Torchsong Studio

Busy hands

2011-08-11T19:37:00.003-04:00

I'm really on an earring kick - just can't seem to stop making them.

The coffee table in our living room is a mess ... covered with little boxes and baggies of beads of all colors and sizes and shapes, plus I just got an order in today from Fire Mountain.

These moon and star beads are from the order and I couldn't seem to stop myself from making them right away...

This pair of leaf earrings have been lying on the table for a few days - in that I had picked out the beads and just needed to put them together..

Some more of the star beads I got in the mail today.. The large one is Rhodochrosite, the medium one is mother-of-pearl and the tiny one is hematite.

And finally, as the temperatures drop and the calendar shows the year slipping by, thoughts of fall seem to "fall" into our minds...

Soon it'll be cool enough to actually light the torch in total comfort!

While I'm at it...

2011-08-07T11:27:00.004-04:00

I don't believe I ever posted my "Wishing Vessels" here. I know I posted them on Facebook, but this is the proper place. Well, actually, my (sadly neglected) web page would be the correct place.Each of these particular wishing vessels has a heart carved from unakite. Click here if you would like to know mofre about the metaphysical properties of unakite.
All the wishing vessels have at least one spiral and usually a trail of hearts somewhere on its surface.
At this time, I have been making all the wishing vessels in the same color combination. I like the earthiness of these colors.

Eventually, I will probably make some in other combinations.

Since, of course, I have not put these on my website yet, I will tell you now that if you are interested in purchasing one of these vessels, they are $35 each and if you send me a note, we can work something out.

Earrings on a rainy day

2011-08-07T10:46:00.003-04:00

Even though I was suffering a bout of lethargy yesterday, at least I managed to make a couple more pairs of the "leaf" earrings:

Jade & PearlsTurquoise & Opals

Leafing out!

2011-07-31T09:43:00.004-04:00

We went out to Boulder, CO last week to visit our son who is interning there for the summer with a software firm. It was a beautiful and we did quite a bit of walking. One afternoon, my husband and I sought out a bead shop just off Pearl Street and I found some nice beads to add to my arsenal.

I'm always on the look out for new colors or types of leaf beads for the wired earrings I can't seem to make enough of... I was pretty excited to find these green "milk glass"(?) leaves. They looked like something from the 40's and when I got them home, I couldn't decide what to put with them, but I happened to see some of my favorite peach seed beads and it all came together!
The other leaves I picked up there were a golden green color. It doesn't show up very well in the photograph, but adding golden beads, a gold-green crystal and a gold pearl made a really gorgeous combination.
Finally, I've had these red leaves for some time, but was stuck with exactly how to use them. Again, as I was pawing through my seed beads, the "right" ecru color popped out at me and the garnet colored crystal pulled it all together!
For now, I'm just posting these on my blog, but I spoke with my son about my website and he is planning something for me so that I will be able to update it much more quickly and easily and I will be able to update it and make everything available for sale. I will say though that these leaf earrings sell for $20 each and priority shipping adds about another $5, so if you are interested in purchasing a pair, please just shoot me an email at mschwa @ gmaildotcom (remove spaces and change dot to . ) and we can arrange it!

If you'd like to see more designs/color combinations of this type of earring, I posted some a year or so ago here on my blog.

Bridge Stories

2011-07-03T16:57:00.007-04:00

Today, I found it necessary to cross the Susquehanna River twice.

On the way west, I took the "new" bridge, the Wright's Ferry Bridge on Rt.30. I guess it isn't really new, since it was finished in 1972. It seems there are always troubles on the bridge. People jump off it, cars and trucks wreck on it and traffic is stopped. It always seems clean - and bright and shiny - and impersonal. It seems to always be undergoing some construction....

Because of construction, I decided to use an older bridge when I came home and got thinking. As a child and as a teenager, the old bridge - the one we called "Poppy's Bridge" was the one we used:
We called it Poppy's Bridge because our grandfather was employed in building it. He was a carpenter and I guess he helped to build the forms. It was completed in 1930. We always heard the tales of the people who were killed during the building - falling into the large concrete "footers." I'm sure that isn't the right word, but you get the idea.

As I crossed the bridge, I really looked at it for a change. This was part of the first transcontinental highway - The Old Lincoln Highway. At the top of each decorative pier it has with what looks like a Greek key design in it... The new bridge is much wider and roomy, but it doesn't have touches like that - nor does it have a pedestrian walkway. Back in the day, people used to actually walk across the river between the two towns of Columbia and Wrightsville.

Speaking of which... I also thought about the tales our grandmother used to tell about going to visit her oldest sister.
Mimi, our grandmother, was the youngest of 17, born and raised in Columbia, PA. Her oldest sister, Esther, lived in Wrightsville. Mimi talked about how she would walk across the old railroad bridge, listening all the while for a train. If one should come along while they were crossing, she and any companion would cling to the sides of the bridge until the train passed... It always sounded terrifying. Although - I was just reading about the old bridge and it seems that the few cars that wanted to use the bridge would wait until the trains passed and then use the same bridge... Sounds like a rough ride!

There had previously been two record breaking long covered bridges over the Susquehanna, but the first one had been destroyed by ice, high water and severe weather on February 5, 1832.

The second covered bridge shown here...
was famously burnt to prevent the advancement of Confederate troops across the river.

I think in there somewhere was another covered railroad bridge, but these are the ones I have heard about over the years. Funny the things that will occur to you just driving over a bridge.

Soap Demo at Day Camp!

