The new glass came and you haven't heard a peep from me since :) These are some of the beads I made from Terra last week. Terra is the latest thing from Double Helix Glass. It is handmade glass with a heavy silver content. It is the silver content that makes this such a wonderful glass to work with. A whole range of color from one stick of glass. Terra does require some patience, as do most of the silver glasses. It has to be heated and cooled repeatedly to get great results. If you know me, you know I am a bit short on patience. I can hardly stand to wait for anything. Terra is sooo worth the wait. It is magical to see the the colors appear as the bead cools.
The weather has been gorgeous this week, sunny and cool with a big blue sky overhead. Work has been busy, as it always is in May~ It is a struggle to do everything this time of year and a day off is such a relaxing treasure. This coming Sunday is Mothers Day and I am taking a day off. Matt and and Sam and I will go to his grandparents for his Grandmas birthday.
Enjoy your day!
Kris

Work on the patio is coming along and the yard is starting to really look fabulous. It is almost finished. Matt has been working on it every spare moment that he has. I have been getting geared up at my day job for the big month of May. It is our busiest time and I try and get enough rest so I can keep up with the flood of spring customers. It sucks that I haven't had enough spare energy or time this week to produce any new and fabulous beads to share, Ah well there will be some next week I am sure, as I cannot be kept away from my glass for long lol... Happy Birthday Matt!!!!

I am still here !! Just busy as sin trying to keep up with everything. I took last weekend off and went to Seattle with friends. We had an amazing time! Good food, lots of laughter and tons of walking. I couldn't live there though as I really love the country and fresh air. Not to mention there aren't as many sirens at night :) I ordered some Terra last week and it arrived on friday. I am so anxious to give it a bit of heat and see what happens! Terra is reactive glass made in small batches in the Pacific NW for those of you who don't know. I was lucky to get some on the first go round. They usually run out of the new glass pretty quickly.

Hope the bead pix aren't a re-post :) I just want to give you all something to look at and I was down in the dumps last Monday so I wasn't productive at all~ I'll make up for it soon!

I found some missing comments this morning... They never made it to the e-mail notification stage for some reason. Ah well, now they are posted.

It is absolutely beautiful out this morning. A sunny spring day after months of grey and gloomy is so worth the wait. The sky is blue and Mt. Rainier is visible as well as the Cascade Range. I wish I could just sip my coffee and breathe in the fresh scent of morning for a bit. My Grandma Joyce used to take my sister and me to her cabin at White Pass. It was wonderful. We took walks every evening with flashlights and every morning when I would get up she would be out on the porch drinking a coffee. It is probably her love of coffee that rubbed off on me. She used to give me a bit with some cream and sugar mmm... And then there was the swimming pool. We used to beg to go swimming from the time we got up until we got to the pool. Sue and I were relentless about it. Before I learned to swim I would pull myself along the smooth concrete edge hand over hand until my fingers would just about bleed. I was pretty determined to move around in the water somehow. I can't remember the exact moment I started swimming it just happened. I am rambling a bit as usual, no focus or direction :)

Next weekend I am going to Seattle for a mini "Girl Vacation" with my best friend Chelsea and her other friend Tawnie from Spokane. I cannot wait! We are going to have so much fun, just hanging around in the Big City~

A big set of the Mariposa beads. I am thinking about doing some in another color... My new Favorite Spoon Bracelet. Must be the bold look of the spoons on this one ;)
One more I will be adding these to the shop later~
All those plans I had for last Monday kinda went down the tubes with the VT shootings. How senseless and sad. Things like that always put me into a tailspin. I find I suddenly question the quality of the everything, the life I am living to the time I am spending with my family.
I have decided to live my life differently as a result. I went back and re-read this:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." The above speech by Nelson Mandela was orignally written by Marianne Williamson who is the author of other similar material."

Need I say More? :)

Hope I can live up~

Sundays are for sleeping in. At least until 6:45 or so, breakfast with the family and the morning news with some excellent coffee and a splash of yummy cream. They are also for catching up on e-mails and looking around at all of the things you missed during the week. I have been so busy lately with Sam and spring break and all of the birthdays and Easter. I guess life does come at you fast :) I am hoping to get some serious quality bead time in on Monday. Mostly because I deserve it. This work is my play.

