BEAUTIFUL HEART...

I made this heart last night... I just love it. I pulled it out of the kiln this morning, cleaned it immediately, put in on a cable choker & wore it all day. :o) I'm not so sure if I'll give this one up... good thing I can make more, right? If I do put it up in my Etsy shop, I need to retake the pictures... the background of these is too blue... I didn't use my photo tent today, instead just took it outside w/ the glossy/gradient background (that Loriola made & posted for our use, thank you Lori!) & took quick pictures of it so I could show it off tonight. It was such a beautiful day, bright blue sky, that's what you're seeing reflected in the background... I couldn't photoshop the blue out w/out killing the bead colors. I'm thilled w/ the raku colors in this one! THAT doesn't happen everyday for me!

MOM LIKES ME BEST...

So... I already posted the picture of me & my siblings w/ the "Mom Likes Me Best" T-shirts... well, all of us except for Scott, LOL, in the post below, NORTH CAROLINA PICTURES.

Well, my mom's 70th birthday is next month & since we were all together for the wedding, we decided to surprise her w/ a birthday lunch @ a Chinese Buffet before everyone left town. The night before, we decided that we would have 8x10 prints made for her of the two sibling pictures I posted below... the nice one from the wedding & the "Mom Likes Me Best" one w/ Scott pouting, LOL. My little sister & I went to pick up the prints from Walgreens & pick out frames to put them in. While we were there, we decided to look for birthday cards. [Probably] the 3rd one I picked up made me laugh so hard, it was so perfect, Jill & I decided to get it.... or shall I say THEM. :o)

So... after we were finished w/ lunch, we cleared Mom's spot & gave her her cards... one from each of us. She noticed that the envelopes were identical & even said "what, did you all give me the same card?" ... we wouldn't tell!! LOL. So, happily, she opened mine first, LOL... the cover says "Sure, sure, all your kids are special, love 'em all equally, Blah, Blah, Blah..." & she opened it up... it said [something like] "but I know, and you know, and that's all that really matters." LOL. I was sweet enough to write something like this inside... "Mom, I know that the first 28 years of your life were pretty empty, so glad that I was able to add a little bit of sunshine to your life" (of course I was #4 of 5... born when Mom was 28, LOL!) Pretty funny, she laughed, of course. Then she opened the next card..............LOL, it was the same card... so were the other three!!!! LOL. It was such a riot... absolutely perfect. Of course we were all wearing our "Mom Loves Me Best" shirts. :o)

Couldn't help but take a few pictures... make sure you click on them to see them full size.






...MORE ABOUT PARENTING...
So... growing up, we had always teased my little sister about being a "pill baby"... calling her "Jill Pill"... she was born 9 months after my dad got back from Vietnam. :o) Well... come to find that I was a pill baby, too... my brother was a result of failed birth control as well. LOL. Can't tease Jill anymore, can we?? :o) Anyway... when I was older I had heard that my Dad's sister, who was in my parents' will as legal guardian if anything happened to them, had said "no way" when Jill came along... 5 kids was too much (they had 4 of their own, eventually). When I found that out, I had to ask...... so one day when my dad, Brad (my hubby, then fiance') & I were out hiking in the Colorado mountains, I asked him....

"Dad... how many kids did you REALLY want?"
& he said... "Two... Scott & Jill!" (#3 & #5 kids!) LOL!!

I had a great childhood... very loving parents & pretty fun siblings (for the most part!!)... it was so much fun all getting together for my Niece's wedding. My parents' 50th Wedding Anniversary is coming up at Thanksgiving! Hoping we'll all be together again to celebrate!!

Later...

REACTIVE GLASS...

I'm still trying to figured out reactive glass... I have the Opal Yellow & Rubino down, obviously... those just do what they do w/out much help from me...:o) but I've got 2 lbs of R4 shorts sitting in my studio collecting dust, waiting for me to figure it out & I'm not going to waste it till I figure out the less expensive stuff, like Raku (Reichenbach's R-108-C Iris Orange)... which I'm finally figuring out... but not consistently so.

I think most of these glasses like to be encased, which I do very little of, mainly because I haven't figured out which clear to use, LOL, so I haven't really pursued it. I have Vetrofond Crystal Clear, which from what I understand is better then Moretti Clear, but it's still scummy for me, but some people swear by it... seriously, I ask just about every nationally known person I come across (like @ B&B) what clear they use. Jeff Barber, who is in my local ISGB chapter, says he used just plain old Vetro Clear... NOT Crystal Clear... it's hard to find online, though. He says our local shop carries it, so maybe I'll be heading there soon. I bought a 1/2 lb of Lauscha Clear, which alot of people swear by, & it's pretty darned clear, but from what I've read & from what little I've experienced w/ it, it doesn't like silver glass. I made a monster bead that I rolled in Double Helix's Terra Frit & then let gravity manipulate it for a bit, then I tried to do a light encasement w/ the Lauscha Clear & ended up w/ a crack from end to end...... so, that was my first & last experience encasing w/ that. LOL. Maybe I gave up too soon, but that was a good hour of my time & the bead was pretty fabulous, so I didn't want to waste a whole lot more time trying to get it right. Guess I could try smaller beads, huh? LOL.

