Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Sshhh....

I'm working on some new ideas for expanding my business. Stay tuned :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Mobile blogging!


A few days ago my old mp3 player died. I looked at that as an opportunity to buy an iPod touch! I've wanted one forever, and since I can't work without music, I figure it's a business expense :) Now that I can blog and check in to facebook mobily, I'm sure it is! As a bonus, I officially have no excuse not to update more frequently ~ one more resolution down!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Local Woman Turns Christmas Gift Into Glass Bead Business

A photographer from my local paper contacted me last Monday and told me he had taken pictures of my jewelry at the local gallery and would love to see the process of making glass beads.  He came over that afternoon and took dozens of pictures and then called a reporter to come intrview me too.  The little article turned out to be a full page! 

Here's a quick excerpt ~ You can read the whole article at wenatcheeworld.com


"As the glass glows from the heat, Jessica Jones uses a knife to help form what will be a tree on a bead she’s making. She heats the glass up to more than 1,000 degrees to melt and form it. The owner of Veda’s Beads, she’s been making beads for sale professionally for two years in what started as a hobby about 10 years ago"


The photographs were taken by Mike Bonnicksen, the article written by Rick Steigmeyer.  Thank you gentlemen!

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Last Lesson of 2009

Happy New Year!!  I truly hope that 2010 will be everything you want it to be!  I wanted to share a couple new beads ~ we've been so busy with company I've barely managed to squeeze in any torch time, but I'm pretty pleased with what did show up in my kiln.  Glass teaches me something new everytime I sit down at the torch ~ sometimes with fantastic results!



I'm finally getting the silver glass to look like something other than mud. What I find incredibly fascinating is that both of these beads were made with the same silvered ivory base, the same black and the same silver glass ~ but look how wonderfully different they are!  This is truly a lesson in letting the glass do what it wants to do instead of forcing it to do what I want it to.  I'm looking forward to learning even more in the coming year as every torch session is a new lesson for me.  Bring on 2010 and let's make it our best year ever!

(P.S.  Happy 40th Birthday to my incredible, fantabulous, super sexy, wonderful husband ~ thank you for being my best friend and my hero! :D )

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Studio Clean Up!

I've been putting off the overwhelming task of cleaning my studio for months, but I finally buckled down and spent 2 days cleaning, organizing, and getting rid of all the stuff that doesn't belong in there.  Which probably means I was avoiding doing something that I wanted to do even less! :D  Well, it was approaching dangerous ~ I had a pile of glass that I kept putting the latest hot rod down on, and it was getting to the point that the hot rod would slip down the pile and I would try to catch it.

Years ago, we remodeled our house (this room was the original living room) and this became an office/laundry room.  The I started lampworking and set up in a playhouse in the yard that the kids had outgrown. When we remodeled again and added an addition with a new laundry room, my superfantabulous husband added cupboards, counterspace, ventilation and a sink to this room and moved me inside. 


This room seriously has not been this clean since the day I moved in ~  I guess now I'll either be way more productive or afraid to go in there and make a mess! 









Have a productive day!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Can you say BUSY!!

I'm just stopping  by here to take a breath and share some of my newer work, and to remind everyone that I'm always up for special orders ~ but please contact me soon!

Currently, I'm working on non-jewelry gift items ~


Here is a set of fruit salad magnets



 and of course: more Charmed Dreads :)   Lately, I've been wearing these just on a simple neck cord and I love them!


I have some wine gift sets almost finished too!  So with that, I'll get back to my long list of beads to make,   jewelry to finish, gift sets to put together and holidays to plan!  And if I can squeeze in some housework, I'll
try to get the beads and bead related items off of every flat surface in my house :D                                     

(please don't tell my husband I said that, he might expect me to actually do it!)


Tuesday, October 27, 2009

New Line of Beads!

So what do you do when you're super excited about a new line of beads!  It's so hard to decide - do you roll out the whole line (i.e. several at once) with hoopla and fanfare?  Or do you introduce them one at a time?  One at a time will get more views in your Etsy shop - and we all know views equal sales.  But all at once makes a more dramatic entrance!  I voted for all at once for this line, I'm just too excited about it to only do one at a time!  So what am I talking about?  

CHARMED DREADS!!




Color and motion drawing attention to your hair!  The charm lets me add elements that I would ordinarily not be able to create on a bead - like dragonflies for instance, I can never get those right! I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoy making them!  I'm headed to the torch to see what else I can do with these - I think today I'll make one with a lizzard, but who knows?  The possiblities are endless!