Musings of a Glass Artist - Andru Anderson

What's the hold-up....

2010-09-16T17:06:00.000-07:00

After making beads for a few weeks, it became pretty evident that I need to get a exhaust fan for my studio. Here's what's happening.....

My studio is a room within my brick house. It is located next to the furnace/blower. When I create out gases, they go into the furnace/blower room. From there, gases are blowing around the house.

While I don't mind the smell that comes along with bead making, it is very evident that I can't make beads for more than an hour.

I am now looking for a nice exhaust fan and flexible home.

Embracing my Texan-ness

2010-08-16T17:20:00.000-07:00

Now I know that Kansas is my home state and I consider Chicago, IL or the Bay Area in California my adopted cities. Last night, I embraced my Texan-ness. I created Camo beads.

I couldn't sleep a few nights ago and my mind began wondering. The idea of a camouflage bead came to my head. After searching for one, I could find some, but they weren't true camo. (They had pink in them or they were furnace beads.)

Last night I spent a few minutes and created a few. I'll post pictures in a few days. All I can say is the camo looks better on the beads as I made them.

I see a camo necklace coming soon.

It's been a long time coming..... The studio is now open

2010-07-10T15:40:00.000-07:00

I finally have been out to the studio in the evenings over the past week. Some cleaning, some moving of stuff and my studio is nearly ready to be in full production.

I need to put an air evacuation system in. While my torch burns, it produces some bad off-gassing, and must be evacuated from the room.

Today, I spent about 1 hour doing random torching things. Made some beads. Played around with colors. Will see what happens when they cool down.

But, I can officially say that Kodiak Glass is producing glass. I can go about an hour before I need to stop. Once I get the air evacuation system up, I should be able to stay in there for a long time.

Kodiak Glass is back making glass

2010-03-05T19:11:00.000-08:00

I began to produce glass this week in the studio. "Yea!" is what my brain was saying. And, I found the time to be great and exciting. I should begin posting pictures in the next month or two.

It has started

2009-12-27T14:21:00.000-08:00

Today I officially went into the studio and began working. Today's task was to get the shelving set and begin taking a look at the glass I have purchased over the past 10 years. Wow is all I can say! I found around 200+ pounds of various glass. Add this to the glass tubing that I got from Baylor earlier in the month and I have quite a bit of glass.

What am I going to use the glass for? That's a great question. I need to make a bunch of beads, marbles and begin to work on my murrinis. For beads, I am looking at continuing to make some necklaces and some bracelets. I just need to get better at making marbles, so I plan to work on them. The murrinis should be pretty special. I don't want to discuss these too much because if they turn out, they'll be pretty cool.

Once I get all the glass sorted out, it will be time to work on ventilation. I plan on copying a system that Wayne robbins from Santa Cruz set-up. He discussed with me about using a fan from a hot tub room. I'm not too worried about a hood yet. If it becomes an issue, I'll need to make one.

Step 1 - Done!

Onwards and upwards to glass studio #4. (Ugh, I'm getting sick of putting time and money into a studio and then losing it.)

The time is here!

2009-12-15T07:34:00.001-08:00

With finals about over and a huge amount of work to do is over, it's now time to cast my imaginations to the studio. What is it? It's one of my garages that has been converted to a room. Some may say that's not right, but to me, it's perfect. The previous owners built it connected to the central heating and cooling. It's got a ceiling fan for basic circulation. The one thing it doesn't have is ventilation venting gases out.

One thing I need to do is get a fan powerful enough to suck the bad air out of the studio and have a clean air source. Clean air can come either from the house or the garage as I'm planning on venting out to the opposite side of the house.

The other thing is deal with the walls. There are a few things wrong with them. The first is that there is some termite damage that has been dealt with, but the previous owners/renters just left the wall and the paint is coming off. A quick tear down and putting up new drywall should do the job. The second is the studio door. From the house, there's a 16-inch slot in the wall that if you turn the right way and shimmy yourself in, you can be in the studio. Once both of those things are done, it should get a new coat of paint. Following are the colors of the studios I've had in the past:
Studio 1: Gutted a building, new drywall and walls painted a medium gray.
Studio 2: Took over a small out-building and the walls were exposed 2X4s.
Studio 3: Corner of my garage and walls were unpainted drywall
Studio 4: Current room

Pre New Years Resolution

2009-11-10T18:20:00.000-08:00

My studio is still in a state of disrepair. It's not in a place where I can make glass well.

This year, the Kodiak Glass studio will be up and running by December 31st.

Wow, time passes by quickly

2009-04-04T10:39:00.000-07:00

These last three months blew by in a blink. I realized today that a post to this blog was late, I didn't relaize how late.

Everything is going great and the glass is coming along slowly. I have done a few private demos for school kids and that was fun.

I just need to get out into the shop and begin creating new pieces of artwork.

I'm finally back into production

2009-01-19T07:59:00.000-08:00

Everything finally came in and central Texas has a brief respite from the cold. That means one thing. It's time for production.

I'll be making a few more necklaces today.

I've got a lot of tools

2009-01-12T15:22:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to unpacking the studio and getting it to a workable state. What surprised me was how many tools I found.

Mandrels: Found in almost all sizes and there's plenty more to be found
Tweezers: How many does one man need?
Pokey Things: I found more dental tools and other similar sized tools.
Everything Else: Where did it come from?

After I piled things into piles, I found a mandrel with old release. Just to make sure everything was working, I created a simple bead.

Woot!

Time to get everything up and running

2009-01-08T20:06:00.001-08:00

I finally went and purchased bead release from ArrowSprings. It has been something that has been gnawing at the back of my mind for awhile.

I'll spend some of this weekend getting the basic set-up done and checking all the equipment out.

Some things I've purchased and never had installed:
A new kiln (woo hoo) - A larger desktop kiln means more beads can be made safely
There are other tools and such that need to be utilized.

All-in-all, I should have fun.

Next thing I need to purchase, a new TV with a DVD player. This will allow me to do watch whatever I want when making glass stuff. This will probably be purchased in February.

Well.......

2009-01-04T12:49:00.000-08:00

If you didn't notice, I got a bit busy. My studio is still in shambles.

Luckily, I have some stuff I need to get out by the middle of the month.

I'll have something up and running by the end of the week.

It's time!

2008-10-11T18:22:00.001-07:00

I need to get off my butt and stop watching TV/DVDs/Torrented programs. I'm deciding to get my studio completed by the end of October. This will allow me to get back to the swing of thing for 2009.

