Dew Drop Glass Studio

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Member #G33

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News?

I am moving over my daily blog to:

http://www.dewdropped.blogspot.com

Please look here at my scheduled classes at a great local studio. It is so beautiful inside. Come on in for a class and be InsPiReD!!

Fire and Friends Z Art Studio

http://www.FFZStudio.com

If you are interested in my work, drop me a line and we can chat. You will find I am a friendly person and easy to talk with about anything GLASS or ART related!

I have also signed up to a group called CREATIVE SOULS. They seem to have a lot of talented artist there. I am looking forward to sharing and discussing art with this group of artists. Interested? Visit their site.

http://www.creativesouls.ning.com

4/06/08

Here is the necklace that I was graciously given at the Bead Inspired Event benefiting "Beads of Courage". Isn't it cute? I had such a good time. I met fascinating people and heard many stories of how cancer affected their lives. It felt really good to help out a little. I realize how much more I need to donate to this program to help keep it running. I am going to step up the donations to them. It is really amazing how many lives this program touches.

My cousins daughter was diagnosed with cancer just before Christmas, and she has been such a strong person through all her treatment. I am very proud of her. This is a link to her page if you would like to read her story and see how she has been a shining light to so many people.

http://www.korrinecroghan.blogspot.com/

I have to admit my commitment is much more stronger to Beads of Courage especially after Korrines illness. Beads of Courage has grown so much thanks to the commitment of the organizers and people who show their support with generous donations that it is in many hospitals across the nation including Korrines. If you are reading this I would love to ask you to please pray for Korrines full recovery. She truly is a beacon of God's light.

3/30/08

I have been working on some aromatherapy vessels to wear around your neck. Last night I made some vessels that are shaped like seashells. I can't wait to experiement with this idea. The vessels have cork tops, so the oil in them seeps out through the cork and just releases a hint of scent. I have to wear them around for awhile and see how sturdy they are. I will try and get some pictures up soon.

A lot of time has passed since my last post. I have been a busy woman. I participated in an art show and have added a new line of beads that I have in a pet store of all places. I can't forget about my dog Pinky. I designed a collar charm for her. So the charms that I have made are in a local dog boutique out where I live called "Doggy Style".

I am also getting ready for a show or rather event benefiting Beads of Courage. I will have some of my work there available for sale. But the main idea of this event is to raise money for the Beads of Courage. People who attend purchase a ticket for $40 and this includes a packet of beads to string up a personal piece of jewelry. I will be there helping the participants string their beads. A little history about the beads of courage...

This organization works with children who are in the process of fighting cancer and serious illnesses. Each milestone they reach, they are rewarded with a bead that signifies their triumph. Some patients have strands that are VERY long. I posted the details on my events page if you are interested in attending. If you happen to attend please say hi to me and mention you heard about it on my website, and I will give you 10% off your entire purchase price of my beads. There are going to be quite a few other bead artists there too. It might be worthwhile to just take a peek at all the fun stuff going on there.

2/8/09

I am putting together an art "challenge" with a friend of mine. I am searching right now for a piece of art or a fabric swatch that will inspire us to create a new piece. I have done this in the past on my own, and with my lampwork group and really enjoyed it. I will show you a couple of pieces that I made in the past. The mermaid tail necklace is actually inspired from a painting by the artist Frederick Carl Frieseke called "Blue Girl Reading". He was an imperssionist artist. I love all the contrasting colors he uses. So that is where the mermaid tail below was inspired from. Another bit of news that I have is that my old blog will hopefully become new again as a way to get more viewers and artists alike to join my fun in this challenge. As soon as I pick out an inspiration piece, I will post it on my "updated" blog and link it here to this website.

2/3/08

Well the weekend somehow seemed to fly right by again. Where does all the time go? I got a few new things listed up on etsy, some basic chores done, some beads made. Other then that I don't know what happened to the weekend. :)

Well.....I did have fun designing a piece of jewelry with my mermaid tail beads. Originally I designed this bead with the idea that seed bead, polymer clay, and pmc enthusiasts would be able to use it as a base for their work. After talking with one of the ladies in THE BEAD MUSEUM (the gift shop is where I have some of my beads) she said that a lot of the ladies that come in there have absolutely no imagination. Could you imagine that?! I guess I was just assuming that individuals who were shopping for loose beads were creative in one form or another. My hopefully sister in law to be told me she was crafty but in an instuction manual kind of way. SOOOOO.......

I have taken it upon myself to design a necklace with my mermaid beads and post it on this website and hopefully start selling them online. No promises. I have a show coming up in a few weeks. So it might sit and wait for the show. But I will give you a preview. The design of this bead is that you are wearing a mermaid tail which represents your "inner mermaid". Make sense? Come on....am I the only one who used to day dream I was a mermaid when I was a kid? To me a mermaid represents something that you are not, but have an inner longing to be or express. So naturally I will be combining Reiki with these as I am also using gemstones. Love the gemstones. I will keep you all posted. And here is a sneak preview of more that is to come. Sorry about the picture quality.

