Walrus Dog & Birthday Boy Goodies

Lacey Lou is having fun! The ex calls this "saber-toothed dog", my son calls her "walrus dog"! Regardless, isn't she cute hamming for the camera?

Son had a great birthday. Better than he could of ever imagined methinks! A fancy laptop that should take him into college, accessories for it, dinner out and a future shopping trip to spend the birthday dough. Will it be an I-Pod or inline skates?

Tomorrow I'm off to give Doddie (Dottie?) a whirl. I have never ridden a Tennessee Walker. I'm excited to do so as I have always heard so much about their smooth gaits. My aunt says watching her race the pasture is poetry in motion.

My Boy

This is my first born child, my son. Tomorrow he will be sixteen. Where has all that time gone? This is the most recent picture I have of him. He's not one to have his picture taken anymore. I can't believe he is a sophomore already.

I really don't have to much to say about today other than I did some birthday shopping and found some coolers for laptops and maybe a new computer work surface. I'm still thinking about it. I probably will get it and let my son have the podium style one I am currently using.

Oh, I did start re-vamping some of my listings and working on a date for my grand unveiling of my made-over studio.

The Willows

This is a set I made from the cabs I made earlier this summer using a Sharpie marker and glass etching cream before fusing. I'm surprised it is still here. Lot of people have really liked it.

On another note I finally started using a few cathedral glass colors from Bullseye as they aren't available in Spectrum 96. All the colors have fused and dopped wonderfully except one. I have had a terrible time with their lime green turning cloudy either in the kiln of while dopping. I discovered Spectrum has a lime green thin. Dad ordered it and some new channeling bits for me today along with his order. It will be here tomorrow!

Ember Earrings

Here is another new pair of earrings I made a week from last Saturday. This lovely design only lasted one week! I saw a lady walking past my booth in a stunning jacket of reds and oranges on black. I complimented her on it and then said " I have a pair of earrings to match that!" And she came over and looked. She asked if I had a pendant to match and I replied no. She asked me to hold them for her so I did. While holding them I remembered I had my cabs with me and decided to make her a matching pendant. It was almost identical to the earrings except I used a larger cab on the bottom. Put on a chain. When she came back I showed them to her and she bought the set plus another pair of earrings!

I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to post last night. I have started my fall cleaning in the house since my biological father-in-law is coming to visit. He will be here tomorrow around noon. Yesterday I managed to sort, clean, scrub, dust and organize almost all of the living room. Today I finished the living room and made my way through the dining room and the bathroom. I had hoped to get the carpets cleaned, but have ran out of time. Tomorrow is the kitchen. I'm not going to get as carried away with the cleaning for now. Just do the dishes, clean the counters, wipe the cupboards, sweep and mop. As this is becoming a list of blah, blah, blah I think I will call it a night!

Fall Festival Report!

Just one pair of some of my newer earring designs that sold over the weekend. They were only two weeks old. I found it very exciting and satisfying to see my newer creations selling so soon from conception. This tells me that I am starting to fine tune my artistic vision to what people will buy! I love making a customer happy!

Well I had a great time on Saturday and made my booth fee in one day plus a little more. I have decided that I love visitors! (aka tourists) This lovely breed have money to spend and do so. They were also prevelant on Saturday. They energy, feel, vibe of the show was great on Saturday too! Sunday seemed to be the day the locals came out to see all the goodies, but they really weren't buying.

Saturday's forecast of cloudy, scattered rain showers and windy held mostly true. We had a slight sprinkling around eleven a.m. that ended almost as soon as it had started. We then had another shower that started just a few minutes before five p.m. as the show was ending. The part that held the truest was the wind. I spent most of Saturday "bench pressing" my canopy into the wind gusts to keep it from skittering into the booth behind me. Yes, I do have weights, about 30 pounds a corner. The booth sides act like sails causing the canopy to try to go windsurfing!

I think I had more to say, but the extra long day ( no nap either!) is clouding my brain. I'll share more about the new pieces that went to homes tomorrow!

Sisters Fall Festival

As you may know I try to share my current work with you. When I'm not creating I'm not blogging very well. So I thought I would share this kiln shelf of cut glass squares. They are all stacked and ready to fire-in the kiln even! I actually fired them last night so they were ready for me in the morning.

These 1/4 inch, 3/8th inch and one 1/2 inch squares will become little cabochons for rings and post earrings. Some will be dopped (glued to sticks) to be channeled for wire wrapping. I was going to do that today, but I don't think I'm going to get there. These will be about 8mm and 12mm when done.

This weekend will be a very busy, long weekend. I have a two day show in Sisters. Sisters is about 30 minutes from here. The show hours are 10am-5pm on Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sunday..Also my dad is going to Corvallis to watch the Beaver game tomorrow that starts at 4pm. Since he won't be home until late.....my son and I will be getting up at 3, yes 3am on Sunday morning to deliver the Sunday paper. We may have time for a nap before we have to be at the show.

I just hope that the predicted cloudy, rainy and breezy weather holds off until Monday and that I can be in bed by eight pm on Saturday!

My Show Booth

I have been meaning to share pictures of my booth set up for quite a while now, but have just not quite had a chance to take pictures. So last Saturday I decided to remedy that!

This first picture is of the table that displays most of my fancier jewelry. Necklaces, sets, earrings and bracelets.

