Muses wanted.

Over the years, I have gotten a bit of flack from my fellow beadmakers for taking special orders. Many won't and I totally understand why they don't want to. It can be a chore to make the same bead over and over, especially if it is a bead you don't enjoy making. Even my muse is finicky and likes to pick and choose which which projects to embrace and which ones are better left alone.

On the other hand, someone else's muse can be a welcome guest here in my studio. I enjoy having a guiding hand every now and then. Here are some beads I made this week with the help of my customer's muses. I thank them for visiting and would welcome them back here anytime. :)

Beading Daily part deux

Ok, I am once again super excited about being mentioned in Beading Daily. This time, Michelle Mach put in a paragraph about inspiration and who could be more inspired by something than I am from my beloved dachshund, Puppy?

My blog, my rules

These are the beads I taught at my mini-class this weekend. We didn't get enough people signed up for a full weekend class so I just taught a couple people for a few hours. I think it went pretty well but I haven't gotten any feedback from the studio guy yet so ... we'll see, I guess. I was supposed to do the mock mini-class for a couple of the other studio teachers but something must have changed at the last minute. Anyway, I am hoping to change the scheduling of the classes to one evening a week since that works so much better for anybody with family commitments.

Ok, so in other news...

I am going to be a featured artist for the month of November at a bead store in Gahanna, Ohio! Here's a link to their website: http://www.gahannabeadshop.com/
I am going to be VERY busy making oodles of beads for them to hopefully sell for me. This is the very first bead store to sell my beads. Big day for me! Well, big month. I would love to have my beads in a local store but the last one in my general vicinity just closed it's doors, sadly. It's hard to crack the Michael's nut around here.

Oh and I am clearing out my bead box again. Gotta finance that PMC class I'm taking. :) Check out the bargains in my Etsy store.

Bead Buddies

I went to my local SGB (Society of Glass Beadmakers) meeting at Sharon Peters' house on Saturday. That's her bead cabinet (WOW!) that my friends, Linda and Tom, are pretending to look at in order to avoid my paparazzi photo hounding. I had an incredibly fun time. I got to meet a bunch of local gals that I hadn't met before and got caught up with some I hadn't seen for many moons. Getting together with them is like being in a space ship with all your fellow aliens. They all "get" me. I love it. There was much bead swapping going on and I got a couple SUPER awesome beads. One from Mary, another from Aja and another from Haley. They are all beads I will treasure. I will have to take pictures later of my booty! And by booty, I mean beads. Not my badunkadunk trunk with too much junk. :)

I made a couple dog beads that I am REALLY happy with. What do you think?

Obsession

Sometimes, obsession is a good thing.


Once I started making the leaves, I simply could not stop. I absolutely love them.

I got a request for a beagle and, like most new things, it took a while to get it right. I must have made 5 not quite beagles before getting one that really achieved beagleosity. In the end, the obsession paid off...

Big news!

Guess what?!?!?!? I got a teaching gig!!! I am so excited and nervous and then excited again!!! The name of the studio is TemperChi http://www.temperchi.com/ and the guy who is setting up the classes is very nice. I am so happy! I brought over a rough class outline and I can tell you that the class will be fun. I am planning on teaching beginning to intermediate sculptural beadmaking. All the cool and fun designs, in other words. I will announce when the class is scheduled as soon as I know. YAY!

In other news...I have more beads. This time, you get to choose from a selection of holidays. :)

For Halloween - Bats and Pumpkins.


For Autumn - Here's a September Snowman. He's pretty melty.


And for Thanksgiving - A shaggy dog with a bone. I've not been able to eat a Thanksgiving dinner in peace since we got The Puppy. And for that, I am thankful. :)

Puppy knees and land of the lost beads

We found a new park to take The Puppy to! Los Gatos Creek park, I think it's called. Very pretty and dog friendly. YAY! It was quite beautiful and the trail is pretty long so we can get a good amount of exercise there. Puppy has very small legs but amazing stamina. She also has a very *ahem* healthy appetite. We keep her trim by taking her for long walks every weekend and at least 3/4mile every evening. So far, this has really worked and it keeps her active. She had knee surgery so my concern is always for her joints but my vet assures me that as long as there is no running involved, she is fine.

