'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.