DarleenMB Lampwork

Just a coincidence?

2011-02-12T21:41:00.001-07:00

I opened my latest issue of PEOPLE magazine (my intellectual reading for the week) to a full page ad for the Grammys.

Why is this a big deal?

Well, splashed across the page was the phrase

MUSIC IS LIFE IS MUSIC

Which just so happens to be the very phrase *I* came up with in 2005 and had engraved on the back of my iPod.

Absolutely true and I'll take a pic of the pink mini tomorrow to prove it.

Think I can sue them for copyright infringement?

didn't think so.

Been a long time gone

2011-02-12T10:32:00.000-07:00

I see it's been nearly a year since I have blogged anything at all. Not much has happened in that time. Nothing new and noteworthy anyway.

One thing I am doing is closing down my website the end of March. It just sits there, wasting money and now I have a store at Artfire so why pay for both? Plus I have had almost no sales from the website so what's the point?

I'm gearing up to go back to work now that the Arctic Express seems to be done for this winter. It's a little difficult to torch when the temp in the studio is 50 and one has to leave the door open a crack for ventilation purposes and it's 20 below OUTSIDE. brrrrrrrrr.

I have lots of new ideas rattling around in my head but it's going to take a while to get to those. I've decided to focus my initial efforts on encased florals. And those take time and practice because I haven't done them in a couple of years.

On another note, the AGLF (Artisans and Glassworkers Legal Fund) has had rousing success raising funds for our fight against that spurious, ridiculous lawsuit. We have done RBoG (random bags of glass) patterned after Woot's great succes with their random bag o'crap (it was never crap, btw as I bought a couple. Always good stuff but not necessarily anything I could use or wanted).

Last month I sent out sample baggies of frit, cell phone lariats, sample baggies of ceramic beads and some other stuff. This month? Well I haven't mailed them out yet so I'm not tellin'.

As a matter of fact, that's where I'm headed next. Gotta pack those puppies up and get them in the mail. Got the list of buyers last night so it's off to work.

With luck, I'll have something new to post and not next year!

In the meantime, here's Three demanding to know why he can't get on my lap.

Busy busy busy

2010-04-18T12:02:00.000-06:00

I actually have been so busy working (and playing on FB, I'll be honest) that I haven't had much time to post here. I had a great flurry of sales on ebay which had me so excited I just got back to work nearly full time.

Of course it didn't last and now I'm just spending money to put stuff on ebay that gets basically no hits. And hubby wonders why I get frustrated and stop working.

I did make a few beads yesterday so have to get them cleaned. I'd planned on doing some florals today but it's noon and I haven't even gotten dressed yet and need to run to town. Sometimes being retired isn't such a good thing.

Anyway, I have a few auctions for the rest of this week and then that will be it until we get back from Florida on the 5th. I'll be taking my kindle with me for the trip as it's going to be about 6 hours in the air. I've got lots on it to read so I surely won't get bored.

Even though we have a house sitter lined up I'm sure the cats will NOT be happy with us as the new kid still is trying to make friends with Missy and she refuses to have anything to do with him.

On a happy note, AVATAR will be released on Thursday and I'm going to be first in line to grab a copy. Cannot wait!

It's not lack of desire ...

2010-03-22T08:28:00.002-06:00

I've been spending less and less time at the torch this past winter partly because of FaceBook, FarmVille, etc but there's an underlying cause I have been trying to deny.

I have been slowly, over the last several years, been experiencing loss of strength in my hands and this winter the middle joint of my middle finger on my left hand swelled to nearly half again normal size and the pain has been just awful. I finally broke down and bought one of the paraffin spa things which I luckily found online at Target. I don't know that it helped much. I also started taking big doses of ibuprofen until I was reminded that the stuff erodes your cartilage faster than the arthritis. So I stopped that and began taking 500mg aspirin caplets. Since the cold weather has finally begun to ease back the pain has lessened but a couple of days ago it flared up again.

