It's been more than two months since I added to this blog. I am very good at focusing on one or two things at a time but that same ability to sit for hours in front of a torch while I make beads, seems to work against me when it comes to keeping everything going at one time.

Since I last posted, I've taken two bead classes and I've been a vendor at a bead show. I've also been spending a lot of time photographing beads and editing photos and listing beads in my shop on Etsy. I've really enjoyed the time I spend at the torch as I figure out how to incorporate the skills I learned in the bead classes which I took with Melanie Mortel and Serena Smith. Both were wonderful, generous, teachers. It has been fun to see how I use what I learned as I create my own version of beads with the new techniques I've learned. The show was a success!

In terms of learning not to give up, I've been working on a commission for a bead that uses certain colors which I don't normally use. So far it's "Beads-9, Me-0". In other words, I've been making many ugly beads as I try to figure out which colors to use and which ones to avoid. It's making me stretch and experiment. I hope I come up with a good combination and design sooner rather than later. I keep telling myself that when I work this out, I'll be able to add a new color palette to my work.

Christmas is only 8 days away. I've mailed packages to family and filled bead orders and I still have much to do. One of my favorite things to do is to turn off the house lights and enjoy the glow of the lights on the Christmas tree. As I write this, the tree is in the living room, but there are no lights on it. The lights will go on the tree tomorrow evening. There is only one ornament on it right now.... a walnut that is spray painted gold. My husband drilled about 100 walnuts for me; which are painted gold or silver and I'm going to wire them all with copper wire and hang them on our tree with the lights. So far, I've wired 16 walnuts.....oh my. Walnuts-84, Me- 16.

Wishing you all a chance to sit back and enjoy your holiday with family and friends. Take time to enjoy the lights.

I went to the Flame Off last weekend

Last weekend I went to the Eugene Glass School last weekend. They were holding the annual "Flame Off". It's a two day competion between glass artists who compete in certain categories such as Marbles/Paperweights, Sculptural, Beads, Team Sculpture with a third day for judging and awards. I was there for last two days. Most of the artists work in boroscilicate glass which must be worked much hotter than the glass I use. I can't say I know very much about working with that glass but it was fascinating to watch the work being done. Each category has a time limit and there are usually 6 artists at a long table, each working on their project. I saw some fantastic items from each category being made and even my husband, who went with me, found himself glued to his seat as we watched one artist, Derek Ross, work on his piece from start to finish (about 2 hours). We were impressed by the pattern he worked into his piece. It all started with striped tubing which he twisted back and forth in the flame to create a pattern, then blew into spheres, which he attached to each other, one by one, and blew into a larger and larger piece.

I also got to visit with the Gaffer Girls (they had a booth with glass for sale), Melanie Moertel, and Nancy Gant .....and I met a few other very nice women too.

I was not inspired to switch to boro glass but I did LUST after a Delta GTT torch. I was really impressed by the variety of flames it could produce and I was attracted to the sculptural aspects of glass.

I'm including a photo of the torch (don't tell my Lynx torch that I did this) and a (not very clear) photo of Derek at work. It was a wonderful weekend.

I'm still working on the jewelry for Urban Zen. I think I have enough beads. It's time to start making them into bracelets, earrings and pendants. But first....I had to make some new encased florals for Etsy and I spent some time practicing what I learned about working with very fine stringers of glass at Melanie Moertel's class. Melanie's work is bright and colorful and very detailed. I too love detail but in this case, I find that I'm keeping my designs very simple. I'm posting photos of the pieces I made yesterday. You'll see that there are mistakes, but practice, practice, practice is what it's going to take before I'm comfortable working with threads of glass that truly are not much thicker than a strand of hair. Okay, here they are. Remember, these are my "beginner" beads. I hope to gain more control with time.

Bead Jewelry

Where did the time go? I've been immersed in the studio as I made sets of beads for the jewelry I need to make for Urban Zen. I'm finding this new task daunting but I have hopes that I'm growing in new ways too. It's like I'm preparing for a show, it's a fair amount of pressure. I keep telling myself that once I get this body of work done, I'll be able to relax. But the longer this takes, the more of my show stock I'm using on Etsy. I listed a bead yesterday and it sold in less than two hours. Selling these beads means I'll be really busy in September and October as I prepare of the next bead show I'm doing. I guess it's a good problem to have, I certainly appreciate the sales.

As I work on the "UZ beads", I've been taking time to experiment with my ideas of how to incorporate the things I learned in the Melanie Moertel class. Not that I can use these experiments in the jewelry I need to be making, but hey, it's all about trying new things and if I let this commitment to make jewelry become the total focus, without stopping to try new things, then I'll be on the path to frustration. So far the experiments look like they will lead somewhere good but they're bulky and need to be refined.