I haven't been in the room it's in for a good month. Let's hope it's dry and as clean as I left it.

I'm still here

2008-09-02T15:36:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd drop a line. I am still alive and kicking. Just working on my house/studio.

For the next few weeks

2008-07-27T20:09:00.000-07:00

My glass studio is currently split between Waco, TX (my new home) and my old home in Sunnyvale, CA. This means that nothing will be coming out for the next few weeks. This may be seem a bit disappointing, but to me, this is a huge opportunity.

I will be taking a course from the Italian master, Vittorio Costantini. If you have never seen this master's work, it is quite amazing. He does realistic fish and bug sculptures. His ability with glass is unmatched in the torch. It is a real opportunity for me.

Secondly, this "break" will give me some time to take a small break from the production work. The distributors are currently in a show right now in San Francisco and the New York show is in a few weeks.

All-in-all, I feel very blessed. I start a new job in Texas. I have glass that I believe will sell. And, everything seems to be falling in place right now.

One more project, then the studio gets packed up.

2008-07-14T11:00:00.000-07:00

This is a weird feeling. I'm working on a project for a friend and it just hit me, "I'm going to have to pack this place up." I'm moving to Texas. Here comes studio 4. :(

Now it is done!

2008-07-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

I finished what I'm calling honey comb cloud (or cloudy honey comb) this morning. The necklace has grown on me.

While this may not be the best picture, it is a great color representation of the color. The necklace is a great honey color. The friend's wanted amber and I think this is a great interpretation of their wants.

Well, that's it for the 2009 line! Onto to designing a pamphlet for the show.

Honey Comb Cloud...... Wow!

2008-07-08T10:23:00.001-07:00

As you have read, my distributors wanted something "brown" for the fall. I told them I'd make an amber cloud necklace. Not sure how easy this would be, I started making what I needed.

Yesterday, I made the beads and let them anneal. Pulling them off the mandrels today was really exciting. They are a medium transparent brown color in the cloud pattern.

I believe in a necklace, they will look amazing.

Tutorial: Glass Torches, the who, what and why

2008-07-07T09:32:00.000-07:00

Purpose: This tutorial should cover glass torches and the specific gases you can use in them.

Making a glass bead requires a few things: glass, a kiln and a torch. Glass is pretty self explanatory. It's the material the beads are made from. The kiln is a piece of equipment that I consider mandatory. It will cool down the beads so that the internal structures can form correctly, reducing the stress that is inherently in glass. People will debate me that they have created beads with no annealing, with fiber blanket annealing or using vermiculite to anneal the bead. I am a firm believer that if you want to create beads professionally, you need a kiln that can anneal the beads over a period of time. Then comes the most personal piece of equipment available, the torch. Torches are similar to clothing. Once you find your torch, you will swear up and down about the glories of the torch. You will say that your torch is better than other torches because of XYZ. This tutorial should help you along your beadmaking career or hobby.

I'll start where I started. I bought my first torch, the Hot Head, and was extremely happy with it. The Hot Head torch is a single gas torch. It can use propane, MAPP gas or propylene to create it's flame. This torch is cooler than a two-gas torch, but for a beginner, the price is right around $40. If you purchase this torch to begin your bead making career, make sure to get a bulk gas hose/adapter. This will allow you to hook the torch up to a BBQ propane tank or a tank of propylene found at your local gas supplier. The flame is fairly large and cool, so you can create small beads and other pieces of glass. Warning: This torch should be used for fairly basic work. I've heard that if you use propane to power this torch you'll often have beads that reduced. I used propylene from day one, so my torch was a little warmer and burned much cleaner.

Once I got the basic bead work down, I moved up to a two-gas set-up. After about six months, I had two torches, the GTT Lynx (around $435) and the Carlisle MiniCC (around $229). These torches are known to be on the smaller size of the torch world. They are perfect for the basic bead, marble and small sculpture. Another torch around this size is the Nortel Minor Burner (around $169). The Minor Burner is a decent torch and is the budget beginner torch. There are many other torches from manufacturers such as Bethlehem and others. I would suggest you find a place that will allow you to try out the different torches or go to a friends house to test out their torch. When purchasing, some people will tell you to buy up with torches, but I think that can be costly and a bit irresponsible. You are beginning your bead/small sculpture career, so why not start with equipment that is around your level.

I purchased two torches. The reason behind that is I wanted a torch with a small diameter flame and a bushy flame. For the small diamter flame, I was debating between the GTT Lynx or a Bethlehem torch. The decision was made because a friend of mine offered me her old Lynx (for a discounted price). This torch is excellent if you are looking for a tight flame which makes really nice soft-glass beads. The second torch was the Mini CC. It is known to have a wider, bushier flame and is the perfect torch for small scuplture. Both of these torches burn oxygen and propane.

The two-gas set-up can use either an oxygen/propane or an oxygen/natural gas to power the torch. Before buying a torch, verify the gases the torch is meant to burn. I've been asked if you can use other gases (MAPP gas, acetylene, etc) to power the two-gas set-up. The answer is a simple, "NO!" It's good to stay with the gases the manufacturer suggests and the torches are manufactured so they can best mix propane/natural gas and oxygen. (There are other reasons, but I'd rather hush up right now.)

My set-up is currently in the side of my garage and that impacts what I can burn in my torches. Most states have safety guidelines in place to restrict the use of bottled oxygen or propane within an enclosed area. For oxygen, there are additional option other than a bottle. You can purchase an oxygen concentrator or generator. Which one should you get? That's a bit of a preference. Bottled oxygen is wonderful, but will run out and you must either purchase the oxygen tank or rent one. The oxygen concentrators or generators offer unlimited oxygen and cost more than the bottled alternative. If you are just beginning, it would probably be a smart idea to start out with the bottle, then move up to either a concentrator or generator. These machines are retired medical oxygen sources. They may not be good enough to provide oxygen to people, but they work fine as a source for torches.

Which is better, an oxygen concentrator or generator? When I started looking for information on this, the definition was fairly ambiguous and used as a sign of bead status. Now, the term is used interchangably and it means the same type of device. When looking for these devices, you need to look at how much LPM it generates. LPM (Liters per Minute) is the measurement of the volume of air generated by the device. Theversions currently available can generate volumes between 5 - 2o LPM. I currently use a pair of 5 LPM generators. They were low cost and supply my torches more than enough oxygen.