2011-06-20T16:45:00.004-04:00

I got a call last week wondering if Tina and I would do a soap making demo for a day camp at the Hans Herr House in Willow Street.

I agreed, but told her we would only allow the children to make melt and pour soap, while we would make soap "the old-fashioned way" for them.

Well, over the weekend, Tina injured herself (majorly sprained ankle) so that I went on my own into this great unknown!

I thought of taking an apron along at the very least just to fit in, but decided to just go in jeans. Little did I know that part of the camp was that the children would be dressed in period costumes.
It was a new situation for me because we are were usually the ones who are in costume while we speak to people dressed in every day clothes.

The children were very well behaved and seemed to be pretty interested in what I was doing. Some of them even knew that soap was made from fats!

The best part was when I ladled out little containers of melt and pour soap for them to scent and add colorant and filler to. I explained that they were only to stir until everything was well incorporated, but they stirred and stirred until they had basically whipped the melt and pour into some sort of crystalline look!

They had listened so well while I made cold process soap, maybe they thought I was expecting them to bring it to trace...

3's the Charm

2011-04-28T14:09:00.005-04:00

In an effort to avoid working on a project for the class Tina and I are taking, I thought I would put some thoughts down on paper (okay, screen!) and finally get a blog post up here.

One day, over three years ago, while out on soap deliveries, we stopped by the offices of a local farm/garden shop/grower supply company to pick up some supplies for my husband. We looked around and thought maybe they would be interested in selling our soaps there and through a convoluted series of events, were invited to participate, as vendors, in their fall "customer appreciation" show...
The first year, we got a few orders and one or two reorders... hardly anything to write home about.

The second year, we seemed to have about the same amount of orders at the show and a few more reorders.

Last year, we really seemed to be busy at the show and knew a lot of the people who came through. We had, maybe twice the amount of orders as the first and second years and are seeing an amazing amount of repeat orders. We have picked up some nice local places and a couple of more remote customers.

We often hear the adage that in advertising, one should always put the same ad in the same place for at least 3 times (for instance 3 issues for a magazine) before gauging the effectiveness of the ad. This little adventure seems to bear that out. After exhibiting 3 years, we have become "real" to the customers and they have apparently begun to trust us!

It has certainly brought to mind that old adage and seems to ring true. Certainly gives me something to think about when I plan any kind of advertising campaign.

Planting ahead for Christmas!

2011-03-19T12:07:00.005-04:00

In a Facebook status update on Wednesday, I mentioned that we were planting baby Christmas trees. An interesting conversation ensued and so, I thought it would be fun to give a more complete explanation - complete with visual props. On Thursday, St.Patrick's Day, the normal day for planting potatoes and onions, we were planting more trees and Tina & I took some pictures and a little video of the process.

Bob orders the plants and they arrive, bare root, in boxes bound in ten plant bundles.

We count enough for a row and cut the cord that binds the bundles.
We pack them on the red shelf of the planter. This is the planter. I sit on the seat that you see in the lower left of the picture. The two metal parts that are to the right of the seat form wat we call the "shoe." It plows through the earth and I put the plants in the front of the shoe and hold on to them until the earth fills in behind them.
This is our fancy "measuring device" that trails behind the planter. When the roll of duct tape gets to the last plant planted, it's time to stick the next plant in.
For this job, I wear a "very attractive" outfit. I tuck my jeans into my socks to try to keep the dirt out of my shoes and socks. We call this picture "jazz hands" because I'm showing off the pair of Bob's gloves that I am wearing.
Bob drives the loaded tractor up to the field and checks to make sure the rows will be right.
I climb on board and we are off.
Tina took this lovely movie of us in action and she enjoyed making some commentary.

The final result is rows of these:
In 5-7 years, this tree will be a beautiful Douglas Fir Christmas tree!

Ready for Spring

2011-03-09T10:43:00.004-05:00

Around here, at Lancaster County Soapworks, we often have a month or two to breathe and prepare for the onslaught of heavy duty business in the Spring. Many of our local customers are seasonal and while they may restock a bit after Christmas, our springtime orders tend to hit us hard.

We don't come to a standstill in the beginning of the year, but we do prepare for the busy months to come. One of the things we did this year that was a little different was to order larger quantities of raw materials farther ahead than usual. Because we heard rumblings of price increases (we should be used to this by now) we decided to order enough fats and lye to hopefully hold us over til the end of summer when, we understand, prices should drop - at least for the fats.

The truck arrived last week and we stashed the fats in the garage bay beside the shop. It is cool and shady in there in the summer and they should be fine. Here are a couple of shots of what I'm talking about:

And another view:
We have a pallet of lye at a guaranteed price coming in the end of March.

It is a good feeling knowing we are well stocked and ready to ride out the price changes of the coming months. Some people get a kick out of having shelves of canned goods in the basement. For me, it is the thrill of having fats ready for the next few months. Who knows what to expect when we next need to order.

While we were in some relative "down time," we were busy stocking the shelves. In the beginning of March these shelves were mostly full, but as the month went on and orders started rolling in, they are starting to look a little peaked, so we'll be making soap again to try to stay ahead of the demand.

So, here we go on our roller coaster ride through the busy season... Wheeee!

NYC and back

2011-02-06T09:55:00.005-05:00

If you read my sister's blog, you've already had a good review of our trip last week to NYC.

We made a quick decision to leave on Monday (between storms) and return on Friday (between storms) for a longer stay than we had enjoyed before. The dates turned out to be just about perfect and we got to really experience the city in a bit more leisurely manner than that to which we are normally accustomed.