I keep reminding myself that creativity must stay fun and interesting to stay fresh and I must not feel guilty when I take time to experiment.

Keep having fun!

~J~

Not Giving Up

I started the day with the discovery that I never turned the kiln off last night. It was still 960F and would require many hours to cool down slowly so I set up my old kiln so I could still make beads. I wasn't thinking clearly. I could simply have left it as it was and added today's beads. Oh well, I made beads and the other kiln was just fine.

I will not give up on my bead idea despite the fact that yet again, after yesterday's beads cooled, I opened the kiln to find, well, beads that did not work out. The third attempt at a bead design I've worked on since I took Melanie Moertel's class was better than the first two. The colors worked pretty well but later, when I happily scooped it up to bring into the house to show my husband, something caught my eye and I saw there was a crack in it. Cracks can show up months after a bead is made but usually they occur in the first day or two. The crack in today's bead was even worse when I went in to dip mandrels after dinner. It's an incompatibility crack. I can tell by how and where it cracked. I believe I mixed two different kinds of clear glass (a BIG No No). And I attempted to make beads with a zebra pattern for Urban Zen. I didn't like those either. It's been a rough week and I'm having to do a lot of self-talk. I won't give up. I won't get discouraged. I will be successful and I hope that's sooner rather than later.

Yes, I will post photos so you can see the "bad ones". I'll try to do that this weekend.

Hope you have a good weekend whatever you do with yours......I'll know I'll be in my studio.....

New Design Journey

I've been in the studio a lot working on beads for the jewelry I plan to make for the Urban Zen shop. And I'm working on a bead design which incorporates some of the design elements I learned in Melanie's class. I had a "What If..?" moment in the car on the way home from class and I've been working on that idea since Monday. So far, I've made three ugly beads from the new idea but they're ugly only because the colors haven't worked out. Otherwise, I'm quite excited about the idea and can't wait to reach the point where I feel happy with the direction I'm going. Eventually I'll post some photos. I think I'll post the ugly ones and the good ones so you can see how the progression went. I think it's important that I share that progression so that you can see that I "walk the talk." I'm not happy with what I've made but I'm not giving up.

Don't give up on whatever you are doing either! Have fun and keep going.

Home again from a class in Eugene

Phew. I am home from an amazing 4 day whirlwind trip to Eugene. I went down there for a bead making class at the Eugene Glass School. The class was taught by the wonderful Melanie Mortel. She's from Germany and she is a generous teacher with a well thought out way of teaching. Her style is very different from mine but I wanted to take the class so I could learn more about "drawing" on glass. I've done some on my own but it proved to be frustrating. I learned what I had been doing wrong and I look forward to incorporating new skills into my own bead designs. Here is a link to Melanie's Flickr page if you'd like to see her work. You can click on her Flickr page to see many of her beads.: www.melaniemoertel.de

I went to Eugene with another bead maker, a friend of mine who is also always excited to learn new techniques and we had the good fortune to stay with Mona, her husband and her daughter Hallynd who was down from Seattle. Mona and Hallynd are part of the Gaffer Glass Girls; you can read more about them here http://www.gaffergirls.com/ . Mona is also hosting Melanie while she's in Eugene. Their house is in a beautiful setting and it was always full of people and dogs (seven of them!). Great people and great food and lots of laughter is the best way to sum up that part of the weekend. And that doesn't take into account the fact that on one of those days Mona and her husband also hosted a dinner for an Italian Maestro of glass and his friends/crew for dinner one evening. I'd tell you their names but I don't know how to spell them. I'll find out later and ammend this blog. I had a chance to work in Mona's studio with some Gaffer Glass and found that it will take some testing and practice to try recreate my plunged florals with their glass (96 COE) but the colors are gorgeous and the challenge is worthwhile.

Back to the class. Melanie was a patient teacher who was happy to answer questions. The EGS is a nonprofit glass school with both a hot shop and lampworking area. Cheryl Barclay was our TA and made sure that we had everything we needed. Our fellow students were fun. I really can't think of a thing I would have changed. I learned a lot about creating those teeny tiny lines that Melanie uses in her beads. Now I have to practice, practice, practice.

There is nothing like taking a class to learn new tricks for doing things you thought you already knew how to do and for learning new techniques. I highly recommend doing so if you have the opportunity. I also highly recommend that you take a class with Melanie Mortel. If you are interested in having her teach at a shop near you, ask the shop to contact her. She will be teaching in Denver and Phoenix this month and does have classes scheduled for next year.

