January Art Bead Scene Challenge Piece Complete

Brown River by Wayne Thiebaud

Yes, I am shocked also.  Mom and I finished the Art Bead Scene challenge piece before the end of the month.  We are usually scrambling to finish the piece but this time we finished early.  The minute the challenge piece came out I sent it off to mom.  I knew I wanted to have the yellows and the browns in the piece but I was not sure what else to add.

Mom sent me her design ideas and we went from there.  We sawed out the pieces on Saturday and then I enameled them yesterday.  Only had two disasters where I had to discard two of the smaller wheat sheves, but I think that is pretty good.  Because of the cold, the yellow enamel is cracking when I am taking it out of the kiln.  Even with the space heater set up, to slowly cool the pieces, the yellow is still giving me fits.  I seriously can't wait for warmer weather!  While I was enameling, I sent mom off to our favorite bead store to buy Czech beads for the necklace, and I think she picked out some cool ones, though I think she missed me.  We ALWAYS go together when we bead shop.

Sketch of necklace

Mom had drawen a sketch for the layout of the necklace and of course once we started stringing the necklace the sketch went out the window.  We were going to have four strands of beads with six wheat sheaves connected to the strands, but we only ended up using two beaded strands and two wheat sheaves.  I think it turned out really well.



January ABS Challenge Piece - Muddy Waters

As you know mom and I live in Indiana, and we based the necklace off of the farmland around us and the Wabash River that runs through our town.  The Indians called the river Wabash meaning clear water, but of course, sad to say, the river is muddy brown now.  Because of the farmland, we based the pendants on the wheat fields found around the county.  We accented the necklace with Tiger Eye and blue Czech beads, and our own lampwork glass beads.  The two beads we have on the smaller pendants are called Mookaite which is a gorgeous deep red.  The Tiger eye Czech beads are varigated browns which relates well to Wayne Thiebaud's painting of the river.

I have posted more pictures out on our Flickr site if you want to see close ups of the pendants and the beads.

A Frosty Surprise

This was the kitchen table this morning.  Mom and I worked on filing and sanding the finished cut out pieces this morning.  We didn't have the chance to walk because the mall doors were locked and we were not sure what time they would unlock the doors.  So, we went home and started working on our pieces to be filed and sanded then enameled. 

While we were working, mom happened to look out the window and said that there was frost on the trees.  So I grabbed my camera and went outside to take some photos.

Frost on a Copper Piece That Mom Has Outside

Frost on the tree

One Lone Leaf on the Tree

I have more photographs but I will save them for the next time I don't have anything to say, and I will show pictures instead.


Start Temp in the Garage



Stop Temp in the Garage

 While we were filing and sanding, I went out into the garage and turned on the enameling kiln and the space heaters.  The starting temp was about 38 degrees and the stop temp was almost 60 degrees, even with the exhaust fan going.  Of course, that was about five and half hours of working out in the garage for it to get that high, but I can live with that.  It is better than 22 degrees which mom and I have worked out in the garage making beads.

Today was a small enameling set up day.  I was working on pieces that had the same colors that I didn't need to set up like we usually do.  I finished three pieces for the Bead Soup Party, but there are some minor fixes that need to be done and then they will be ready.  I finished up the pieces for the January Art Bead Challenge pieces.  I had to discard two pieces because I really screwed them up and they were beyond salvageable, but we have enough pieces for our necklace.

This is the layout for the January Challenge piece.  The two crayon containers contain the beads we will be using in the necklace.  There are four small wheat sheaves and the large wheat sheaf focal pendant plus lampwork beads I made.  I plan on putting that necklace together tomorrow and taking pictures to post.  Of course, that is the plan right now - who knows what will be going on tomorrow.

Oh, if you still have not signed up for the Bead Soup Party, hosted by the wonderful Lori of Pretty Things, there is still time to sign up.  As of right now there are 145 people signed up from all over.  Don't miss out on the fun!  Even though you don't feel like you are a good enough artist to participate, don't let that stop you!  Mom and I felt the same way last year, but I forced both of us to give it a try (forced us by signing up and not backing out of the challenge).  Use this great Bead Soup Party to spread your wings and get your feet wet if you are new to any challenges.  Sorry, I will get off my soap box now.  I just want to encourage you to interact with a wonderful group of artists.  The sign up for this challenge ends on January 14th.