Should I run propane or natural gas? This is a personal preference and the decision is made due to the availability of the gases. Most bead makers use propane because they can easily grab a tank from their local hardware store or gas station. These tanks are refillable or can be traded in. The options of torches that run on propane are numerous. Individuals who use natural gas often are in areas that have an ample gas source (e.g Italy). Verify that your torch can run on the low pressure that natural gas is distributed at. In the United States, this is often between 2-3 lps. This is an extremely low gas source.

As you can tell, purchasing a torch for working glass is more complicated than originally thought. I hope that this blog tutorial has helped dispell some of the information.

One more necklace

2008-07-06T12:59:00.000-07:00

The friends who are distributing my necklaces really liked the line. They said there was one issue, "There's no specific fall colors." We agreed that I would make one more necklace, an amber one. That's cool. I started to prep last weekend then got sick so nothing happened. On Monday, I will create the amber cloud. Monday night/Tuesday morning, the line will be complete.

On another note, other friends finally worked out the way to securely connect wood to glass. They put in an order for a bunch of glass. I look forward to the day when I can release more information.

Tomorrow will also be another interesting day. I plan to create a blog tutorial on bead making.

The 2009 line appears to be done!

2008-06-27T10:30:00.000-07:00

Today, I will take my demo pieces to my distributors to see what they think. Even though I've brought the necklaces to them throughout the building process, it's time to really see what they think.

The 2009 line is currently constructed as follows: (As always, these names can change.)

-> Sour Apple Green Cloud
-> Midnight Blue Cloud
-> Cloudy Blue Cloud
-> Tumultuous Seas Cloud
-> Green Dotted Cylinder
-> Red Dotted Cylinder
-> Violet Cylinder
-> Blue Cylinder
-> Violet with Trailings Cylinder

This collection is pulled together in color and shows different "views" in glass.

What I think is neat about this collection:

1) Everything looks really nice.
2) I finally have a signature stamp that looks nice.
3) All necklaces are between 17"-19" in length.

The necklaces that are on the outside of the collection are the Cloudy Sky Cloud and Dotted Red Cylinder necklace. The other necklaces in the collection are all color related. If I could put my vote on a few of the necklaces that will sell well are the Midnight Blue Cloud and the Dotted Red Cylinder necklace.

I'm proud of this collection. In the end, I'll be able to sleep well.

People are people

2008-06-26T16:36:00.000-07:00

About a year ago, a friend asked if I could make little people out of glass. He wanted them for a project he was working on. Around six months ago, I made him a simple man, and his reaction was, "Ahhhhhh, that looks a bit off." He then went to say that it looked like a Lego man. I went back home and thought of making some more.

I made another man with longer legs and it was acceptable. That was a good thing because people aren't the easiest to make. Oh yea, one other thing is this friend wants them made of reactive glass.

This morning, I decided to make a few more figures. I made one out of what I thought was copper green, a reactive turquoise color and a dark ivory glass. The first two were built without any issue. The last one was a bit different. When I was building it, it popped off my glass rod and fell to my bench. For those who have seen my bench, it is an absolute mess. When molten glass falls to it, the molten glass picks up whatever was below it. The dark ivory glass picked up some dark red. The glass was twisted and then made. It turned out to be an interesting color combination.

When I pulled them out of the kiln, only two of the people appeared to have made it. The copper green one was actually made of an olive green. The reactive turquoise didn't react the way I thought it would and the dark ivory man's leg began to fleck off. The reason for the flecking is that leg was up against the door in the kiln. The cooler air from the room leaked into the kiln and affected only that leg. I might be able to fix him tomorrow morning.

I also created more red dotted beads. Something that happened to my beads from yesterday was that some of the dot color didn't show up well. I was hoping that the beads I made today would all show up with defined dots. Boy did they. At least I know what I need to do to get the colors to fully show up now.

Ahhhhhh, it's a bit more difficult than originally thought

2008-06-24T11:00:00.000-07:00

I've been making a few man-beads every day and they are all low profile. All I can say is it appears to be more difficult to make the low man-beads when compared to a higher profile bi-cone/man-bead.

In addition, I have been playing around with a few of the colors that haven't been used in the past few years. Some of them are re-active colors and aren't doing what I want to do. That's too bad.

This morning, I created a series of the red-dotted beads. When I looked at them in the kiln, I was a bit amazed at how large they were. I quickly reduced the size of the beads. It appears that I'll need to create some more either this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

Project: Man-bead

2008-06-22T16:36:00.000-07:00

I created a few "man-beads" on Friday because there was room in my kiln. This was both a challenge and if the beads ended out nice, they would be given to a few of my friends.

The first point of "Project Man-bead" was to select the colors. What colors are manly (in a bead world)? I thought dark blue, dark red, dark green, medium brown and dark brown. I pulled out some dark lapis blue, medium brown and dark brown glass from the pile of glass on my kitchen table.

The second point of "Project Man-bead" was to see which design elements went well with those colors. I thought dots and lines. For the dark lapis blue bead, I selected a green swirly line. For the browns, it was going to be orange-ish dots.

The third point of "Project Man-bead" was to select a shape. This was one of the most difficult parts because there are so many to choose from. When I started making beads, I would have selected a geometric shaped beads. The ones which were square or a rectangular prism. Now, as I mature in beadmaking, I select a bi-cone shape. This may be with or without a defined center line.

Step one, two and three were done. Now comes the most difficult part, creating the bead. I chose the brown one first. It went fairly easy, but one end was bigger than the other. The second brown bead went really easy. The ends where nice and the center ridge was smoothed out. The third bead, the blue one with the green line, was a similar shape to the brown ones and building it was a joy. The other beads went just as easily.

On Saturday, I went up to Arrow Springs in Cameron Park, CA to purchase a larger kiln and some glass. There was also a bead bizarre in front. My friends and I walked around and there was a only one person who made beads that would pass as "man-beads." His were a similar bi-cone shape and extremely low.

Today, I decided to make more beads. I made some beads headed towards a necklace and still had some room in the kiln. The decision was made, I would create some low "man-beads." Man, it was tough. Not sure if I worked hotter, making the glass more pliable, or the if it was something else completely different. I completed three of them. The first was somewhat easy and took me around 30 minutes. The second one broke bead release when I was nearly done. The third was by far the best and only took me around 15 minutes to create.

I'll be interested in seeing how they really show up when I take them out of the kiln. Will they pass as "man-beads" or will they be scrap-tastic, destined for the jar of bead doom. I'm just happy that I can create a bi-cone shape and that the colors for "man-beads" are fairly easy to find.

How many pieces make up a collection?