Although it surely was not "walking weather" and we spent most of our travel time in shuttle buses and an occasional cab, we did get out a couple of times to walk a block or two in each direction. The icy winds blowing down the canyons proved to us that we are not like the hardy folks who live there and walk to work or take their tiny babies, wrapped like mummies, out in well insulated carriages to get some air.

I suppose it was because of the big snows that fell in the city in the last month, but there was garbage piled all along the street - on top of or part of the piles of snow. As the week progressed, it seemed that the garbage collectors must have stopped every day to try to get at whatever new "treasures" became available because bit by bit the piles began to disappear. The only picture I took was 3 Christmas trees piled together against a post. Unfortunately, the picture was a blurry mess and I fear it would hurt your eyes to see. Living on a Christmas tree farm, though where trees seem to be part of our relatively distant past, seeing 3 still green trees on the street in NYC in the beginning of February was an interesting sight.

Every time we go to the city, I am always fascinated by the juxtaposition of the soaring skyscrapers against the remainders of an early, growing city. This church is on 57th St. We often see it when we are there and it is a prime example of this phenomenon.

We got home in the dark on Friday evening and remarked on the lights shining across yards full of snow covered by a thick sheen of ice. When I woke up on Saturday morning after yet another ice storm, I looked out to see limbs down on our front yard.

They had fallen from the big wild cherry tree right outside our front door. There were many more evergreen boughs down around the house, although I couldn't get to them to photograph. Branches appear to be down all over the area, so we are lucky our power never went out.
This Rhododendron seems to always wind up encased in ice at one point of the winter. It is right at the corner where two roofs converge and gets the lion's share of the water melting off the roof! I always think it is interesting - and hardy - because it will still be one of the first flowering shrubs to bloom in the spring!

Goddess Vessels

2011-01-07T11:14:00.003-05:00

You might remember the goddess beads and necklaces I made a year or two ago.

I recently sent the only goddess vessel I made at that time to a friend who has a picture of that goddess form on her website. She asked me to make some more for her to sell, so yesterday, I lit the torch and played with the idea.These are the result. I'm pretty pleased with them and think they will only get better. They will be wire wrapped and corked and will be perfect for holding small amounts of oils or any other thing that has special significance to the owner - a bit of sand or earth from a perfect vacation for example.

Tussled with the camera and ...

2011-01-03T14:23:00.004-05:00

After my little diatribe this morning, I tried once again to recharge the batteries for the camera. I have no idea what had happened, but two of them charged immediately. I put them in the camera (along with the two from my mouse!) and finally got some pictures.

So - tada!

First, a vessel.

Then, what I would loosely call a set. Probably the two smallest beads on the top left would make a nice pair of earrings and the other beads were all done using various combinations of techniques... And then, the last bead I made, a long (about 40 mm,) skinny bead that, I think, I added the best of everything to - and of course, I wrapped it in fine silver wire and got the silver beads embedded in it in a spiral pattern... I really love it.
Hope you do too!Not a bad way to start the year.

By the way, the other two batteries recharged, I got the use of my mouse back and the camera still appears to work!

Rechargeable Batteries - Grrrr!

2011-01-03T10:27:00.004-05:00

A few months ago, I decided it was time to stop buying (and disposing of) all those expensive batteries I use for my cameras, mouse and toothbrush! I bought enough to be able to cycle them through the various appliances and have a few spares to recharge in my new nifty little charger. Brilliant, right?

I bought them at various times, so some were Duracell and some were Energizer. I felt so noble about having done something not only thrifty, but ecologically sound.

So, I made some beads yesterday. I cleaned them this AM and had them all ready to photograph.

I recharged my batteries over the weekend and had brought them along out to the shop, put them in the camera and was ready to go. Turned the camera on and "Batteries Exhausted" appeared on the screen. What???

I took the batteries out of my mouse and substituted them for two of the camera batteries - still got the batteries exhausted message. Bummer!

Maybe it's the camera. Maybe it's the batteries. Maybe it's that adorable collapsible charger.

I will get to the bottom of this, but it is super annoying. I guess I'll go get my "traveling" camera out of the car. Those batteries have probably discharged because of the cold!

This little episode stopped me in my tracks... I had a lot of plans for today and I just had to rant to someone about it. Now maybe I can get over this and back on track.

I WILL be back later with pix.

Life on a Christmas Tree Farm

2010-12-08T07:14:00.007-05:00

When we moved here in 1986, I had no idea how living on a Christmas tree farm would change our lives and how we celebrate Christmas.

As I recall, our life was pretty "normal" before we moved. We had lived quite close to civilization and a trip to the grocery store or shopping mall was only a few minutes away. Our son had been born in February of that year, so he was not quite a year old. I was still adjusting to being a mother and suddenly a trip to the grocery store involved logistics I had never dealt with before - forget the mall!

We had moved in the week before Thanksgiving and, as I had for the past few years, I made Thanksgiving dinner for a large bunch including the three of us, my mother and 4 siblings plus spouses and a couple of kids.

At that time, the way the tree farm worked was that customers would come to tag their trees and specify when they would pick them up. My husband would go up early in the day and search through acres of trees to find the ones that were tagged for that weekend, cut them and bring them down to bag and have ready for pick up. As we sat down to eat that year, the doorbell rang. People started arriving to pick up their Christmas trees!

It just went on like that and we thought it was a pretty interesting thing to happen, to move into a new house and have people coming from all over to give you money!

That year my Christmas shopping was done from an LL Bean catalog and a quick trip to a general store nearby. I remember the guys got stuff like mustache wax and key-chain compasses along with hooded sweatshirts. I don't even remember what the women got, but I'm sure their gifts were equally odd and useful!

