Saturday, January 30, 2010

Happy Birthday my Sweet Girl


Can it be true? My sweet little girl is 19! She is not only beautiful, but more important one of those people you want to hang out with. She is compassionate, smart, funny as hell, and a all around great kid. I couldn't be more proud of her. So Happy Birthday Allie!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Tons 'o' Fun


So I have had ton's of fun peeking into everyones blogs from the Bead Soup project. http://lorianderson.blogspot.com/2009/12/bead-soup-party-and-bead-swap.html

Lots of talented ladies and I have had tons of inspiration and can't wait to see the big reveal of everyones work on Feb 10.

So I have a BIG event coming up at work (Midwest Glass Experience) and have been working really hard to make sure everything runs smoothly. Soon after I will be a guest artist for the Fire on the Mountain Ashveille. I do believe all the spots are full but if you want to take a class with me I am also teaching at Blue Moon http://www.austinbluemoon.com/index.php May 22-23.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

I Got My Bead Soup!!!


Tee Hee I finally got time to take some pictures of MY Bead Soup mix from the delightful Lori Anderson! She was inspired by my off mandrel glass flowers and my love of earth tones. I think she did a beautiful job and I can't wait to start designing. I need to get my butt in gear!

Opps I am editing to say that the thing in the upper left corner is a rock. I put it there cause the beads were rolling off my photo set up. I got a BIG giggle when my partner Lori asked me what that, was cause she sure didn't remember sending me that! HA. Too funny

Monday, January 18, 2010


So a little background. I am the Director of Flameworking at Third Degree Glass Factory. We teach an elective Intro to Glass class for Washington University in St. Louis. The kids have been on winter break for the last couple of weeks but tomorrow classes start up again. I usually have 6-8 student per class and I teach 3 classes per semester.
I am happy but a little sad too, because I have less free time to do my own work. So my goal this semester is to better manage my time, so I can get more of my own work done.
Wish me luck.

Here is a new silver glass pod.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Pushing my envelope


I feel the need for a creative shift... to push my envelope. Certain images, will catch my eye and the lure of metal has been strong! So I have about 5 books on metal and mixed media. I am obsessed argggg. So if you follow my blog you will get to see how I progress.
Comments are welcome!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Inspiration found in the darnest places!
















So I have been exploring the pod shape and our Banana tree at the studio has grown a beautiful pod. We bring the BIG tree in every winter and as I walked by it a couple weeks ago I noticed a beautiful POD. So of course it became my muse for a new pod style bead. As with anything, this shape with evolve and develop as I work with it and become inspired by other shapes.

Ohhh and I got my partner in the Bead Soup Party....Lori http://www.lorianderson.blogspot.com/ ! Score!!! We are both so excited and can't wait to exchange our beads. Make sure you stay tuned!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Bead Soup!


So I am joining some other great artists in the Bead Soup Party. It sounds like such a fun thing to join in and the wonderful Lori Anderson is organizing it. Thank you Lori.
If you are interested you can find info at her Blog.

http://www.lorianderson.blogspot.com/

I am off to try and take some photos of my work and enter into a couple art shows. I took last year off so I could explore working with metal and found objects and incorporate them with my beads. Also the economy SUCKED so that was another reason to take the art show season off. Lets hope things start getting better and I learn to work a little smarter.
I have a new "pod style" that I am playing with and have become obsessed. I will go take some pictures and post them later.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Reflections on Glass


So lately there has been a HUGE movement in using silver glass in beads. When I first started (13 years ago) there was no such thing as silver glass in COE 104. We had color reactions between two glass colors (ie ivory/turquoise) and Michael Barley was using silver leaf to create beautiful reactions in his beads.
Now silver glass is the new "hot" thing. It is beautiful don't get me wrong and I have seen many beautiful beads using it, but I have also seen less and less of basic skills, and regular glass being used lately. Beads begin to all look the same.

I love the restrictions that regular glass and basic tools put on a glass artist. It forces the artist to think out of the box and use your basic skill sets in a new a different ways. How can one persons dot look different than another artists dot. They can, it just depends on how you see your dot.
I have played with silver glass and I do like it, but my heart belongs to using good ole moretti and my good ole tools and what my little ole head can dream of.
Want some great inspiration, from some great artists?
Off the top of my head how about Dustin Tabor www.dustintabor.com. Holly Cooper
http://www.hollycooper.com/, Sarah Moran http://www.z-beads.com/, Kate Fowle http://www.katefowle.com/, Lucie Weir http://www.etsy.com/shop/lunacyglass and finally Tom and Sage Holland and my hero Jim Jones (see picture attached). They push all my creative buttons.

Saturday, January 2, 2010


My heart goes out to my friend Michelle who is going though a really hard time right now.
Her ex-husband is very ill and her thoughts are with her two beautiful sons.
We are all thinking of you Meesh. You can find posts on facebook on how to help out Meesh.

My son returns to college tomorrow after a two week Christmas break. He returns to start a
inter-session class before his final spring semester starts the middle of Jan. I still miss him even after four years of him being away at school. Thank goodness he is less than 2 hours away!
Hey I gained two followers to my lonely little blog!

Stick around I promise to make it good!