Sawing Again



Copper Shavings

Today mom and I are sawing away on different projects.  We have finished sawing out the pieces we will be using for the Bead Soup Blog Party.  If you have not signed up yet, go to Lori's site Pretty Things and do it now.  This is the third installment and Lori does an awesome job putting this together.  Mom and I participated in the last one, and we have been waiting patiently for the new year and a new soup party. 



Lily Helping Out

The little one helping out is mom's cat Lily.  She must be into everything, but she is such a muschmellow that you forgive her for anything, such as stealing saw blades, getting in the way of the saw, wanting to help you as a you file, etc.



My Sawing Space

Here is my sawing space.  Right now mom and I are working in the kitchen again because the garage is not even up to 40 degrees and with the space heaters on we may get the garage up to 45 degrees.  So, we are sawing in the kitchen, which is much warmer. Right now I am working on sawing out the perimeters of the pieces because I hate sawing out the interiors, which mom likes to do - thank goodness!  Some of the pieces sawed are butterflies, a bird, working on another bird, and pieces for January's ABS Challenge.



Mom's Work Space

I just found this setting in Photoshop, Old Photo, I am still learning so much about Photoshop.  I wanted to distort the picture a little because mom is working on sawing out pieces for the bead soup party.  I don't want to give it all away.  The next thing I need to do is make some beads to go along with these babies.  Again, I will say it, I am so glad mom loves to saw!  Too tedious for me!

My lovely, lovely, lovely bag

I had to show my gorgeous bomber bag again.  Mom got me this bag for Christmas from Lori, Studio Waterstone.  I am just now starting to use it because the bag organizer I ordered finally arrived.  I carry everything with me plus the kitchen sink, so this bag is so perfect for me.

Inside the bag with organization

Yes, admit it, you are jealous of me and my bag.  That is okay, I can take it because I am in love with my bag!

That is about it for today. I just wanted to do a quick update of what mom and I have been up to today.  Oh, mom and I did go for a walk this morning at the mall to get our blood pumping for the sawing that was going to go on today.  Mom and I do plan on walking again tomorrow morning.  Now I just need to get my butt up on Monday morning to exercise before I go to work.  Baby steps...I can do this!

Your Bad Mood Serves Your Enemy - Dalai Lama

Sorry for the poor quality of the image, but I had to show you what my friend got me for Christmas, a little late, but who cares it is awesome.  I love, love, love reading the Dalai Lama.  Mom and I have several of his books and he is so interesting to read.  Well, my friend bought me a 365 day calendar of quotes by the Dalai Lama and I had to share Wednesday's quote (the title of the post).  I also really like the quote from Tuesday, "Whether or not you understand profound ideas, it is important to be a good person wherever you are right now."  I am usually not a profound thinker and I am not into deep thoughts, but I really like what the Dalai Lama has to say.  I don't always live what he says, but at least he gets me to thinking.

These pair of shoes I am drooling over.  This past weekend mom and I were walking through the mall and we stopped in a shoe store that I knew sold Dansko's.  I saw these and I feel in love.  I was good and didn't make off with them, but boy howdy was it hard.  You like how I went from the Dalai Lama, spiritual, to Dansko shoes, materialistic.  But those shoes are spiritual because when you put them on your feet you are wondering where they have been all your life! 

Reminder that tomorrow is the start of the sign up for the Bead Soup Blog Party.  Seriously, if you haven't participated in the past, start now!  It is so much fun!!!!  Lori, Pretty Things, is the mastermind behind this party and she does a fantastic job!

No new enameled pieces or new jewelry, sorry.  I am hoping mom and I will be in the studio this weekend.  Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Slow Getting Started

Mom and I haven't done much in the last few days, so not much to share.  We have started cutting out the designs for the Bead Soup Blog Party.  The sign up for the party is only a few days away and if you haven't participated in the past you should jump on and participate this time.  This is so much fun and it is so much fun to see what everyone creates with their swap goodies!  If you want to see pictures from the last soup party go to the Flickr site.

Brown River by Wayne Thiebaud

 Just found out what the January challenge is on Art Bead Scene - Brown River by Wayne Thiebaud.  I had an idea of what to make for the beads but I was not sure what to make for a focal pendant so I sent the image to mom and she had a brilliant idea.  I hope we can get the design made and cut out on Friday because I want to do an enameling session on Saturday and work on beads on Sunday.  I guess I should finish off the tank of oxygen so we can order some more.  So much to do and so little time.