Really, once Thanksgiving hits, there is no time for shopping, or the leisurely baking and candy making I once felt was a major part of the holidays.

This is our yard during the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Actually, this year, for the first time, we seem to have a system in place for people to find safe places to park their cars... in the past it has been a nightmare and heaven forbid someone decides to bring a trailer along for their tree...

Of course, you probably think our tree would be the most beautiful of the lot. Well, no... Back in the beginning, the selection here wasn't as great as it is now and we usually waited til everything was picked out to cut our own tree.

This is my husband and son choosing our tree last year. You can probably see all the clear area around them from the trees that had already been cut.

We have learned that - for us - a tree with a few holes in it or an odd top can be just as beautiful as the most perfect one as long as the family decorations are finally put on it (which for us usually means a week before Christmas.)

The other thing that has happened is that (I think) our son has really come to like working on the farm over the holidays.

When he was small, he minded us being so busy for that month, even though we still managed to pull it all together on Christmas day, it was stressful for a little guy.

As he got older, he gradually learned how to find his own place in the business and this year, I think for the first time, he is at school and has had to miss one of our busiest weekends. He'll be back this week and while complaining, he'll probably be loving it.

The best part about a Christmas Farm is that our customers are almost always in a wonderful mood. I know I get to wish hundreds of people a Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday during these few weeks.

The things that we may have lost by having a business at this busy time have been replaced with other wonderful traditions. We see customers who have become friends over the years. We see their children returning with their own and enjoy meeting them all... We feel we are surrounded by friends and are a part of their own holiday fun.

Custom Soaps

2010-12-02T11:09:00.003-05:00

We do a few custom soaps for people using their materials or their special formulae. It is fun and gives us a little break from our usual "production" work.

Last evening, we made these 6 soaps (for 3 different customers,) the soaps on the top left are actually a replacement for a vanilla batch that seized when I forgot how persnickety vanilla fragrance oil is in soap! The one's directly to the right are the unsaleable ones that we will happily use ourselves, or maybe add to our women's shelter box.
I "posed" them in front of the fireplace in the shop. Usually it is blocked by shelves, but this week, my husband found us some reasonably prices dollies that we put underneath our shelves so that we can change the arrangement any time we like.

The moosehead is something I made from paper mache years ago as a gift for my oldest brother, John. I inherited it back last winter and it has a happy home now over the fireplace - which was built by my next oldest brother, Tom, a number of years ago when he got a "Merry Christmas" brick from a supplier. That brick is the one that is in the center of the arch and was the reason for the whole thing!

If you follow my blog long enough, I suspect you will eventually see the entire shop!

Fall Inspirations

2010-11-17T11:52:00.002-05:00

I've suddenly become entranced by acorns. Maybe it's because I've been seeing so many types and forms of them on sale in the shops we visit to deliver our soaps. In the past week or so, I have purchased an antiqued silver acorn ornament, a brass acorn bell and a ceramic acorn trinket jar. Last evening, I was talking to my sister and suddenly it occurred to me that I could make a glass acorn ornament!

To the torch, and this was the result:
I want to electroform the tops - in other words, I want to cover them with a thin coating of copper. Maybe I'll add a stem and electroform that too - or a small oak leaf, if I can find just the right one...

But, while I was torching, I pulled out some transparent ink blue glass and tried what I call my "nebula" technique on it. I remembered to prepare all my stringers and have the foil and wire at the ready so these are just covered with lots of silver.

They reminded me of a cloudy fall sky, so I had a little fun with Photoshop adding a background.
I hope I can get to the torch more often now .. I seem to be gradually getting my mojo back!

A Bittersweet Morning

2010-11-14T10:32:00.003-05:00

Over the past year, on our jaunts, we pass a nearby stand of bittersweet. All year long, we watch to see how it is faring and recently, I noticed that it was getting ready to be cut. I called Tina and she was agreeable to take a break to go harvest some of the berries.

After checking the bridge I mentioned yesterday (no, it appears that there will NOT be a reproduction covered bridge to take its place - it's just taking them a very long time to get it finished,) we headed over to the bittersweet stand.

We had both taken clippers, but the vines were up a very steep climb and Tina, being the younger and more nimble of the two of us (also a Capricorn/Mountain goat,) managed to reach the vines, cut them and threw them down to me. Here's our "take."

Bittersweet

Oriental Staff Vine (Celastrus orbiculatus) is a woody vine native to East Asia of the Celastraceae family. It is also commonly called Oriental Bittersweet, Japanese Bittersweet or Asiatic Bittersweet. Oriental staff vine was introduced into North America in 1879, and is considered to be an invasive species in eastern North America. It closely resembles the native North American species, Celastrus scandens, with which it will readily hybridize.

You can see here how the little bright red berries pop out of their orange/yellow shells as well as the twisty nature of the vines..

I'm not sure why we feel drawn to this plant and really don't know why I wanted it, but I'm sure it will appear as a decorative feature somewhere around the shop - maybe on a wreath.

There is a print circulating of a basket of bittersweet that has a very homey, warm feeling to it and I guess that quality is what makes it so attractive. It reminds me, as we head into colder weather, of a fire in winter.

Risser's Mill Covered Bridge

2010-11-13T20:06:00.003-05:00

When we moved here almost 25 years ago, this quaint covered bridge was part of the short cut to the only grocery store at the time, in Mount Joy. We used it to get to the grocery store, to our doctor's office and to the store in Elizabethtown. It was also the shortest route to get to the main road to Harrisburg and points west.

