for always being friendly and helpful and making me feel at home in a huge bead, glass and gem shop with gigantic frogs painted on the outside. And a HUGE thanks to Sally, my Aussie HotHead sister, for organizing this whole thing and doing a wonderful job at making sure everything ran smoothly - but most of all, for being my friend. Love ya!

One last thanks goes to Faye for sending me the most magnificent bouquet of flowers I've ever seen (I don't have your email address!). That was such a lovely surprise.

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Murphy's Law #4,547,238: If you meet a hot glass guy (pun intended), who is refreshingly not full of pretentious crap, and you like him and he likes you back and isn't afraid to say so, he must live in the most distant spot from you on the freaking planet (I so wish I was exaggerating).

I met someone here in Brisbane. His name is Russ. He does boro. He shares my passion for the slow liquid, along with a few other passions, and we are discovering more every day. I realized pretty early on that he isn't much of a web person. Hell, the guy doesn't even own a computer. We are quite different, even if we do have a lot in common.

"So... umm... do you even know what a blog is?" I asked one night, as a bunch of us were having dinner at a Turkish restaurant (note to self: do not order falafel at restaurants in other countries, as that is obviously a really really stupid thing to do).
"No. What's a blog?" He asked innocently.

"I am sitting next to a guy who doesn't know what a blog is", I had to announce to everyone at the table. They all burst out laughing, of course. Then I tried to explain what a blog is. Then I tried to explain what my blog is. Try explaining "blue" to a blind man. Seriously.

"It's like, you could have read it and known all about me before I even got here. They know all about me." I point to the others at the table, who are passionately discussing my dislike of peas.
"But I am getting to know you now", he says. "I'm learning about you based on what you've told me since we met."
I scratch my head, trying to wrap my brain around this foreign concept. "But... uh... no. It... it doesn't work that way."
Meeting me and then getting to know me? WTF?

Over the next few days, I found myself constantly contemplating this whole thing. Is this what my life has become? Is it all about the online existence? Is that right? Is it sad? Is it just the way things are? Does the notion of meeting someone and then getting to know them really make no sense at all? You would think that's the way it's supposed to be. I think it might have been, a long, long time ago.

It's easy for traveling-Sarah to sit around in other countries and try to judge home-Sarah for who she is. My life "on the road" is very different from my life at home. I find myself constantly surrounded by people and enjoying every minute of it, stopping every once in a while to think about how I just spent the two months between Italy and Australia with almost no human contact at all. Sometimes it seems like that just can't be a good way to live. But I wasn't feeling lonely. I was waking up every day with a feeling of excitement, knowing I was about to spend day on the torch. I was going to bed every night ecstatically happy about the beads I had made that day, or about a blog post I had written that had made me laugh while I read it to myself, or about the thought of actually going to Australia really soon. I think my life will be much the same between the time I get home and my trip to the UK. It is a weird little lifestyle I've developed here, overdosing on people for a couple of weeks and then returning to my glass-filled hermit existence. It is weird, but it works for me. It just does. I guess.

Russ did his homework. He managed to find an internet connection somewhere, and spent an evening reading some of my blog. He is pretty cool.

"It's been two weeks, and now I know stuff about you that all those people who read your blog will never know", he said to me last night, with a devilish grin on his face.
"Yeah. I guess you do."

Where is all of this going, you wonder? Yeah, I am wondering the same. We're gonna go to Sydney together next weekend, and then he's gonna go back to Brisbane and I'm gonna go back to Tel Aviv. We might meet again in the not-unbearably-distant future, and we might never see eachother again. I don't know. I just don't know. My mind is all cloudy right now. I'm trying to enjoy the time we have together, while finding it impossible to forget that pretty soon we will have to say goodbye.

Maybe I'm just too full of myself. I walk around here assuming that every person I meet reads my blog religiously and knows everything about me, when suddenly, one woman turns to me and asks if when I am back home I have to wear a burqa.
(Yes - I am actually one of 16 wives. They make us all wear burqas, and if we take them off in public, they stone us in the town square. However, every once in a while, they let us take a trip to Australia and parade around in a tank top.)

Okay, you can go look at the rest of my photos on Flickr now. See ya soon!

Correction

2008-06-17T17:35:04Z

Mike Aurelius, who is, as far as I know, one of the world's leading authorities on eye protection for glassworkers, just commented on my last post, saying that sodium flare is actually not dangerous for your vision. However, a couple of things called HEV and HIV (not the AIDS kind) are. Mike has linked to these two articles, which I strongly recommend you read:

General Recommendations for Filter Eyewear

Visible Light Hazards and the Glassworker

I quote:

If you are using a HotHead torch, you really DON’T need to wear anything but regular safety glasses. BUT, if you want to be able to see your work, and improve your art, you should wear a didymium filter to remove the sodium flare.

