What's Up Wednesday - MARCH CONTEST!

It's March (well, almost) and time for a new contest!

I know there are a lot of Veda's Beads out there and I think it would be great fun to see what everyone is making with them. So post your pictures on my facebook fan page VedasBeads and you will be entered into a random drawing for FREE BEADS!  

A set of squares in your choice of color

The more pictures you post the more chances you have to win!  If you don't have your VedasBeads yet hop over to my Etsy shop and get yours now!

As a bonus, you get another place to advertise your great jewelry, and I'll promote you too ~ you win either way!

Here's the first entry from Sun Dog Bead Co.:  

 Click Here  to purchase this one!

So get out your VedasBeads, post something on my fan page and enter to win, what are you waiting for!!

What's Up Wednesday - Murrini

upcoming events, news, and interesting tidbits

The good, the bad and the ugly.  Sometimes you have to share them all!  I tried making murrini for the first time the other day.  I have a new appreciation for those that make these little guys! I've always been impressed with skill required to produce those tiny works of art.  I tried the simplest one, and this is what happened:

Teeny, tiny little things!  And using the glass nippers had these things flinging all over my studio!  I was down on my knees under the table trying to find them and wound up with 8. So I tried incorporating them in a bead.  This has never been my strong suite, which is actually what made me want to make these in the first place.  I figured if I practice the application with murrini I made, I wouldn't be wasting the fancy ones I've purchased!

This one turned out ok ~ if a little bland:

Now for the real fun.  (fun?)  Trying to encase the little guys.  

Oh look ~ little red bats!  So not what I was going for! 

And so I head back to the torch for more practice.

Have an absolutely fabulous Wednesday!!

What's Up Wednesday

The view from my studio window

The view from inside the studio

Guess where I'll be all day!

Stay warm my friends!

What's Up Wednesday - New Torch

upcoming events, news, and interesting tidbits

I got a new torch! Well, I got it last summer, but I finally set it up!

  I've been using a Nortel Mega Minor for the last year.  

I love this torch!  It's perfect for what I do, the flame is big enough to melt glass fast, and small enough for detail work.  I can fiddle with the knobs for a wide range of propane and oxygen mixes to affect the colors of different glass.  Plus, it's pretty!

But, I bought this guy.  It's big.  So big that I've been afraid to set it up.  It's been in a cupboard in my studio since last summer.  I finally decided I had to set it up, so I cleared my bench and set it up next to my mega minor, because I knew I didn't want to switch completely yet.

This one has a HUGE flame!  Just about the first thing I did was burn through a mandrel. Mandrels are made of stainless steel and I didn't even know it was possible to melt them!  So far, in two days of playing with this, I've made approximately ONE bead that wasn't totally ugly.  I even pulled out my boro glass, and still got ugly beads.  I'm going to have to use my smaller torch for a while to catch up on orders, but I WILL master this one!  

What's Up Wednesday - The Flow

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I have an exciting announcement!  I'm very honored to have been included in The Flow Magazine's 7th Annual Gallery of Women in Glass!!  

I can't believe my work was included amid all the truly incredible, inspiring artists in this magazine!  If you have a copy of The Flow I'm number 81 on page 16.  

Thank you to The Flow ~ I can't tell you how thrilled I am!

What's Up Wednesday - Happy Holidays

What's Up Wednesday

upcoming events, news, and interesting tidbits

Merry Christmas!  

Happy Hanukkah!

Joyous Kwanzaa!

Happy Boxing Day!

No matter which Holiday you celebrate, I hope you all have a beautiful day surrounded by the happy laughter of the people you love!

I'll be taking a few days off to celebrate with my family, and then back in full swing next week. 

Wishing you peace, love and joy this holiday season!