2008-06-19T15:22:00.001-07:00

For me, this answer is easy, it's eight to ten. This means I need to create one to three pieces to complete my 2009 line. It will be distributed to the folks at the gift show in San Francisco in July this year.

Now that things are beginning to wind down as for designs, it's now time to start looking to murrini. I've had a few ideas over the past few years. We'll see what I'll make.

Last production cloud piece is designed (I think)

2008-06-17T10:52:00.000-07:00

So, I currently have 3 cloud pieces done. I was thinking of doing two more, but out of four attempts I'm not sure any of them look good. (The last one is cooling down in the kiln right now.) I'm looking for 8-10 designs to give the folks who are looking to my distributor.

The piece is either going to called "Stormy cloud" or "Springtime cloud." Not sure which one will be it until I take them out of the kiln. When the beads go into the kiln, they look like a greyish cloud. I peeked a tad when they were cooling and they looked Spring-like.

Candy Apple production piece?

2008-06-09T07:13:00.000-07:00

I created a series of beads in the cloud series and it turned out to be the same color as a Golden Apple. These beads are now known as "Candy Apple Clouds." Not sure if this is going to be a production piece or not, but the beads looks really nice.

I'm also going to change things up, each bead design is going to have a different name. For example, the cloud series now is:

-> Candy Apple Cloud (Green)
-> Nighttime Cloud (Dark Blue)
-> Tumultuous Seas Cloud (Pale Purple)

I'm thinking of making a lighter blue and lighter green version of these. Five in the cloud series seems enough for upcoming year. These and another five cylinder necklace should be decent. Ten different designs should suffice.

This changes the way stuff is named. The more interesting name seems to give the pieces a feeling of personality.

Two new designs done!

2008-06-03T17:49:00.000-07:00

Today I completed two new necklaces. The purple cloud and the light green dotted necklace. Something I am realizing about naming these things is the one-offs (e.g. Midnight Fiesta) are easy to name while the stuff I plan to go into production with just get a fairly plain name. I don't think this a bad thing due to the fact that the production pieces need to have fairly normal names.

I'll put pictures up once I get them done.

Year 2009

2008-05-29T11:12:00.000-07:00

I should have everything up and running in the next month or so. That should let me create around 10 designs for 2009. Yep, you read that right. I'll be selling my pieces here and there in 2008 but nothing substantial. 2009 should be the year to kick things off.

A friend offered to add some of my designs to her booth as they go to wholesale shows. Not too bad when she offers that up and I just need to say "yes" or "no". I think I'll be saying, "yes"!

In addition, I found a place for microstamps for my jewelry tags. Off to order that. And, I realized yesterday that I need to look at other metals for my stringing. I hate to say it, but I'm finally looking at gold and seeking more sources for brass. Gold looks really nice and the brass will work where the gold and silver aren't cutting it.

More pictures coming up soon.

Pictures!

2008-05-18T18:23:00.000-07:00

I went to a friends house to take images of some of my work. It was a lot of fun. We took some table top shots that weren't too exciting. A few of them have been cut up and put in the headers throughout the site.

The thing that turned out nice was his wife volunteered to be a neck model and those images turned out great. You can see them in the "Images" part of the site.

Cloud necklace - Done. Blue necklace next.

2008-05-13T10:29:00.000-07:00

I finished the cloud necklace Monday morning. The beads just sat in a cup of water for a few days and whenever I looked at them, I felt a bit sad. It looks really nice.

I also had a hair up my butt and created a few pairs of earrings and started another necklace. This necklace is something I wanted to create when I started making beads. The design of the beads are known as "Arctic Indecision". They are a two-tone bead. I continued to look at a few bracelets that were created a few years ago and decided that the necklace was calling. I pulled them apart, went to an old bead box and the necklace just came together. It's currently strung on some neoprene cord. It's awaiting some sort of largish center piece that should be made either this afternoon or tomorrow.

I also have been creating the blue cylinders for the "Blue Necklace". This is a sister necklace to the "Purple Necklace". Yes, they need better names.

Clouds....... Into a bead!

2008-05-06T13:47:00.000-07:00

I went to a bead show this past weekend with a mission. I needed some smallish silver balls. Friends had warned me that silver prices are high and wow, they are indeed. A few strands of smallish silver balls cost me around $200.00. Unfortunately, to create what I need, these supplies are really needed. Maybe it's time to source my silver from overseas.

On a different note, I made a number of small beads. When finished, they look a bit like cloud beads. I'm curious how they will look in a necklace.

Big Beads, Small Beads

2008-05-01T13:08:00.000-07:00

I had heard that as you build bigger and bigger beads, it becomes difficult to make little beads. Some friends once marveled at the small size I could work in. When I started to go through an old bead box, I found tiny beads that were really nice. This is a problem that I thought I might have now.

Today, I was finishing up a batch of red beads and had a spot open in the kiln. I quickly made a smaller stalk of color-n-stuff. When I wrapped a small bead, it became painfully obvious that my 8-ish years experience in the glass world have definitely changed the type of work I do.

When I started beads, I took classes on Nortel Minor burners and owned a Hot Head torch. Fairly cold torches. Today, I create beads on a GTT Lynx and small sculpture on a Carlisle Mini CC. Now, I have no issue working hot. Really hot. It didn't become that obvious until this morning. For the next few days, I'll be making small beads to remind myself of where I began.

What's next

2008-04-30T12:12:00.000-07:00

I finished the last two beads on the Midnight Fiesta necklace and re-strung it. It looks really nice.

On another note, I started to create a red bead with some dots. I haven't used this red before, so they all might be trash. We'll see later on tonight.

The necklace! :(

2008-04-28T10:45:00.000-07:00

I created the "Midnight Fiesta" necklace. I never measured it before hand. I cut the bead cord and then held it up to the purple necklace. "Hmmmmm," I wondered. "Why was this necklace so much shorter then the other?"

I pulled out a tape measure and hit myself in the head. It was only 15 1/2 inches long. Standard lengths are 16, 18 or 20 inches long. The necklace is shorter than what is known as "choker" length. I put the necklace on someone last night and it fit really well. It looked great on her. She also is a person who has a small neck.

This morning I made a few more beads. They'll be ready this afternoon.
:(

Just finished the beads.

2008-04-25T15:54:00.000-07:00

I just completed the set of beads for "Midnight Fiesta" and will string them up tonight. New fuzzy pictures to be posted soon.

As the bead/jewelry business is beginning to develop, it's a lot of fun.

Some other pictures

2008-04-16T14:26:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more images of recent bracelets I have made. These are created on satin cord with sterling silver ends anf findings.