In 2002, an arsonist destroyed the bridge and while it was "cleaned up" almost immediately, the scar remained but the bridge, because it was at the intersection of 3 municipalities and a historic site, was not rebuilt because all the factions could not come to an agreement about how it should be replaced.

Meanwhile, all the above trips became much more inconvenient as we had to travel a pretty circuitous route to get to all those places.

In the year preceding her death in 2005, our mother decided to take up the cause of the bridge and made it her mission to nag our state representative - probably monthly. Nothing happened, and after she died, the years passed and it looked like the bridge would never be replaced.

This summer, there seemed to be some activity on the little road that was basically closed to through traffic. My husband and son decided to go take a look and lo and behold, the bridge was finally being rebuilt. This has been going on for months (it's just a little creek!) One day they told me they had actually crossed the new bridge on their scooters and I drove down the road a day or two later to take a better look. Barricades were up so far from the bridge that I could hardly see, but, yep, there was a bridge there.

This morning, I passed the road on my way to the local hardware store (which was also a much shorter trip with the bridge) and saw an electric sign, next to the now-familiar "Bridge Out" signs. What could it be? Really? I moved to an angle where I could read the sign, "New bridge will open Nov. 18"!!!!

How exciting! The new bridge - apparently a covered bridge replica has been rebuilt there (though I'm not sure and haven't see it) - will be available again! Mom would be so happy! (Editing later to say: The replacement bridge was NOT a covered bridge. In fact, it is a very simple bridge - similar to one we have considered building ourselves in the dark of night. I have no idea what ever took so long!)

This event caused us to think about Mom and the things she dreamed of around here... of course, the bridge, but also a "Dollar Tree" which was just built this summer, and a new beautiful "Giant" grocery store full of a great selection of foods. Mom would have been so happy about these things.

We're thinking we should do something special in her honor when the new bridge opens - our own little ceremony. And since my sister moved here, she has never used any of those routes, so she'll have to relearn her way around. I bet she'll be thrilled because it'll take her past the wild persimmon tree we found a few years ago!

Organic Exercise

2010-11-10T08:21:00.004-05:00

It seems that I haven't been at the torch for months. Although I made the little jogs in the last post not all that long ago, I was sorting through my jewelry and beads the other day and it seemed there was nothing new.

Last evening (being back on EST it seems as if it was the middle of the night!) I lit the torch, determined to make some new sets that I could put together into bracelets. Working with organic designs seems to be a good way to ease my way back into the process.

First, I did a combination I am relatively comfortable with... base bead, roll in silver foil, apply wire and voila... what I call my nebula beads. I had forgotten how to prepare for beads like this, so was frantically trying to cut silver foil and wire as I tried to keep the bead evenly warm in the flame.

I've made a number of bracelets with this basic combination and they remain one of my favorites.

I am usually wearing one of those bracelets. Since the weather is changing, I wanted to have a more autumnal combination and used a nice olive for the base of this set, rather than the blues I often wear.

Then I decided it was time to go for something different and picked up an ochre rod to use as a base, pulled some silver plum and iris blue stringers and just went for it.
This set needed a bit of etching to bring out the colors, so it is more satiny than shiny.

This was a good exercise and as things start to calm down a bit with the soap for the winter (famous last words!) I will try to get back to the torch more regularly and will remember to prepare a bit more completely before I get the glass melted onto the mandrel!

Both will be fun to combine with other bits and pieces or beads and wire into a finished bracelet and will round out what I already have in stock.

It's a start and it served to awaken my "torch love."

Something new!

2010-10-24T09:47:00.003-04:00

What a surprise! I took a break and sat down at the torch.

I was inspired by the photographs we took for Tina's new book, The Essential Herbal - By the Hearth. We visited the oldest home and meeting house in Lancaster County and took pictures of their walk-in fireplace.

We had a salt-glazed jug on the table and I started thinking about making a vessel in that shape.

This what I wound up with:I was pretty pleased with the results. They aren't perfect, but for a first effort, they actually looked a lot like what I had envisioned.

There is a special offer going on right now on the sale of the book - 20% off and an entry into a drawing for a number of prizes.

As of now, the item I have made for the drawing is a bracelet I call "Winter White."
It is a big favorite of mine as I have made this type of bead in different shapes over the past couple of years. I love it because it is so neutral and "classy."

The other bracelet choice I offered her is called "Snow & Ice:"
It reminds me of a snowy night under a full moon. Tina chose the Winter White, so I will have to put Snow and Ice up on my website.

Here's the cover that inspired me:
If you have any interest in herbs, this is a great book! I did the layout and really enjoyed reading through all the articles, even though I have seen them all before. It supplies so much information to keep your family happy, healthy and well fed and so many ideas for projects to take you through the fall and winter while you are enjoying the snuggly feeling of being "By the Hearth."

A Magic Garden

2010-10-21T18:35:00.004-04:00

We went to visit a friend last evening, and one of the things we did was to tour her garden by candle light. I wish my camera would have been set properly and that I would have taken more pictures because it was truly enchanted, but I can show you a few of the whimsical sights we saw.

Many parts of the garden were lit by candles in hurricane chimneys and it was lovely. Everywhere we turned, we saw another inviting vignette. This spot was lit by little blue fairy lights....
This is an old clawfoot tub in the middle of her garden, it has been converted into a fountain and the trickling of the water added yet another dimension. It looks as if it has almost been overtaken by the Virginia Creeper.
What a fun evening. It is easy to see the love and creativity she puts into her gardening, with a birdhouse tree and her herb garden, much of it in varying shades of gray shimmering in the candle and moon light.