The good news, and there does seem to be some, is that by working, the pain generally lessens. I suspect it's close exposure to the heat thrown off by the torch. Also, even when the pain is bad, turning the mandrel isn't a big problem. Hanging onto it could be ... I'm waiting for the day I drop a hot bead onto my lap. Maybe I should get a leather apron, just in case.

All whining aside, I'm also finding that once I make myself sit down and fire up the torch I don't want to quit. I LOVE what I do even if it isn't "art." I'm happy to be able to do craft.

I would like to hear from my customers on a number of different things. What colors are you looking for? How many beads do you WANT in a set (I just arrived at 6 as an out-of-the-hat number. I really prefer doing odd numbered sets but ???)? What sizes? What shapes? So post a reply here and get an entry for the April bead giveaway. Fan my Facebook page and get an entry. Buy a set of beads from ebay or my Etsy shop and get an entry.

And now it's time to get off the computer and go clean all the beads I made yesterday ...

There's a cat on my lap and he won't move!

2010-02-08T09:03:00.004-07:00

Joey warned me about Three. He said once Three got onto my lap he wouldn't leave. How right he was. Not only that but he likes to help me with my typing and surfing. I've dumped him off 4 times this morning and he's baaaa-aack.

We are so lucky he is such a sweetheart. For those of you who don't know, he was either a stray or a straight feral cat who showed up on our deck last Fall looking for a handout. His name came about because he was the third black cat in a row to adopt us. I'm sure the first two met with bad ends.

Long story short, in November a cougar showed up on the deck (see previous posts for pics). Three was lounging on his little cat blanket enjoying the sun when the CAT showed up. I managed to distract the cougar with a blast from my handy air horn long enough for Three to escape.

I borrowed a trap from a friend and the day after Thanksgiving caught Three (finally!). It's been a long, slow acclimation for him. He's still a nervous little boy (I think he's about year old) but he's happy as can be with his new home and shows no sign of ever wanting to go back outside. So here he sits, curled up on my lap, head on my arm as I try to type this. He refuses to budge.

On to the beady side of things. I have 5 completed and ready-to-list sets for Etsy and 4 more waiting to be cleaned and photographed. I have to get off the computer and get to work because I'll be stopping today at 2:00 for an appointment. Dentist tomorrow at 1PM which is going to limit torch time to probably zero, lunch with a friend on Thursday (haven't seen her for months) so it's a good thing I have a few sets ahead.

Here's a quick preview:

Bead Release

2010-02-05T09:40:00.002-07:00

So today's rant has to do with bead release. I just HATE it when I've not done anything for a while (in this case 2 months) and I open my jar of bead release to discover -- it's drying out.

Sure all you have to do is add a little water and stir. First is how MUCH water. I know the folks who make the stuff say things like "it should be the consistency of a thick milkshake" but do they mean that frozen glop you get at the local fast food joint or do they mean like a real old-fashioned milkshake or malt made with real ice cream, milk and flavors? They really are two different things.

Secondly is the stir part. OK I'm getting old(er) and have the beginnings of arthritis in my hands. I don't have the grip strength I once had. But still.

As I was wrestling with the heavy mandrel and the thickened bead release this morning I found myself wondering if one of those stick blenders would do the trick. Probably, I thought then looked at the jar. But it won't fit in this thing. Too bad it would be such a mess to dump it into a blender (which I had sitting on the shelf and had bought specifically for using in the studio. I think I tossed it. I'll have to go look), add water and hit puree. jeez. This is such a PITA WHY do I do this?

I put the lid on tight, turn the jar upside down, store it in a plastic bag. And it STILL dries out. And before you tell me I should just buy a smaller jar, I only have the pint sized one. whine. It may not even be that much. Robin Foster didn't specify on the label (that's how old the stuff is ... she sold the biz quite a while back).

Well anyway. the mandrels are dipped and just for the record I added too much water (you know like an extra milliliter? 2 drops too many? That's all it takes and your release just rolls down the side of the mandrel) so I fast dipped 'em in the hope enough will stick to the metal I can get my beads made today.

I put up 3 new sets in my Etsy store 2 days ago. Today I"m making easter eggs. This should be fun!