The above paragraph is now obsolete in light of additional research done about the visible hazards as described in Visible Light Hazards and the Glassworker. I now recommend that glassworkers under no circumstances wear clear safety glasses while working with any kind of glass torch unless they are using some other secondary filter, such as a table or torch mounted filter shield.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Proper filter eyewear is an absolute requirement for anyone working with hot glass.

Clear lenses do not provide proper filtration of UV, HEV or HIV wavelengths and should not be worn during any hot glass operation.

Didymium and ACE (Amethyst Color Enhancement) filters by themselves provide safe filtration for soft glass workers but should never be used by borosilicate glass workers without additional visible light filters. If you have light colored eyes, you may wish to consider adding additional filtration depending on your personal sensitivity to bright light. Additional filtration may be required by anyone working with glass that contains silver additives or any other material that create bright visible light flares.

Thanks Mike.

Come on, just wear the damn glasses. Purple lenses are cool.

Three Issues (one of extreme importance, two not so much)

2008-06-17T18:00:24Z

Hello my dears. I had a great time teaching my first Aussie class today. Well, besides the fact that I demoed 2 hollow beads and one practically exploded and the other collapsed on me (I CAN actually make hollows, really) - that was a bit embarrassing, but hey, glass can be unpredictable sometimes. Of course this had to happen just after I went on and on about how hollow beads are really easy to make. But then, somehow or other, all my students ended up making hollows that came out way better than mine - so I am a proud teacher right now! Aussies are aussome.

Anyway, on to those issues:

Issue #1

Looking around the class today, I was a bit shocked to discover that half of my students were working on their torches and not wearing didymium glasses. When I approached them, I got responses such as "oh, but I can see what I'm doing just fine", "you don't really need them if you're working on a HotHead", or "yeah, I don't really like wearing them because they're uncomfortable/inconvenient/too expensive/other."

I have taught people from at least a dozen different countries so far, and I HAVE NEVER COME ACROSS ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE. I think there is a lot of misinformation going around the Australian lampworking community, and since I like Australian lampworkers, I find this quite disturbing.
I don't know where it originated from and I do not mean to point blaming fingers or to undermine anyone. I know everyone here means well. However, I feel that this is a very important issue, so I am going to say what's on my mind. Here's a little public service announcement for all Aussie beadmakers, those who are taking my classes and those who aren't. If you're not Australian but you think you don't need didys when you torch, you should probably read this too.

YOU MUST WEAR
DIDYMIUM GLASSES
WHEN YOU WORK
ON A GLASS TORCH.

YOU MUST. There is no question or debate here. This is not just my personal preference. It doesn't matter if you're working on a HotHead, a Minor or a freaking Barracuda. YOU MUST WEAR DIDYMIUM GLASSES. EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD DOES. This is not a matter of convenience. This is science. The flare from the torch is DANGEROUS FOR YOUR VISION. You only have one pair of eyes. Even if you still think I might be wrong, overreacting or whatever, why would you want to take that risk? You can't make any beads at all if your eyesight is impaired.

Didymium glasses are the ones with the purple lenses. Clear glasses or sunglasses may protect you from flying bits of glass, but they will not protect your eyes from the flare.

PLEASE WEAR DIDYS. IT IS CRAZY NOT TO.
If you are a teacher, PLEASE TEACH YOUR STUDENTS TO WEAR DIDYS. Not doing so is irresponsible.
I should point out that this was the very first thing I was taught in my beginner's lampwork class. Yeah, I live in a pretty remote country too.

Further reading here: mikeaurelius.wordpress.com/2007/12/26/your-eyes-the-only-pair-you-have

*** UPDATE: Please Read. ***

Issue #2

Hi. My name is Sarah. I am 1.62m (that's 5'4"). I don't do high heels anymore (well, very rarely), as I refuse to walk around feeling like a freaking invalid. Now you know - so if we meet someday, please do me a favor and don't tell me you thought I was taller. Thank you. (1.62 is seriously not THAT short.)
If Q is reading this he is probably cracking up right now.

Issue #3

In my previous post, I wrote:
Today Sally and Avril took me to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, where we had a g'day seeing, petting and feeding a bunch of awesome Aussie animals.

Since then, I have been approached by at least 4 Aussies with grim looks on their faces, saying "you know, you used the 'g'day' wrong."

Come ON, people. I KNOW THAT. IT WAS A JOKE. I GET THE G'DAY THING. I GET IT. Me not stupid.
Seriously. You folks should know I have a weird sense of humor by now.
I don't have to tell you that I know 'aussome' isn't really a word, right?

Okay, that's all for today.
WEAR DIDYS. WEAR THEM. THANK YOU.

All the rest, feel free not to take too seriously.

G'day!

