ENAMELING AT BEAD HAVEN

Chris's pieces turned out really well. I especially liked the mint green one with the super nova in the middle. It reminds me of the meteor from the other night.

Good job Alice, as always! Love that orchid enamel from Thompson.

Of course, David can always be expected to do something unexpected! He brought this sunflower-shaped piece of copper to class. He cut it out on his band saw, I think. He's a very creative soul indeed.

Last Thursday night, I taught an enameling class at Bead Haven. As always, I am amazed at the curiosity and creativity of my students. I feel really lucky to have mostly those kinds of folks as my students. In my enameling classes I like to show several ways that the pieces can be fired. We use a butane torch for the smaller pieces, an Ultra-Lite kiln (which is a small, inexpensive table top kiln), and an electric kiln with a digital controller (ie. a PMC kiln) for the larger ones. I want students to be able to go home and be able to start enameling right away. Most people aren't going to rush out and buy a kiln, or even an Ultra-Lite, but many already have a butane torch, or can afford to get one. I think it's really important to figure out ways to keep art from being cost prohibitive. Of course, if I do my job, students will eventually want to buy every tool out there!

Enameling is a funny thing, in that it's really easy to learn the basics, but would take a lifetime to master (if then!). I learn a lot every time a get the enamels out and play, and it's cool to think of what might come next. I have so much to learn. I'm a little in love with it right now, can you tell? Ah well, back to some serious soldering tomorrow, but that's ok too. Playing with fire is never bad!

GOODNESS GRACIOUS,......PART 2

I'm still amazed to have seen the meteor last night. Luckily, it was caught on tape by several sources. One of the best videos came from a police officer's dash cam. Check it out, it's way better than my silly fake meteor photo! The action is at about 25 seconds into the video.

GOODNESS GRACIOUS, GREAT BALLS OF FIRE

Ok, this isn't it, but I thought we needed a visual.

Meteorites in Iowa's history.

About an hour ago, I was watching the news with Paul. I happened to glance out the window and just then I saw a really bright light in the northern sky. At first I thought it was the University's medical helicopter. I told Paul that it was way too low and I sort of braced for an explosion. Thankfully that never came, but I couldn't figure out what it was. There was no noise, just a really large bright light. About 5 minutes later the news reported that people all over Iowa had seen it and now on Google News it's being reported that it was a large meteor that broke up over the Midwest. It was seen all over Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin.

When I was searching Google tonight, I found some cool stuff about about meteors in Iowa. In February 25, 1847, the Iowa legislature (at the capital, which was at that time in Iowa City) was signing the bill that established the University of Iowa. As they were signing it they were startled by very loud explosions to the north. It turns out that a large meteor broke up over Linn County causing the commotion. The meteor, now known as the Marion Meteor is on display at the Old Capital. I think I'll go over and look at it.

CINDI"S BRACELETS

Hey everyone, please go and check out my friend Cindi's 2 bracelets that are featured in this month's issue of Beadwork on page 54. They are these cool, off-loom woven, beaded bracelets with these cool potato chip-shaped copper pieces stitched to the top. The copper pieces are topped by the most amazing sequins you've ever seen. They're very pretty and I was lucky enough to be gifted one by her. Thanks Cindi!

Kits for her lovely bracelets are available in her online store at: www.beadhavenbeads.com.

SHOWS

My table at Bead Fest in Santa Fe.

My dear friend Gail, who I don't see nearly enough.

Karen at dinner looking either blissful or exhausted.

Stacey, trying on a $9000 dollar coat (hey, it was marked down from $18,000!)

I didn't have much time for shopping, but the booth facing me had some of my favorite kinds of things. Vintage lapis beads and a silver pendant (on the right) from Afghanistan, a vintage silver chain from Nepal and a vintage silver pendant from India. I held out until the last day. I also bought some cool lampwork by a woman named Joanne Zekowski, which I will show you as soon as I can photograph it.

Here's how I felt when I got home from Santa Fe.

I had a good show in Santa Fe. The show traffic was slower than last year, but still good. I met lots of nice folks and saw some that I met last year, like dear sweet Jane. Thank you for your wise, kind words, Jane.

I had some major drama when United Airlines once again lost one of my bags on the way to Albuquerque. It had my displays and all of my clothes and didn't show up until an hour before the show opened. I was without clean clothes for more than 24 hours and United didn't offer me so much as a tooth brush (thankfully, I always carry on in my purse). United's customer service is located in Mumbai, India (I'm not kidding.) and I had to make several calls before it finally showed up. I guess I shouldn't have said bad things about them on this blog before I flew, huh? I don't have as much choice of who I fly with because I travel out of a small, regional airport, but I think I'm going to have to make other arrangements next time I travel west. This is the 3rd time in 4 flights that they have lost my bags. American crushed some of Karen's well-packed displays, so I don't know if any of them are above the rest.

I was able to spend time with friends, which was great. I briefly saw Anne Mitchell, Terri Caspery-Schmidt and Gail Moore (I got to have dinner with Gail and Anne on my first night). They were at the convention center, while Karen and I were showing at the La Fonda Hotel. I got to spend lots of time with friends Stacey Peterson, Karen Elmquist and Gail Lannum. All three of these women make their own special variety of jewelry and I admire all three. I especially admire them though, for their friendship. I'm sure I wasn't as much fun as I normally would be, due to the recent loss of my Mom, but they all three were there to spend time with me and I really appreciate it.

I came home and had to make sure I was ready for another show right away. Bead Haven had their spring open house and trunk show last weekend. It was such a great time. Cindi always works so hard to make sure that it is as fun as possible. Thank you to all of the many folks who stopped by to shop and chat. It was great to see you all. I don't have any shows for a while now, soon new work and new classes coming soon!

SANTA FE BEAD FEST

Bronze clasps that I've been making to go on necklaces for Bead Fest.

Well, I'm off to Santa Fe tomorrow for the Interweave Bead Fest. I don't know if going right now is the right thing to do or not, but I know that my Mom would want me to go and make the best of it, so there you have it. I am looking forward to seeing friends like Gail, Karen, Stacey and Anne and meeting some new ones and of course selling a lot of jewelry! I am at the La Fonda Hotel location at booth #25, so if you are headed for the show please stop by and see me.

I will try to blog while I'm there, but because of United Airlines restrictive luggage policy I won't have room for my lap top. I guess they aren't fed up with people saying bad things about them (check this out). I'll see how annoying it is to blog from my Iphone. Since I'm easily annoyed, don't count on it until I get home. I promise to take lots of pictures.

To get more information on Bead Fest, click here.

MY MOM

My family lost our beloved Mom a couple of days ago. She was only 73 years old. She passed away peacefully after a month long struggle. Actually my Mom had struggled with her health for years, surviving illnesses that should have taken her many times over. I know that I should be grateful for that, but right now I'm not, I just want her back. She was the strongest, funniest, most generous person that you could imagine. I know that all of our lives will go on, it's just that right now, it's hard to imagine life without her in it.

One thing that I know for sure is that I have the most amazing friends that anyone could possibly have. You are all scattered near and far, but you are all in my heart and I hope you know how much your love and support means to me. "Thank you" is simply inadequate, but it's all I can think to say, so thank you.