Moving back into the work groove

2010-01-30T10:06:00.002-07:00

I've been avoiding my studio for a couple of months now and decided today is the day to get back in there and get moving. First order of business is to clean off my desk. I've been tending to my Etsy store from my "fun" desk in our "computer room" and the result is burgeoning chaos on and around that desk. I swore I was not going to bring my beady stuff into the house and here I am, dragging it in bit by bit.

So today it goes back to the studio where it belongs and I'm going with it. After all, the entire reason I kept my PowerPC MacMini was to have computer/internet access out THERE so I could keep my piles of stuff separate.

Oh, and btw, I am not a packrat. I'm just tremendously visual and I NEED to keep my stuff out where I can keep an eye on it otherwise I forget I have it. Literally. Hubby does not understand this at all. For me, out of sight, out of mind is a LITERAL truism.

However, just to clarify, I do not have stacks and stacks of STUFF (have you watched HOARDERS on A&E? OMG. I had to quit because it was just about making me ill.) I have a few small stacks and when asked to find something can go right to it. THAT'S the problem with being right brained and visually oriented. ah well.

I've been doing a few listings daily in my Etsy store and have evidently hit the right price point because I've sold nearly a dozen sets in 2 days time. Yay! I have quite a few more sets to list and will be making more in the next day or so. I have Amy's egg press and am just itching to try it out. I have all kinds of ideas for easter egg sets.

I was over at Frantz's Art Glass website drooling over the sale prices on glass and had to drag myself away. I have LOTS of glass. Lots and LOTS of glass and don't need to order more except, soon, the basics like clear, white and black. It's difficult because the darned stuff is to tempting. But I have only made one car payment. When I took the money out of savings to get my van I promised I would pay back every dime and that was last July. I made ONE payment. So that has got to come first. sigh. It's so difficult acting like a grownup. Even at my age.

Time to get to work. Off to do a few listings in my Etsy store and then out to clean my desk and really get back to work!

Getting back to work

2010-01-29T03:50:00.004-07:00

After a 3 month hiatus I'm finding it very difficult to get organized and back at it. Yesterday I began sorting through my inventory (again) and had to decide which direction I would go. Ebay is tempting because once upon a time I had great success there. But I've never really given Etsy a fair shake so decided to go look at what I was doing "wrong" over there.

My conclusion was that in today's economic hard times my bead prices were just too high. So I slashed the prices of my inventory in the Etsy shop and will be adding more beads over the next few weeks.

In the meantime, I'm rethinking the whole eBay thing. Etsy is so much cheaper when it comes to fees plus my listings are up there for far longer which means a better chance they'll be seen. Both of those are important especially since I've cut my pricing to less than what I once considered wholesale.

My second step will be to do what I've been threatening to do for several years now and that is start making jewelry from my beads. I have all the necessary tools and supplies set aside, tons of magazines and books for inspiration and instruction ... now I just need to DO it.

I'm getting excited again to get back to the torch. I hate it when I don't work. Now that the worst of the winter doldrums is coming to an end and I've pretty much recovered from losing Allie McDog, I'm ready. And with the upcoming Spring holidays I've plenty of ideas to put to the torch, so stay tuned!

Where HAVE I been?

2010-01-24T17:22:00.005-07:00

I can't believe I haven't written a post since October! Where the heck did all the time go?

FarmVille.

Yup, I got hooked early November and that was that. There's a bit more to the story but that's what I've been doing all this time.

After we put Allie to "sleep" I found FarmVille and was immediately hooked. It pretty much allowed me to ignore the pain of having to end my friend's life. Yeah I know she was just a dog to some, but she was my constant companion for 12 years. Years when Joe was gone working on the railroad and I was home all alone.

Then there was the "adoptee" to deal with... Three was my rescue cat. The kitty on the deck the day the mountain lion showed up.

We're still trying to domesticate Three as he was pretty much a wild child. He spent the first 6 weeks living with us hiding under the sofa and only coming out at night when we were all asleep. Now he sleeps under our bed and follows me around like a baby duck. He hasn't reached the lap stage yet but he's getting close.