A picture (albeit a bit fuzzy)

2008-04-16T11:26:00.000-07:00

I'll be getting better pictures of this necklace, but here it is. This is the purple necklace.

The necklace is around 17.5" in length and has sterling silver and copper findings.

I also made a 8.5" bracelet with the same look.

Necklaces

2008-04-14T10:55:00.000-07:00

With me making cylinders, I realized that I need to make some necklaces. So, I need to make more cylinder beads. I'm concentrating on 2 styles for my initial designs. One is a simple purple bead. The way I make them draws out some deeper shades of purple. The second I'm calling "midnight fiesta" is a blue bead with three colors of trailing. It's a fairly cool bead that should look great in a necklace. I should finish up making the beads in a day or two.

Beads and little people

2008-04-12T08:32:00.001-07:00

For the past few days, I've gone out to the studio and started to make cylinder beads. Man, I forgot how much I hate these things. They're fairly easy to make, but to make them really nice takes a bit of work.

In addition to beads, I've been making little 2 inch people for a friend. He has an idea where he'll use some little people. They're a bunch of fun because I can make them do anything.

Plus, I bought a 19" widescreen television for the studio and it is NICE! I realized that one of the reasons I haven't done much in the studio is that it is BORING 0n the side of my garage. I never knew how nice I had it looking out the window of studio I & II. I'll call the garage, "studio 2.5." It's not really a new studio, just something thrown together.

If you haven't heard, I'll be moving to Texas later this summer. What's interesting about this move is it's going to be cheaper to buy a house than to rent. Studio III should be nice. The job I got down there is considered a full-time 20 hour a week job. That will leave plenty of time to focus on glass.

Yikes, where'd that come from.

2008-03-23T08:36:00.001-07:00

Over the past few years, I have purchased glass. Some here, some there, but there was a purpose for all of it.

When I moved, glass would be put in this box and that box. I thought I had most of it in a single box that I could use for daily pulls. I was wrong.

On Thursday, I was going through the garage and cleared enough to open a small window to the floor. I saw some glass. After clearing some more, I realized that I had found more than "some glass." I had found the motherlode of glass. 150 pounds of it in a full rainbow of colors.

This should open the possibilities of what can be done.

In the clean-up

2008-03-17T16:46:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard, I'll be moving to Texas in July. Right now is a time for organization and creation. I am going through everything in my studio and deciding what needs to happen with it.

Here's the great thing. I'm able to organize all of my glass and metalsmithing stuff. For instance, I knew that I was missing some glass rod. Low and behold, it was underneath the truck in the garage!

I wonder what else I'll find.

Oh yea, I totally forgot to mention that I've started to create finished jewelry. The new style of bracelets are coming along well. (Pictures to follow soon...... hopefully)

What's up....

2008-02-21T17:53:00.000-08:00

I am working on getting my studio set-up at my house.

Next week, I will start creating work at my place.

The website should also be worked on in the next few weeks.

Until then.....

Some new designs

2007-12-10T11:08:00.000-08:00

I have volunteering torch time at the Winter Wonderland in San Jose, California. While it has been tiring, it has also been nice.

So far, I have two new designs, a small sculpture turtle and duck. This may not seem like like much, but the turtle and duck are both really cute. In addition, I've been able to polish a few of my bead designs.

Winter Wonderland - 2007

2007-12-03T13:00:00.001-08:00

To those of you who are lurking, if you're interested in seeing me create glass objects, then now is your chance. Visit me at Winter Wonderland. I'm there 12/7, 12/8, 12/9, 12/14, 12/15, 12/16, 12/20, 12/21, 12/22, and 12/23 from around 5:00p.m. to 9:00p.m. in downtown San Jose (between Market and 1rst street by the Fairmont). This past weekend, I was making glass turtles, marbles, beads, snowmen, and candy canes. When you need to see something else, feel free to meander around and visit either glass hut where you can buy stuff or the glass blowing demo.

Almost done

2007-12-03T12:58:00.000-08:00

This project is long and laborious. And, the end result should be really nice. All the pieces are ready for soldering.

Bah, one pair is bad

2007-11-19T09:58:00.000-08:00

In my construction phase, I've decided to create the medium blue and the black pairs. I started fitting all the pieces and realized quickly that my grinds where to too large on the pieces. A quick trip to BAGI and their lap grinder, done. I put the pieces in paper towels to move them and dry them off.

Much to my dismay when I got the pieces home, one of the medium blue pieces of glass had a few knicks in it. This piece had escaped my grip while on the lap grinder. Bounce, bounce and quick dart underneath the wheel. The wheel was turned off and I went after the blue glass. It looked fine wet.

There's a lesson to all the people who deal with glass. It might look beautiful wet, but when it dries, all scuffs, knicks and anything else will be visible.

Glass cut.... Now the Construction.

2007-11-05T08:51:00.000-08:00

This weekend, the beads got cut, ground and polished. I was more nervous during this step of the cuff-link making than any of the previous versions. I'm not sure why.

Glass..... done!

2007-10-29T13:34:00.000-07:00

I bit the bullet and created four beads. Two of them are large "arctic indecisions", one is a plain medium cobalt blue bead and the last is a plain black bead. Next Saturday, I'm off to a friends place to cut and polish them. Once they are cut and polished, all I have to do is construct them. (I think that'll be the easy part.)

More later.

Cuff Link Studs..... Check

2007-10-12T09:52:00.000-07:00

Sitting on my doorstep Wednesday was a medium sized box. When I got closer, I saw it was from the supplier of cuff link studs. I tossed it into my home and carried on. When I opened it, I laughed. Here are eight pairs of cuff link studs amongst a cubic foot of packing material. The cuff link studs might be one-inch cubed. Horray for the package over-packer protecting my cuff link studs!

Now all I need is the glass. This weekend.....

Silver..... check

2007-10-08T15:05:00.000-07:00

On my doorstep Friday laid a box. Just a standard looking box. Inside, silver. Now, I just need is to make the glass and receive the cuff-link backs. Oh cursed mail system! How you make me wait.

Auction....

2007-10-05T13:12:00.000-07:00

I agreed to make some pieces for the BAGI 2008 auction. I'm going to provide something that I have wanted to make (and haven't found the time to do it). Cufflinks.

The silver came in yesterday. The glass, I need to make. I thought I already had the pieces I needed, and unfortunately, I was mistaken.

Pictures in a few weeks.

Some thinking about me and glass.....

2007-09-26T10:40:00.000-07:00

So, I recently took a trip to Murano, Italy and a few things popped into my mind: Why am I not doing this glass thing as a living and can I do it?