My other little project I have been working on is taking images of our inventory so I can upload pieces into our Etsy store.  Last night I uploaded 11 of our bowls.  I uploaded some of our smaller bowls and some of our bowls that have designs cut out.  Now I need to start working on taking photographs of our necklaces that I want to load next.

Barn Rural Abandoned - Gothicrow

Since mom and I haven't done anything new I thought I would share some more of my favorite things from Etsy.

Spirit of the West Horse Totem - DalaHorse

Abstract Art Modern - MADART

Abstract Art Pendant - Pamelaj

Here There Be Dragons - Raceytay

I hope the next time I post I will be more verbose.  Just nothing much going on right now, but I am sure this weekend there will be much more wordy posts.  I don't know if it is because the holidays' are over with and it is back to the real world or what but just sort of in a blah mood.

Dec ABS, Year in Review, New Year is Upon Us

This is a long post, so grab a cup of coffee, coco, or a glass of wine and enjoy the ride. 

The Captive Robin, John Anster Fitzgerald

Yes, we know we are a little late for December's Art Bead Scene Monthly Challenge, but better late than never!  There were some unforseen issues that arose this month, so this piece didn't get done until today.  I really like how the piece came out and I did post pictures out on our Flickr site if you want to see them all.

I won't bore you with the details on how the piece was made.  Like I said, I posted more pics on our Flickr site and I also posted how we made the necklace.

Wow - this year was a whirlwind for us and the jewelry business.  I am really impressed with mom and I (I am wrenching my shoulder out of the socket as I pat myself on the back).

This year I wanted to focus more on the business.  I knew I was going to be done with school after the spring semester so I started doing more with the blog.  Can you believe I had 181 posts in 2010.  Who would have thunk I would have had that much to say.  Though there are some posts I did that were about giveaways, the majority of those posts were about us or the aspects of the business.  Phew - congrats for sticking it out with us!

This year mom and I also wanted to be accepted into juried shows and move away from the craft shows.  We met our goal and then some.  We were accepted into five juried shows.  I think we want to try for two more juried shows, that will make seven for 2011.  This year we also tripled our sales which will make our accountant ecstatic, but of course that money turns around to go right into buying supplies, oh well, you all understand that!

In January, I found the blog Art Bead Scene and we participated in our first monthly challenge.  If you want a laugh, you need to hit the blog post: Cold, Cold, OMG Cold! of us working on beads for the January Monthly Challenge piece.  Looking at our pieces from January up to now I can see a vast improvement in a year.  I can even tell you when the change happenend - it was the June's Monthly Challenge, Dancing the Bolero.  I think what did it was that we started incorporating our enameled pieces with our lampwork beads.  I think that may have helped us to be picked for November's Monthly Challenge - Tree of Life by Gustav Klimt.  Art Bead Scene has a Year in Review of the winners.

I also found Lori's blog, Pretty Things, and the Bead Soup Blog Party in January though I was to late to sign up for it.  I was bound and determined to sign up for it if Lori had it again.  Lori did have another Bead Soup Blog Party and this one was in June. 


Wise in the Ways



Reach

Our swap partner was Christine of A Hot Piece of Glass.  What she made with the pendant and beads we sent her was fandamntastic! 

What Christine sent us was fabulous and so drool worthy.  It was also out of our comfort zone, but that is the reason for this swap - to push us to making something great with the wonderful goodies we receive.  If you would like to read how we put the necklace together go here.

This year mom and I also participated in two bead swaps with two of the most wonderful, awesomeist ladies ever:  Juls at Julsbeads and Kristen at My Bead Journey.

For Juls mom and I made here a hand bowl and a sunflare pendant and we received from Juls some of the most mouthwatering beads evah!



Mom's Necklace with Juls Beads



My necklace with Juls beads

For Kristen mom and I made her an enameled bird pendant, and I made her some of mom's favorite lampwork glass beads.  From Kristen we received some of her beaded beads, beaded snowflakes, and beaded Christmas ornaments.