Where do lost beads go? I had taken this photo last week and was just about to add it to my Etsy store when I went to measure it and could not find it anywhere. Where do lost beads go? Have you seen this bead? Did I send it to someone as an extra? It's these kinds of things that make me realize that I am not in complete control of the universe. Not even my universe. LOL! Dang it.

Pony time!

Ok, time to have a giggle... Here is my very first attempt at a horse. It looks a bit more like a pony, I think. Next time I will have to make the body and nose much longer for it to look like a horse. Still, since this was WAY out of my comfort zone, I am mildly happy and amused with it.

Pure Glassy Nirvana

I am so excited! This package of Double Helix glass came in the mail today! That's a half pound each of Terra and Nyx and a quarter pound of Gaia. I am in glass heaven. I have one quick trip to the post office standing in between me and total glass bliss. Be back laterz....

Back to the drawing board

Ok, ok, come on back. I'm in a better mood now. I'm sorry I was cranky. Today I am struggling to get anything done! I should be going to the torch and creating my little heart out but I am doodling (I guess, as an Artiste I should call it 'sketching' lol!) and trying to figure out how to do a horse head bead. Sounds like it would be easy to do from memory, right? Well, au contrair, mon frair! I went out there and didn't have a clue where to start. So, back to the drawing board (literally) to figure out on paper where everything goes and what the proportions are before attempting that again. I am still working out whether I want to go semi-realistic or cartoony. Maybe I will do both and see which I like best. I will show you my feeble first attempts and we can laugh together.

Hit me Batty, one more time.

I love making these. The bats are so full of personality. I could make a hundred of these and not get tired of it. (Please don't ask me to, though. LOL) The little eyes are made with striking transparent orange which is a color I had immense difficulty with when I was a newbie bead maker. There's a trick to getting the glass to strike and you have to know what color to look for (hint: not orange.) to know it's struck. Even then, you don't really know if you've struck it right until the bead is room temperature again. It takes a while working with glass before you learn all these tricks and tips. Reading tips only gets you so far, really, because you have to see the glass in action to know what to look for.

The Etsy sale is going so well! I am thrilled to pieces! I have more to put up after I take pictures this afternoon. Now, I am off to the torch...wish me luck!

Kitties and veggies and more bargains

Do you see the family resemblance? Si has crazy eyes, like, all the time. I tried to capture that in glass by using some really cool swirly sapphire blue glass. The kitty beads are very fun to make. It's fun to put faces on stuff and give them personalities of their own.

Which brings me to ... drum roll please ... the first beads in a new series that I will call "Don't eat anything with a face" which, in Loriland, doesn't leave much to eat. I had raviolis for lunch...I wonder what that would look like with eyeballs?


So, here is an eggplant, corn and an apple with an adorable visitor. Look for more soon.
Have a fantastic Wednesday! Oh and don't forget that the big bead box clearout is still going on in my Etsy store! http://loribeads.etsy.com/

Studio Clean Out - Day 3

I've been cleaning out my bead box. Check out the booty at loribeads.etsy.com and get them while they're hot (and cheap!)



I've got some really great new beads cooking in the kiln today. Kitties in all varieties, silver glass experiments, vegetables with faces. Something for everybody, basically. :)



Here's one of the sets you can get for bargain basement prices if you hurry!

Monterey, the Puppy and more beads

We spent the day in Monterey. The weather was incredible and we had a nice long walk down by the ocean. Here are some pictures we took while we looked over the bay.

Sea lions! We love the sea lions.

Puppy wants to know ... what's for lunch?

Now, here are some beads that I really LOVE!

Ok, the sea air makes me sleepy so I am off to bed. *Yawn* I hope you guys had a great weekend, too.

Win my Puppy beads at Etsy Glass Artists!

Here are the beads I donated for the Etsy Glass Artists newsletter sign up giveaway. If you want a chance to win them, sign up for the EGA newsletter here: http://etsyglass.com/list/?p=subscribe&id=5 or just go to http://etsyglass.com/ and follow the links. The beads will be given away at the end of August.