Isn't she the cutest baby ever? Some prototype cabinet knobs
Mariposa~
How time slips away~ Random thoughts: I seem to be living under some tiny grey cloud lately no matter how well behaved I am minor things keep happening to mess it up :) Phhh...
I miss my Grandmother, Easter Sunday was the one year anniversary of her death. I wonder whatever happened to "grandmas mustache" She seemed to have one and now that I am nearing forty one I keep checking to see if I am getting one. Hers just seemed to vanish I don't really know what she did about it... Why do people drive like they do? What is really happening to the honey bees in North America? They are disappearing and not even a single tiny little carcass is left behind, just empty hives. Are they gathering up and flying away for freedom? Maybe it is alien abduction? 14 out of 20 pygmy hares released to repopulate the Columbia Basin were killed via predation. Wonder why the population was dwindling in the first place? If an item was shipped to a foreign country and refused will it get shipped back? I guess really I should have said random questions because they are mostly questions.
The Beads I made last week. They are already gone to a good home.

My favorite set this week!
I love these too!
And this one!
Oh and these~
Last but not least more of these~
Okay I admit it I am just a bead ho :) I took the week off to spend spring break with my daughter and try and get some things done. I have not accomplished all that I thought I could, go figure lol...

Sam and I did get a lot of cleaning done yesterday Yay! The donation folks came and picked up some things this morning. I had planned to spend today in my studio making some more beads but I am kind of feeling under the weather what the heck?!!! Sam is going to her Grandmas house this afternoon for a trip to the beauty shop and the book store How fun for her :)

She loves to go to the book store or the library.

We are having family over for Easter Sunday and I am looking forward to it. Cooking a nice dinner and spending some time together is always fun.

I just hope I get out of this funk I am in before then ... shake it baby shake it :)

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Day~

The muddy muddy backyard
It is coming along nicely :)
A Purple Rose~
The backyard is coming along in spite of all the wild spring weather we are getting. Warm and teasing one minute downpours and hail the next.
No more flaming knees :) Matt is kinda half laid up with the healing process. We have discovered some excellent bandages made especially for burns and they seem to work fairly well.
My friend Chelsea had a birthday bash last night and Matt brought up the fact that he had been on fire. Now we were sitting at the far end of the table and there were six men and two women at our end. Three of those six men had all been on fire!!!! ahem none of the women :) So does that mean that 50% of ALL men have been on fire? Fess up boys we've got your number now. One of them had been on fire more than once (he is a welder) I use a torch to melt glass and haven't caught myself on fire yet... Oh wait I have been on fire once. I used to smoke and I had surgery on on my wrist, it was in a sling. We were just leaving the hospital and I was "dyin' for a smoke" so I lit up and the burning end fell off into the sling and it burned in the strangest way, no flames just hot orange embers around the edges of a quickly growing hole. I remember looking down at it and thinking what the heck??? Then I realized I was on fire, it smelled horrible.
So I guess 50% of all women have been on fire too if we follow my rules :)
The purple rose is made from layered glass pulled into individual petals that are kept preheated to prevent thermal shock as they are applied in the flame. Each petal is meticulously hand-shaped as I add it to the core. I also used a hand-pulled cane to apply the green sepals at the base of the rose.

The Narrows Bridges New and Old~

Happy Birthday Dad!!!
The Fireman~ :)

Sunday was my Dads' 64th birthday. We took the drive out and had some great family time. We got to spend time with family members we don't see very often. I also took some pictures of the Narrows Bridge as we passed over it. The new bridge is supposed to be ready in August sometime. Samantha has possibly inherited my fear of heights as she doesn't ever look forward to crossing over the Narrows when we go out there.

