SO EXCITED!!....

I'm so thriled w/ the beads I made today... especially the 2 skeleton key beads. They're FABULOUS!! I'll post pictures of them in the morning when they emerge from the kiln. These are #4 & #5 skeleton keys... I should show you my other ones!! :o) I have yet to be able to get any of them to move freely, although the 2nd & 3rd ones had bead release. I figure that I didn't have enough, so I have a few keys ready to go that have an obnoxious amount of release on them, so we'll see! The two I did tonight were done w/out release, so they're on there for good. So pretty.

I also made a heart that I think will be fabulous. Not absolutely sure, but it looked great going into the kiln. (colors always change from when it's hot to when it's room temp.) I started out w/ Moretti Purple Red Special (my only red!) & ended up adding some powders to it... not what I planned (not a surprise!) ....& then I added some Andrea details to it & it looked fantastic (& big!) Just not sure how it's all going to look w/ the red base. Probably wonderful. I put the powders on pretty thick in most places... but that was before I pulled it into a heart shape, so I have no clue what it's going to look like w/ the powders thinned out like that. We'll see in the morning, won't we?? :o)

Having a great time... feeling really good. I need a shower like nobody's business, though. Think I'm heading there now... who needs to sleep? ;o)

Later...

FACEBOOK PAGE...

I have started up a page on Facebook for my business... it's pretty exciting, watching all of those people find me & choose to follow (like) me. And I can see that I will be using it much more frequently & thoroughly than I will updating my website or even this blog. I'm wondering, however, if I should ONLY post new pictures & links to items for sale on Etsy, etc., like I see alot of pages doing (only promoting sales), or should I interact?? Post status updates, etc... ONLY promotion seems so impersonal to me... I want to interact... let my followers get to know ME, too. (not everyone is a FB friend, so they don't know me from my personal profile) What do you think?? 

You can click the logo above to find my page... or just click below & LIKE me. ;o) 

Julie Nordine | Credit River Art Glass: Handmade Art Glass Beads

Have I posted this bead before? 

I made it for our Beads of Courage flame-a-thon earlier this year. I still oogle the picture all the time, it was a technique that I hadn't used before... w/ powders & the copper mesh butterfly, then encasing it in a thin layer of clear & swirling through the clear, then adding the raku vine on the exterior down the side. I completely love the effect & will definitely be doing more.  (quite  van Gogh Starry Night looking, don't you think?) This one went to Beads of Courage. The butterfly bead is given to parents whos child loses their battle with cancer. Very sad. I hope my bead brings a bit of a connection to their child.  So glad that my sweet friend, Julia Longtin, took a picture of it & posted it to Facebook!!

Till next time, come find me on Facebook!

~ Julie

SOMEONE'S IN THE STUDIO W/ JULIE NORDINE...Lisa Kennedy

APRIL 2010

My sister, Lisa, & I went on a roadtrip to Colorado in April... she flew from North Carolina to me in Minnesota & we drove together... what a blast!! It was a great visit... all of us girls (4 sisters) got heart tattoos on our wrists...

YEOUCH!!!! I'm the one @ 9 o'clock... w/out any thorns. (he was going to add the specific thorns I wanted @ the end... I was just DONE @ that point, LOL!) Would've preferred it to be turned around facing our hands, it's upside-down like this, but majority ruled that they'd rather be able to look @ it themselves.

When we got back to Minnesota, Lisa & I headed to my studio & I showed her how beads are made. Very basic stuff... just showed her some basic techniques, so don't expect alot... other than alot of video. :o) I put this up on YouTube today... (I hate seeing myself on video, can't believe I put this out there!) ...my family has been wanting to see me do my thing, too, so there you go. There are bead pictures @ the end of the video... tell me what you think of my editing, LOL, it's my first time editing a video.

Did you notice the new tattoo?? (left wrist)

Back to work! :o) 

~ Later!! 

THINGS ARE HAPPENING.....

Some really amazing things are happening these days... things that I've been keeping quiet about until I knew for a fact that they were really truly going to happen. I didn't want to jinx it... it's kind of one of those things that if you talk about it & it doesn't happen, it'll really stink! :o)

It's still a little early...but I can tell you about it now that I've just seen a copy of it. Might not be a big deal for my many well published friends (although I know you'll be proud of me still!).... but this is HUGE for me... my very first... & they came to me.