She is a bit south of us and in a slightly warmer mini-climate, so she has drifts of blooming rosemary on the southern wall of her home. It is an unusual sight for us because our winters are just a bit too cold to successfully over-winter the tender perennial and hers grew to an unusually large size...

She always seems to have a wonderful spread of delicacies to entice the palate and during this part of the evening, we enjoyed our choice of two wonderful cakes and hot wassail in her screened-in porch while the garden sparkled outside under the hunters' moon... The whole effect was magical.

A September to Remember!

2010-10-03T14:05:00.006-04:00

The last month will be the September to remember - not that there haven't been other memorable Septembers, but this one was a doozey!

It seemed we were working feverishly to play catch up all month. Apparently for all the bad economy news, the tourist season is in full swing and that is our bread and butter. We sell to a lot of tourist stops and they were ordering like crazy.

We had started the month with full shelves... plenty of soap that would have lasted us well over a month in normal times.

Even though we tried to keep up with the demand, replacing the soap weekly (it seemed) we were having a hard time finding properly aged soap to send out!

The very last weekend of the month was one of our rare outside events.. a master gardeners' symposium that we always enjoy, whether we sell a lot or not and the following Monday and Tuesday was our only wholesale show of the year.
Somehow we got everything done and appeared somewhat collected for both shows.

We returned home on Wednesday, pulled the orders from the show that were for immediate delivery. When we surveyed the shop, we were shocked to find the soap shelves practically bare!

While we were busy at the shows, my dear husband made us 10 new soap molds. Now we were no longer limited by our original 8 molds. So, we got busy and prepared for our most ambitious soap day ever.

On Wednesday, we prepared. We weighed the fats, set up all the extra ingredients and prepared the lye for 8 batches.

On Thursday morning, we made 8 batches and I immediately put on lye for an additional 8 and we again set up the batches we had planned. Around 4 in the afternoon, we made the other 8 batches.

In Friday, we cut 16 batches of soap and are well on our way to having everything completely restocked! One more good soap day and we should be set - famous last words!

Beautiful Morning, Beautiful Day

2010-09-26T08:08:00.007-04:00

Yesterday, we started out bright and early for a day as vendors in Lebanon at a Master Gardeners' symposium. The sky was like a painting by Maxfield Parrish - all pinks and golds and blues...

The moon had not yet set, and the sun was coming up in a blaze of red... It was gorgeous and certainly put me in a fabulous mood to begin the day.

We had set up the night before, so all we had to do was make the short drive to the venue, walk in and wait for the customers to get there.

I had brought both my soaps and my jewelry. We even added a special soap we had been making for one of the gardeners. We met him at this event last year and he has some great ideas for a unique additive and we've been trying it out in various soaps for him.

I brought all my jewelry and it sold nicely along with the soaps and body products.

This is a close up of my current vessels and teapots. I think almost all I have at the moment are in this tray.

I really enjoyed going back to this event. Getting to know the people who run the show has been a fun experience and we enjoy seeing everyone there.

Today is a day of rest (!) and preparation for our 2 day wholesale show tomorrow and Tuesday.

Then it'll be back to the regular day-to-day with no more shows on the horizon for a long time.

Through the County

2010-09-15T11:16:00.005-04:00

A pictorial today - of some of the things we see while on our soap deliveries through Amish country in Lancaster County.

We were waiting at a customer's roadside stand while two huge bus loads of people (one of them from Germany) enjoyed their visit and left. While we waited we saw some of the sights through a tourist's eye.

Fist, down the road came the clop clop of a horse-drawn buggy.So picturesque as they drove along in front of the corn drying in the fields before it is cut to fill the silos in the background.

After it passed, I looked and noticed it was a "pick-up buggy."There was a big old express wagon in the back. Sometimes they are connected to the back of buggies and used as trailers.

I turned to the garden of our customer and noticed as always it is neat as a pin - and now cleared and waiting for spring planting.And as I turned to the left, I noticed the row of various types of martin houses - or apartments - natural mosquito deterrents since mosquitoes are a favorite food of the birds.Such a beautiful county we live in.... full of wonders we often times overlook.

To Market, To Market

2010-09-11T10:33:00.002-04:00

Our son is home from grad school for the weekend and it seems that we have developed a tradition of going in to Saturday's Central Market in Lancaster whenever he is home. We usually get yummy bread and some scones along with whatever fruit is in season. His big purchase is a burrito from Senorita Burrito.

The market is undergoing some massive renovations so, today, as we wound our way through the torturous aisles, we came upon a woman holding a bunch of a plant that was completely new to me. It turned out to be "Oscar Milkweed." I'll have to do some research to find out exactly what this is, but for now, the common name will do!

I was captivated by the large globes hanging on the branches. The woman directed me to the stand where she had purchased her treasure and I swiftly lined up to buy the next to last bunch available.

From what I understand, these will dry beautifully, although I forgot to ask whether they should be hung or if they will just dry in a vase like hydrangeas. I'll give it a shot just like they are. They sure look better than the three year old dried sea oats that sorely needed to be replaced!

One of my main plans is to dry them, hoping to get a few seeds to scatter around our pond next spring!

If it all works out, I should have plenty for years to come!

The Birth of a New Soap

2010-08-24T11:24:00.003-04:00

Some of our soaps will be perennially popular. Lavender, for example is a constant best seller.

We are always refining our line of soaps - testing new fragrances trying to find new and exciting varieties to add while dropping some of the older, less popular types. Taste in soap fragrance and look apparently ebbs and flows just like with any other product.

