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A New Endeavor – Murrini

July 2, 2009 - by loribeads

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For a long time now, I have traveled up the coast two hours to visit my friend Kimberly Lynn ( www.kimbeads.com ) to visit and occasionally be productive and make beads together.  Mostly we just giggle like schoolgirls and chat.  We’ve talked about working together since we both seem to get ideas from each other so readily.  We’ve talked a lot about it.  Not done a lot about it, mind you, but we’ve sure talked!

With the economy being what it is and with both of us going into that “stage” in beadmaking where the new luster has worn off and sometimes making beads is maybe not quite as fun as it once was, we really needed to find a way to be excited about making beads again.  When we are together, the ideas flow and we have no problems coming up with stuff to make but when we’re back to our respective studios, the doldrums set in once again because, face it, it gets kind of lonely working alone all the time!  Don’t get me wrong, I have the best job in the world, I really do!  I’m just saying that sometimes it would be nice to have someone to share the studio and to have someone to talk to while I’m working.

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One of the times I was visiting Kim, we put together a plan to work together and then we MADE IT HAPPEN!  It couldn’t have been any more fun to work with Kim!  What’s that saying?  “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.”  Well, that is certainly true.  Working with Kim isn’t work at all.  We got together for two full days and just made as much murrini as we could in the time we had together.  I think it came out great and we are very excited about all the new possibilities.  We set up a shop on Etsy ( www.loriandkim.etsy.com ) and so far, so good!  I couldn’t be happier and more energized about making beads again.  And, really, that was the true purpose of doing this – to rediscover the joy.

You can find me hanging out on Twitter and my beads can be found on my website and on Etsy and Artfire.

A Little Help for Your Friends…

July 1, 2009 - by bolimasa

One thing about being the girl with the torch, and lets face it, there aren’t that many girls with torches out there, friends find things they’d like you to make. I don’t do particularly well with special requests. Often times they want something I don’t know how to make. My friends are always so sure I have the talent to make want they want, it’s kind of flattering when they try convince me to give it a try.

When I do attempt a special request I worry that my interpretation of what my friend wants may be different from what they envision. Because they are so stressfull I rarely take requests. The best I do is take suggestions, things I add to my “list” of potential projects; ones that I will only do when and if I’m feeling inspired. The list is in my head only of course, as a written list would be too much pressure.

I have to admit that there some special request projects I just never get around to. One of these was the duck bead. I have a crazy friend who has pet ducks. Lots of seriously pampered pet ducks, so pampered that he built a dome over his duck pond so it wouldn’t freeze in the winter. The crazy duck man has made lots of duck loving internet friends, and quite a while back he asked me to make a duck bead for a friend who’d lost a favorite duck.

I’m not good at sculptural beads, or painterly beads, and was clueless about how to make a duck bead, so I kept putting off trying. For months. Ugh. I’m a bad friend I guess. Eventually the duck man realized I’d probably never make the duck bead (please remember I never promise to honor requests) and decided he better make his own duck memorial.

He chose to make a brass duck, and thought it would be cool if his duck had a nice glass eye. That’s where me, the girl with the torch, got to help. He drilled a hole where he wanted the eye, and his vision was a glass rivet of sorts with an eye on both sides of the brass duck. I thought it would be hard to do, but it actually worked pretty well. I melted the end of the glass rod and drew the glass out thin enough that it would fit through the hole. I melted the end into a ball. I then held the brass above the flame and heated the rod until it melted through and formed a ball on the other side. A few black dots and voila, duck eyes.
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It took a little juggling to keep both eyes warm enough to avoid cracking, but much to my surprise the duck came out of my vermiculte pot intact. The duck was a bit too big to fit in my kiln, so the eye was never properly annealed, but judging from my freezer test and dropping it on concrete test I think it should survive just fine.

He was pleased with how it came out, and it’s given me some ideas for the future. I may turn the tables on my friend and ask him to cut me some (non duck) brass shapes to embelish with glass rivets.

Designing With Small Children — Short Attention Span Theater

June 30, 2009 - by limamike

I adore my six-year old.  I truly, truly do.  He is someone I waited 34 years to meet, and I enjoy being able to spend my days at home being Mom with a capital M.

This year was the kidlets first year of school — a full day of Kindergarten.

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I loved being able to go to school and volunteer and play at parties and all the fun things that Kindergarten brings.

However.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t also cherish the few hours of “me” time that Kindergarten brought me.  I really don’t know any moms out there who wouldn’t agree that they’re a better mom if they have just a little snippet of time where they can breathe and do something for themselves.

Now, it’s summer.  Zack has several things lined up — Vacation Bible school, painting camp, eco-nature camp — but those are spaced out and he is still at home with me a lot.  And he is the sort that likes to DO and to GO and to DO again.

So how in the WORLD do I make jewelry when I get stopped every five minutes by a request/demand/plea?

Well, not much of it has much to do with making jewelry.

Right now, I’m doing a lot of stocking up.

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This lovely haul came from the Rings & Things trunk show in Baltimore, MD.  Not like I NEEDED anything.  But I find that sorting things is something that soothes the ravaged soul, and Zack likes to help out as well.  He’s learned a lot about shapes, nuances of colors, and gemstones from this sort of work.

I also have taken some time away from the designing table and put my office in order.  I input four months worth of receipts — a task that I can easily stop and start without problem should Zack want to do something.  I’m also making lists of things that need to be done for the upcoming busiest time of the year.  When do holiday postcards need to be ordered?  When do receipt books need to be reordered?  Do I have enough business cards to get through the year?  And the most important thing…. is Zack old enough to stick stickers neatly on all my boxes?

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Maybe not quite yet.

Eventually, my eyes are going to glaze over and I’m going to want to create.  My husband sees that and takes off to the farm with Zack for a couple of days and I go into high gear and get so much done.  But this year, I really am giving myself a little breather, my OWN summer vacation, and I take a deep breath and realize that I’m going to have to be a lot more cognizant about how much time I devote to making things, and how much time I devote to my child.  All too soon, he’ll be heading off to first grade, and I’ll have plenty of time.  I can make jewelry all my life.  But my son is young only once.

Lori Anderson travels the east coast to sell her jewelry at craft shows, and also sells on her web site, www.lorianderson.net.  Her blog is www.prettythingsblog.com.