2008-06-15T19:33:32Z

I just promised my Aussie friends I will never use the words "g'day" or "Aussie" again, as apparently, I sound sickeningly American and just can't pull it off, no matter how hard I try. That kinda sucks, because Australian is a totally awesome language. Kangaroos are "Roos", Brisbane is "Brissie", and instead of making a U-turn, you "chuck a U-ie" (pronounced U-E). But anyway, I can still write whatever I want, and you'll just have to read it with an Australian accent. Cool?

Hey... I'm in Australia! Seriously! Look!

I arrived yesterday around noon (my suitcase just arrived today... looong story which I'm tired of thinking about. All is well now). So far, things have been great - even the jet-lag is not as bad as I thought it would be. But then again, my life is a permanent state of jet-lag, so what's a little seven-hour time difference? I'm staying in an apartment which is a lot like paradise, but slightly larger. I keep getting lost in here!

The view from the balcony (well, part of it)

Being in Oz is like being in Bizzaro World. Everything is backwards! It's winter now (or so they claim - it has been warm and sunny so far, and I feel like an idiot for bringing all those sweaters with me). Summer vacation is in December, the sun rises over the ocean (that is backwards for me, being a Tel-Avivian and all), the liberal party is right-wing, and even the cars are backwards (you know, the driver's seat thing, like in the UK. I will probably never get used to that).

Today Sally and Avril took me to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, where we had a g'day seeing, petting and feeding a bunch of awesome Aussie animals. Koalas and Roos are cool, but I think my favorites were the lorikeets. I mean, how could they not be? Look!

I wish I could take one home with me. Then again, Moby would probably eat it for breakfast.

Tomorrow we're gonna roam the city with Sharon (who has a brand new website!), and on Tuesday my workshop marathon begins. I'm really looking forward to teaching these classes - can't wait to get my hands on some glass again (it's been like FIVE DAYS now... argh). I'm planning on some cool additions to our regularly scheduled program, and besides, Aussies are cool.

Wanna see some more pictures? You know you do.

I'm off to bed - see ya soon!

I can't remember who told me to have a Cherry Ripe - but many thanks.

ARE WE THERE YET?!

2008-06-12T00:51:16Z

5 hours from Tel Aviv to Paris
1 hour at the airport
12 hours from Paris to Hong Kong
7 hours at the airport (which I cannot leave)
9.5 hours from Hong Kong to Brisbane

Add pre-flight airport time to that, and I'll be in commute for almost 40 hours (oh, and I'm supposed to actually make the same trip back in July). Seriously, I leave Israel tomorrow (Thursday), and arrive in Australia on Saturday. How ridiculous is that?

I've got a 60GB iPod jam-packed with music, movies and TV shows, a cellphone with a "flight mode" to which I downloaded a gazillion games last night, two books, a notebook to write and/or doodle in, a laptop of course, and a slightly disturbing feeling that once I get on the plane I won't feel like doing any of those things. I mean, why do something mildly constructive when you can stare at the seat in front of you, anxiously calculating how much more time is left?

ARE WE THERE YET?

Another disturbing thought is that I just took my last shower till Saturday. But to look on the bright side, maybe that will make people not want to sit next to me on the plane. I could live with that.

Hey - I'm going to Australia! So after all, life is looking pretty good right now.

I had a lot to say tonight, but come to think of it, I think I may have already said it all. I'm gonna go finish packing.

See you soon (or something) - next time I'll be writing from the southern hemisphere!

Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?

Frequently Asked Questions

2008-06-09T05:34:55Z

Why is your blog flooding my inbox?

Sorry about that. If you subscribed to the Murrini Game post, you probably received over 200 emails from my blog last night, since I approved the comments all at once - and there were way more than I was expecting. I obviously did not think that one through. I promise to come up with a better plan next time. DON'T WORRY - IT IS NOT A VIRUS.
Please don't put me on your spam filter. Please.

Are we there yet?

No. 3 more days! (Plus 1,538 hours of travel!)

How do you slice your murrini so nice and smoothly?

Donno. I use the nippers Q gave me. They are much better than my old nippers.

Are we there yet?

No.

When are you coming to teach in The States?

Donno. They haven't invited me. Yet.
2009, anyone?

How do you make __________ ?

I try to figure stuff out on my own. That can sometimes be time consuming, but in a good way, because I always learn new things on the way. I experiment and play around until I get the results I want (or I get distracted and go in an entirely different direction).
That said, I did share loads of information in my Murrini Mania series.

Are we there yet?

No.

Why do you keep forgetting to link to Linda Lee's Murano Magic Recap?

Oh wait, it's me who keeps asking that.
Here! I did it!

Are we there yet?

No.

Are we there yet?

No.

Are we there yet?

No.

Are we there yet?

GOOD NIGHT!

238!

2008-06-08T00:45:02Z

238 chips in the bag!

No one guessed the exact number... BUT, 2 people guessed 237!

Congrats to

RoseAnn Guttierrez

and

Kerry Bogert

!!!

