Down Time

It's almost 2 am and I can't sleep so I thought I'd come ramble on here.

I've been having some fun with the glass beads and friends lately. On Saturday I was at the Bliss Beads bead shop/studio doing some demos at the torch. What a fun thing to do! I'm excited to go back during our local cornfest and do more demos in about a week.

Sunday my dear friend Sheila came over and we took turns torching. It was so great to try new things and learn from eachother!! We played with shardes, frit, CZ's, shaping, and implossions. She is so inspiring to me. I look to her as a mentor in glass.

I have been playing with organics and nautical type beads.. Here are some of my recent beads:

Happy glass dreams to you all!!! I'm heading off to bed!

Back to the Torch

I've been finding less and less time to torch these days. It's hard with the weather being so nice to not spend the time outside playing with the kids now that they are getting older. I did find some time this last week on some rainy days to get down to the studio and melt some glass. Here are a couple of the beads I made this week:

I hope you all are enjoying the summer weather! More glass to come =)

Relay For Life 2009

The fun never ends here. I've been keeping really busy. This year I'm participating in Relay for Life put on by the American Cancer Society. We started a team through my real life job and I'm even the team captain. The walk is this Saturday from 6 pm - 6 am on Sunday. If anyone wants more information you can click here for my donation page.

I created a necklace to go into the silent auction for this event:
That's not the best picture but you get the idea. It's made with my handmade lampworked beads, sterling silver, pink opal, quarts, and Swarovski crystals.

I hope all of you have a chance to do something good for someone else. It sure makes you feel good!!

Have a wonderful day!

Bead & Button Show 2009

What a wonderful bead show!!! I had a blast yesterday! First of all it was amazing to meet some of my wonderful co-artists in glass, better known as my glass friends. It is so great to be able to hug a friend after 3 years of communication over cyber space. That alone made my day.

Samma, Me, Mallory

But then I got to see so many amazing glass artists! These are big name people in the glass world. I have to say how impressed I was at how very friendly these people were. They are so full of knowledge. I wish I could have spent more time with each and every one of them.

I came home with some goodies! A boro dragon made by Louise Wilson (a.k.a. Dirty Louie), a bee-bug-bead by Sharon Peters, a fairy pendant by Diane Hawkey, A gorgeous gift bead from Samma Parcels. I also got beads that were in my B&B bag from Unicorne Beads, Inc, Along with a good heaping pile of gemstone, shell and seed beads.

Dragon by Dirty Louie

Bee-Bug Bead by Sharon Peters

Pendant by Diane Hawkey

Samma Parcels Bead

Catch up

Today I just want to take sometime to fill you in on what I've been up to since it seems like it's been so long since my last blog.

First I took a trip in May out to see my best friend out by Boston MASS. That was so fun. Then I took a train down to NYC and met up with four of my glass friends. We spent two days walking around and exploring Manhattan before heading to NJ where we all spent time torching together. That was great!! We each demonstrated different bead styles and techniques. What a learning experience!! If you are ever in a slump go work with someone else in your art. It is very inspiring.

Since returning home work and family have kept me hopping. As well as custom orders that I am very thankful for and an art show this past weekend.

This weekend coming up is the Bead and Button Show up in Madison WI. I can't wait to go to it! Not only will there be a massive amount of beads and glass supplies to shop, but many of my glass friends will be there!!! I can't wait to meet them in person!

Here is a little set of shells I recently made, inspired by my torching time with my friend Maggie and the beach on Cape Cod:

I hope you all have a fantastic day!

Art Club Rocks!!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of doing a glass demonstration for the DeKalb High School Art Club. Talk about fun!!! We started with a small fusing demonstration and each student (and teachers too) put together a little 1 x 2 inch fused glass piece that they can either make into a pendant later or a magnet.

Next I fired up the old hot head torch and did a lampworking demonstration. I was super impressed at the students ambition of wanting to make the advanced sculptural beads like the ones I showed as some examples but we had to start with baby steps. Each student had a turn at making a bead. Above you see the beads that the students and teachers made. Pretty good for first timers!!!

It was a great opportunity. I had a lot of fun doing this and I hope to be back there next year for another demonstration!!

Art Goal

What is your goal in creating art? What drives you to create what you create?

I have recently had to send my camera in to be repaired so I had to dig out the old one and use it to take a few pictures of some of my recent work. Here are two focal beads that I was really happy with:

The reason I am so happy with these two beads is the motion that has been captured in this organic style. My goal in my art beads recently is to capture motion. The top bead reminds me of cherry blossoms. I really am drawn to nature in beads as well.

So what is your goal for your art?

Copper Leaf in Beads

I have been playing with copper leaf in my beads. The first on the left in the photo below was my first attempt. It is turquoise blue and ghee (cim) wrapped with the copper leaf and then super heated. The middle bead is turquoise with some white and transparent turquoise blobbed on. I did not heat the bead enough to fully cook in the copper so I ended up with some grey spots. I added the transparent raised dots to see what it would look like encased in parts - there was no difference under the encasing. I may etch this bead to see how that makes it look. The bead on the far right is bubblegum pink wrapped in copper leaf. I added a few scribbles of silvered ivory to see what would happen. I love the blue/gree color on this one. This bead is my favorite. I used a base of periwinkle and added a few swipes of opal yellow. I super heated this one very well. I just love the green color the copper made on the opal yellow! I squished the bead and added some flowers down the sides.

