BERNADETTE...

Okay... back to Spring Break, LOL...

Monday after Easter I spent the afternoon w/ Bernadette Fuentes!! I was so excited to get to know her a little bit better than our first meeting, LOL...I think I made a little bit better impression this time. (not too many tears!) :o) We spent hours talking, went to lunch at a wonderful little neighborhood coffee shop, Taza De Cafe, that has FABULOUS sandwiches (the MATEO on ciabatta bread, TO DIE FOR!)... & I even showed her some technical computer stuff, LOL! Then she took me out to her studio & we torched for a few hours. What an honor!! She showed me how she makes her hand pendants & showed me how to use enamels & how to blow shards! I was so grateful for the time that she gave me, it really was a wonderful visit! I met her husband, Paul, too... what a nice guy.

The cool thing...turns out the next day was a meeting up @ GlassCraft, Inc w/ their local lampworking group called the "Bead Cluster" & this was going to be Bernadette's first time going since she moved to Colorado...& she's a little bit shy... so she asked me if I wanted to come along! Of course I did!! :o) I was up in her area that day, anyway, @ my sister Jeri's silversmithing class, so I just headed back over to her place afterwards where we hung out some more, chatting & looking @ eachother's beads. I was thrilled to get some feedback from her about mine... she thinks I'm on the right track. ;o) Her 50th birthday was the following week, so I surprised her w/ one of my lampwork kaleidoscopes! She loved it!


The meeting was a simple pot luck & everyone just hung out chatting, so I got to meet all sorts of Denver area lampworkers, a few I had seen online (Leslie Anne Bitgood - Crazy Woman Glass... super sweet, very friendly lady!). There were a few more that I wish had been there (you know who you are!) I would've loved to have met. :o( Next time. I really appreciated Bernadette bringing me along & I she appreciated having me there for backup. :o)

Anyway... what a sweet sweet lady, Bernadette. I am so glad that I contacted her & so grateful for the time that she spent w/ me. She's been around the lampworking world forever :o) ...so it was a true honor.

Next time I'm out there I'll contact a few others... I was a little bit shy, some were a little bit busy, LOL, & my 2nd week out there was a little bit too crazy. :o)

MORE ON THE GATHERING

I just wanted to talk about a few of the people I met @ the Gathering...

First of all... I was SO GRATEFUL for Mallory (LE/rosebud101). She & I have become friends over the past several months, she lives about an hour south of me & we both decided that it must've been a godsend for us to become friends as we were bound @ the hip for the entire Gathering. As we're both new kids on the block, it was nice to have someone to pal around w/. She's also my #1 fan, LOL, & wore some of my pieces each day & talked me up to everyone!! LOL! THANK YOU, Mallory!! :o)

I certainly can't mention everyone I met...but was really nice to meet people like Anne Ricketts, Sharon Peters & of course, Bernadette Fuentes! They were all friendly & their beads were amazing to see in person. Marcy Lamberson is adorable & as cheerful & youthful as her fun beads! I got the chance to chat w/ Christina Logan for a few minutes @ the Bead Bazaar & she was very helpful in trying to help me solve my "fried aqua" issue. LOL! My giggle moment was seeing Bronwen Heilman in her little tu-tu @ the Bead Bazaar. Her beads are as interesting & DARK in person as you would expect... very cool to see. I wanted to actually introduce myself to her, but she was in a deep discussion w/ a guy who was desperately trying to pick her up, so I just moved on. I'm sure she would've appreciated it if I hadn't. :o)

Scott Tanner & his sister Trudi Madison were very cool to hang out with & get to know. Very REAL people. We ooh'd & aahhh'd over eachother's beads... Scott was funny, so happy that he could actually wear a strand of his own beads on his wrist & not have to worry about getting beaten up! LOL! What a neat guy.

Anastasia (from Germany) is adorable. She was like "I don't understand how everyone knows who I am!" LOL! She's very unaware of the uniqueness of her work & seems to think it's so simple & boring. I think her work is fantastic!

A friend of Anastasia's from the states, Dana Graham, & I seemed to have made a really nice connection...she's such a neat chick...I'm really looking forward to keeping in touch w/ her... hopefully we'll meet up again sometime in the future.