You two lovely ladies get 119 murrini chips each!
Please send me your mailing address - sarah.hornik@gmail.com
(sooner rather than later, 'cause my last chance to get to the post office before my trip is Tuesday).

I hope you enjoy the murrini, and pleasepleaseplease send me photos of what you make with it.

Thanks to everyone for playing! That was fun!

It's The Glass Slipper's Birthday!

2008-06-11T02:18:42Z

This blog is two years old today!

From the statistics:
You have a total of 196 entries with a total word count of 72,430 words.
You have 1,185 comments.

Wow. That is a lot of words.

I was going to write a sappy paragraph about how much this blog and its readers mean to me - but to tell you the truth, time is running out (6 more days till Australia! Are we there yet?) - and I'd much rather be making beads right now. I'll just say, this blog and its readers mean a whole lot to me, so let's celebrate!

*** UPDATED: THE GAME IS OVER. NO MORE GUESSES, PLEASE. ***
Thanks to everyone for playing!

Why, what have we here?

Oh, look! It's a little bag, and it's full of murrini chips!

Let's take a closer look at what's inside:

Yes! It's a "sample pack" of (almost) every type of murrini I've made over the past month,
and it could be yours!
The chips are all made of COE-104 glass - mainly Effetre.

All you have to do is... guess how many murrini chips are in the bag!
The bag is 70x40mm, and I stuffed in as many chips as I could.

The person who guesses the closest to the actual number, gets ALL the murrini!
Yes. I actually counted them, as if I have nothing better to do.

The Rules:

You only get one guess. (No cheating! )

You must place your guess by commenting to this post. Emailing me or commenting on the photos elsewhere doesn't count. I will keep all the comments hidden until the end of the game!

The game ends Saturday (June 7) at 23:59, Israel time.

In case of a tie, I will distribute the chips evenly between the winners.

By placing your guess, you agree to the following if you win:

The murrini chips, as long as they're in chip form, are for your own use only. You may not sell, trade, give away or otherwise distribute them without my explicit permission.
Other than that - you may use (or not use) the chips in any way you like! However, if you use them as a substantial design element in beads, jewelry or other glass/non-glass objects you plan on selling or displaying online, I would like to be credited.

Fair enough?

Good! Then it's guessing time!

Okay, you can have one more peek.

Have a great weekend!

*** UPDATED: THE GAME IS OVER. NO MORE GUESSES, PLEASE. ***
Thanks to everyone for playing!

Everything Else

2008-06-02T02:09:07Z

There's a bunch of stuff I've been meaning to update you about, but haven't found the time with all the hollow beads and murrini and everything flying around in here. So here ya go:

Glass To Go

is the name of my lecture at IFG. It's going to be about marketing glass beads on the internet: tips for building a successful website, getting online exposure, attracting buyers, tips for selling on websites like eBay or Etsy, blogging, etc. I'll be incorporating my own personal story into the lecture; mainly rambling about the transfer from web design to lampwork and how my past is beneficial to me today.
This should be interesting, in more ways than one.
Yikes.

Crazy Little Things

is the name of my exhibit at Yaniv Gallery, coming up this November. I think I may have mentioned this around March or so, but I just realized it about a week ago: I'm having a solo exhibit. That basically means I have to work like CRAZY in order to produce enough Little Things to fill an entire gallery. It's not a large gallery, but still. (Hold one of my beads up to your average wall and you'll see what I mean. Why couldn't I have taken up stained glass windows or something? Oh right, those are boring.) With all the traveling and stuff, November is like, next week. It's definitely going to be a challenge, but I am totally up for it. Making crazy little things is all I want to do right now anyway.

FeeBay Responds!

This was my message to them:

Hi,

I am a Silver Power Seller with a perfect 100% positive feedback score
and 5/5 in all star ratings. I live in Tel Aviv, Israel.

I received your message about Power Seller discounts today, and was very
disappointed to discover that the discount is only for sellers in the US
and Canada. This seems extremely unfair. I don't know why I should be
punished for living in a different country when I am doing everything
else right. It's a real slap in the face. I think the many international
sellers on eBay deserve better treatment than this.

I'd like to ask if international sellers are going to be included in the
discount at some point, and if so, when? And if not - could you please
tell me why? I can't see any logical reason for this.

Thanks,
Sarah Hornik

The response, that arrived at least 48 hours later:

Dear Sarah,

Thank you for writing eBay in regard to the PowerSeller discount. I
would be happy to assist you.

I am sorry, that you are very disappointed. I would be happy to pass
along your suggestion for you. Just so you know, we always accept
suggestions on how to make our community a better place. You can submit
your suggestions by clicking on the "site map" link at the top of most
eBay pages and then clicking on the "suggestions box" link.

We actually have a team that goes through each suggestion we receive,
and most of the changes you see on eBay are based off of these
suggestions.

It was a pleasure assisting you and I wish you the best. If you need
further assistance, please don't hesitate to reply to this email and let
me know.

