Glass Class and Vacation

Well, I’m in Myrtle Beach, and this is a rainy day photo of the beach. But first let me say a little about the class I took with Heather Trimlett on Thursday and Friday. I left home for Myrtle Beach without the beads that I bought, or the beads that I made, (although I didn’t make anything worth showing) so I don’t have a picture related to the class to show.

It was an excellent class. Heather is a great teacher – very clear and precise instructions that were easy to follow. We learned how to make a marble and poke a hole through it with a tungsten pick. My bead marbles came out all wonky though. It is very hard to keep everything on center and get the hole poked through. But I did manage to get the hole through on two different beads/marbles, so that was OK.

We also learned the secret(s) to even twisties. I will have to practice this some, but I think I will finally be able to make nice twisties. And, we learned how to make a very nice encased multi layer twisty. We also worked on encasing – I learned a couple of new tricks there too.

All in all, I’m really glad we could rearrange this Myrtle Beach vacation so I could take this class. It was a fun class and just what I needed to get my interest reinvigorated. I had been feeling blah about everything recently, but now I’m really looking forward to getting back in the studio and putting what I learned to good use.

Saturday was another opera. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before, but the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts some of their Saturday matinees live in HD to movie theaters all over the world. We have been going for several years and enjoying the heck out of it. I only slept through a little of the opera, and now I’m wishing I had stayed awake. Aida is an amazing story – I’ll definitely have to buy the DVD or something.

Then I headed up to Beads by Design to shop for beads. I have some Christmas orders allready, so I wanted to get a start on that. Then there was the Southern Flames meeting, and that was a lot of fun too. Heather did the demo, and it is really fun to watch her work. There was also a woman there from Gadsden, AL – about 30 to 40 minutes from me – so that was cool.

Sunday was rough. We got up early, packed and drove to Myrtle Beach. We didn’t eat dinner until 9:00pm Eastern! But today was nice, although rainy. We had a leisurely morning and a knitting session. I got the back of the cardigan that I’m working on finished! Then, after lunch, we drove through the main roads in town. Judging from what I saw, Myrtle Beach is all about miniature golf, calabash seafood, pancake houses, and ice cream. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to this trip, but now that I’m here I hope we have a good time. More to come soon!

Japanese Fan Torch

I finally got the torch I bought at the Gathering up and running! I had to install a Y connector so both torches can be hooked up to the propane tank at the same time. This involved drilling a hole in the wall between the garage and my studio to run the new hose through. I also had to cut one end of the hose to fit it on the torch fitting and I had to install a hose clamp. Then I had to leak test the lines. I’m not a very handy person and this project, although not outside my capabilities (obviously) was a bit nerve wracking. I was very grateful to my mother for helping me through it.

I made some beads on the new torch with some Satake glass I had purchased. They aren’t great beads, but they are what I made. I had a little problem getting round beads as you can see from the picture. Also, I made a small simple murrine first and used that on all the beads I made. I really like this glass. The colors are just wonderful!

I did a little bit of experimenting with these beads and found out a couple of important things. One, black bleeds a bit on transparent purple. Two, if the torch isn’t set right (and I still don’t know exactly when it is) black will become metallic. Three, if there isn’t enough air being pumped through the translucent white I used will become sooty. And four, silver will not burn off in the flame when applied to the outside of a bead.

All and all, I think it was a productive day even if I was scared of the new torch and glass at first. I don’t know why I was scared – maybe because it was something new. But, I persevered and tried it out and got some ‘interesting’ beads as one observer said.

Now, I have to go back and review my class notes from the Jeff Barber class that I took so I can make some more interesting beads. And then, once I order some more glass, clear especially, I will try making a flower murrine as I learned in the Akihiro Okama class. I also want to try some other murrine that are in a Japanese bead making book I have. And then, I will do another Wednesday Night Supper program for church. So, I have a lot of work to do.

De-Stashing

Last year at the Gathering in Oakland I bought some Double Helix odd lots. I did the same this year actually, but that’s not the point. The thing is that when I got home from the Gathering this year and I went to put my glass in my studio, there was not quite enough room. I have this wonderfully huge table and it’s covered with glass. So, I figured it’s time for me to use up some of the glass that’s been sitting there since last year.