Wishing you days filled with creative excitement, whatever your creative passion may be.

An Exciting Day

I think I'm being tested. I wrote about not giving up and now I cannot make a black/silver/CZ bead without getting a yellowish cast to them. I tried everything I can think of that could be a variable and it hasn't worked. Well, actually I'm wondering if I'm nearing the end of my propane tank; which always produces gas that seems a bit dirtier. Other than that I don't have a clue but I am not going to give up yet....perhaps the moon has to be in a certain phase........

Today was a big day for me. In the past, I've been offered space in three different galleries and one really nice bead store. In every case I declined the offer. But today I agreed to keep a small case filled with jewelry, that I've made from my beads, in a retail chain store that I like very much. It's a venue in a location that I think will fit my work very well. They only have 5 small jewelry cases and I will have to keep one of them filled with bracelets and matching earrings and also some pendants and chains. This will only be the second time I've done something like this and the last time was while I was still a goldsmith. I'm excited. Also, they'll have a trunk show for invited guests when my work first goes into the store. The only thing I'm concerned about is the fact that if they sell several items, I will get a call to come add new items. If I'm about to do a show, it could get a bit overwhelming but I can also try to have a bit of jewelry made up ahead of time. And while the Manager was looking at my beads, she showed a loyal customer who promptly asked for my card to give someone who oversees a Holiday Bazaar which consists of artists setting up their work in peoples' homes and then the public can go from home to home to look and buy artwork. It was a nice compliment and a surprise.

It all goes to show that you just never know where your artwork is going to take you if you stay positive and keep working at it. It's important to set boundries so you still have fun and make art that you enjoy. Say "no thank you" when you need to; yet be open mined and opportunities will occur.

I mailed out beads today and since then I've been working in the studio; using some CiM glass which is new to me and also started making another set of the black, silver, CZ, crystal-shaped beads. The first set has already sold and I've decided to make some more of them so I can list them in Etsy again. I also began to make more of them so I can use them to make a bracelet and some earrings to take with me when I go to a local Urban Zen store to meet with the manager this coming Tuesday. I'm about half way into the beads for the first set. Except for simple pendants, I don't usually make jewelry from my beads. I like to let bead buyers do that part. But this may be an opportunity that would be good for me and since Urban Zen uses small display cases. I don't have to have a lot of pieces there; just a few really nice ones, I think.

These days I've been thinking about how to become better known in the bead-buying world. I've filled my Etsy Shop and have been happy with the response. I've joined Flickr and posted photos but I have no Contacts or Groups to join yet. I've been reading a lot of information online about this topic. I don't do Facebook and I don't Twitter but it's becoming increasingly important to use as many ways as possible to network. And I'm seriously interested in Urban Zen as a way to increase my visibility.

I've also been thinking about trends and how to stay current with trends while still making the style of beads I like to make. But that's a topic for another day...............

It's Never A Waste

I had a conversation today about creativity. As I grow as an artist I realize how truly rare it is to make something perfect on my first try. That lack of success on my first try used to stop me in my tracks. Over time I've learned how very important it is to look for the good in each piece no matter how disappointing. Creativity is a journey. If I don't try because I'm afraid of failure I will never grow as an artist.

It's not a waste; no matter the time, no matter the materials in the beads that didn't work. Each one is an important lesson. Not that it's always easy. I have a three year old book of gold leaf in my bench drawer because I "don't want to waste it." It's something I have to get over. And sometimes I just want to bang my head on the wall after I repeat the same mistake several times in a row. It's not easy but I've discovered I that I can trust in the fact that it leads to wonderful discoveries.

What did I learn from the "failure"? I may have learned what not to do or I may see a way to branch off into a great new design. I also learn more about how glass moves each time I make a bead. I'd miss these lessons if I just threw the beads into a drawer and gave up.

What did I learn from success? Well, that all those other attempts led to the design I am happy with. That I've gained more control over my work.

What happens when I make that great bead? Well, I'm certainly happy and excited for a while but then it's time to start all over again. The excitement lasts for a while but what fun is it to make the same thing over and over and over and over? Nope, it's soon time to move on to the next challenge...and more disappointing beads that lead me down the path to a new design that I'm excited about. That's what keeps me coming back to the torch.

Disappointment and Success. I can't have one without the other and, over time, I've learned that that's my Creative Journey.

I wish you success on your own creative journeys.

An Example of "What If....?"

Here are some photos of the new beads that I wrote about yesterday. I have to figure out how to photograph them so I do justice to the way they look in person. They're very dramatic. I'm thrilled with these beads. I made a set of crystal shaped beads, some lentils, a tab, and a couple barrels.