Sincerely,
Robin E.

eBay Customer Support

Isn't it amazing how they manage to never, ever answer a question? It's like banging your head against a wall. Either way, I'm in a choose-your-battles state of mind right now, and I have so much glass on the brain that there's really no room for this. I guess I'm not getting a discount.
Goddammit.

The whole thing makes me wonder what eBay employees sound like when they're talking to eachother. Something like this, maybe?

Joe: Hey Moe, you wanna grab a beer after work?
Moe: Thanks for asking! I really appreciate it. I promise to respond within 24 hours.
Joe: Cool, but...
Moe, waving his arms around: DO NOT REPLY TO THIS ADDRESS! This is an auto-reply. I am unable to process any information sent to this address.
Joe shrugs and walks away.

24 hours later...

Joe: Hey Moe, it's been 24 hours... that's not exactly what I meant by "after work", but how about that beer?
Moe stares silently at the wall.

168 hours later...

Moe runs up to Joe excitedly.
Moe: Hey Joe!
Joe: Do I know you?
Moe: Yeah, it's me, Moe. You know, the beer...
Joe: Oh, right, the beer. So, what do you say?
Moe: I wanted to thank you for your suggestion! I appreciate it very much! I will pass it on. I take your suggestions very seriously!
Joe: SO ARE WE GETTING THAT BEER OR NOT?
Moe: I am sorry you are angry.
Joe: I'm not angry. I just want beer. Do you want beer?
Moe: Beer?
Joe: Are you capable of answering a question?
Moe: Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia!
Joe: Should we let them make Paypal withdrawals?
Moe: Nah.
Joe: Beer?
Moe: It was a pleasure assisting you.
Joe: Can I take that as a yes?
Moe: Do you live in the United States?

OMG, I am officially the world's biggest dork.

Save the Date:

The Glass Slipper's second birthday is coming up! Yes, I have been writing this thing for two years. Can you believe I started writing it on 06/06/06 (without really noticing)?
Anyway - there's going to be a game with a very special prize - so stay tuned!
That's all I'm saying.

Are we there yet?

11 days till Australia (well, 13 if you count the journey). OMG.

Everything Beads

2008-06-01T16:24:21Z

Every once in a while, you run into a thread on the lampwork forums, where someone starts out by "bashing" a certain style of beads. This will usually stir up some sort of heated discussion. Just a few days ago, I came across a thread where someone was complaining about the popularity of beads that "look like someone dropped their sewing basket on the floor".

I usually find these threads a bit irritating. I know I shouldn't care - it's just that for some reason, it's always the beads that have a lot of detail that are getting bashed (last year, it was a style that eventually became widely known as "kitchen sink beads"). I mean, you never see a thread where someone is saying "Ooh, look at all those spacers over there! They're so boring! Those could really use some decoration!" Either way, I think one of the best things about glass beads is how diverse and expressive they can be - every bead has its place in the world, and let's just leave it at that. But in this case, I found the thread somewhat amusing. I started thinking to myself, what if I made some beads that actually DID look like someone dropped their sewing basket on the floor?

Thing is, I don't actually own a sewing basket. I just wear stuff with holes (hey, one less thing to worry about). But I'm sure that if I did own one, I'd be dropping it on the floor all the time. So, I decided to use my imagination and just go for it.

The result?

Everything Beads! They're happy, they're hollow and they're decorated with everything!

Everything?!

Yes. EVERYTHING. Deal with it.

Or don't. I don't care.

I'm totally making more.

I'm in love with my latest batch of murrini. I'm finally getting the color ratio like I wanted it to be. Besides, my "reversible murrini" concept is brilliant - if I do say so myself.

Now on FeeBay (who have still not responded to my e-mail, in case you were wondering).

This is INFURIATING.

2008-05-29T16:09:13Z

I just received a message from eBay, announcing their new discount program for Power Sellers (which has been going on since April, apparently, but I got notified today).

Turns out, Power Sellers who have 4.8 / 5 or higher on all their "detailed seller ratings" (those are the little star ratings on the feedback page) are eligible for a 15% discount on final value fees. I'm a Power Seller! I have a perfect score of 5/5 stars on all ratings. I also happen to have a 100% positive feedback score. I must be doing something right.

Isn't that nice?

Oh, but wait. The discount is ONLY FOR US AND CANADIAN SELLERS. Sorry.

Uhhh, WHY? What could possibly be the logic behind this? Why on earth (no pun intended) would geography have anything to do with this? Do international sellers somehow "cost" eBay more than US sellers? Would they have to pay to ship us our discount through priority airmail? Would it require manpower? Radical technical adjustments? Would eBay have to DO anything in particular in order to just offer the discount to everyone? I don't think so. Basically, it's yet another "we just don't feel the need to give you anything so we're not going to" and a *shrug* from the eBay/Paypal monster.