This spring, we made four sample batches with some new fragrances we thought had potential. We gave the scents time to mature in the soap to see how well they "stick" and also to make sure the fragrance stays true with time. We had friends and relatives weigh in with their reactions and then finally we made our decision.

My sister and I tend to favor very different fragrances and when we agree on one, it must be very special. This year, the fragrance that knocked our socks off was "Bamboo & Champaca" and we decided it was a winner.

The fragrance is very "fresh" with an undertone of tropical flowers. It would be considered a spa-type fragrance and I must say that the one in my own shower makes me feel quite pampered. It reminds me of a vacation we took years ago to St. Thomas where the shower was open to the outdoors and a flowering vine tumbled into the stall with me!

As with all our soaps, the base is moisturizing to the skin and makes mounds of fragrant bubbles.

A Soap Day

2010-08-15T09:49:00.003-04:00

When we have a "soap day" around here, it really means a good 24 hours of time. First we decide which soaps are needed and we prepare the lye and allow it to cool for a few hours while we assemble all the individual additives and special ingredients for each soap.

Everything is laid out for each batch and the molds are lined.

After the lye has cooled, we go to town making the soap itself. With everything prepared ahead of time, we can usually get through 8 batches in about 2 hours.

Yesterday afternoon, we made 8 batches of soap. Here, you can see the molds for seven of them full and ready to be tucked away for the night. We usually throw a towel over them to hold in the heat and encourage them to "gel." The eighth batch was goatsmilk soap and it needs to spend it's overnight in the refrigerator to avoid over heating.This morning, bright and early, we turned the soaps out of the molds and here they are on the table, waiting to be cut.First, the slabs are cut into logs.Then the (short) logs are cut into separate bars.
The feeling of satisfaction when the shelves are reasonably well stocked is great. They will stay there for at least two weeks to continue their cure.
Of course, by the time these soaps are ready to be sent out, we will have already begun restocking those that they have replaced...

Jewelweed for Happy Wanderer

2010-08-12T09:56:00.004-04:00

And the harvest goes on. Many of our soaps are "just for pretty", but some of our soaps are more practical.

Happy Wanderer is one of those. We add jewelweed and plantain, both of which are said to help with the itch and misery of poison ivy or mosquito bites.

We harvest both the plantain and the jewelweed and process them with olive oil. We freeze this "glop" in batch sized quantities so we will be able to make the soap all through the winter and early spring. We add this mush to our soap, along with lavender essential oil and tea tree oil. Both of these oils are helpful in preventing infection and the lavender is soothing as well.

The herbs are only available to us in summer, but people can be exposed to poison ivy all year 'round. I probably got my worst case of poison ivy when we were cutting brush and small trees in the early spring and I carried logs covered with (unbeknownst to me) dried vines. Mosquitoes are active very early in the spring as well.
This is a picture of jewelweed in the late summer, early fall, when it is in bloom. We try to get it a little earlier when the stems are still thin and not woody. The stems are full of a gel-like substance that helps with bites and itches. When sunlight shines through the stems and refracts on the water droplets that form on the leaves and especially when the plants are in bloom with their orange-yellow flowers, it just sparkles and I understand where the name Jewelweed comes from.

I learned about jewelweed many, many years ago when, as a Girl Scout, I was camping in a "primitive" camp site (built in a swamp-like area) and became covered with bites. Jewelweed grows in the same conditions where mosquitoes breed and we were told to pick it and rub it on our bites. It helped quite a bit.

Any good "real" soap will help somewhat with poison ivy. First, it will help with prevention because it can dissolve and wash the oils of the plant away.

If you haven't caught it before the reaction sets in, lather it on and let it dry. Then wash off and it will still help to dry the rash.

Harvesting for Soap

2010-08-09T09:04:00.005-04:00

Along with all the vegetables loading our harvesting baskets this time of year, there are some special ingredients we need to stock up on for the year of soap making ahead.

Right now, bayberries are ready for gathering. We render them down for the wax that coats the seeds and add a bit of it to each batch of our bayberry soap.

My husband planted a few of the bushes about 4 years ago and they are finally starting to produce, but meanwhile, we have a spot where we gather them every year. We have found that we need to get there early because if we don't there are birds who love bayberries and one quick visit by a flock will strip the plants completely.

We do a pretty good job ourselves as we pick our way into the bushes, defying spiders, avoiding grasping branches - all the while trying not to drop any of the precious little balls of wax. The berries cling in clumps along the main branches and we have to hold the basket right below as we coax them from their perch.

We're not sure why (heat, drought, birds?) but this year, it seemed that someone may have beaten us to "our" berries although we still got enough to probably last us. Each year we seem to sell more and more of the soap that we once thought would be seasonal. Now find our customers want it all year around. Bayberry has a certain historic quality to it and the museums we supply are finding it popular as well.

On the way home from yesterday's exploits, we were contemplating the lush growth of bayberries along the Delaware shores and thinking of taking a quick trip to collect a goodly amount.

Dreams of bushels of bayberries with enough wax left over to make a candle or two is enough to probably push us over the edge!

Cucumber Blog Party!

2010-08-07T16:13:00.011-04:00

While we're at it, cucumbers seem to be producing at an all time rate around here and I'm running out of ways to use them!

I asked my friends to join me in a blog party to collect some new recipes. See the bottom of this post for a whole list of blogs with a great variety of recipes for all those cucumbers.