1/30/08

I made this bead last night after several different style attempts at a mushroom bead. I had a friend request a mushroom bead for a ring. You have to take into consideration that this bead has to be durable, because rings tend to get knocked around a bit. How would you make a mushroom anyway? Where would you put the hole? I have come to discover that part of the beauty of lampworking is that you can put the hole wherever you want. Well...not really. You can put the hole in the best place your skills and imagination allow you to put it. You should see the first mushrooms that I made. They were too skinny, too top heavy, bottoms too rounded, not wide enough, too tall. A lot goes into the designing of some beads. Just looking cute might not be good enough. And now...this design is in its last stage of testing and on the hand this very minute of my 3 year old. So...if it survives that test, then they will be fit for sale. :)

1/28/08

Today is such a beautiful day. It rained yesterday and all night. Everything is wet. There are clouds and it is overcast with patches of blue here and there. You can see the mountains in the distance covered in a blanket of mist. It is like the rain has washed all the dirt away and left us with a new beginning this morning.

Have you ever wondered what sparks creativity for some people? Well life in general inspires me, but mostly the people I surround myself with and the environment that I live in. The desert has such a different kind of beauty that I did not grow up with. So I find it very mesmerizing and evoking in my art. I have been making cactus beads and mountain range sunsets. The trees I make tend to be sparser like the desert ones you see out here. One day I will remember my camera and take a picture of the drive that I take to drop my daughter off at preschool. The skies really are much grander out in the desert. Here is a pic of one of my recent "Spirit Tree" beads. These trees seem to take on a life of their own and manage to have little faces that emerge from the branches. Can you tell I like nature? Here she is....

1/25/08

Have you ever wondered what a beads life starts out like? Well it starts as a glass rod that is melted in a flame and handspun around a special metal rod called a mandrel. The mandrel is coated in a special "bead release", so the glass will not stick to it. It is spun, shaped, fired, then cooked and slowly cooled. This is a picture of what they look like in the morning when I pull them out of the kiln. I then soak them and remove them from the mandrels and clean the holes out with a special diamond coated dremel tip. It takes all the bead release off and cleans up everything. As you can see, some of these guys are upside down or right side up. I sculpt them depending on how the glass melts in, and where I see the face going best....I put it there. It is kind of like how some people see faces in rocks. That is what it is like when I make these critters.

1/24/08

Recently our famiy has adopted a little guinea pig named "Pip". We have heard that guineas do better when there are two of them, so we have contacted a guinea pig rescue to find the perfect mate for Pip. The organization has found a guinea named "Bob" whom we are going to meet this Sat. There is an event going on up in Anthem that we will go to after we go hiking up at Cave Creek. I love anything that has to do with animals and since I am a lampwork artist.....why not make guinea pigs to donate for their upcoming fundraiser?! Well, the coordinator was happy to hear about my offer. So I am donating 6 piggie pendants for their baskets that will be raffled off. Also, I am going to be making them available in my ety store, where a portion of the proceeds will go to their organization to help run their rescue center. Here is what I pulled out of the kiln this morning (cleaned up of course). Normally I make more beads at a torch session, but these little guineas take longer than I reconed! The little guy on the left looks like Pip. The black and white one is similar to the little guy I am going to adopt this weekend. For every guinea that I sell on Etsy, I am donating $5.00. If you are interested in the donating or adopting a guinea pig and are in the greater Phoenix area, have a look at their website http://piggiepoo.org/

If you have a guinea at home, and want a pendant made to match him for yourself, I do custom work as well. Just e-mail me, or check out my Etsy page.

1/23/08

My cousin Korrine starts her 2nd round of chemo today. She is only 13 years old. My thoughts are with her and her family. She is enrolled in a program called "Beads of Courage" and has started collecting her beads. Ironically the ASGB group I belong to has been donating beads to this program since the very begining. So I am going to get busy and start making those purple hearts. I am making a special one for Korrine. From now on, I am going to be making at least one purple heart with each torch session. This group relies on lampworkers to donate purple hearts. The children receive them at the end of their chemo treatments. Here is a picture of the one I made at my last torch session. You can read more about the Beads of courage at their website http://www.beadsofcourage.net/

1/22/08

Today I was woken up by my friend 2 doors down requesting to borrow my hairdryer. Apperently hers blew up. No wonder, it was a full moon. Look at the site I saw this morning as I went outside to greet her. Beautiful still, and at 7:20 in the morning!

Flaming "Amor" Heart BLACK writing
~~$0.00~~ $23.00