Special Market in Woluwe St. Lambert



Sorry but links and photos have been disabled by the market organizers....

 

I am very excited about this market!!!  The thing that impresses me so about it is that the items on offer seem to be, not only high in quality, but different from the other markets I tend to participate in at this time of year.  I've had a look at the floor layout sent to the vendors and I see stands selling:  Japanese tea and tea leaves; Australian Bush flower essences, accessories from Copenhagen and Milan, Owa beer (got to try that!!).  There are also handmade clothes for children and adults, pewter tableware (I've got some of this myself and I must say it IS lovely!!), wine charms and more....plus I'll be there with my beads ;-).  The organizers are working VERY hard to make this a wonderful experience for one and all so please do drop by this Saturday for a little look.  I like to chat so please don't hesitate to stop by my table and say hi.  I enjoy sharing information about my work even if people don't buy from me so don't be shy....we're all there to enjoy ourselves and have a good time.

Visit the market Blog for more information.

Delana

Early Christmas Cheer!!!

Well Well Well!!  It is that time of year once again!  I will say, once again, that I will be doing my best to keep this blog up to date and (hopefuly) interesting as the Holiday Season fast approaches.  I think short but sweet will do for now since I need to be busy in the studio this coming week.  For now I'd like to make sure you are all aware of an upcoming Christmas Market. 

This weekend I will be happily participating in the 46th Annual AWCB Holiday Bazaar.  This bazaar is a HUGE two day event and hosts vendors from all over Europe.  You can find out more information by visiting The AWCB website 

If you would like a rare look at photos of my recent efforts in my studio visit my Flickr  photostream.

Wishing everybody a great week ahead!

Delana

'The Line-up'

Things have been coming together slowly in the studio! I’m please but trying not to get too excited about it since I believe high expectations occasionally stifle the creative process. Sometimes creating something (anything) comes from sticking with what you know and what you feel comfortable with. As mentioned in earlier postings, I’m a bit homesick at the moment so beach themed beads are what I keep coming up with even though my mind may start out elsewhere when I first sit down to the torch. The beads in the line-up above are my latest pieces and even the one ‘garden’ bead would remind me of sea-grass on the Florida pan-handle beaches. Each of these beads were supposed to be sets when I picked the glass colors and lit the torch but you see what came of ‘planning’ That’s the lovely thing about working in the flame…..sometimes the glass just decides for you! ;-D

Etsy etc.

I've been making a real attempt to keep my online shop up to date and active.  I find that, while I really like having an online shop, it can be time consuming to keep it going.  I guess I feel that the time I spend taking photos, editing photos, coming up with descriptive details, setting prices, and networking is time not spent in the studio creating.  But.....I REALLY like Etsy! I love the look and ambiance of the whole site and the community feeling and the way it is constantly being updated to make it easier to post and get to know other shop owners.  And it makes sense to invest some time in my little shop.  I’m not doing a lot of markets right now so listing some of my works on Etsy means that they get to be seen.  Instead of putting them away for markets this fall I’m giving ‘the right person’ a chance to find one of my beads.  With this frame of mind I'm organizing my week into days focused in the studio and days spent tending to the on-line shop and also making a concentrated effort to keep my stock at home well stored, and the studio kept neat and tidy.  One ‘goal’ for me was to get involved in some teams and I’m very happy that I have been accepted into the warm group that is The Etsy European Street Team.    Another goal is to make a treasury and share it with others so with that in mind I’m going to leave you here and make my first Etsy Treasury.  Thanks for reading….oh and more beads are on the way….I’m planning on making a new post later today or tomorrow.

Keep it Simple!

Sigh....things just haven't been going well at the torch lately but the other day a thought struck me. Am I getting too focused on the production side of things? Am I expecting too much from myself by trying to make complicated designs? I promised myself several months ago that I was going to slow down this year. The plan was to focus on making beads etc. for the pure joy of it and not for the business side of things. Ok, I don't have to put food on the table with this but I do need to cover my 'costs' and if you like to take as many workshops as I do you will know that costs can be pretty high. (Plus I have a real love for tools and gadgets and this doesn't help to keep money in my account.) So....yesterday I decided to sit down at the torch and work with two colors and make a simple bead. I pulled a fairly thin stringer of intense black and grabbed a rod of ivory glass and lit the torch. As a result a couple of nice focals came out of the kiln this morning and I'm happy so maybe this is the end of the dry spell. The photo above is of the best bead from yesterday's session. More photos of some beads from last week can be seen on my flickr account.

Back from a break...(another break)

Ah...having a Finnish Spitz is time consuming and tiring! Don’t get one of these dogs unless you have a great deal of time to spend on training them. Anyway…..I’ve been itching to get back in the studio lately but again…time and energy are not things I have in surplus these days so I have a plan….. Step one: Take care of all the commissioned work that I’ve been putting off. Step two: Start restocking the Etsy on-line shop. Step three: Get my act together and make an inventory of all my glass, beads, findings, finished works etc. Step four: Get the Facebook page and blog going again. Step five: Try to balance my time and energy better. Progress so far: Steps one, two and four are well underway. Step three….ummm…..I’m still procrastinating (sigh) Step five, hmmm…I’ll probably be working on this for the rest of my existence. Wish me luck and don’t give up on the blog. I do want to keep it going so check in from time to time and you might be rewarded with a new post.