Neck Constellations- What's Your Sign?

I don't know about you, but it seems like many glass artists I know have small white scars from the burn marks that they have received from popping hot glass while working.

Many of mine have landed on my once tender neck. I think that if I connected the dots, I might find something interesting.

I have named this occurrence, "Neck Constellations".

With Summer sun tans, they become more prominent. I have decided that instead of ignoring them, that perhaps we might celebrate them instead.

So for your easy identification, I've provided a chart of some of the constellations. I'm thinking mine might be closest to Perseus, but I'll need to do a little more studying first.

For a while, I was getting glass sniper fire quite regularly. But one day, I had one of those "Aha Moments". My spitting glass was bouncing off of my torch mounted marver directly onto my neck. "Duh, change the angle of it, oh blonde one!" And to proves that the blonde hair is not exactly natural anymore, I actually remembered and did it. And better yet, it worked.

My second photo is showing how the scars can be artfully camoflaged by wearing lampwork jewelry. This was a secret santa gift by my friend Susan Logue and the heart was made by Deronda O'Neil. May I suggest that we encourage everyone we know to wear lampwork jewelry whether scarred or not.

So I guess it's time for you to go look in a mirror and reach inside for your inner Nostradamus and let me know if you can identify your personal constellation.

Chinese Burn Cream- & Yes, I Tried It Today

I know I've already mentioned some wonderful prescription burn cream in another post, but thought I'd mention this non prescription Chinese herbal cream too.

While I was away last week at a glass class, one of my friends, (who happens to be a MD), had some of this cream. She told me a story of how she had really burned herself badly, and a mutual friend had given her some of this and how quickly and well it worked.

So of course, with a name like Ching Wan Hung, I had to get a tube for myself, as she was selling some of her spare containers.

Today, I got to try it out. It was one of those times when you're not sure exactly what you did, but it wasn't a smart move. Somehow, I got a hot stringer jammed between my fingernail and my finger and it singed skin and nail and kind of left a bit of a brown hole. Yuck and ow!

After cooling the burn, (of course after I quickly finished my bead with my finger in my mouth) I opened up my fresh tube and punctured the top. It has a bit of an herbal odor that dissipated pretty quickly. I dabbed a small glob and got it under my nail, popped on a bandaid, and got back to work. A few hours later when I removed the bandaid, I noticed that it wasn't hurting any longer- just a bit tender. I like those kinds of results.

Their website says, "

This is one of China’s major herbal medicines for burns, so much so that it is used for serious third degree burns in hospitals. As a product, it is recommended as a topical first aid for first and second degree burns. It reduces the blistering and pain of a burn, promotes tissue regeneration, and prevents scarring. Burns should be covered to protect the ointment form being wiped off. For serious burns, the ointment is put on, covered with gauze, and then wiped off with dead skin every 24 hours until healing is complete. *

Now I'm not a MD, nor am I an expert, but I am someone who has seen my share of burns. It runs $2.50 for a small tube and that's my kind of pricing. You can get larger quantities of it also. Just wanted to share this nugget of good information. And of course my wish for you is that you never need to use it.

Hope you have a happy weekend and please stay safe.

Marcy

Glass Studio Safety ~ Prescription Cream for Burns

There are a lot of things I joke about, but treating burns isn't one of them. This is the kind of prescription burn cream I keep on hand. I saw it used at a glass retreat and it's healing power was amazing.

If you can't read the label easily, it is prescription Silver Sulfadiazine Cream. It has some other names it goes by, I think one of them is Silvadene or something like that. Use it twice a day.

I am not a medical person, so please ask your Doctor for his/her opinion. I just wanted to give you another option, in case you were like me and thought that ice water and lavender oil would do the trick each time. Keep this by your torch. But if your burn is a bad one, please seek medical attention right away.

Here is something funny, though. I took this photo with my computer camera, so the blue background fabric is draped over my head, and I'm balancing the cream in one hand and searching for the spacer bar under the fabric with the other to activate the camera. If you saw me, you would have laughed.

I'll be back tomorrow and don't forget, Tuesday will be my next online coaching session with Rosebud 101's Santa face.