I'm also wondering if I'd have better luck w/ silver glass if I used tanked oxygen rather than concentrators... someone told me it was probably an issue, but I don't know. I'm going to bring some w/ me to Glass Stock next month (next month?? Yikes!!) & see if I'm able to do something w/ it...I'm sure there will be someone around during open torch time that can give me some tips.

Anyway... I've really enjoyed working w/ the Raku... wish it was a little more consistent for me... but even when I don't get a ton of color, I still kinda like it. :o) A glass that I seem to be able to get Raku to work w/ consistently is Moretti Dark Purpe Red, like the heart you see above... Here's a straight on view of that one & another one that I made w/ the combination...

this one is in my Etsy shop at the moment...


This one is my GONE IN SIXTY SECONDS" heart... (same glass, just etched)



Just love these hearts. Gotta make some more!! :o)

Later...

FORTUNATE ACCIDENTS...

This has got to be one of my favorite pieces...
Aiyana's Silver Reaction

(click on the image for a better view)

Of course it has my beloved Opal Yellow & Rubino... but I've been trying to add a little spice to that affair by adding more layers... so this one was partially wrapped in silver foil before laying down the Rubino dots from top to bottom... crazy how the Rubino reacts to the silver, isn't it?

When I first did this combination I had no clue that it did this... I was just so excited about how the glass pushes the silver into the gaps between the dots I laid down & when the glass was still hot the Rubino didn't look all that different than normal & I loved it... so I made probably 8 silver wrapped OY/Rubino beads that day & was shocked as heck when I saw what the bead fairy had left me the next morning when I opened up my kiln. Disappointed, actually. I thought, "Ugh, moss green!" I didn't like it. It wasn't what I was expecting. I really considered just tossing them. But, I went out to Lampwork Etc to see if anybody was talking about this combo & couldn't believe all of the comments about how much they loved the reaction between Rubino & silver. What???? LOL. Okay... so I didn't particularly love it, BUT maybe someone, somewhere would like them.

This was just before a show... so I decided to go ahead & price them & put them out on the table..... guess what I sold all of??? LOL. I guess people liked them. :o)

& actually... the reaction has really grown on me, too. Especially when I use it as a base for other designs, like the Raku stringerwork I did on the beads above... I just LOVE that.

If you didn't notice the link above, LOL, it's actually for sale in my Etsy shop.

Expect to see more of this from me. :o)

Till next time...

Julie

TOTALLY NOT GLASS RELATED...

The cutest thing I've ever seen.....

NORTH CAROLINA PICTURES

Just a few quick pictures from my NC trip...

My sweet nieces w/ the wedding cake I did.







Sweet picture.










Me & my siblings...(L-R)
Jeri(#1), Me(#4), Jill(#5),
Scott(#3), Lisa(#4)

L-R - Youngest to Oldest. Scott says he forgot his shirt...we don't think Mom ever gave him one. LOL.

My Mom meets her great-grandson, Jonas.





Lots more pictures to come...

DESTINATION - NORTH CAROLINA

I made it... North Carolina...I just love it here. My sister & my brother live here, it's been 4 years since I've seen my sister... a few years since I've seen my brother, so it's awesome to be here a day before everyone else arrives for my niece's wedding. We shopped for cake stuff tonight... tomorrow we start baking. :o) It's going to be a fun cake...my niece said "I don't care if it's stacked or on individual risers...whatever...all I want is for you to frost it all wavy, sprinkle it w/ edible glitter & shove plastic snowflakes into it like they just fell that way!" LOL...I can do that, easily. a very casual "Winter in July" wedding... at a place where Christian punk rock groups play every weekend... so the whole atmosphere is going to be really casual... a big party...gonna be fun.

I'll post pictures of this fun cake after the wedding (obviously)

Anyway... I'm missing my torch [& my family, I suppose! ;o)]... anxious to get home & get to work... it's been a long break... too long.

My plan for the next month before I leave for Glass Stock is to torch, torch, torch... take photos, write descriptions & get some pieces online... FINALLY. It's been a crazy several months... I need to get stuff out there, especially since I'm advertising w/ nothing to sell. Ugh. Actually, I've sold plenty in person, but need to get pieces online. I can tell that the holiday season is already going to be crazy... at least 2 weekend shows & 2 retail holiday boutiques that run from Thanksgiving through New Years...so lots of stock will be needed.

Till next time...

Julie

LEST BLOG...

I finally took some time to write a few posts for the LEST (LampworkEtc Etsy Street Team) blog.

I didn't really have anything new & glassy to write about, so I wrote about where our creativity comes from & also about stepping outside of your comfort zone. In other words, I showed off the wedding cake. LOL.

.....no, it was a good lesson... stepping outside your comfort zone... sometimes we like to stay in our comfy place, but that doesn't help us expand our creativity, does it?? I, myself, am always a little bit blown away when I'm able to accomplish a huge task w/ such success... maybe I need to write about this in its own post, huh?

Next time. :o)