Let's tackle these questions in two parts.

Why am I not doing this glass thing as a living?

Not really sure. I've been dabbling in it for the past 7-8 years. I have some product and plenty of class projects. Then, while in Italy, everything connected. I finally have the ability to earn money from at least three aspects of glass/silver.

Why is this rule of threes important? Well, it's a protection against a bad market or two. My three markets are: beads, silver and large glass sculpture. Beads can be sold separately or in a finished piece. Silver can be plate or PMC. Large glass sculpture is just a hunk of glass.

Can I do it?

I used to say "nah, it'll never happen" then a friend in Murano knocked me upside the head and said, "Really, why not?" I didn't have a real answer. There's stuff that people really like as I've already sold it to individuals and I do teach occasionally.

So, now it's the time to plan everything out and move towards that plan.

The class - PMC Pendants and Rings

2007-08-21T10:00:00.001-07:00

This past weekend I took 2 glass related classes. The first (for which I was late) was an intro to PMC focusing on basic PMC skills. Could a person roll, cut, add texture and then fire a piece of PMC into something usable? My answer... Yes! I made a fairly non-descript PMC rectangular pendant. This was made from PMC+.

The second class was focused on PMC rings. Now, I must admit, that this class held more interest for me. I'm not sure if it was the small class size (3 students Vs. 10 students) or if it was the subject matter. I had more fun and did more in this class. Two rings were made. The first is a simple loop with some cuts made in the surface. The second is a ring with some basic texture. The rings were made from PMC3.

Now, I purchased a basic toolset in class and then on Monday bought the remainder of what I needed. (Let's just say the toolset was a lot less expensive.) Over the next week, the other stuff will show up in my home and I should be ready to go. Now, I just need set up my shop.

Thanks goes out to Patrik Kusek for teaching us. I had a lot of fun and my PMC instruction has begun.

Classes - PMC

2007-08-17T10:41:00.000-07:00

This weekend I am taking my first class in PMC. Hopefully (as it currently appears) both classes will be held. The first class appears to be an introduction and practical application class. It appears that we will be creating pendants and other "hangable" objects. The afternoon class is focused on rings.

The classes will be held at The Nova Studios up in Richmond, CA. As this is my first time at this studio, it will be interesting to see it. It appears to be quite the place teaching and selling products ranging from soap to jewelry.

For those who don't know, PMC (Precious Metal Clay) is a pretty neat materials.

Starting of the new shop

2007-08-09T15:23:00.000-07:00

I need to get off my duff and begin cleaning out the garage. This started with me trying to find computing parts for a friend last weekend.

Looking around the garage, I realize that there is enough room for me to torch and do other stuff.

Let's see what this weekend brings as my class at BAGI has been canceled.

There is some real crap out there!

2007-07-25T12:59:00.000-07:00

I was looking at other people's work to see where the cottage-industry is. While there is some good work, there is an equal or greater amount of crap that is floating out there. Come on people, this is glass..... and you say you can make beads.

Here's some simple guidelines to remember:
- Keep your mandrel level
- Heat what you want
- Puckers are good

It's not that difficult to remember these things when creating your bead.

Hmmmm, a product?

2007-07-23T16:51:00.001-07:00

I spent Saturday with some friends who blow glass. While most of the day was spent working on a website for them, there were small areas of surprises and fun.

The biggest thing was that I need a product. What do I do? What should I sell?

Back from Portland

2007-07-02T09:57:00.000-07:00

I just finished a class in kiln forming and cold-working up at Bullseye in Portland. While I went there for the cold-working techniques, I really think the kiln forming part of the class stuck with me.

There is beauty in the stark forms that come from a simple form.

Thanks to Ted Sawyer and Erik Whittemore for teaching us.

Moving again..... :(

2007-04-24T16:21:00.000-07:00

About 1.5 months ago, I found out that the place I was renting was being sold to a property investor (a.k.a property flipper). This new owner informed all the tenants that they were on a month-to-month until they decided what to do with the property. Being someone who is occasionally proactive, I started to look for a new place. A place that was more "comfortable" and could house both my lampworking studio and fusing gear. Little did I know, a friend who was also looking for a new home saw a 2br house on-line. She shared it with me and a week or so later, I signed the papers. Now, don't call me heartless for taking the house from my friends. They have a small pooch (dog) and this place didn't allow pets.

What does this mean for glass? Once I get time to get the garage in order, the studios will be set back up. There is already a little corner set aside for the lampworking. I just need to organize stuff and build a lot of shelving for storage.

Ugh, another few months where the only glass I create is from the classes I teach.

-> Swimming in gray matter <-

2007-03-05T16:40:00.000-08:00

Ideas, ideas and more ideas. That's the problem with having overactive gray matter. With the re-emergence of fusing, my head has been filling up with ideas for fusing projects and lampworking ideas. Imagine small lampworked sculpture on a fused piece. The ideas are limitless.

I look forward to sharing some of the finished work.

Yawn.... (Or, maybe even a growl!)

2007-01-16T08:10:00.000-08:00

Where have I been? Two simple answers. One, I haven't felt too inspired lately and creating art has been a real drag. What stuff I did create is just that..... stuff. It's full of what I'd call, "Blah!" The other is simple, I have found a corner of a world that I enjoy. That corner is in the on-line game, "World of Warcraft." Many an hour/day has been spent moving my mouse and pressing various keys enabling my character to interact with the other bits-and-bytes that represent other players.

Other than the occasional class taught at the Bay Area Glass Institute, I have not had the opportunity to do any in-depth glasswork. That all changed one day, in early December, when an e-mail crossed my browser. I was commissioned to create a glass chessboard. "Cool," I thought, then I continued to read.... "goes along with handmade ceramic chess pieces" and "need by Christmas." Hmmm, still an interesting challenge. I inquired about the size of the chess pieces. The answer came back, the largest piece had a diameter of 2.5 inches. Then it hit me. A chessboard is 8 squares by 8 squares. There needs to be room on each side of the chess piece to allow for easy movement. Each square needs to be 3 inches by 3 inches. 3 times 8 equals 24. 24 inches is the same as 2 feet. WAIT A MINUTE! THAT'S HUGE! In the fusing world, pieces that are larger than 18 inches on a side are quite large. After some running around town, coordinating resources and sweating, the chessboard was completed. The customer is quite happy and often uses the chessboard.