15% off is a substantial discount. It's not like it would have made me much richer or poorer, but this just SO PISSES ME OFF. I AM SO SICK AND TIRED OF GETTING SCREWED BECAUSE I DON'T LIVE IN THE UNITED STATES.

I sent an angry e-mail to customer support. I'm sure they'll throw some nice generic response in my direction within 24 hours. (They have to, I'm a Power Seller!)

ARGH.

AAARRRGGGHHH.

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH.

Goddammit.

Murrini Mania: Part 4 + More Hollow Ramblings

2008-05-28T23:56:56Z

I'm back! I promised to show you the results of the latest murrini batch, so here we go.

First of all, some focals:

I learned a couple of interesting things making these.

1. "Fuzzy" spiral murrini actually produces cool effects, as you can see in the two top beads (I know how to make smooth spirals now, though. )

2. Most murrini chips will look very different when encased and unencased - making each cane like two different kinds of murrini, in a way.

I used #2 in this set, which I am very fond of. It's called "Freshness". Check out how the murrini looks kind of like open and closed flowers (I only used one type of murrini in this set).

I still have a lot to learn and a lot to pull. My optic mold finally arrived a couple of days ago and I've been trying it out. I'm not sure if I like it. Now that I'm used to making stuff without it, it makes things a bit awkward. I need to practice some more before I can come to any final conclusions though. My Murano Millefiori from Florida has not arrived yet - but to tell you the truth, I don't think I really want it anymore (I knew this was going to happen. I knew it). Making my own is much more fun. It's still quite time-consuming and not nearly as precise, but it's mine. Besides, mine has no crappy white in it, which does make life a bit easier. And I don't have to constantly scold myself for using up all the good colors.

Here's an unrelated set, called "Possibly Maybe" (I'm all about Bjork this week). No extreme murrini usage here - just a few transparent ones, with cool colors and some gold. I LOVE dark transparent lavender. I want to marry dark transparent lavender and live in a house made of dark transparent lavender in a city made out of dark transparent lavender. Seriously, I think the whole planet should be encased in dark transparent lavender.
I need to get more dark transparent lavender.

All beads from this post are now on the Bay!

Have you noticed that ever since my first set of hollows, I haven't made a single un-hollow bead? I'm not sure how long it's been, or how long this is going to go on for. Something just feels right about them - like this is what glass is supposed to be. Round, transparent, reflective - and besides, they have such a large surface for decoration (we'll be discussing that some more tomorrow )!
They are still a challenge, but my technique is getting better. I can even make fairly large ones now. There's something endlessly satisfying about watching a lump of hollow wonkiness melt into a perfectly round shape. I guess I hadn't made round beads in general in a while either. There's something about round beads. There just is.

Besides all the hollowness, there's another thing I like about my latest work - since I got back from Murano, I guess. My latest beads haven't been dependent on any "special" glass, reactive colors or hard-to-get odd lots (not that there's anything wrong with that). There's something refreshing about going back to the simplest, most basic colors. Hey, glass is beautiful even if it doesn't cost $100 a pound. I'm happily using up colors I forgot I even had, in combinations that never even occurred to me before. Particularly transparents - after a couple of years of using them mainly to encase opaques, I'm now learning what some of them look like on their own. You gotta love the hollowness.

I'll end with some happy news for my Aussie students: since I'm so into hollows and all now (as you may have noticed), I've decided to incorporate a hollow bead into each one of my workshops in Australia, as a little "bonus" demo. This is, of course, purely for selfish reasons - I couldn't possibly go a whole month without making any hollows. But either way, it should be fun!

I'm leaving in two weeks from tomorrow! I still can't believe it.

Murrini Mania: A Work In Progress (Part 3)

2008-05-31T15:40:06Z

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Before I go on - don't forget to wish Q & G a happy wedding!

I had a funny feeling those two might get married someday.

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Back to Murrini Mania. After my long murrini session, I decided to take a closer look at my transparent murrini focal beads from Part 2. I was very excited to discover they had some wonderful optical effects going on inside - sort of like looking into tiny kaleidoscopes. I fell so in love with them, I decided to keep one! As for the rest, I'm offering them for sale here, as a blog special. The prices are underneath the photos (keep in mind that pulling murrini cane is quite time-consuming) - you can click on the images for a larger version. If you see something you like, e-mail me at sarah.hornik@gmail.com and I will send you a Paypal invoice - first come, first served!

Shipping is $3.50. If you buy two, shipping is FREE. If you buy three or more, I'll throw in free shipping AND a 10% discount!