What we made from Kristen's goodies

This year mom and I also tried using a credit card machine for more sales.  We had some highs with the knuckle buster, more sales.  We had some lows, which boy how was mom pissed one night at the credit card company.  Now that we bought an iPhone, we are going to try the Square with the credit cards.  I hope this goes much better than the knuckle buster and much cheaper.

Another big thing we did was participate in Lori's Cup of Bead Soup.  What we did was send Lori some of our lampwork glass beads and an enameled copper Lotus pendant.  I know that sort of put her outside her comfort zone, but the piece she made was show stopping!

Just one more big thing for us - we are now in double digits on our Etsy site.   I really didn't think that day would come.  I think our pieces are awesome, but I know that doesn't mean other people think the same thing.  I am just so excited that we hit double digits before the end of the year.  Another awesome thing is that we have sold to three great customers in Norway, Finland and Ireland.  How cool is that?  We have pendants and a bowl in different countries - AWESOME!

Now that we are in 2011, wow, mom and I have some goals we have set ourselves.

• Be published in a magazine - this is mostly my goal for us
• Double sales in Etsy 
• Work on patina - goal for me
• Work in enamels and torch (make beads) again - goal for mom
• Make more Viking Knit - mostly in Sterling Silver (hint hint mom)
• Work on making our own clasps
• Make a breast plate pendant - goal for mom
• Remotivate mom - mom's goal

I guess that is it.  I know, a long post for the first day of the new year.  I hope you all  have a wonderful new year.  Mom and I wish you all good health and happiness.

After Action Review of Christmas

Every year for Christmas we go to my Aunt Sherry's on Christmas day for lunch and to open presents.  Before going to Aunt Sherry's I always go to mom's house, and we exchange our gifts. 

This year I bought mom a Mike Byers fused glass piece called Charon Crossing the River Styx, a bird house in the shape of a sparrow and the big bonus DVD set for the movie Avatar.  I have lost count of the number of times mom has watched that movie.  I thought she would like to watch the documentary of how James Cameron made the movie.

For my Christmas gifts, I got my printer early because the printer we had died, a steam mop which I have wanted one for over a year and a purse by Lori at Waterstone.  I borrowed the photo from Lori's website so you could see the glorious bag that is all mine, mine I say, hahahahaha.  Can you tell I am stoked about this bag.  If you haven't been to her blog, go there now and be prepared to drool all over your keyboard! 

After opening gifts, mom and I headed over to my aunt's house.  There were 15 of us who eat dinner, and then there were four more who joined us later to open gifts (have the other side of the family to see). 

The above photos are the dinner table set up when we sit down to chow down on all the good food.  There is the main table and then two extra tables set up in the sun room.  I should have taken a picture of all the food that can feed an army, which is our family.

After eating, we sit around for about an hour before letting the kids open their gifts.  That use to be a big production.  When I first came home we all got each other gifts and then each of us would open a gift one at a time and gift opening would take almost three hours, plus it was getting expensive buying each other gifts.  About seven years ago we decided to start drawing each others names.  We would have a set dollar limit, and we would write up a list of things we would like, put our name on it, put the list in a basket and then each of us would draw a name.  That was fun.  Then two years ago, because money was tight for everyone, we decided to do a white elephant gift exchange. 


My cousins and gifts for adults

All the adults would buy a gift ($25) wrap it up and we would put the gifts in a pile.  We would all draw a number and start with one.  If a person didn't want to pick a present they could steal a present they liked.  The person who had their gift stolen then could either steal a gift or pick another present to open.  The item stolen could be only stolen twice, and we did numbers because otherwise I think it would have been a free for all with elbows flying and adults being taken down (believe me when I say I cheat!).

It was an awesome day, even with more snow.  I think this has been the first white Christmas in several years.  I know the first two years I was home were white, but I don't remember a white Christmas in a long time.  I know mom was happy because she loves snow.

Here are some photos of the white fluffy crap, err, snow.

Mom and I also have another holiday tradition that I am hoping gets broken next year.  It seems either around Christmas or New Year's either mom, me or it use to be my grandparents would be in either the urgent care or ER.  Well, yesterday I had to take mom to urgent care, nothing serious, but this is one tradition I hope we can break for next year!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday.  I am hoping mom gets to feeling better and we can work on cutting out, enameling or patina pendants and bowls.  Keep your eyes peeled for that.