It’s kinda difficult because I keep hoping that I will get good enough to produce lovely beads like the ones on the forums – perfectly shaped and encased. But as you can see here, my shaping skills need improvement. This bead isn’t encased, but that skill could use a little work too. I know I need to practice, but I didn’t want to practice on the expensive glass.

But then I made a bead out of the Luna2-dark that I got last year – a long bead like the one pictured here. And, my mother actually liked it! This was the first silver glass bead I had made (except the bead I made in Trey Cornette’s class) that my mother liked. I was impressed and pleased and felt that Julie Ferguson’s class had really paid off. So, I made a few more. And guess what – they weren’t quite as pretty. Still nice, but you need really bright daylight to see them.

Oh well. I’m turning the rest of my Luna-2 Dark into beads. I’m practicing shaping with it, and I’m having a blast! The glass has got to go. I have some NE-323 and Ekho that I’m now saving for when I get good enough to use it. I suppose I might have a similar de-stash next year, but for now I’m using up the L2D. I have three rods of it left, and it will be gone by next weekend. To see all the beads I’ve made with it (and other beads as well) check out my flickr photostream.

ISGB Gathering: Miami Part Two

One exciting thing about the Gathering this year was the introduction of GTT’s new torch the Scorpion. This torch is optimized to run on two concentrators with a Cricket as the inner fire. If I ever decide to get into boro I want one of these. These are cool little torches and I saw some fancy boro work being done on this torch. The flame goes from needlepoint small to nice and bushy hot.

Thursday the technical vendors opened up. Unfortunately, there wasn’t quite as much glass this year as there was last year, but there was still glass. These beads here were made with Double Helix NE-323. This is a test batch or development glass – I don’t know which, but I like it. The beads look like shades of blue and green in person with some of the amber coming through at the ends. Notice my spiffy new bead stand – got that at the Gathering too. I also got some of DH clear – Aether. This is nice clear. No scum at all so far and melts really well – it’s a little stiff, but still nice.

Friday and Sunday were the presentations and demos. There were so many great thing here I can’t list them all, but I did come home with a list of skills that I want to work on. One cool thing I saw was that one of the presenters held her mandrel between thumb and forefinger, and then between the pinkie and whatever finger is next to the pinkie. This gave her more stability. Well, it didn’t work for me, but my friend Beth (in AL) found it helpful. You never know what you are going to pick up.

Saturday was the bead bazaar, and my birthday. I got some very nice beads from the Japanese guys and an Einstein bead from Studio Marcy. I also got a lovely boro bead from Gregory Huff. After that the show wasn’t as much fun because I had spent all my money. Also, it was my birthday. I got a little down, but I perked up again later.

The closing party and bead swap was Sunday night. This was a bit of a low point last year, but this year was much better. People actually traded with me, and I got some really cool beads! It was fun! Now I have to figure out what to do with these beads. For now, I like looking at them, and remembering the fun time I had at the Gathering this year.

Now to make some beads…

ISGB Gathering: Miami

It seems like I barely had time to recuperate from the Alaska trip before heading out to Miami. And, it seemed like I was in Miami forever -eight nights. But oh, it was worth it! I had tons of fun with the class, a great day at the beach, and all the delights of the ISGB conference.

First, I had a class with Akihiro Okama and Ryo Ono. Both are great lampwork artists. We used Kinari glass and Japanese fan torches. On the first day, we made a flower murini. And the second day we made a few beads – one with the flower murini.

My beads came out kinda gross – I got soot in the clear and it looked all brown. I’m going to have to learn how to adjust the torch better, because I bought one! Just as soon as I figure out how to hook it up, I’ll be making Japanese style beads. So that was one souvenir from Miami.

On Wed. we (my Gathering buddy Beth and I) went to the beach. We chose a more quiet beach with less sun – it was perfect for us. And, I didn’t even get sunburned! We spent a few hours lying on the beach in the shade and bobbing in the ocean, then it was back to the hotel and dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant we found. What a great day.

More to come in a little bit…

Inside my Kiln

Well, I did it! Despite the advice to the contrary, I fixed my kiln. I did have to buy one tool to get the cover off, and this is what it looked like once I got it open. It was quite a tight fit in there. It took me probably longer than it should have, but I took my time – I wanted to get this right. And, Mike at Jen-Ken was very nice and reassuring about the whole thing. I hope I don’t have to do this again for quite a while, but I think that having done it once, I should be able to fix it again.