Puppy luv

Here's a rare shot of Puppy and Desiree snuggling where they are both awake. Usually at least one of them is snoozing when I try to take a picture of their combined cuteness.

Beads, beads, and more beads:

These are more beads made with Olympia rain and Nyx glass from Double Helix. The middle bead has dots of Nyx, covered with clear, and the Nyx looks like abalone shell. Very cool effect. I need more of this glass. This is definitely one of those "must make beads to sell so I can buy more glass to make beads to sell so I can buy more glass to make beads to sell so I can buy more glass..." kinds of situations. *Sigh.*



Shield your eyes if you don't like cute. Here it comes...







Seriously, how cute is this? Well, it's even cuter in person. Back to school time is right around the corner...

EGA Newsletter Prizes, SF and bead block

http://etsyglass.com/ega_newsletter.php

Sign up for the Etsy Glass Artists newsletter and win free schwag! August's prize is coming from your's truly. :) I'll post a picture of it later this week.

Yesterday, Mark and I drove up through Half Moon Bay and Pacifica on our way to San Francisco. I've lived here in the bay area about a bajillion years and I have never driven through HMB or Pacifica! The scenery was quite pretty. Mark and I were going to walk the dog in Pacifica but it was kinda ... gosh, I don't want to make anybody from Pacifica mad but it was a little run down and full of sketchy types, if you know what I mean. I was kind of surprised. Anyway, we just kept driving and walked the dog all over the Presidio, which was absolutely gorgeous. They've made it a national park now. Cool!

I've been out making beads all day today. It's kinda warm but only for a few hours and then it gets cool again by 6pm. I have an order to start and another to finish. I also need to figure out what to make for the EGA newsletter giveaway. They need the photos by Wed. morning. Not a good time to have bead block...

StarFlowers and block parties and Wii fun

Last year, I went to the annual block party but this year I decided to blow it off in favor of a day out with Mark. Am I anti-social? Probably a little bit. I had a pretty good time last year but didn't really have much in common with most of my neighbors. Most have little kids where I have a 20-year old. Most of them work outside the home and I stay at home and make beads. I don't think any of them even know I make beads. I don't think any of them would know what the heck I was talking about, even if I showed them the beads. Anyway, Mark and I had a good day out so I guess that's all that matters, right?

So, today we went to Fry's Electronics so I could pick up a movie that was on sale (Idiocracy) and a cordless Dremel to use to clean my beads. Mark got Desiree another controller for her Wii so she can play a game she downloaded. The game is an old version of the Legend of Zelda that she has always wanted to play. Now she can! The best game we have found for the Wii is so far is Cooking Mama. It is awesome! Desiree plays that one all the time and it's a fun one to just pick up when you have a few minutes to play.

I finally got out to take some pictures of the beads I've been making. Well, two of them, anyway. LOL! I'm calling these StarFlowers and I really love them. They have lots of dimension to them and I love the shape. The backs are left undecorated so you can look through the clear and see the colors underneath. They are for sale at my etsy store - http://www.loribeads.etsy.com/.

Good coffee from good people

Need coffee? Please consider ordering from this fledgling coffee roasting company run by a dear friend of mine. It's a struggle making a new business work and she and her husband could use all the help they can get. Plus, the coffee is awesome.

http://www.buzzjoycoffeeroasting.com/

1pm - Ok, I am back from the post office and got a chance to take pictures of the beads I made with Olympia Rain. Click on the picture so you can see it full size. I love them!

Ladybug, ladybug...I can't stop making ladybugs. They started out normal, red and black, and then the mad color wheel lady in my head stepped in and now we have Ladybugs Gone Wild.

Today I am going to go visit my friend and fellow beadmaker Miss Kimberly Lynn! YAY!!! I have been longing for a girl's night out but scheduling stuff is hard and she lives way over an hour away in Santa Rosa. I will tell you though...she is worth the journey. I love my friends!!!

Desiree cut my hair last night. It is SHORT now. It's quite a change but I love it! I also love how she is getting more and more confidence in every aspect of her life since she started cosmetology school. She is on her way!!! And I'm the practice head. LOL! (I am saving a bundle on haircuts and color.)