1. $55 Decided to keep! 18x20mm	2. This one I'm keeping!
3. $55 Decided to keep! 16x18mm	4. $55 SOLD, thanks! 19x21mm
5. $40 15x18mm	6. $50 18x21mm (This one has no peach in it - the top part is clear with trans. murrini on top. The other colors are a weird reflection.
7. ~~$45~~ SOLD, thanks! 19x19mm	8. $50 19x23mm
These two beads are unrelated to the murrini thing, but I'm throwing them in as part of the sale!
9. $55 SOLD, thanks! 20x21mm	10. $55 SOLD, thanks! 18x22mm
And of course - triangle murrini beads up for grabs!
11. $35 SOLD, thanks! 17x21mm	12. $35 18X24mm

Once again - if you'd like to have one of these, e-mail me now! Let me know the number(s) of the bead(s) you've chosen.
(Don't send any money before I send you a Paypal invoice.)

I think that's it for today! I'll be back for Part 4 to show you the beads I make with my latest batch of murrini - whether those come out good or bad, I promise to share the results! (Keep your fingers crossed.)

PS - Oh! Have I mentioned I've been making miniature VESSELS lately? They're so cool - they can even hold water and stuff! But that, my friends, is a whole different story for a whole different day.

I'm hanging on to these, at least for now.
But just out of curiosity - would you buy one?

Murrini Mania: A Work In Progress (Part 2)

2008-05-22T22:03:09Z

So, I made a whole bunch of triangle murrini.

With this batch, I learned some more important lessons:

1. In murrini, opaques contrast with transparents very well.
2. Spreading layers of glass on vertically really does work much better than just coiling them on as if you were encasing a bead.
3. Most importantly - with all due respect to contrast - if you're going to make a huge batch of murrini, you should make it in colors you actually feel like working with.

The next day, I made exactly one bead with the triangle murrini, wondered what I had made so many triangles for, shrugged, set them aside and moved on to the next project.

As I was wondering what to try next, I remembered I had a couple of little bags of commercial murrini from my local glass place. These weren't the millefiori kind; they were just squares, made of layers of different transparents. I'd tried them once, back when hollow bead madness had just begun. I liked the results so much I decided to keep the bead - and since I became so obsessed with so many other things, I forgot all about those murrini.

So, I decided to make some more beads with those. I got all excited about the idea of transparent murrini, but then, once again, I was faced with not having enough colors. So, I just had to make some of my own.

Yet another important lesson learned: for this trick to work, you must use the darkest, most saturated transparents you can find. Anything else will turn out practically invisible.

The next day, I found a bunch of beads I wasn't quite sure about in my kiln. (Who knew Vetrofond Lemon Grass was so... YELLOW?)

I took one glance at these and their friends, set them aside and rushed to the torch to try out something new.

When I got to the torch, I realized I couldn't think of anything new to try. The day started out as a bad bead day. But, these days, bad bead days cannot become no-melting-glass days, so I decided to have another serious murrini-pulling session. The session went on from 5pm to 2am. Methinks I am getting better at this. (Optic mold has still not arrived - no sophisticated tools used here at all!)

I haven't tried these out in beads yet - gonna do that tomorrow. But with all I've learned so far, I have a good feeling about them.

Now, seriously - check out the spirals! I made actual spiral murrini! Woohoo! Remember the "spirals" from Part 1?
This is actually something I've been attempting for a while, with really awful results. I had it all wrong to begin with - I thought you were just supposed to make a long ribbon in two colors of glass, then melt it and coil it into a spiral and pull. That doesn't work - not for me, at least. What does work, is just building the cane piece-by-piece, painting vertical stripes in two colors around the core until you end up with a spiral. My first tries came out a bit "fuzzy" looking (I'm hoping they'll melt into smooth lines when I use them in beads), but I think I know what I was doing wrong - so I'll be trying some improved ones in the near future.

More fascinating discoveries coming soon, in Murrini Mania: Part 3!

<< To Part 1

Murrini Mania: A Work In Progress (Part 1)

2008-05-22T21:11:07Z

As you've probably noticed, I've been somewhat murrini-obsessed since I got back from Murano. Suddenly, commercial millefiori became a "legitimate" material to use in my work - I had never really liked the idea before. I'd tried it once or twice in the distant past, could barely lift up a piece with tweezers, couldn't figure out what that white scummy stuff was, and set the whole concept aside, thinking I didn't really want to use "premade" stuff in my beads anyway. But seeing it everywhere in Murano and even spending some time in the place where it comes from gave me new perspective - it's like putting tiny pieces of Murano in my beads. Well, technically, most of my glass comes from Murano (or close enough) anyway - but you must admit, it makes a good excuse.

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Commercial millefiori can be a real pain in the ass to work with. I know many lampworkers struggle with this stuff, so here's a little mini-tutorial on how I do it. Enjoy.

