I HAVE A FOLLOWING....

So... I have these two wonderful ladies who seem to have been following my glass journey for a while, Robin Koza & Carol Watson. They must've been talking about me because sometime before The Bead & Button Show last month, they both contacted me separately (the same day!) to say that they were excited to be able to meet me @ B&B & wanted to buy this & this & that, LOL! Too cute. We were all "friends" on Facebook, so I immediately went out to see who they were, put it together that they were business partners in an Etsy store called Cahootz! So I went out to see what they offered in their store & saw that they had viking knit pieces & hand dyed silk ribbons. Woo-hoo...sounds like a trade to me! (Regarding the viking knit... I make a really pretty bracelet that has viking knit on it & it's expensive because this viking knit is handmade [by me]... it's time consuming & I always joke that I'd have to hire some young child in a foreign country to do it for me to bring my price down!) So, it was really fun to meet them & they had their way w/ what they found in my booth & we ended up w/ a fantastic trade & I ended up w/ some great new friends! They're both quite adorable.

I didn't realize until later that Robin owned Glass Diversions, a fantastic frit blend business that everyone in the lampworking community knows & buys from. I'm such a dork. I just didn't put it together!! I don't do much frit, so I have probably only purchased from her once... a while ago. FABULOUS colors... yummy yummy frit... I'd love to incorporate more into my work.

Looking forward to getting to know them both....

TIME FLIES...

when you're a busy girl. :o)

Wow...where to start??

Well...we just got back from a 3 week road-trip to the west coast, so I thought I'd get myself back to blogging & tell you what I've been up to lately!!

Bead & Button was FANTASTIC!!! I LOVE doing shows...I love meeting & talking to shoppers & other artists... I love seeing other people's work... I just love the whole experience, period!! It was a really great show... slower than other years, from what I understand, but I did really well... that's really exciting. I can't imagine how I would've done in the past if this was slow! :o)

People LOVED my acorns & birdhouses... especially the acorns. It's so much fun watching people try to pick out the one they want... they definitely have their own personalities. I sold a kaleidoscope, too... I just had it there as a sample of my work & someone bought it! :o) I sold lots of beads and a bunch of my handmade changeable bead pendants... the simple ones AND some of my cast twig ones, too! Yay! I also sell 4"-5" long argentium and fine silver headpins, those went well, too.

I had my oldest sister, Jeri, from Colorado, there to help me... it was fun to have her there... but geez, I almost had to chain her to the table to keep her from wandering off to shop!! :o) Every time she went to the bathroom I didn't see her for a half hour or more! Stinker. She kept her phone w/ her, though, so when 8 people swarmed my booth at one time, I would quickly text her "HELP!!" & she'd be right there! LOL. It worked just fine. I finally got a little time on Sunday to break away & visit w/ other artists that I only know from online. I just love that! I enjoyed meeting Lori Greenberg (& her cool mom!), Donna Mehnert & Kimberly Affleck... all very talented ladies that I was excited to meet! I especially loved meeting & getting a big bear hug from my favorite Facebook man Rashan Jones! It was so cool to finally meet him & see his work in person! He is a fantastic glass artist & we traded beads! :o) Several online friends & other artists stopped by to say hi & check out my work, too. I was so excited that Lisa Atchison stopped by to meet me! I just love her work & she's been so sweet & supportive online... & she's so freakin' cute, too... I was so pleased to get to meet her in person & see some of her beautiful work, too! Who else?? Amber Ballard, Robin Koza & Carol Watson stopped by... I just love them... it was so much fun meeting them & really look forward to getting to know them more online. Lots of acorn / bead trades that weekend!! :o) Stephanie Ann & Kerry Fuhr are now acorn owners, too. Those are some sweet & talented ladies...I was thrilled that they asked to trade! What a fun weekend. Samma Parcels stopped by, too... it was really nice to meet her.

Some of my favorite chicks from the Missouri Bead Retreat showed up, too.... Kimberly Polka, Serena Thomas & Marilyn Roberts. Had dinner w/ Kimberly & Serena one night... what a blast!! It's so good to see them... I miss them.