I got an eMail in May from a woman who said she was a freelance writer for BEADWORK magazine & wrote their regular Bead Artist column. She asked if I'd like to be featured in the next column... that my glasswork was fantastic & that she was particularly taken w/ my acorns & birdhouse beads. She said that she'd like to interview me over the phone (an hour to an hour & a half) & that they'd want me to send them some of my pieces to photograph. I have to say that my initial reaction was to be skeptical, I've heard of scams out there where people want you to send them your pieces for one thing or another... but once I did a little research & found out that the woman, Tina Koyama, is INDEED a writer for BEADWORK & does write the Bead Artist column (& is also a very talented beadweaver & artist! I realized @ that point that I knew her work!). I was beside myself & of course said YES!


I think I only told my husband & a couple of friends @ first (a few family members, too)... I was nervous & really unsure that this was really really going to happen. I didn't want to blab it to the world & then have it somehow fall through (or get put on the back burner for a long time or something) ...that would be awful. So as much as I wanted to shout it to the world, I kept it quiet.

On the day of the phone interview I thought I was going to hurl!! So nervous about how I was going to come across... if I was going to find enough to say, explain myself well, etc. (A.D.D. = not always the best @ descriptions, directions, etc.) Tina made it all really really easy. She had spent some time on my website & blog... was familiar w/ my style, background & such and had some really great questions plotted out. What a relief! (I am finding more & more that when I'm talking about stuff like this... subjects that I'm really passionate about & really know inside & out, I need to chill out & have confidence that I know what I'm talking about & will come across just fine.)

After the interview, Tina eMailed me & said (I have to quote her), "Julie, thanks so much for the delightful interview! It's always a joy to interview someone who is articulate because it makes my job of writing so much easier. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about your process and amazing work, and I'm looking forward to seeing where your work goes in the future!"

Articulate.... she called me articulate! :o) That really tickled me... & truly made my day! (Thank you, Tina!)

She let me know that the interview would be in the October/November issue..... wow, really?? It really truly was going to happen. Really. Truly. OMG.

I still kept it to myself.... sent off way too many pieces to give them plenty to choose from & just prayed that the photographer & editor(s) would love my work, too & enjoy choosing the pieces for the layout.

I got to see a pdf copy of the actual page a few days ago... it really choked me up. Tina did a fantastic job w/ the interview (if I may say so!) & they edited it just perfectly. It has 7 of my pieces pictured, including 4 electroformed pieces...an acorn, birdhouse, heart, & tribal spike (aka. man bone). After the editor saw my pieces in person, they had me write a little paragraph about the electroforming process. (can you imagine ME writing a "little paragraph" about anything?? It was truly painful, LOL.)


The issue will be hitting mailboxes around September 9th & will be @ newsstands on September 21st. 

Other than advertising (which I don't think counts!), this is my first time being published in a magazine! Unreal.

Gave me goosebumps. Can't imagine how I'd feel if I ever wrote a book, or was even included in one! (oh yeah, LOL, a few of my beads are used in my sweet friend's, Rona Horn, new book "Take the Next Step" http://tinyurl.com/take-next-step! Woo-hooo!!!)

Now I gotta get busy & get pieces listed online!!!  

If you want me to let you know when pieces have been listed in my Etsy shop (before September 9th!), head to the CONTACT page on my website & sign up for my newsletter. I think it's about time I actually wrote a newsletter. :o) You can also follow me here on my blog, I'll be sure to blog as I get things online... & I'm also setting up a Facebook fan page (Julie Nordine | Credit River Art Glass: Handmade Art Glass Beads... not public yet) where I'll have info about listings, post photos of current work, & will have things like events, classes, etc listed.

This is long enough... I still have more news... I'll share that later. :o)

Thanks for all of your support! I'm really excited about whatever comes along next!!

Till then...

~ Julie


ps...BTW... the Bead Artist column is the very last page of the magazine! You don't even have to go searching to find me. :o)