I think that one of my most favorite people to have met there was Ruth Nicholas (LE/KetchikanSculptor) from Alaska... the one who came up w/ the Perfect Tool System. What a sweetie-pie. She sat down w/ me one night & looked at my beads & was just so encouraging & full of advice. I really enjoyed spending time w/ her. That Perfect Tool system is pretty slick, too, I must say. Someday.

The only bead I purchased was a beautiful Trey Cornette piece...BEFORE the Bead Bazaar. I was looking over his pieces while Sharon Peters was collecting her pile of his beads. LOL! He's a pretty kind (& cute!) guy, too.

There were so many other people that I met...so many beads to ogle & fondle.

PERFECT FIT...

I mentioned in a previous post that Lampworking just "fits" me... I'm an "instant gratification" type of girl & I find lampworking completely & instantly gratifying! :o)

I'm an emotional person... not overly so, I don't mean that I whine about this & that or that I'm on an emotional rollercoaster ...but that I seem to be pretty tender hearted... I cry at commercials. :o) (& the Biggest Loser!)

In my "About Me" little blurb, I mention that I've been searching for something "more" to do w/ my life, something that not only keeps me busy, but also "feeds my soul" & I truly feel that lampworking is that something. It's hard to explain to someone who hasn't tried it. Those of you who lampwork know EXACTLY what I'm talking about!

Here's a perfect example of how "right" I feel w/ this...

This summer, the ISGB (International Society of Glass Beadmakers) "GATHERING" (annual conference) landed right in my lap. My first year at this & the Gathering is happening HERE, in Minneapolis. I, of course, had to go.

Pre-Gathering, I was at the hotel on helping stuff Gathering totes & this cute guy came up to me & said "I don't think we've met, I'm Larry Brickman". Holy Crap!! LOL! I think I got goosebumps! I was cool, though, LOL. It was a test...I couldn't imagine what I was going to do when I was in the same room w/ all of the other big kids!! I figured I was going to be a mess!! :o)

As the Gathering got closer, I started to feel REALLY insignificant. I wanted to meet these people, but I also wanted to be remembered. Really, who am I??? I'm a new kid who hides out in the new kid's threads on LE. I wanted to kick myself for not putting myself out there a bit more so people knew who I was.

I decided to enter the Bead Pen Contest... this was my entry:
(my first lizard & my first pen!)

Well...the Gathering was fabulous... overwhelming, exhausting, but fabulous. It was incredible seeing & meeting all of these lampworking "icons" & seeing their work in person! There was no time to see absolutely everything @ the Bead Bazaar... especially because I was selling w/ my chapter, too, but I would break away for a bit & wander... it was hard for me to just look & not chat w/ absolutely everyone, but there was no time.

Here's the "tender-hearted, right for me", part, LOL...
I competely made a fool of myself w/ Bernadette Fuentes. She asked me how I was enjoying my first "Gathering" (this was her 15th!) & I was just so overwhelmed to start w/.... I was telling her how much I just loved lampworking & how "right" this felt to me, etc... my eyes started welling up & was trying to blink back the tears & she's just looking at me & she puts her hand up to her chest & says how sweet it was & how honored she felt! I tried to keep it together but just couldn't. I had to excuse myself & went to the table I was selling at w/ my local chapter & I just lost it!!! LOL! Everyone freaked out, thinking something had happened & I was just laughing & crying & trying to tell them that nothing was wrong & tried to explain it...it was crazy!!! LOL! I was tired, too, so that didn't help! Anyway...I calmed down & went back to talk to her & said "I'm okay now!" LOL, & she said "I completely understand. I still feel that way...I just don't cry anymore." Sweet. She was a sweet lady & someone I hope will watch me grow over the coming years. I certainly caught her attention! LOL! I went on to talk to a few other "big kids" (all red in the face, I'm sure) trying to explain what had just happened w/ Bernadette & started tearing up again! Geez. LOL! It was fun & yes, this does feel very right.

I think the timing of the Gathering was just perfect for me. I got fantastic feedback from my work...I wore my big ocean heart on a McDuck pendant holder all weekend so people would recognize me by that & nobody could believe I had only been doing this for 6 months.