However, Missy (my nearly 17 year old female kitty) and Sammy (the 10 year old shelter adoptee male) are NOT happy about this intruder.

Too bad. Cause we had yet another visitor on the deck a couple of days ago:

At first I thought it was just a beautiful kitty. Then I realized just how BIG said "kitty" was and called for Joe to grab his camera because we had a bobcat on the deck. Never a dull moment around here.

So long story short, I've been practicing avoidance for, let me see, three months? That's coming to an end tomorrow as I'm doing forced withdrawal from FarmVille and getting myself back to work. I need to clean up the studio just a tad and I have a backlog of beads from my now (almost) closed Artfire studio I need to list on ebay and then it's back to the torch. So stay tuned. I have some plans for something different.

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

2009-10-08T16:16:00.002-06:00

Woke up this morning to more snow and a boiler that refused to cooperate. 61 in the kitchen and 30 outside. brrrrr.

The poor apprentice plumber has been here and back to town 3 times already but he finally thinks he's found the problem. Hopefully he can find the part but with our luck it will have to be ordered and won't get here until next week. AND it's going to be 8° tomorrow night. That's right. eight freaking degrees.

So obviously I haven't gotten any beads made today. sigh. Once upon a time I was at the torch 5 days a week. lately it's more like once a month. This is getting really depressing.

Yet another excuse not to work

2009-10-07T09:26:00.003-06:00

OK it's the 7th already and I have yet to pay the bills and reconcile the checkbook. I don't know why I can't get over this and just DO it. Well I do but I don't like to admit it. when you live paycheck to paycheck for nearly 30 years it's tough to understand and accept you aren't living that way anymore. I'm always surprised that we have money left over after the bills are done (except sometimes when a certain household member runs up the credit card). Railroad retirement is a godsend. Who knew!?

So no beads today and none yesterday because we went to see ZOMBIELAND which was an absolute hoot.

OK if I get the damn bills done before noon I actually COULD make some beads this afternoon. Get out the whip.

the biggest blown glass pumpkin

2009-10-05T13:37:00.001-06:00

Check this out:

I'm not ready for this

2009-10-05T12:02:00.004-06:00

I woke up this morning to SNOW. Wyoming has only two seasons ... sort of summer and WINTER. I am SO ready to move back to Colorado.

Speaking of which, we made another trip last week so hubby could attend his 50th high school reunion. jeebus. How'd he get so old, anyway? ;-) We had a great time though. It was a small class to begin with and, naturally, has shrunk with the years. They had a GREAT Elvis impersonator for the Saturday evening program. He's the son of one of the classmates and he did the entire show a cappella and perfectly in tune. Absolutely amazing.

Well, this is supposed to be my bead blog so I guess I'd better write about beads.

I haven't made any in 2 weeks. AGAIN. Why? See the above. By the time I'd driven us to Loveland and back again 5 days later I've been just too pooped to get into the studio and work. Today I feel like it but I have afternoon appointments so there's no point in firing things up since the kiln has to cycle through when I finish and I need to be HERE (not somewhere else) while it's doing that.

Sounds good, anyway. So that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

I just ordered a BUNCH of stuff from one of my suppliers so I can start making jewelry for the holidays. I plan on putting it in my etsy store so will post here when I get started with that.

Beads on Wednesday! I promise!

There's "snarky" and then there's just mean

2009-09-17T09:09:00.002-06:00

One of the forums I frequent that is dedicated to beadmakers tends to get hostile. I've seen people tear other beadmakers apart for no particular reason other than they felt like it. And I have learned, over my time on the 'net that sometimes a "winky" just isn't enough.

Which is why, when I posted the other day about what really is a BASIC bit of lampworking knowledge I said as a preface "I am NOT being snarky here" so that readers wouldn't take my following comment the wrong way.

Well of COURSE someone had to get snarky right back and informed me that my comment WAS upsetting.

Well boo hoo. Can't you read?

The issue at hand was INCOMPATIBILITY of glasses and I couldn't see why someone would be surprised to find a bead they made with incompatible glasses would BREAK.