I had Kristi Evenson's (Coliebug Beads) work there w/ me, too... remember, this was her booth... sadly she didn't do as well as she typically does... not even close... I felt bad, but I was reminded by mutual artist friends that people like to buy directly from the artist... especially the normal large wholesale orders she would get... of course they wouldn't want me to set that up for them. I still felt like I let her down, though. Crazy thing, though, she had a banner made up w/ her new business name on it (CB&CO)... it was gorgeous & matched her work much more than her old whimsical name/logo did, but it really confused people. She was listed as Coliebug Beads in the program & people know her as such, so they didn't "get" the new banner. Some people would ask... but it became REALLY obvious when a friend of hers came by and asked if it was Kristi's work. She said that she kept walking up & down the aisle looking for her & would pass our booth & see her work & get really really ticked off each time, thinking that we were ripping Kristi's work off!!! LOL! It was funny, but really made us see that we were really confusing people.... so we put back up the Coliebug sign that B&B supplied us with and used my labeler to make large labels on her display board that said "Coliebug Beads aka CB&CO"... that seemed to help alot! People loved her work (handmade silver & copper findings) & actually, it went really well w/ my glasswork, so we had people putting the two together. Very cool!

Anyway... Kristi decided that even if the two shows end up on the same weekend next year, like she thinks they will, she's going to do B&B. She apologized, but I told her it was completely understandable... she relies on her B&B sales, especially the wholesale orders & new business customers she gets each year since they will probably buy from her throughout the year... that's huge for her. I love that I was able to have the experience & get myself out there...& I'm happy that I was able to help her at least keep her much desired booth space. From what I understand, since I was under contract w/ B&B for Kristi's booth space, it will make it easier for me to get my own space next year, even w/ the long waiting list... soooooooooo, I've applied for my own booth... cross your fingers that I get in!!

So, there you go... Bead & Button was a fantastic experience & I can't wait to do it again! Hopefully I won't have to wait too long!! :o)

Will write more about our road trip & what I'm up to next tomorrow...

Till then....

~ Julie

ELECTROFORMING...

Electroforming is basically copper plating, only thicker... building up layers of copper where, if it needed to, the copper could actually stand up on its own. You can get some really cool textures w/ electroforming...
(click on image for detailed view)

I've been electroforming ALOT these past several months... mainly acorns & birdhouses. It's kind of tough, though, because you can really only have maybe 3 pieces in the "bath" at one time... you have to adjust the electric current accordingly (current x2 for 2 pieces, x3 for 3 pieces & so on) & I can only fit so many in my small Pyrex beaker that came w/ my kit at one time. They take probably 8-12 hours each, too. So lately, I've had a long line-up of acorns ready & waiting for their turn.

A few months ago I started trying to figure out how I could possibly expand the setup so I could do more pieces, knowing that if I got a larger container & had more pieces in there at one time, I would have to do some serious adjusting to the current to try to figure out what would work out best w/ however many pieces I was doing. Then I thought that maybe I would just have to have more than one set-up w/ another few rectifiers (power source), which would be a nice chunk of change. Don't think so. My next thought was that maybe I could put some sort of splitter on the lead wires so I could split the current between 2 beakers... then it occurred to me that the thick copper wire that each of the pieces were suspended from could just be expanded over multiple containers & the current would be the same for each container, not split between them... so I wouldn't have to multiply the current times every single piece that was being suspended from that wire, just times each piece that were suspended in each container.

I know... I lost you, didn't I?? :o)

Anyway... it made sense to me, so I tried it, adding a second round glass container & it worked! I was able to do 3 pieces in each one at one time, no problem!! That was awesome!! But, I didn't like the round containers... they felt small & restrictive. I read a bit & found out that I could use acid resistant plastic containers & was pointed to a restaurant supply place. I found some plastic steam pans that would be just perfect... (Cambro Camwear® Food Pan, 1/6 Size, 6" Deep, Clear #CAM66CW135)

Here you go... I set this up this weekend & had 12 acorns going at once... it was great! That went too well :o)... now I need to get more acorns & birdhouses ready to go...

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY...

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers out there... especially mine. :o)

QUIET...

I've been pretty silent lately... busy busy busy getting stock ready for a new gallery that I'm involved with... Bell Street Gallery on Madeline Island in Wisconsin, as well as preparing for Bead & Button. I'm so excited... but nervous, too.

I'm actually really excited about getting my work out to a larger audience... especially some of the nationally known lampworkers...

I've been too busy to take pictures lately... I'll see what I can do in the next few days... I have some really gorgeous acorns that I'm doing now... can't wait to show you!!

Till then...

~ Julie