These beads are a perfect example of the "What if.....?" factor. I made some floral beads with the black and silver but what I made did not turn out. The white flowers disappeared because of the silver foil. But I did see things that I liked about them. So I thought..... what if I skip the flowers and do a scroll design over the silver. And what if I add CZs? It was a creative journey. Don't give up when your first idea doesn't work or you may miss out on other ideas. Remember, when an idea doesn't work out like you hoped, it can still lead you down a new and exciting path. Try to quit criticizing yourself and look for the lesson in what you have just made. Be Positive.

It was 104F here yesterday, this is unusual for Oregon. My studio was 97F when I finished up in there. It was hot, hot, hot but I was mostly lost in my work. However, I was exhausted when I quit working. I put our 13 year old Labrador in the barn; where he could sleep on the cool concrete. When I brought him to the garage, I put a fan in there so it blew on his bed. And finally I put him in the cool basement. The cows stayed under the apple trees all day. I'm not going to work in the studio today because it is supposed to reach 105F today. It is supposed to start cooling down tomorrow night.

New Bead Design

Yesterday was a good example of what I was talking about in terms of trying something new. I had success and failure. I pulled the beads out of the kiln this morning and found that I'm going to have to repeat myself today. My goal was to make a set of beads with black glass, silver foil and CZs, all encased and shaped with a crystal shaped mold. This is tricky....can't overheat the foil or it disappears, can't let the bead get cool while I'm picking up CZs with my tweezers and must use the right clear glass or the foil turns a sickly pale yellow. Somehow, I picked up the wrong clear glass when I made three of the beads. I will remake those today so I can finish the set and list them in my Etsy Shop. Still, it was an interesting challenge and I'm happy with the beads that worked, they are very striking and I've not seen any other beads like them. I'll post photos tomorrow.

I'm enjoying the Conversations I'm having with customers in my Etsy Shop too. I find that when I get feedback on my beads and also requests for certain color combinations it helps me focus. I do try to fulfill requests but will only go so far. Once it's not fun anymore, I know it's time to move on. So, thank you to those of you who have been contacting me there. It's nice to know that people are visiting.

It was 100 degrees outside yesterday. This is very hot for Oregon. Today it is supposed to reach 105F. I'm probably not going to be in the studio much past 1:00 PM today. It's extra hot in there with the 960F kiln next to me. Yesterday my arms were so wet that it looked like I was in the midst of a very hard aerobic workout. And I had to keep the drips out of my eyes. I get so involved in what I'm doing that I don't notice it too much while I work, but it is exhausting and I won't push it today.

I hope you all are staying cool.

Thanks for visiting.

Jennifer
www.Highlandbeads.etsy.com

Yesterday I mentioned the fact that I have been experimenting with some glass colors that are new to me. I showed pictures of beads that I'd made with that glass. I also mentioned that these were the beads that worked out and that there were others that didn't. It's the ones that didn't turn out that I'm thinking about right now.

My studio is full of beads that didn't quite turn out. And that's okay. Of course I'm disappointed when I open the kiln and find that I'm only happy with a couple of the beads that I made the day before. A whole day of work and only two good beads? But I usually don't look at it that way. I keep the "best of the worst" on my studio counter tops as reminders. What worked? What didn't work? What part do I want to incorporate in the next bead? Sometimes they're a reminder of what I liked and sometimes they're a reminder of what not to do. I consider them to be like sketches.

I look at every "failed" bead as a lesson. That's the way I learn. I think it's an essential part of my growth as an artist. In fact, I think it's a pretty good template for life in general.

Focus on Etsy

I discovered a couple new glass colors and have had fun experimenting with them. One is a glass which has lots of silver in it. The silver, when it is heated, creates various shades of blue and green. The other is a soft transluscent white. It makes a wonderful background for encased florals. It's a huge opportunity to enjoy the "What If" factor. It can lead me in new directions. The pictures above are examples of the two new glass colors. I want to point out that these beads you are seeing are the ones that "worked". There are at least four others that I was not as happy with but that's okay too, it's how I learn.

Enough time has gone by during my love affair with glass that I have been a vendor at a bead show 6 times. I have another one coming up in November. I've sold beads on Ebay and, more recently, on Etsy. Right now, I'm really focusing on Etsy. I love listing on Etsy, it's faster and the finshed page has a much nicer look to it. If you're not familiar with Etsy, you can go to www.etsy.com. If you want to see my shop: www.HighlandBeads.etsy.com I'm always interested in feedback!