Well quite possibly you've heard the rumours? Matt caught himself on fire yesterday, yes you read that correctly. He has second degree burns on his knee but he is in a good humour as usual. Here's the scoop: He was out doing some landscaping (his business is landscape and irrigation) using a weedburner. (huge torch! big flame! burns weeds right up!!!) So he is pretty focused on what he is doing and doesn't realize he caught the loose fringe on his knee on fire until he feels some stinging on his knee. He had two layers of clothing on and didn't feel the heat. He looked down and had flames halfway up his right thigh by then. He immediately tried to pat the flames out with his bare hands, getting some of the inner layer flaming melting, unnatural, fabric (read polyester) stuck on them in the process so his hands were flaming too. He said three things went through his mind:

1. AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!

2. AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!

3. RUN!!!!

The hardest thing was not running. He threw himself into some wet grass and rolled around until the flames were out. Then he came home and convinced himself not to go into shock. He did not tell me any of this until I returned home from work. I probably would have come home and insisted on medical care or something... He went to work today as usual and I have ordered him a flame proof suit (just kidding :) I was hysterical with laughter when he mentioned he took off the flame bead I made for him. I told him he was lucky it didn't have a lightning bolt on it.

Turquoise and Chocolate~
Pink and Chocolate~

Toldja I was gonna play with the Green a bit :)
Pretty in Pink~
Simple Lines~

I did play with the green earlier this week. The resulting bead is at the top of the page. It is creamy green over dark transparent forest green. Yumm! Not being a big fan of "girly things" it is always a challenge for me to pick up the pink. But I did it anyway and some of the resulting beads are up above.
Matt has been working in the back yard extending our patio and putting up a small rock wall. He has also re-done our sprinkler system and put some fabulous wrought iron pieces along the fence. I can't wait to see the final results! I will post some pictures when it is finished.

We have a small yard and neighbors right over the fence on all sides. Not my idea of private :)

The trees we have planted help make it feel more secluded as they have grown fairly tall. Of course we have to also keep the dogs in mind as we plan. Less grass and more rock makes it easier for clean up.

Have a great day!

Kris

Layered Greens~ Bullseye metallic green left un-reduced is creamy green I wonder what I can really do with this glass, might be time for some glass play :) More greens~
Magical Kronos
And some more Magic :)
It does not cease to amaze me that all of these creamy blue green beiges are from one rod of glass. Kronos is magical without a doubt.
My persimmon beads made the front page of etsy the other day and got over 700 hits!!! I just couldn't believe it. How fun! I sure appreciate all of the exposure that gave my shop :)
Why have I been so quiet lately? I am busy as heck thats why! Spring is coming and life just seems to rush forward this time of year. Sammy had a program at school last week, it was great. The third and fourth grades sang together. Matt has been working long hours so my time gets focused elsewhere :) I got to see our sweet grandbaby last week, she is growing so quickly!
Sunday morning and again I have so much to do today~ I will sip my coffee for a few more minutes before I jump up and continue on. It was 62 degrees here on Friday a record for us this time of year. It is wonderful to have weather like that it kind of reminds us all that winter won't last forever and spring is coming :) It is raining again today but we did see our first hummingbird this morning. Matt put the feeder out a couple of days ago because they usually start showing up about now.
Have a great day everyone~

Teresa is in the center we were camping during the August 2006 Frantz Glass Bash Metallic~

Tangerine Dream~
Persimmon~ Have I told you lately how much I love melting glass? The color combinations are limitless and then you throw in a bit of silver or copper and it changes the result entirely.

Glass is surely "my thing" I have to thank Gary, Teresa and Matt.

Gary who mentioned it at work one day and Teresa for for hanging around at the glass places with me and coming to my house every Monday. I remember looking at the beads that Gary brought in to work so I could see. I can tell you now that I wasn't as impressed as I would be now. Just because I really didn't get it yet. Gary had told me about a video they had seen that I could get at the Library. I looked diligently once or twice... Glass really hadn't really caught my interest yet. I used to go to the Library on a fairly regular basis :) One day in late May seven years ago I saw the video lying on top of the return cart as I passed by, as if it was waiting for me. I picked it up and figured I'd have a look, what the heck why not? So I brought it home to watch. Matt and I watched it together. I made a birthday purchase for myself a few days later. I ordered a starter kit complete with a Hothead torch. I opened it and looked everything over when it arrived. I was so intimidated by the torch and the gas and again I sort of put everything aside. I got a phone call from Matt at work telling me I needed to pick up a canister of Mapp gas and bring it home. He had set up my glass and torch, everything was ready to go. I was afraid and if he hadn't given me that final big nudge I may not have gotten around to lighting my torch.

I don't remember exactly how many beads I made before my mind went up in flames with all the possibilities. I was sleepless and obsessed I considered getting "help" I had all these ideas. Then I found an online forum were people were talking about feeling the exact same way! I was so relieved~ I started writing and drawing my ideas out and now I sleep much better.