Now I'm all for experimenting. But when you KNOW that if you wish to use a 94 COE glass as DECORATION on a 104 COE base you need to use the least amount possible of the 94, then why on EARTH would you just keep jamming more and more of the 2 glasses into the same bead? General rule of thumb is to use 5-10% of the 94 COE (because this particular glass contains a LOT of lead which helps keep the two glasses, if not happy together, at least out of divorce court).

Pardon me for interjecting some SENSE into the discussion. And I have, once again, exiled myself from said forum. And I was just getting back into being part of the "community" after a long hiatus.

Maybe I should just STAY away permanently.

sigh

And JustBeads is dead. So I'm moving auctions back to ebay and praying for some movement. I cannot keep making stuff that just sits in boxes in the studio. (full pity party now) ... maybe I should just sell it all off and go find a job.

I give up

2009-09-16T15:28:00.001-06:00

My bead sales at JustBeads have just tanked. NO bids except for one set. So I'm headed back to ebay to see if I can get some traction there.

If not I guess I'm going to have to throw them all in the trash, sell my torch, and go apply for a job at Starbucks.

this just stinks.

2009-09-01T19:18:00.003-06:00

I got my hands on some new frit blends the other day and this AMAZING set is the best of the lot. I like it so much I've ordered a bigger jar of the stuff.

I also tried out a new-to-me glass from Gaffer called chalcedony. It is AMAZING stuff. All this came from ONE rod of glass:

I can hardly wait to try more.

I also made an encased floral, something I haven't made in a very long time. Well it showed. The bead was absolutely gorgeous except for the thermal crack on one side. I could have sworn I'd brought it back to red heat before putting it in the kiln but evidently I didn't. DANG. It was very nicely shaped as well. Something I've always had difficulty with when making larger beads. So back to the torch.

I have at least 9? sets to put up for auction at JustBeads when I get back from the weekend. So be sure and check next week for all the new stuff. I'll also be putting items in my Etsy shop and more frit in my Artfire studio.

August doldrums

2009-08-24T12:47:00.002-06:00

I've managed to avoid the studio for over a week now. I haven't been sleeping well and when I'm this tired I'm a danger to myself around the torch. No sense in courting a bad burn, so ...

I've also been spending what little money I've made on more STUFF. Brent Graber's DVD + some boro rods & frit to get started with; more glass, this time Gaffer (just what I need yet another COE); more FRIT for pete's sake. I should have kept my frit store going. At this rate I may just have to open it again. And MORE frit (found a bunch of Val's samples in the garage sale at LE and could NOT resist). sigh. Mandrels. What else? Jeez. Oh yeah, fresh mangoes, handpicked by an LE member in Florida. I'm drooling over THAT purchase.

Hmm. I think that's all for now. I think I have just enough money left in my checking account to make my car payment this month.

I had really planned to make more beads yesterday but, same old same old.

At least we've finished up the guest bedroom. Got the new sheetrock primed and the whole room painted and furniture put back. The carpet dude came today and measured both rooms for the new carpet. I can't believe we've lived with that ghastly UGLY gold tweed shag type carpet for 12 1/2 years. UGH. We're getting a nice berber. Not quite the color I wanted but I think it will work with both rooms.

Now comes the big job. I need to start clearing out the "office" once the bedrooms are finished. What a PITA that's going to be.

Maybe I can get to the torch tomorrow. I have some new frits I'm aching to try out.

I'm SUCH a glass 'ho!

2009-08-20T09:51:00.003-06:00

Somebody stop me. PLEASE. I was wandering around both the LE and Torchbugs sites and ran across some beads made with Gaffer Glass's chalcedony. O.M.G. The colors are simply amazing.

So of course I had to go over to the Gaffer USA site and look around and the next thing you know I've got $60 worth of glass in my shopping cart. And of course it is NOT COMPATIBLE with any of the hundred pounds or so of OTHER lampworking glass stashed in my studio. WTF is wrong with me? LOL. I have NO self control.