1. AVOID chips that have white on the outside. Just don't use them. (Give/sell them to someone who does fusing.)
	2. Lift a murrini chip with your tweezers. Hold it in the side on the flame, gently warming the bottom side of the chip. DO NOT let the top side of the chip touch the flame at any time.
	3. Make sure the surface of your bead is warm enough for the chip to stick, and press it on. Once again, be sure never to let the top part touch the flame.
	4. Melt the tip of a thin clear rod (or stringer), and place a drop of clear over the top part of your murrini chip (the chip should be hard and cool when you do this, and the clear glass should be very soft). Make sure the clear covers the entire design.
	5. Heat the murrini in the flame until the clear forms a smooth, round drop, perpendicular to the surface of the bead.
	6. Holding your graphite marver parallel to the surface of the bead, press the drop in slowly and gently, taking special care not to smoosh the hell out of the design. Repeat this one or twice if necessary.
7. Now it's up to you - you can flame-polish and leave the murrini raised, or continue heating to melt it into the surface.

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Anyway. Not having nearly enough variety of millefiori in good colors, I was thinking I needed to either get more, make my own, or both. So, I got myself two little birthday presents: the first was an optic mold for making my own murrini, and the second was a bunch of millefiori from Murano Millefiori (in Florida), just in case using an optic mold turned out to be something I wouldn't have the patience for. I've been running eagerly to check my PO box ever since, wondering which would come first - as of now, neither has arrived yet. (Hasn't it been 6-11 business days since my birthday? Argh.)

About a week ago, I decided to stop waiting and just make my own murrini, without the aid of an optic mold.

A quick explanation for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about: 'millefiori' means 'a thousand flowers' in Italian, and the term usually refers to the flowery little chips you can buy in bags. Millefiori is a type of murrini - the term 'murrini' refers to the chips in general, which don't necessarily have to have flowers on them.
The technique for making murrini is somewhat similar to making sushi. The cane is assembled, then stretched into a long rod - then sliced into chips to reveal the design inside. This may sound easy, but it actually requires much time and patience. Precision and heat control can also be quite helpful.

Did someone say "time and patience?" As you all know, I don't have much of those - which is why I haven't done much murrini making in my beadmaking career, beyond the simple starbursts. Once I tried to make a face, but that didn't go too well - I made some not-so-bad-for-the-first-try eye cane, then some this-just-looks-like-a-red-smudge-but-people-will-know-its-a-mouth mouth cane, and then I was thinking I would make a nose, add on the eyes and mouth, and just pull. Turns out, not so easy. I ended up with a big-blob-of-nothing cane, which ended up in my icy cold jar of rejection, and the making-my-own-murrini concept ended up in the "stuff I'll never have the patience for" category.

But lately, I've been in this sort of hyper-creativity mode. I've been torching constantly. I need to melt glass every day, or else I get stressed out and depressed. I spend hours on the torch making beads each day, and then late at night, when my kiln is well into its annealing cycle, I find myself heading back to the torch to pull cane. Everything else is just a blur. Sleep is just a necessity; food is just fuel. I've been stopping by this great falafel stand I discovered (on the corner of Nordau and Ben Yehuda, if you're in the area) - just a guy in a simple booth, without a bunch of fancy toppings and stuff - just damn good falafel with all the necessities for a quick, easy, cheap and tasty lunch. Lately, falafel guy has been greeting me with a groan. "I'm cooking lunch AGAIN?"
"I'm too busy working", I smile.
"Well, in that case, I'll do the dishes too. Aren't I the perfect man?"
"Yes. Yes you are."
I stop for my daily supply of diet coke on the way back, and then it's back to the torch.

My first batch of murrini came out looking like this. Not bad, but not quite what I was expecting.

Notice the triangles and the spiral-wannabes - I'll be getting back to those later.

I learned a crucial lesson with this batch: one of the most important parts of making your own murrini is choosing the right colors. You need to work with high-contrasting shades - or else, when pulled into cane, the colors will just look like they're blended together. Even if the colors look different enough in rod form, such a small "format" changes everything.

Anyway, I was eager to try them out on some hollow beads - and in some cases, even happy with the results.

These three are now up for auction on eBay!

I made one bead using the triangle murrini. I wasn't so happy with this particular cane, but for some reason, I became obsessed with the idea of triangles... which led to a whole night of pulling triangle cane.

Triangle murrini and much more, coming up in PART 2... it should be ready soon, so stay tuned!

BOLLYWOOD. The correct answer was BOLLYWOOD.

2008-05-19T00:17:54Z

Carolien gets a free hollow bead! Congrats!
Please send me your mailing address (sarah.hornik@gmail.com).

And I can finally show you my Bollywood Hollows!
(I was going to name them Bollowood, but I thought that might be taking it a little too far.

These will be up on eBay in the very near future.

Thanks for playing!

Okay, here's a hint:

2008-05-18T22:57:08Z

It's a GOLDEN OLDIE.

You people disappoint me.

Hollower Than Thou

2008-05-18T01:11:32Z

A new set of hollows, now on the Bay:

Oooh! And have I mentioned there are hollow focals now, too?

First person to correctly guess the theme of my next set of hollows (which is all ready and waiting to be photographed) gets a free bead! (A hollow one, obviously!)