Great Messages Are Everywhere

I'm in class again today.  Going to work on listening to these wise words!  See you soon with some results from my class.

Beads of Courage Honor

I am delighted to share with you that I am one of 30 lampworkers chosen to be in the inaugural year of the Beads of Courage Bead Artists Hall of Fame.

If you are in Tucson, Beads of Courage is having an event on February 9th.  I'm not at the show, so I will be home wishing I was there to enjoy the honor.

You know, sharing my time and abilities with this wonderful program is so fulfilling.  We see that it means a lot to the families and the kids.  How can anyone not love helping?

ps  These little space guys were some of the Space Shuttle riding bead replicas that I made for Beads of Courage to sell on the website.

More Classes I'm Taking

Today I'm in an enamel class with the wonderful Ricky Frank. I love his cloisonne work.  This is a sample and here is a link to his website. You may have seen him at an ACC show, or in other high level craft shows.

It's a small class of 4 for three days.  Needless to say, it's just the basics and we won't be making anything as wonderful as Ricky's work here.  But I am hoping to take away some new skills and hope there is something that will transfer to my other art.

I will post when I have something new to show.  It might be a few days, while I am busy learning, but see you soon!

Limited Editions...What Do YOU Think?

I was looking at Crate & Barrel's Limited Edition Tea Pots in my email this morning and contemplating their marketing strategy.

We all know that some folks collect them.  And using logic, collectors tend to prefer unique.  So by limiting the number, and making the decoration more "modern" or current, I am wondering how this sells for them.  And whether they are starting a younger generation of collectors of tea pots?

This one is by Yellena James and I like it.  I just don't have room for anything that I don't need right now. I'm at the stage where I need to reduce my collections instead of increase them. (unless we're talking about art supplies and equipment or fun tools)

But it made me think about our Glass Bead business and other art/craft industries.  Many of us do the equivalent of "limited editions".  Would it make any difference if we market them that way?  Food for thought.

Pacified In Style

Meet the "Mustachifier" designed by Jason Feinberg and Alyssa Zeller.

It appeals to me because I am married to a guy who had a dark mustache pretty similar to this back in the day.  Now with 'staches' return, I'm thinking this is pretty darn cute!  Little hipster babies who entertain adults just by being themselves.  I am now looking for the hipster hats in miniature size to go with this look.

...you can find them HERE.

Daily Paintworks

I recently found the website, Daily Paintworks where 2-D artists can post and sell their work.  I love it.  It's so much fun to see the variety of styles and techniques.  If you are a glass person like me, there is plenty of inspiration through colors as well.

My favorite feature is their "What's New" category.  You can see what has been most recently posted.  My photo above is a sample of that.  But there are also art tutorials, auctions, challenges and you can track your favorite artists too.

I wish there was a similar one for flamework bead artists, where jewelry makers could pop by and see what has been recently posted in one place.  Where it has the price, about the artist and people could follow their favorites.  hmmm...

Foodie Heaven

Our friends, Bek and John were here in Atlanta Friday night and had made reservations for the four of us at The Spence, Richard Blais's newest restaurant. 

Although I love watching the chef and cooking shows, I'm not always the most adventurous when it comes to my meals.  I'll try new things but not "everything".  This restaurant had "everything".  And what I had was delicious, but watching the others and all their small plate samplers really had me smiling.

This is a photo of the oyster dish that everyone else shared.  (I'm not an oyster/lobster/mussels girl).  This was called oysters and pearls and the pearls were the newer style of food preparation- molecular gastronomy.  So to give you a better idea...remember Dippin Dots- the space ice cream little frozen ball things that you got at amusement parks?  The pearls in this dish were frozen horseradish sauce in little round balls that when my husband tasted it all together, looked like he had found bliss.  It was pretty cute.

I think the most different thing that I tried was sharing a delicious dessert.  It was panna cotta with parsnips.  Yep, you read it correctly.  When was the last time you had bits of veggies in your delicious custard?  It was amazing!

Well that's the end of my restaurant commentary. If you come to Atlanta, I'd be happy to give you some restaurant names.  See you tomorrow!