My First Week

 My first week of unemployment has been a busy one.  I've concentrated on my lampworking and have made a bit of progress on that front.  I've started making watermelon slice beads again as they have been popular in the past and are proving to be so again as everyone looks to warmer weather.

I'm expanding a bit into non-lampwork jewery.  It's a saturated market but it's nice to be able to offer a range of prices rather than all labor-intensive lampwork.  It's also nice to have something I can work on late at night when the noise of the torch and dremel tool would keep the neighbors awake.

Time on my Hands

Having just lost my day job I find myself with a lot of time on my hands.  I'll say right off the bat that I feel horrible but I'm determined not to let that paralyze me.  I'm devoting more time in the "studio" and building my lampwork connections.  I feel creative and am very happy with the beads I've been creating.

The above is a little gift to myself.  I made a working hourglass and wired it into a pendant.  It's more of a secondglass and it's lopsided, but as a first effort I'm loving it.  My sister came up with the idea and it's a good one.  If I could come up with a way to get the glass as thin as it needs to be and symmetrical I could offer these on Etsy.  As it is, I'm going to wear it with pride and thanks to Ruth.

I've got 24 hours in a day just like everyone else.  I choose to use them doing what will make me happy.  I will not waste them in negative emotions.

Vetrofond ELO Revisited

I previously posted here about the difference I experienced with a new batch of Vetrofond Extra Light Olive and how it wasn't acting the same as the previous batch did.  It turns out there is a very good reason for that.  They aren't the same color.  The labels on the bundles say this, I just hadn't read them properly.

The egg on the right is made with the original ELO.  Nice pale olive.  The top bead is made with ELO PALE.  Ah hah!  That would explain it.  Apparently the thing that makes it pale does something in my torch chemistry to turn the glass pink and reducing it, which I did deliberately here, gives it a bronzed look.  Now I can use these two properly!

The Blind Leading the Blind

Joe isn't completely color blind.  He can see vivid colors and likes them very much.  Subtle colors, especially greens, are completely lost on him.  He has been an indispensable help with designing beads based on color.

I confess that when I come out with a new idea or a set that I really like, I trot it over to him and play show and tell.  His first comments usually play a role in whether the idea goes back to the drawing board or how I may list something.

With this set, his first comment was, "Jelly beans!" and I looked and there they were.

With this one, he liked the "daisies"

I value his input because he doesn't know what they're supposed to look like.  He sees what he sees and the fact that the lavender the flowers are on changes color in incandescent vs. natural vs. fluorescent light is inconsequential.  I just gave him a handful of white glass rods I'm thinking of making an intaglio set of.  I told him what they do when they go into the kiln and he picked out something I think is going to look phenomenal.  Whether I'll be able to take pictures of it or not is a different story but I'll drone on about that when the time comes.  Thanks, Joe!

Rosemary is for Remembrance

Rest in peace, Shaun, aka Alexander the Younger.  You will be missed.  You were a talented artist and a true Renaissance man.  We were blessed to know you and delighted in your work.  Our prayers to you and your family.

Pictures.

After my recent panicked post I wanted to do something upbeat.  Here are some pictures I'd like to share.

 These I made just for me.  Tres Mardi Gras, non?

 I don't remember where I saw this idea but I just had to do it.  It's a lampwork hollow filled with seed beads.  Is this cool or what?

Just in case I forget about hope, spring is around the corner.

This is BAD

I don't know if I've ever been as desperate as I am right now.  I think my kiln just died and I'm crying so hard I can barely type.  Selling my lampwork has been my grocery money and with Joe out of work I'm running out of options fast.  Getting a new kiln is out of the question financially.  Please, God, let it be a power blip or something....