Friday, December 30, 2011

Bead Soup Signs Ups are coming soon!



One of my favorite things I have done in the Blog world was to sign up for Lori's Bead Soup. I was just new to blogging and wanted to meet new bloggers and make some new friends. It really was one of the best things I could have done. I was lucky that Lori already knew my beads and knew who I was. It was like meeting an old friend.By chance we were matched up and we had a blast.
I met some great and talented artists I got to see some beautiful work and been inspired to try new things.
Sign ups start soon Jan 7-9 2012.
So if you are wanting to sign up hit the link and get the details.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Ahead of the Game! Merry Chirstmas.

Every year I always seem behind at Christmas time. I haven't made any cookies, I am behind of gifts, the house is a mess, and I am scrambling last minute.But this year I got this.
I made Christmas cookies with my daughter, I super cleaned the house, I wrapped all the gifts, and I am in the Christmas mood.

I have my whole family with us this year. We also spent Thanksgiving together and it was wonderful. Lots of laughs and love. Now we will all be together Christmas. It won't happen that often so I made sure to carve out time for getting ready. I think it will be lovely. 

I hope that each and everyone of you have a wonderful Christmas, wither it is with family, or just a few friends.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

How lucky am I.





 So working in a glass studio is very cool. I am surrounded by glass and glass artists everyday. What others would kill to have the opportunity to do I take for granted. Our hotshop is one of the best in the country. It's very cool.

Today I was hanging out in the hot shop talking to the blowers and asked one of our artist if I could help him out making ornaments. So I watched him take small gathers of glass out of the furnace to add to the ornament to make the loop on top. Easy enough...not. But I had a blast.

Dang it is HOT and I was just doing simple easy stuff. There are so many things to remember but really its the same thing in beadmaking. It's a lot of stuff to remember. 

So long story short, maybe, just maybe I will take a class. Maybe.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Merry Christmas, Deal with it.


  I remember growing up with joyous memories of Christmas. Every Christmas Eve the neighborhood had a Christmas caroling party and all the Dads took the kids out (Moms had to stay home so we could sing to someone)and we would sing our hearts out. To this day I know the words by heart to many Christmas carols. Oh Holy Night, We Three Kings,  Away in the Manger. The Dads used to say they saw Santa in the sky and we would try as hard as we could to see the red nose on Rudolf. 

We would all meet at the Watt's house and have Christmas cookies, hot chocolate, candy, food and fun! Every year we got older and some moved away but we always made it back to the Watt's. 

Later it was just our family and it grew as we got married and had kids. Those were wonderful times too. My Dad (Papa Lou) would write a scavenger hunt for each one of the grandkids and they would race around the house looking for their presents. We also had a glass Pickle ornament ( and old German tradition)  something my kids still remember. 

I am lucky I get that. Lately our Christmas's have changed. My Mom and Sister are no longer with us. New people have entered our lives, things change.  But guess what we are forming new traditions,  forming new relationships and choosing to work at making Christmas special. I want it to be good, so I will make it good. 
By no means is my family perfect. We have had our problems, conflicts, fights, but we want it to work, so it does.
Self fulfilling prophecy's do exist.

I hear so many people say "I hate Christmas". They tire at putting up decorations, being alone, not having family near, having dysfunctional families, making it impossible to enjoy the season, and waiting for it to be done.


May I make some suggestions?  Get involved, volunteer, find someone who feels the same, join a church group, in other words make your own joy. Seek it out. Make it work. 


I am excited and joyous about Christmas. I was the year after my Mom died, the year after I lost my sister to cancer, the year we had little to no money, the year it was just us, the year it was all of us. 






 

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Somethings brewing.

Like I need another thing to do. I was out shopping yesterday for last minute gifts and saw these cute blankets at Pier One. They were $65
and I thought hummm, I think I could make those myself. 
So now I have blankets, gloves, and hats. Luckily I already have tons of felting material so stay tuned. 
I think this is going to get fun. Why do I do this to myself......

 

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Some cute new stuff.


I got some cool stuff to show you! First are these stinken cute Red Roof Tile Podlets. They are plump and the color is rich and beautiful. I love making these beads. They are so much fun to handle. Lots of depth and texture. Just listed these guys.


Next is my attempt at cute. I don't do "cute" too often but I had so much fun making this guy I think I have to make more. I made a bunch for work and they all sold so I made some more. This little guy is on my Etsy store. He will have a bail so you can just slip him on a chain or ribbon.

Some of you know that I contributed a bead for Kerry Bogart's Totally Twisted book. Last week I had a call from a customer in LA asking if I could send her a bead similar to the one in the book so she could make the necklace. I can't believe I don't have any listed on my Etsy so I have listed a couple at really good prices. 

Next I listed some more of my bead sets. Each bead is super cute and the whole set will make a fantastic bracelet. I love these bead sets. They pop with color and I also lowered the price from $35.00 to $30.00. 

Saturday, December 10, 2011

I grow so weary.

Sometimes it's hard to keep pulling yourself up by the bootstraps and tell yourself that you and your work are worthy. Everyday lately I feel like I need to justify my artistic existence or worth. I know that I am worthy and my art is worthy, it's just tiring to keep having to justify it to others. When money is involved it gets even harder. 
Why is it that if you make more money it means that your work is more important. To me it means that you have good work, but also you have great skills at promotion, been in the right place at the right time, and have been just plain lucky. 
Gosh I know so many artists who should be selling the crap out of their stuff because it rocks, but because they are not good at self promotion, or haven't been recognized by the "right' people, or a ton of other things, they just fall in the cracks.
Sometimes I feel like I am in a crack... so I am going to take the day to finish decorating the house for Christmas, make some beads, take pictures of my super cute snowman and load some stuff on my Etsy store.
 

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Influences and asking permission

At work we are putting out tons of work for the Christmas rush. I have my work plus I am putting out "cutsie" work for a fast and easy sale. I have a friend who was making the cutest mittens and I wanted to try them out myself. So I called her and asked permission to make some. She was gracious and said of course, but to try and make them unique to my style and not exactly like hers.


So I played around with it came up with a style totally my own.
If she had said no I would have been OK with that, but because she asked me to push myself and make them unique I was able to create without feeling like I had stolen her idea.

There are times when you want to hold onto an idea and that is fine. I have not taught my Pod bead yet. I wanted to take time with it and explore all the possibilities of it. But now I am ready to start teaching it. I have a feeling that other artists will take my idea and come up with something totally unique to them.

There have been plenty of times when I have asked permission from artists to play with an idea of theirs. Everyone has been gracious and said "go for it". Eventually I would change and adapt that idea and make it my own. When I had achieved the final look I asked permission once again. Then I felt I could sell it and show it to others.


As an artist it is always best to ask permission first. Many times the artist will be fine with it, but if you don't ask first it's not cool. 
I think ideas are not possessions. There are many times where two artist have come up with the same idea purely on their own, not knowing the other had the same idea. Can one really lay claim to it? Not really. It is better to continue your idea and just move forward.

It is when you have knowingly seen an idea and copied it without  giving credit to the artist or asked permission that causes hard feelings. Always thinking of the artist first is usually the best way to go. The old saying "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you" really is true.