What's Up Wednesday

What's up Wednesday

upcoming events, news, and interesting tidbits

Last night I remembered exactly why I make beads.  Money?  Nope.  Fame?  Nope. Power? Nope.  Happiness? YES!  Making beads makes me happy.  And what's even better than that is when my beads make someone else happy!  I got a convo on Etsy last night that brought tears to my eyes.  The customer was just so sweet  and so excited about my beads that she made me get excited about them all over again! I'm very fortunate to have had many customers like this over the years, and each time I hear from them I go back to the torch with renewed enthusiasm.   Well, the kiln is heating up, so I'm off to the torch to work on her special orders and maybe try a couple of  beads from the Motivation Monday post.  Before I go I would just like to offer a heartfelt  thank you to all the wonderful customers out there who make it possible for me to do this.  THANK YOU!!

What's Up Wednesday

What's Up Wednesday

I recently posted a question in the Etsy forums asking whether a single or a bulk picture should be used first in a listing for one bead with more available.  The majority of the responses critiqued my photographs and as this is the first time I've ever received constructive criticism on my shop,  I really appreciated it!  

So this week I've been working on retaking the pictures for all 152 of my Etsy listings.  At 4-6 pictures per item that's over 750 pictures!  Considering that I haven't found a reliable light source that's anywhere as good as natural light for showing the true colors on beads, this is going to take a long time. I have about a 1 hour window of time when the sun is up but not blocked by the fence or the trees in my yard at this time of year so I just have to hope that happens to be the hour there isn't any cloud cover! Anyway, here is a comparison

New picture

Old Picture

There is a HUGE difference!  I didn't realize how bad my pics were before and I'm extremely grateful to the people who took the time to critique me.

As to the original question: I decided I had to do what felt right to me, which is to use the single bead as the first picture.  It's not as dramatic, but I also don't feel like I'm being deceptive.  In the end, being able to sleep at night is more important to me than the number of sales.

What's Up Wednesday

What's up Wednesday

Most important things first.... COUPONS! I woke up to about 30 emails on Monday from stores offering their Cyber Monday sales, so I decided to go ahead and have a sale too.  Since I did it on a whim, late Monday morning, I also decided to make it good until December 1st.  Use the code CYBERWHIM for 10% off everything!!  Ok, I realize that's not as good as getting a giant TV for $10, but I also promise you won't get pepper sprayed! (and I'm not spamming your email!)

That's the big news, other wise not much.  I survived hosting Thanksgiving dinner at my house and more importantly, so did everyone else!  After that little mini vacation I really had to get it in gear at the torch!  I've been making beads non-stop since Saturday. Well, not exactly non-stop. Occasionally I take a break from the torch to post an Etsy listing, make some jewelry or blog. :)    These were from the weekend.

Lots of new listings are available in my Etsy shop, so stop by and see what you need

 (and don't forget your coupon!)

P.S.  A quick note to the Universe ~ I would love to sell all the beads I make, move to Belize and lose 30lbs.  Thank you!

What's Up Wednesday

What's Up Wednesday

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so this week I've been focusing on all the things I'm thankful for.  Foremost is the fact that I'm married to the perfect man.  He makes me supremely happy every single day, and he makes me laugh - loudly and often! But the most important reason I'm thankful for him is the way his love, kindness, support and respect provide my daughters with an example of what a husband really should be. I'm thankful for my daughters, three of the most beautiful people I know inside and out. Each of them is funny, sweet, smart, caring, imaginative - I could go on and on!  I'm thankful for my best friend, the one that listens when I need to vent, rationalizes for me when I screw up and just acts as a general sanity check. I'm thankful for my Dad whom I know I can always turn to for advice and encouragement. And I'm thankful for my grandparents whom I continue to learn so much from and my siblings who always make me laugh. I'm thankful for internet friends who seem to suffer from insomnia as much as I do :)  and I'm thankful for the fans and customers who  make it possible for me to do what I love to do.  What it comes down to is I'm thankful for people. It's the people in my life that make it worthwhile, and I appreciate every single one of them! I hope that each of you are surrounded by the people you are thankful for this holiday ~ Happy Thanksgiving!!

P.s. My new weekly schedule is working out well!  Ok, it worked well last week; we aren't counting this week since I'm hosting dinner and that kind of overruled the bead list!