The whole point of my telling this story is just to thank the people that pushed and encouraged me along the way~ Gary, Teresa and most of all Matt who continues to encourage me.

This one makes me smile~
My Ankgor Wat beauties :) they make me smile too
Yellow beads for moms set~ :)

Remember yesterday and how I was so excited about the beads I had made? Well here they are all freshly scrubbed~ and I listed them on etsy. I took 189 photos today!!! Thats a heckuva lot of editing ewww... Not my favorite pastime but I got it all done and will be adding listings to Etsy throughout the week and beyond I am sure. Back to work in the morning my weekend is over. Oh and don't laugh they were making veiled snow threats on the weather report tonight, guess the old farmers almanac is pretty accurate this year.

This amazing photo was taken by an artist from etsy: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=5169053 It was taken in Ankgor Wat Cambodia and is the inspirational part of the etsy glass artists February challenge. First of all I didn't intend to make any beads today. I changed my mind and was going to go out for an hour or so and make some spring/summer colored accent beads. Simple and quick. Apparently my glass muse had other plans for me :)
I had forgotten that I had left a copy of the picture out in the studio. I saw it lying there and Suddenly my mind was full of color and ideas. I started torching away and dancing with the music on the radio~ Creative and full of energy I used up all of the silver foil pieces I had pre-cut for another project. I wound hot molten glass onto mandrel after mandrel, layer upon layer rolled on some silver foil and burnished it in. Flamed the foil off and then reduced it back to a shine, added a dab of frit, heated the whole thing to molten again and shaped each one before popping them one by one into the kiln. Then I worked on those accent beads for a while :)
I cannot wait to open the kiln in the morning!

Sue and I just finished this custom necklace for one of our customers on Etsy. It goes in the mail today~

I really love that the internet has allowed me to make friends and contacts all over the world~ It just amazes me that people can reach out and touch each other through the computer. I am especially enjoying flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/37376826@N00/ go take a peek~

Sometimes it strikes me funny that when things s l o w down. People get frustrated~ self included. I just tried to go to the etsy site and it won't even load because it is bogged down with traffic that I guess they just aren't quite ready for :) Remember when we all first got the internet and AOL was the solitary server? I remember getting booted off because it was "too full" wow how quickly things have progressed. Now if we can't get right to where we're going online or otherwise (traffic its all about traffic) we lose patience. Hmmm... sometimes I wanna be slow again.

I couldn't get very motivated to do much with my glass today either :( I tried and managed to make a couple of experimental color combo beads and a lopsided cupboard knob. But nothing spectacular~ There is always next week though.

I did manage to get some pictures taken of the jewelry donations for the AHH raffle. I am still just a little blown away with the generosity of people. I sent the pictures over to Sue http://www.silkroadcollars.com/ she will be running the raffle.

Its funny how some things pluck at the strings of our memories. I was driving this morning and saw a yellow celica on the freeway ahead of me. I immediately thought of a friend I haven't seen or heard from in a very long time. That led me off on a whole series of things that "pluck" Dragonflies, clear blue tropical seas, emblems of sunshine, the smell of fried chicken and clam chowder, the smell of Roses when the air is heavy with the moisture, The shortest day of the year, high clouds in the early morning, Studebakers, goldfinches and guinea hens, yes guinea hens. I could go on but I think you get the idea. These are things that bring someone, something or a moment in time instantly to mind, no matter how long it has been.

Today I listed a spoon bracelet in my etsy shop that I fully intended to keep for myself. I have tried to pick something out a couple of times but I find I want too many things and choosing just one is difficult. Don't get me wrong I have some things I cannot part with, they are mine alone :)

The response to my request for help for Heather and the Greyhounds was excellent. I am so appreciative and thankful for all of the donations that everyone sent. Every little bit helps.

Things have been pretty calm here weatherwise in the Pacific Northwest unlike the eastern part of the country. Brrrr...I have a feeling winter isn't quite done with us yet either my fingers are crossed.

Matt and I had dinner with friends last Saturday. They served us the most amazing mexican meal, everything was delicious and it was followed by cheesecake with lemon topping. Oh my gosh! Matt is still raving about how wondeful everything was.