That work awakened a hibernating feeling. The feeling of creativity. That feeling that was locked away, beaten down by the man and forgotten. My mind is racing. Silverwork, beads and fusing. Projects I had once put down are criss-crossing in my cerebrum seeking a way to express themselves. Workshops and learning opportunities are beginning to make themselves known. Now, the only hurdle I need to overcome is that of my arch-nemesis, time. Carpe Diem!

A Lesson Taught in an Analog World

2006-06-01T15:12:00.000-07:00

I was accepted into a winery art show over June 10 & 11. My inventory is a little low and what I would consider stale. While the beads from last year were diverse and unique, my desire to branch outside of beads has been growing.

Two products have risen to the top of my idea pool, gravity pendants and sculptural mushrooms. If you are thinking, "Huh, that's a little random," I would agree. The gravity pendants offer a new world of glass control and the mushrooms are theraputic to make. (And, they came after a mistake making glass buttons.)

If you visit many glass artists' studios, you will see a familiar object.... chip controlled kilns. This may come in the shape of a PC or simple digitry. My studio doesn't have this because it is on my project list to build sometime. This weekend proved why I need one.

I was making a number of gravity drop pendants and started to get hungry. I headed inside and one of my housemates gave the remotes for the entertainment center. Being a holiday weekend, there were many day-long specials. For our viewing enjoyment, we opted to watch the Discovery Channel and their back-to-back episodes of Deadliest Catch. If you haven't seen this program, it is a reality show covering the trials of the Alaskan crab fishermen. WARNING: This program is addictive and will make you lose track of time.

It all happened over a 3-hour period. My kiln temperature crept around 200 degrees in that time. After prying myself from the show, the temperature gauge was hovering around 1150 - 1200 degrees. This temperature is a point where glass begins soften. I lost numerous pieces that will be sacrificed to the cold-working gods in the future.

Moral of the Story: If you plan to leave the kiln for an extended period of time, make sure to have a digitally controlled kiln or begin ramping down the kiln for the day.

What's next

2006-05-21T17:27:00.000-07:00

I just finished back-to-back courses from Loren Stump. If his name doesn't ring any bells, visit StumpChuck. He teaches murrini, sculpture and encasing in glass. My mind is full of idea and through some of the demos, new pendant designs began to grow in my head. So, once I settle down in front of my torch, beware world!

Another thing of interest is when I was demoing for the Bay Area Glass Institute's annual Farmer's Market. I started to make little glass mushrooms. They happen to be quite cute. I also see more small sculpture (beyond mushrooms) in my near future, too.

My mind is ablaze with ideas. The only thing standing in my way is the execution.

The break

2006-03-16T08:57:00.000-08:00

If you've been reading the blog, you might have noticed a large gap between the previous post and this one. My studio is up in the Santa Cruz mountains. January and February are the coldest days of the year. Put these two items together and you get a freezing cold studio. So cold in fact, that it has become difficult to create the basic bead without having it thermal shock.

Have no fear, I am not getting out of the business, I am rather waiting for Springtime. This is a time I hope to re-energize my creative and glass (and silver) work.

I look forward to showing a whole new product line in the upcoming months.

Beads, beads and more beads (Jan 2006)

2006-02-03T10:32:00.000-08:00

Wednesday night was a decent little bead night. A little more than 40 beads were made. Many, a part of the Lymon series, but there were also made other interesting color combinations.

Instead of digging into the new glass supplies, I returned to what was currently on my bench. It created some really nice beads, including some unique bright yellow ones (thanks color reactions!) and crazy amethyst-y ones.

Now that I'm back in the studio, I need to get the ol' digital camera out.

The glass has arrived (Finally)

2006-02-01T14:31:00.000-08:00

When I made it home last night, sitting in the middle of my living room was a large white box. Inside was a large amount of Effetre and Vetrofond glass. Tonight, I begin to burn the glass. New colors...... New Ideas...... It'll be an interesting evening.

Don't you hate.....

2006-01-26T20:31:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, I finally get back to the studio. One lucky thing is that I cleaned up a bit over the Christmas break, so there wasn't too much shuffling that had to be done. I'm working on some beads from my Ly-mon series and after a few beads, I have only one inch of glass of a certain color in my fingers. As someone who likes to see 10 fingers and 10 toes on myself, I decide to put the color down and search for more of that color. Argh! I appears I'm out of that color. I rush into my home and search there. (Yes, I have a stash of glass rod in my house, too.) Much to my dismay, there is zero of that color.

I move on. A few flat ribbish beads and another project (fake amethyst) done and I call it a night. It kills me that once I get motivated, I run out of glass. It might be time to organize my glass. (A project I'm not really looking to.)
It'll be interesting to see what happens when I return to the torch this Friday or Sunday night. I have about 30 pounds of glass that should be delivered next week.

Cheers all!

Sunday.... "If I had a Hammer" class

2006-01-22T17:26:00.000-08:00

Today's class at Wired Design Studios was the "If I had a Hammer" class. It was a lot of fun. From the name, you should think, "If I had hammer, I bet that class has to deal with surface design." If you thought that, guess what, you'd be right on the money.

Our class turned out to be mostly an earring class. While that would disappoint most guys who don't have pierced ears, I was excited. One, I realize that the techniques I learned can be used on any type of metalsmithing I might focus on in the future. And, two, it forces me to begin to look at earrings differently. How can I change things up a bit in order to create nice looking jewelry. If you know my work, it is simple glass beads with silver findings. Now, my mind has been opened to look at silver with glass differently.

Look out world! New designs, new ideas, new products. A trilogy of happiness!

I would like to thank Gail, the instructor for both of the classes. I learned tons and you opened my mind. Even better, everyone I met at the studio was excellent. Some might attribute that to good-natured Texans. I say "Pah" to that. The staff absolutely loves glass and it appears that they enjoy passing along that love to anyone and everyone they can.

San Antonio

2006-01-22T07:47:00.000-08:00

I am in San Antonio, TX for the weekend to attend a few classes in simple metalsmithing. Saturday's class is in setting and soldering. Sunday's class is in surface design and creating jewelry without solder.

The classes are being held at a studio called Wired Design Studios. It is located in a part of San Antonio called "Artist's Alley," a collection of small studios and shops that showcase art, fashion and craft from around the San Antonio area. Visit the various studios and shops found throughout the complex if you're in town. You'll enjoy yourself.

The class was great. The instructor Gail is patient, knowledgable and is a great teacher. In the Saturday class we learned basic soldering techniques, creating a bezel and setting stones in the bezel. Woohoo!!!! A piece of the puzzle has been demystified and I'm so excited about the future of my work.