Well I ordered plenty of the chalcedony, a bit of black, a bit of white, a lot of clear and a bit of salmon (its looks SO pretty!) and chameleon. That ought to be enough to get started with. The PLUS is that a lot of the frit I use is from Val Cox and she uses mostly (if not all) Gaffer frit in her blends. So I can play play play without worrying if I used too much frit and not enough base glass of another COE.

I know, if you aren't a lampworker you probably don't understand at thing I'm saying. So Maybe I'll quit being lazy and do a post about COE and why it's important. Maybe.

Looks like I won't be doing much torchwork for a couple more weeks. I got the guest room painted yesterday and most of the furniture back in place. The carpet people are coming on Monday to measure for the new carpeting for both bedrooms and then we'll have to move everything OUT of the bedrooms, take up the old carpet and get ready for the new. And I'm sure when we get back from the labor day weekend there will be more furniture moving about as we have about 1500 square feet of TracMaster flooring to install. o.m.g.

Sporadic work ethic

2009-08-18T10:00:00.002-06:00

This summer I've been working in fits and starts. I've been trying to get back to the torch for 4 days now but "stuff" keeps getting in the way.

Today I HAVE to paint our guest room. Hubby got the insulation and sheetrock up and all textured, now I just need to do my part. I've changed my mind 3 times about the color to paint and have finally settled on a pale mocha from Behr called malted milk. I've also, almost, settled on the carpet we'll be putting in both bedrooms. Definitely a berber and found a pattern I like but it's only available in either plain, light colors or tweedy with too many dark colors in it. sigh.

OK, this is supposed to be about BEADS.

I'm also currently debating about trying to restart a frit business. Bead sales are slow to nonexistent in the current economy and I KNOW that supports items in ANY endeavor are where the real money is. So I'm dithering about THAT. Frit is WAY expensive. To invest enough to have all the colors to get started is somewhere around $5,000. sigh.

And on the creative front I'm feeling the need to do something other than bread & butter beads. So once again I'm telling myself I need to warm up with the B&BB then spend some time doing something really creative, then do some more B&BB. But first I need to to get to work.

It's never ending issue with me.

Lampwork community up in arms

2009-07-31T08:11:00.004-06:00

I swear I'm getting dizzy trying to keep up with all of this.

There's a nutjob down in Texas who has the lampworking community in an uproar. She's started several blogs (most of which have been shut down) claiming that some of the groups BN beadmakers are all "frauds." She has been a busy little bee contacting state officials claiming these people have not been following the rules regarding business licenses, sales tax reporting, etc.

She's full of cr*p but that doesn't matter when someone's good name is being smeared all over the internet AND you have the tax man at your door asking about your sales practices.

I don't understand what she hopes to accomplish with all of this unless it's simply to annoy the heck out of people. If that's the case she's done an outstanding job.

As it is, just sitting on the sidelines like I've been has been distracting enough.

If you'd like more highlights, check out this article.

Added a slideshow

2009-04-03T10:32:00.002-06:00

I added a slideshow at the bottom of the page of some of my focal beads. I cannot figure out how to get it any higher up. Eventually I will sort this out but not today.

We leave on Tuesday to start our trip to Ireland and I cannot think of anything else right now.

Good news, looks like I'm getting a nice big metal desk for my studio to replace the slightly wobbly (and old) small conference table I've been using. DRAWERS!! So when we get back the first thing I'll be doing will be cleaning out the studio and doing some major rearranging. Floor space is quite limited and I'm bulging at the seams right now.

So out with the old!

New and improved

2009-03-26T12:44:00.000-06:00

OK, I started a blog here over a year ago as a means of showcasing jewelry made by my customers with my beads. No one ever took me up on it so I'm starting over again. This new blog is devoted solely to my lampwork. No political commentaries, no movie reviews, no kvetching about life in general. Just the ups and downs of my creative process or lack there of and a look at what's new out of my kiln.

I'll also be posting a couple times month over on Watch Me Create and if you want to read about my everyday bitchiness you'll have to visit my personal blog.

Since we're leaving soon for Ireland the torch is cold and so is the kiln. But when I get back I expect to be doing a LOT of new work inspired by the Irish countryside.