Beam Me Up Scottie

There's something about Scottie dogs that just make me smile.  I think it's their energy and cute appearances.  Meet Angus, who currently resides in my etsy shop.  He's based on a friend's previous "Sherlock", who used to love kicking a soccer ball around in their back yard.  It always amazed me how those short little legs could move that quickly.

The title of this post also relates to Dragon-Con being in Atlanta this past weekend.  We were lucky enough to see some of the costumed attendees walking around yesterday.  I love when people just get crazy with imagination.

Here's wishing you a happy September and new memories to make you smile.

Marcy

Ode to American Gothic

Are there some famous paintings that make you smile? American Gothic by Grant Wood is one of those for me. It touches me as it shows the seriousness of survival and yet at the same time makes me smile and wonder if I ever could have survived in the era.

One of the joys of being a glass artist, is following one's whims at times. This is one of them. I thought it would be a blast to interpret this dour couple's portrait in my whimsical style and as bobbleheads. The incongruity of the subject matter and the bobblehead style totally amuses me.

So keep watching for more odes to famous art pieces or people. I just love melting glass and forming it into pieces to make both you and me grin.

Marcy
ps You can see the listing here... http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14682790

Meeting Hayley of enVisionsf

When I was in California earlier this month, I was lucky to meet Hayley a beadmaker and graphic artist from San Francisco. Hayley is a bundle of energy mixed with lots of talent, love of life and I immediately knew she was someone that I'd want to hang out with. (and the rest of the group too)

You can find enVisonsf glass at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5196435 .

Stop by and enjoy.

Elvis Has Entered the Building?

Elvis has entered the building? Well, this Elvis impersonator has entered my Etsy shop at least. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14606866

His real name is Erwin Fescue and he plays the small clubs and lounges, but he's always aspired to be an Elvis impersonator in Vegas.

I demonstrated a similar Elvis Bobblehead for our International Society of Glass Beadmakers recently in California at our annual conference. Elvis is actually two beads connected with a spring, so he can bobble or even be worn on an interchangeable pendant.

And here's the rest of the story.
Needless to say, I was a bit nervous about being filmed making these two beads. I had not only had to make the two beads in under an hour, but I had to make him with expertise and not flub anything. I had prepared pretty carefully, by practicing at home. Well the morning of the taping, I thought about those close ups of my hands being filmed and how dry they looked. I didn't want lizard skin on film, so I used some of the hotel hand lotion in my room. Big mistake! Oh the lotion worked well, but perhaps a little too much. My hands were really slippery.

For those of you who aren't beadmakers reading this blog, we make our beads on steel mandrels which are about the thickness of those bamboo skewers that you use for making fruit shish kabobs. My beads are sculptural and not symmetrical like most beads, so the heavy part always "pulls" a bit as we continuously rotate them in circles to keep the molten glass in place. (your basic centrifugal force). Dang, I wasn't sure what to do about my uber-slippery hands.

So I started washing them... a lot. I would have been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive behavior, if you didn't know me. They were still slippery. After more scrubbing with hot water, I finally knew what to do. I took my nail polish remover and wiped them down to get any remaining lotion off of them. It dried them out. I was prepared to use our bead release, which is really drying if that other option hadn't worked.

Luckily, my hands looked okay after all I put them through, I didn't flub the filming and I learned a lesson, which I'm passing on to you.

New Torch Testing Yesterday

Yesterday, I got to try out a new Japanese lampwork glass torch at a friend's house. It's the picture above. Now flameworkers will understand me here if I say, there is no focus on the flame. It's the all over bushy, around 3" wide and shoots straight up, which makes it look like it's better for roasting marshmallows, than melting glass. And for non glass making people, that means that when I want to heat just one little nook or cranny- like just the bunny's ear, so her arm doesn't get too warm and melt, I can't do that with this torch. It's definitely more of a challenge. But I like challenges!

The Kinari glass is somewhere around 128 COE too. Satake brand works similarly. The higher the number of the COE (CoEfficiency of Expansion), the softer the glass when molten. So this one just mushes really nicely, but poses more difficulty for sculptural beads. It sure is beautiful though.

After I get my beads back, I'll be happy to share photos with you. In fact, I'll be checking out this torch sometime and perhaps even buying one and some of the glass to go with it. The glass has beautiful colors and looks a little different from the Italian, so it might be fun every once in a while to play with it.

You Meet The Nicest People On Etsy

You meet the nicest people on Etsy. My longtime customer and friend, Debbie Gilroy (of DG Designs) is now selling on Etsy. She has been a customer of mine for quite a while and over time, we've become friends.

Well, I sure was excited when Debbie and her husband came through Georgia on their annual vacation and they came by my house for a visit. We finally got to meet!

Debbie and husband are both delightful people. It felt like we had known each other forever, and what fun it was to see each other after all the emails we've traded over time.

Here is a link to a necklace that Debbie made with some of my lampwork, so you can see her pretty work. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14319214

Thanks Debbie for taking the time to go out of your way to stop by for a visit. It meant a lot to me and I treasure our friendship.

Summer Is Over

I know Labor Day weekend marks the unofficial end of summer. Local swimming pools close, kids are back in school and for beadmakers, if they aren't already making them, the start of Halloween beadmaking time.

Although I've had requests already for them, I'm still holding on to summer just a bit. I love it. The sounds of the cicadas, the lightning bugs, and the best part- children's voices carrying through the neighborhood.

So hats off to summer...and onward. New seasons, more change and by the way, who says we have to give up seashells and mermaids when autumn begins, anyhow?