So, I replaced the relay on Monday and torched for a couple of hours. I also torched Friday. I haven’t really been torching that much recently what with all the traveling and company and what not. It was good to put in a few hours and remember why I have all this equipment and glass and stuff – I LOVE making glass beads. It is just such an amazingly wonderful thing to do.

So, tomorrow I go to The Gathering in Miami. I am looking forward to this a lot. I had such a good time last year, and I will even know people there this year. There are quite a few people from Southern Flames who will be there. And, my friend Beth, who I met last year, will be there to hang out with. I’m looking forward to seeing her again – we had such fun together in Oakland. Miami, here I come!

Starting Something New

A couple of months ago I was sitting in church listening to some Bach something or other being played, and it occurred to me that I wished I could play the piano like that. Then it occurred to me that I could probably learn how to play the piano. Then it occurred to me that Karolyn, the woman who was playing the piano, could probably teach me how to play the piano like that. I don’t know why it took so long for these things to occur to me, but once they had I was eager to get started.

Today I had my third piano lesson, and it was just a bunch of fun. One thing I’m working on is making a nice sound. I’m by nature afraid to make too much noise. “But it’s not noise, it’s music!” Karolyn said when we were discussing this. OK, so I’ve practiced making more sound. And today I did a relatively good job of it, once I got started. It would be so much easier not to do this because whether it’s your third piano lesson or an operatic solo, making music is putting yourself out there in a way that is not comfortable for me. So I’m kinda proud of myself for taking this step.

Some of the other technical aspects of playing the piano are coming fairly easily to me too. I think all the violin and viola lessons and playing I did has helped. And although I’m not ambidextrous, I’m close. So whether I’m playing with the hands in parallel motion or contrary motion, it feels fairly natural. All that tummy rubbing and head patting has paid off! By golly, I think I’ll be able to learn how to do this.

And today she taught me a scale! Now, I knew the notes of the C major scale – I just didn’t know what to do with my fingers to play the scale. This is how little of the piano I knew prior to this. But now I get to practice a scale. And, the funny thing is that practicing and exercises like the scale and so forth are not as horrible as they were when I was a child. Practice sessions actually go by pretty quickly, and the exercises are kinda fun.

All and all I’m having a ball with this new endeavor. Now we just need to get a piano in the house. Yes that’s right, I decided to take piano lessons – and we don’t have a piano. I go down to the church and practice there. It’s not the weirdest thing on earth – just a little inconvenient. Perhaps in a couple of months we might get a piano or an electric piano – it does make sense to see how I do with this for a couple of months before jumping in to anything. But I think I’m going to stick to this. I know it will get harder, and harder, but I can do it!

Oh, and one more thing. The picture here is of my first piano book. I just love the fact that it has the word ‘Adventure’ in the title. I really feel like this is an adventure I’m on. It may not be a traveling to a foreign land adventure, but it is an exciting undertaking, and that is part of what an adventure is.

Jen-Ken Kilns

This is my Chili Pepper Bead Annealer. I’ve had it since sometime in 2005 I believe, but it wasn’t until early last year that I really started using it five times a week. This has been a really good kiln, and I love it despite the fact that it’s red.

Yesterday, the relay decided to stop working. I turned the kiln on and started dipping mandrels and so forth, and when I looked back at the kiln the temp. was at 550ºF and dropping. I messed with it until the cycle started again, and the kiln started heating up again, but when I looked back at it, the temp was dropping again. The third time I tried, I watched the thing like a hawk and it worked fine. I don’t trust it though.

So, I knew this was going to happen – it is a part that is expected to wear out. It is lucky that it didn’t get supper heated (relay not turning off) instead of loosing temp. (relay not turning on.) And, I suppose it’s good it didn’t happen when Emily (hi Emily!) was here. But gosh darn it, I wanted a couple of good weeks of torching before the gathering!

Anyway, Mike at Jen-Ken was very nice and ordered me a couple of relays (an extra one for when this happens again.) He said the relay comes with instructions and that he would personally walk me through the process if necessary – even if the relay comes on Friday and it’s after hours or on Saturday. So, that reassured me a little.

It has occurred to me that I had an electronics unit in my college physics class, so I should be able to muddle my way through this. If worse comes to worse, I can always pack up the kiln and relay and bring it in to Flame Tree Glass and let Lance fix it. I will be in town next week for the Southern Flames meeting. But hopefully I’ll be able to manage. Messing with the kiln just scares me for some reason.

