ROAD TRIP

Somewhere in Illinois.  I guess it was too early for Cindi.

Julie, looking wide awake.

Cindi looks like she was on a mission.

MINE, MINE, MINE!!!

Julie and Cindi picking out things for the store.

Yesterday, I went on a road trip with my friends, Cindi and Julie.  Cindi owns a bead store and a few times a year she heads to Chicago to a huge wholesale warehouse to hand pick things for her store.  She's been kind enough to bring me along on a few occasions, and yesterday we were joined by Julie Campbell.  Julie is one of the bead weaving teachers at Bead Haven, Cindi's store.  We had a great time picking out beads.  It's amazing how long it takes, but there's just so much variety out there.  I think it was especially fun for Julie, as she'd never been there before.  I think I saw a crazy, wild look in her eyes a couple of times when she wasn't looking!  I like to go because Cindi's  a lot of fun and besides, it's always fun to help spend other people's money!  Soon, she'll have all of her new goodies up and for sale in the store so go check it out when she does.

FOR LOVE OF COUNTRY

My Dad, raising the flag last summer.

"We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before".

-President Obama

I was watching the Presidential address tonight and some of the words that he said got me thinking about all of the things that Americans have in common.  We all are worried about the future of our families, especially right now.  We are all concerned for the larger picture of the nation, whether we will survive the current economic crisis that we find ourselves in.  We worry about our own jobs, as well as our families jobs and our friends jobs.  We worry about the businesses that are the life blood of our communities.  We worry about the costs in terms of both human life and financial burden of the wars that we find ourselves embroiled in.   We can disagree about so many things in this country.  We are certainly a contentious bunch, Americans.  Sometimes I think we argue with each other simply for the sake of arguing.  Tonight, the President talked about how he knows that  all of the people in the chambers, who heard his speech, love this country and want it to succeed.  I believe that this is true for all of us out here in America, too.  That's a great thing to have in common.  And a great place to start the rebuilding.

RESIN WORKSHOP

I've been such a hermit lately, that I didn't realize that I have an all day resin workshop that is fast approaching.  The workshop is at Bead Haven in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Saturday, February 28th.  This is going to be such a treat for me to get away from making things out of metal for a day.  I've taught a few resin classes already, but this will be the first all day one so far.  We've had a lot of fun in the classes that I've done so far. If there's been one thing that I haven't liked about them, it's that the class seems to over just as we're really getting started.  The extra time should really help to get everyone's creativity going.  I have some really cool things for us to use as bezels this time, including rings, brass and pewter earring bezels, pewter and brass pendants, bottle caps and some unconventional goodies too!  I have some really cool papers and fun bits and pieces to embed into the resin too.  Give the store a call if you're interested in Saturday's class.

HEARTS, HEARTS AND MORE HEARTS

So, like I mentioned earlier in the week, the new issue of Stringing came out earlier than I expected.  I thought that when it came out there might be some interest in the pendant, so I had planned to have several made in the event that someone might like to buy one.  Well, thankfully, there have been some people interested in purchasing one, and needless to say, since I was clueless about when the magazine came out, I had none ready.  I had some of them that were made in fine silver, but none of the gold ones.  So, guess what I did yesterday?  You got it!  I spent the better part of the day making the pendants themselves, then applying the gold to them.

The gold is applied using a method called Keum Boo.  Keum Boo is an ancient Korean phrase, literally meaning, 'attached gold'.  I learned this technique a few years ago from the great artist and teacher, Celie Fago.  Gold foil or gold paste is applied to silver while heat and pressure are applied.  The result is gold that is bonded on a molecular level to the silver.  After the gold was applied and heated and burnished into the silver, I fused fine silver bails onto the hearts, tumbled them and then patinaed them with liver of sulfur.  I enjoy making these, but they are quite labor intensive and I should have been more prepared.  Oh well, I guess that's just how I roll.

WORKING AWAY

A dragonfly toggle in progress.

I'm working pretty hard these days, making lots of parts that I'll later assemble into finished jewelry or package up to sell as components.  I can become such a hermit when I get into one of these phases.  Sometimes I start working in the morning and don't look at the clock until I'm suddenly very hungry and I discover that it's 4 in the afternoon and I forgot to eat.   Sometimes when I'm working in the evening, I look at the clock and somehow it's 4am.  I honestly do not know how this happens.  This phenomenon also occurs when I'm surfing the Internet, especially Facebook, the greatest time-sucking construct of all time!   Sometimes, besides Paul, Facebook is my only sort of human interaction in a whole day!  Sad, isn't it.  Today I have a box of supplies coming, so at least I'll get to talk to the FedEx guy!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

A heart that loves, is always young.

- ancient Greek proverb

HEART OF GOLD

I got a fun surprise today when the latest issue of 'Stringing' came out with a piece made with one of my pendants and toggle.  I knew it was going to be in the magazine, but I didn't think it came out until February 24th.  I found out that it was out today when a nice lady named Jo Ann e-mailed me to ask where she could buy a pendant. The necklace was made by my good friend, Cindi Slater who owns the cutest little bead store around, called Bead Haven.  I'm really pleased that it was in the magazine, it's fun to see your work in print.

If you have a copy of the magazine, the necklace is on page 70 and a bracelet that Cindi made in one of my classes is on page 55.  Check it out if you have a chance.