On a separate note, I also visited a friend from college in Austin. I met his two children and spent time chatting with he and his wife. It is refreshing to see the awe in a child's eye when they see handmade art. The honest reaction from one of the children reminds me of why I am doing this.

Next, a review the "If I had a Hammer" class.

Neat little gadget - non glass post :)

2006-01-11T17:01:00.000-08:00

I haven't been creating my own artwork lately, yet I have been teaching glasses and helping other glass artists. One of the artists now has a new website. Check it out at Kimangers.com.

This shows my true Silicon Valley roots..... Technology. In that same ilk, I found a neat little gadget that I thought I'd post up here. There are plenty of small transmitter type devices for mp3 players and iPods. I currently do not have any type of mp3 player, so I was looking for something that could suit my desire to playback mp3s from my collection and then, when I get a player, would function as my little radio transmitter thingy-ma-bob.

Enter the i-Rocks FM transmitter. On the surface, it looks kind of bulky and white. Look a little closer...... Do you see the USB connection? That connection is for any standard USB thumbdrive. Load that thumbdrive with mp3s and voila! You now have a simple mp3 player. It also has support for the standard mini connection for an mp3 player. If you are like me, mp3 player-less, and have a ton of spare USB thumbdrives, then this device is for you.

Now, I really need to get back to the studio.....

Holiday Shopping

2005-12-21T17:04:00.000-08:00

I have a few friends who have a kiosk in a local shopping mall. They were kind enough to stock some of my glass wares. There are currently earrings, pendants and bracelets there. The most interesting thing to me is the largest sellers are earrings and bracelets.

I am curious regarding the following: "If most women (or at least the women I interact with) wear necklaces more than any other piece of jewelry, why then are the other items selling better?"

The instant answer would be, "Well, the designs aren't as attractive." The interesting thing is that the designs are in fact the same because I created matched sets of work so people could have coordinated items.

Just something to think about.

Glass Shows :(

2005-12-14T13:32:00.000-08:00

This year was the first holiday season where I provided glass art for seasonal fairs. It was a bit disappointing because a lot of work went into these events and the return was miserable. I have more inventory than ever (but that is a good thing) and less investment money. The better question I wonder about is which shows are best for my type of work. This year I have work at a Company craft fair, a kiosk in a local popular mall and a private home show. So far, the craft fair was best.

Time to make more inventory and work on the website.

Company Holiday Craft Fair

2005-12-09T15:43:00.000-08:00

This past Wednesday, I had a Company holiday craft fair. It amazes sometimes what people do.

I had a table full of glass beads embellished with silver findings. Other vendors included an English toffee vendor, custom scented hand lotions, herby olive oils, custom wreaths, custom flower arrangements and many others.

What I found amusing when people visited my table wass the following:

1. People don't believe the beads are glass.
2. People don't believe they were made by me.
3. People who have no clue regarding glass are trying to toss "glass-like" words at me to create a connection.
4. They can't believe my prices (this is in a bad way). For Pete's sake people, it's a handcrafted item!

I have posed the following question to many of my friends: "How are the Arts perceived in the United States? And, has today's education dumbed down the general public enough where art is not appreciated?"

The sale was better than expected. (I sold stuff!) Now I'm preparing for a private homeshow this Sunday.

Glass up in the Hills

2005-12-01T16:46:00.000-08:00

I currently live in the Santa Cruz mountains in Northern California. My studio is a nice little metal shed that used to be the property Workshop. (There's a great little sign labeled "Workshop" over the door.) When I torchwork, the sliding door is left open and the back window opened. This has provided enough air circulation.

Last night I started working with matched sets. Friends who sell my work have asked for matching necklaces and earrings.

Egads! I currently make earrings and usually make around 30 beads in the same style. Usually, this will result in 10 pair of earrings with around 10 beads remaining for bracelets. I challenged myself by trying to build two beads on the same mandrel. If you currently are a lampworker (torchworker), try this. It wasn't impossible, but did take some serious concentration. The end result was six attempts with five successful sets. In addition, I made a pendant to go along with each set.

It's raining cats and dogs right now, so it looks like a jewelry night tonight.

Feeling a Bit Uninspired....

2005-11-30T12:50:00.000-08:00

I created around 30 beads last night and I feel as if something is missing. As I finished the night off, I was feeling extremely uninspired. This is of course something that any artist dreads. Art comes from inspiration.... Inspiration comes from many things. Nature, beauty, a perfect green lilypad, a bird migration, etc. It is different for everyone and often changes.

I'm throwing this out to the readers of this blog..... If you have lost your inspiration, what did you do to get it back?

Glass and IKEA

2005-11-23T16:05:00.000-08:00

Last night I made a trek to the local IKEA for a glass case to display jewelry in. I'm not a big fan of IKEA due to its massive size. If you've never been in an IKEA, BEWARE! You can truly get lost in it.

An awareness fell over me while I was walking through the throngs of Swedish designed furniture and housewares...... IKEA is the furniture equivalent to what The Gap is to clothing. I'm not a big fan of The Gap either. (I prefer bowling shirts.) I once had a roommate call clothing purchased at The Gap, Banana Republic and similar clothiers "Garanimals for adults." Interestingly enough, he was a big fan of the Banana Republic.

For those of you who don't know the wonders of Garanimals, it was a marvelous concept designed for the latch-key Gen X-ers. Mom and Dad didn't have to be around to ensure your clothes matched, Garanimals did it for you. The tag for a piece of clothing was shaped like an animal. If two of the puzzle piece-like animals fit together, you had a matching outfit. What a great concept! It was a sad day when Garanimals were no longer found on the shelves of the local retailers.

As you can imagine, due to the trek through IKEA, there was no time to work on glass. Though, I did receive in the mail a fuel flash-back arrestor from Arrow Springs and silver findings from Rio Grande. It was a happy night for me. My Thanksgiving weekend will now consist of eating turkey, making glass objects and if time allows, creating jewelry. Good times.....

Begin in the Middle

2005-11-22T08:37:00.000-08:00

People have been asking me to start a blog for about a year now. So, to please the public, and allow me to get some thoughts in cyberspace, here we go.....

Last night as I was making glass ornaments, I began to get frustrated. Frustrated at forgetting how to make glass ornaments from borosilicate tubing and just a general frustration of not having enough time to work on what is important to me.

Then, as I was separating one of the successful ornaments from the tube..... CRACK! When I looked down, the ornament had shattered in my hand and a small pool of blood began to collect on my thumb. Well that was it for the night.