Alaskan Vacation

Well, I’ve been back from the vacation for a few weeks now, and I have yet to blog… until now. It was a fabulous, wonderful, awesome, vacation. I wanted to get all my pictures up and edited and so forth before I blogged about it, but it looks like it will be a loooong time before that happens. I also wanted to make a web page with all my pictures and descriptions and so forth, but I don’t think that’s going to happen at all.

So, we (my mother and I) went on a cruise to Alaska. It was actually a cruise-tour. We had a seven day cruise in Alaska’s inside passage starting in Vancouver, with stops in Ketchikan, Haines, Juneau, and Sitka, a day cruising to Hubbard Glacier, ending in Seward, then a three day trip to Denali National Park and back to Anchorage to catch a flight home.

The picture here is Hubbard Glacier and it was just pure magic to get up and out early and sit in a lounge at the top of the ship and watch the glacier come into view. It is hard to get a sense of scale in Alaska – the outdoors is so huge compared to anything I’ve ever seen before. This glacier is about six miles wide and 300-400 ft high above and below the water. In some of my shots I have a giant cruise ship in front of the glacier that helps create some sense of scale. I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get closer or stay longer, But the glacier was magnificent, and evidently it is a rare thing to be able to see the tops of the mountains around the glacier. I took some shots of the bay/glacier and my good friend Clay stitched them together for me. I think this was my favorite part of the trip.

One frustration when it came to taking pictures of all the beautiful Alaskan scenery was that it was almost always behind a pane of glass. Whether it was a ship’s window, or a boat’s window, or a train’s window, or a bus’s window, there always seemed to be a window, with reflections. Yuck. So, getting good pictures of this trip was a challenge. I got a few good shots though and I’ll be sure to upload my pictures to flickr – with captions!

If you ever get a chance to go on a cruise to Alaska, I’d certainly recommend it. I wanted to go back as soon as I got home. There’s something about the remoteness and wildness and extravagant beauty of Alaska that really appeals to me. I kept thinking about living in such a place, but I don’t think I’m suited to it. I have too many conditions. And some of the ports we visited didn’t even have a nurse in town. Although apparently there are some psychiatrists in Alaska: In Juneau the bus driver who drove us to the helicopters and back was commenting on the problem of depression during the dark months. He said psychiatrists have to guess at how much light there will be and prescribe antidepressants accordingly to prevent seasonal affective disorder. Apparently he knew a woman who was prone to this problem. Well, last year (or a couple of years ago) there wasn’t as much dark as usual, so guess what happened? This woman went manic. (My mother and I were the only ones to chime in with the answer.)

Delinquent Blogger

Wow, I’ve had quite the vacation from the blog!

Mostly I talk about bead stuff here, but today I think I’ll talk about something a little different.

This last weekend I spent in Montgomery training for a NAMI program called In Our Own Voice. This is something I decided to do last year when I was at the NAMI convention but due to the vicissitudes of life and funding of a non-profit organization, the training didn’t happen until a couple of days ago. As a result, I had forgotten why I wanted to do this. I’m still trying to figure that out.

Basically, the program consists of five short video segments (of a professionally produced video provided by NAMI National) with personal stories told by the two presenters (in 3 minutes or less each) and questions from the audience in between each video segment. The video segments are: Introduction, Dark Days, Acceptance, Treatment, Successes Hopes and Dreams. The whole program is about an hour to an hour and half. In Our Own Voice is intended for audiences such as: Consumers (people who consume mental health services), Providers (mental health providers), Family members, Law Enforcement, School groups, Church groups, Civic groups, etc.

I think the program is a good one, and the presenters get paid for each program we do – not much, but it is something. It is a powerful program and has been shown – I don’t have citations for this, but I’ll work on getting one – to reduce stigma in the audiences that participate in the program. It has also given hope to people living with mental illness that recovery is possible. I’ve been very impressed with the two presentations that I’ve seen – each is different because each person has their own story.

I don’t think I’m quite ready to do a presentation. I need to flush out my story and practice – quite a bit. But, I think this is something that I am capable of – as they say I am an expert on my own story. And there will be someone else there to back me up as it were – I like that. Still the thought of getting up in front of a group of people – any group – and talking about this is a little daunting.