Copper leaf is fun to play with. I just suggest being cautious with breathing it in because it can be harmful. Also you want to really super heat it. It takes some time to really cook it in. It will spark in the flame which is kind of fun to watch.

That is it for now. I broke my camera and I have to send it in to get it fixed so I'm not sure when I'll have more pictures.

But for now, have a great weekend!!!!

April is sure flying by quickly!

Since Easter I have been trying to spend more time at the torch. I've been in a gravity swirl mixed with organics mood lately.

Here are a couple of my latest beads:

I've been so busy making beads to stock my display at the local bead shop that I have been neglecting my etsy and artfire shops. But rest assured that now I'm working on filling up my shops. I had a much needed photo shoot today and will be listing several items during the week.

I will be back soon to discuss my attempts at working with copper leaf.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!!!!

Happy Easter!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!!!

We have had a fun weekend so far. My 4 y/o daughter got to cheer at a Chicago Slaughter, indoor football game, at half-time tonight. So that was super fun. I was productive and got my website updated and all up-to-date info added to it. You can see it here if you'd like.

I've also been busy making some jewelry. I created this necklace around the focal bead I made:

Here is a close up of the focal bead: (I plan to make more like this next time I get to the torch)

Well, I think I hear the Easter Bunny thumping at the door, I better go let him in or the kids will not be happy. Have a great day!!!

Sunny Saturday

What a beautiful day here. Spent all day with the kids, doing Easter eggs, playing, went to the park, and did some shopping. I'm exhausted.

I've made some beads recently and thought I'd show some pictures. These two are a couple of large focal beads:

I also made a set of beads that match a pair of socks. I am hosting a fun sock/bead exchange with a group of friends from Wet Canvas and this is one of the pairs of socks and beads that will be in the exchange:

New news... I have updated my website and it now includes the ability to sign up for the classes I am teaching directly from the website. Check it out under classes at sundaisyglass.com

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!!!

What a crazy couple of weeks I've had!!

Started with a mammogram and ultrasound of the boobies and then finding out I had to get a biopsy. Good news is that the cyst they took out was benign!! - Happy Dance here!!

Then I got invited to be on the Oprah show and was on national TV yesterday on the show with Steve Harvey as her guest. That was so much fun!!!

I've been super busy at my real life job.

The kids are on spring break this week so it's a mad house here!! It's been raining for the last 2 days so it's not been much fun for spring break.

When it comes to glass work I seem to have lost my mo-jo. I'm not sure what to make right now and nothing is selling. It's a tough economy right now all over. The beads I make just seem to sit here and it is really sad to me. When I create beads I do so in the hopes that they will travel the world and see places I'll never get to go to. I love that I have beads in places like Africa, Russia, United Kingdom, Canada, and all over the US.

I welcome suggestion on what kind of beads I should make.. Really I want to know what you want to see. Please leave a comment with some ideas for me.

I do have one idea from a dear friend that made me giggle!! I'll have to share it after I make it. I want to see if I can pull it off first.

Enough babbling for now.. I'm off to bed in hopes of dreams of glass beads... Have a great one!!

Week of Good News

This has turned out to be a good week! I am now selling my beads at a bead shop called Bliss Beads in DeKalb Illinois. Super exciting!! The owner, Allison is really nice and has a wonderful bead shop going. I brought in two trays of beads and a display of goddess beads there on Monday. In just two short days I have already sold a couple.

Not only am I selling beads there, I am also going to be teaching some classes. My first class is going to be on April 16th or April 18th - 2 days so you get a variety of times to choose from. It will be on making goddess beads. I'm so excited. I've wanted to teach for a long time now so I feel like my art is coming together now and that it is a good time to expand. If you are interested the cost is only $75 for 3 hours of goddess instruction. I can get you the number to call and sign up, just drop me a note.

This is one of my older goddess beads. I call this one PMS.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!!!

Happy Wednesday! Torching did not happen last night as I had hoped. I got distracted by a movie that my husband was watching and ended up watching it with him until almost 11 pm. I did however write some notes in my beading journal after taking a good hard look at my cat.

If you find that you seem to have all kinds of ideas during the day but when you sit down to create your art you have forgotten what you wanted to make, seem to have miss placed your muse, or just don't feel the motivation then you need to keep a journal. It can be a simple notebook that you keep with you just about all the time. You never know when the inspiration bug will bite! I write down things such as color combinations I find, textures, shapes that intrigue me, things I want to make from glass. Even if you don't use what you write down right away you can go back to it at any time and find some inspiration.

So last night as I looked at my cat I realized what wonderful colors she is made of. Her colors will be soon seen in a glass bead of some type. I can't wait!

I did say I'd post photos from my torching play date with Sheila. This is a picture she took of some of the beads we made that day.

I hope everyone of you has a wonderful day full of inspiration. If you can't create your ideas right away - write them down!!

Playing With Fire and a Good Friend!

Having a play date with a good friend is one of life's simple pleasures for me. Yesterday I spent the day with my friend and fellow glass artist, Sheila. We had a wonderful time torching together. I feel so inspired and motivated. Sheila taught me so much. I'm still amazed how much you can learn from watching a fellow artist at the torch. We took turns teaching each other little tips and tricks. We oohed and aahed over each other's beads. It was a really great day!

So moral of the story, if you are ever in a slump, get together with a like minded friend. You'll be inspired and feed off each other's positive energy.

I'll share some pictures after Sheila takes some since the beads are coming out of her kiln.

Have a wonderful day!