The second picture is shown looking into my booth. The handsome young man hamming for my camera is one of my son's schoolmates.

The last photo shows my other table. My hanging pendant display is a simple, but lovely fireplace screen I came across at a local discount grocery (& more!) store. I love how I can hang the necklaces up and leave them between shows. Because it is made out of screen I don't have to worry about the wind trying to blow it and the table over. It just goes through! When showing out of doors one must be prepared for wind and rain. Every display I have can be easily clamped and weighed down. I also have a rug (not shown) between the tables. This allows my glass jewelry to bounce instead of breaking.

So anyway here is my booth!

Small Victories!

Well I had a much better day today compared to yesterday. No sales yet and am doubting I will see any.

I had so hoped to go to the biggest bead show in the state, the Portland Interveave Press Bead Fest at the Oregon Convention Center. It only seems to come around about every 18months. But with the way my sales are going online and off. I just won't have any money to spend..

But on another note I have decided I'm not happy with my banner. So I was poking around and found one I love. With the help of my plurkie peeps I decided to go for it. This banner has inspired me to come up with a new tagline, "Mystical Wire Wrapped Dichroic Glass Jewelry". Also I plan to rewrite my bio and studio intro. In the coming months I will also edit my listings to go with my new theme. I think (hope) part of my problem is I'm trying to portray my studio in a manner that just isn't me. This new banner is!

As soon as I get it loaded i will share it via a link and explain more about my new branding and what this new banner means to me!

On another note I did work in the glass shop today pricing and putting away three stacks of glass from the studio! I didn't get started on cabs so it may be another small batch. I have to have them in the kiln tomorrow if I want to have them ready for the weekend. I have to say it is much easier to make smaller batches. Less cutting and less channeling later. Which is easier on me.

p.s. another picture taken of the McKay crossing falls!

Fall Cleaning Of The Glass Shop & Studio, Part I

As I posted the other day it is just about time for me to start my fall cleaning spree and get ready for the long winter months inside where we'll be spending most of our time. I love the winter as long as I'm looking out from a nice cozy inside!

This is a picture I took of our studio late last winter. As you can see it is a cluttered mess. And it looks even worse now!

We are working around a large box of fused and slumped glass dishes we had on consignment and have now been returned. As usual there are stacks of glass leaning up against the counters and the usual huge glass pile up next to the cutting board! (That is the large white grid on the left of the picture.) The floor is now well covered in large splats of solder from all of the repairs Dad has done lately.

So I have decided I will start here. First we (Dad and I) will have to get our messes cleaned off of the work benches and the fused/slumped glass off the floor. This means sorting, cleaning and organizing..again. Then it will be time to scrape all those solder splats, sticky bits of copper foil tape and other miscellaneous sticky stuff off of the floor. Then I can sweep and mop. Somewhere in all of that I also have to clean off the windowsills.

This is my "big" project for the week along with making more little cabochons. I have a couple of new colors, a hot pink and a pale lavender that I need to make a bunch of along with re-stocking the other colors. I also need to make some small cabs that are about 10-12mm besides the 8-9mm ones. These start out as 1/4 inch and 3/8 inch pieces of glass. I need these in all colors.
These are the size I used in the "Stardust Earrings" Hopefully I can remember to keep an accurate record of the time I spend cutting, cleaning and stacking the glass so I can get a good idea of the labor involved.

FALL CLEARANCE SALE!!!

FALL CLEARANCE SALE!!!

Well summer is almost over, the kids are back in school and I have too much inventory on my hands!! So.. to fix this problem and celebrate the upcoming fall season I have marked 40% off of all items showing in my Artfire Studio! This sale starts now and goes through Friday, September 18Th, 8pm Pacific Standard Time!

These are WHOLESALE prices everyone! So come on in and get yourself or a loved one something special today!

If you can't already tell I really wish/need to make some sales AND clear out old inventory! I have a lot of stock and am itching to make more! BUT.. to do that I need to clear out the old to make room for the new.

I'll be the first to admit that I am not a neat freak. My house clutters up for a while and then I'll clean it. I'm just more interested in creating and playing than cleaning. I hate housework and refuse to "Spring Clean". BUT when fall hits this amazing thing happens, Fall Cleaning! As the weather turns cool and the days get shorter I get began to get a nesting urge. By Thanksgiving the house has been cleaned and organized from top to bottom! I think it is because my loved ones and I will be cooped up staring at the same walls for the next four, five, six months and I instinctively have to have it all in order to stay sane and make the long winter months more comfortable and enjoyable for us all. Can anyone else relate to this and do any of you do it too?

It just doesn't seem right to post with out a picture to share. This is another one of the pictures taken on our trip to the Oregon Coast.

I haven't blogged in a while. Mostly because I just haven't done anything worth writing about. My ex's (biological) father visited last week. It was good to see him and I expect we will be seeing more of him if things continue to go well for him.

Several days after that I went to the dentist as one of my bad teeth started to abscess. That killed my energy for a few days. I will be having all three of my really bad teeth pulled on the ninth. That is three less teeth to hurt.

I look forward to the cooler fall weather as I am more than ready to clean up my work area in the glass studio so I can start working on creating some more of my "dichroic doodles" pendants and earrings. I also have a variation of my "windows series" designed. I can't wait to start creating those and seeing how they turn out. Not to mention I have so new glass colors I need to turn into cabochons.