My contribution is this tasty, recently rediscovered side dish that I used to make years ago:

Creamy Cucumber Salad
2 medium to large cucumbers
1 small (2" diameter) onion
1 C Sour Cream (or 1/2 C. Sour Cream, 1/2 C. Mayonnaise)
2 T. vinegar
2 T. sugar
salt
Peel, core and thinly slice cucumbers. Spread out on a shallow dish and sprinkle with salt. Leave slices on platter for about 20 minutes to draw excess juice out.
Drain and place in medium bowl.
Add thinly sliced onion.
Mix together the sour cream, vinegar and sugar.
Pour mixture over cucumbers and onion and mix well.
Chill and allow flavors to develop.

This usually makes about a quart of the salad. It can be used as a side dish like cole slaw. My husband just loves it and can sit and eat most of a batch at one sitting! Okay, two.

I would think that this is a PA Dutch recipe because of the sweet sour flavors, but I think the first time I ever ate it was in Ohio and it was an old family recipe.

More Cucumber Recipes:

Becky's Cucumber Cocktails

Tina's Cucumber Lime Salsa

Cindy's Tzatziki

Janiece's Tomato Cucumber Salad

Nancy's Chilled Cucumber Soup

Karen's Cucumber Dill Sauce

Beth's Cucumber/Watermelon Salad

Zucchini & Orzo Salad w/Basil

2010-07-27T14:27:00.008-04:00

If you're growing them, you're trying to find something to do with them or you will be soon.
If you aren't, you may start finding them on your porch in the morning....

I'll admit, I've never felt the need to grow zucchini, but I've often been gifted with them and found ways to use them. This salad is probably one of my favorites.

I'm not sure if I had even tried zucchini before, but many years ago we were participating in the Landis Valley Herb & Garden Fair.

It was in the early days of the fair and Fridays were a by invitation only affair for the press and special friends of the museum. On Friday night, May wine was served along with a various little canapes.

On Saturday, lunch was catered and as (some of the few) vendors, lunch was free to us as a little something extra (for our $35 table fee!) One year, this salad was the main course and I loved it. I tried in vain to find the recipe and actually picked up a few other good ones along the way, but for some reason, the original was finally published in our newspaper and I was sure to copy it down. I hope you will enjoy it too!

Zucchini & Orzo Salad w/Basil

4 Med. Zucchini, coarsely grated
2 T. Salt
2 C. (packed) fresh basil
½ C. Olive Oil
3 med. garlic cloves
8 C. chicken broth
1# Orzo
¼ C. fresh lemon juice & zest
ground black pepper
1 C. imported Kalamata olives
Basil sprigs

Drain Zucchini in colander. Sprinkle with 1 T. salt. Let drain 30 min. Stir or shake twice. Squeeze dry. Transfer to large bowl. Fluff with hands to separate.
Place basil & olive oil in processor 1 minute, drop garlic in and blend.
Add Zucchini to basil mix.
Bring chicken broth to boil in medium saucepan. Stir in 1 T. salt and orzo, return to boil. Simmer 10-15 min. ‘til orzo is tender. Drain.
Stir all together and cool to room temp.
Just before serving, stir in lemon juice and zest (if desired) Season with pepper. Garnish with olives and basil sprigs.

For more zucchini recipes, visit my friends:

Becky - Zucchini Fritters
Tina - Zucchini Bread Recipes
Patricia – Stuffed Zucchini
Karen – Zucchini Pizza
Cindy – Calabacitas
Beth – Zucchini Brownies

Next, Cucumber!

A String of Blue Beads

2010-07-06T15:16:00.003-04:00

So, I said I'd show you what I did on the torch last week when the weather was so temperate.

I made a few other things, but this set is my favorite.

The base is a very pale transparent aqua and the flowers and vines are a pale sky blue. They're pretty right out of the kiln, but I etched them so the design shows up more clearly and they appear to glow from within.

I can see them made into a bracelet to be worn on a tan wrist. Perfect for the summer.

Where did I get the name? One year for Christmas, when I was about 7 or 8, one of my gifts from my parents was a book called A String of Blue Beads. I think the theme was something like The Gift of the Magi. I always remember that gift because for some reason it made me feel very special. It may well have been the last Christmas our parents were together and it was a nice memory.

A Stinky Post!

2010-07-05T09:54:00.003-04:00

Look what I harvested today!

Last fall one week, we played hooky from "our" market and visited another nearby market. Lo and behold, one of our fellow vendors was set up there too. He had some lovely garlic bulbs and I asked about growing them. He explained the process and so I took them home and planted them, really expecting nothing.

When the snows melted this spring, I went out to see what was happening around the yard and - there they were! Green shoots where we had planted the single cloves.

I cut the scapes and used them when they "bloomed" and waited. When I was out weeding and tying the tomatoes the other day I noticed that the foliage was looking yellowish and wondered if this was the cue to harvest.

I checked with Tina's Yahoo list and was told they are ready when the first few sets of leaves were dried up. Then, I was given instructions to dig, not pull, them and then to hang them in an airy place where they could cure.

I waited until the heat returned today(!) and decided it was time to dig them. I couldn't wait to see how they had fared.

You can see my harvest above. What a thrill! No more garlic in a jar for us.

The tomatoes will be ready soon, basil is producing profusely, now we have our own garlic. We'll be eating a lot of Pasta Fresca this summer. (Recipe from "Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home") Heck, I might even have to make my own mozzarella!

I have them bunched and hanging in the shop. They may have to be moved outside. Don't want the soap to pick up their "scent."

I actually did manage to get to the torch during our brief spell of gorgeous temperate heat and low humidity weather and I will post the results soon.

PA Dutch/Mexican Beads!

2010-05-16T12:32:00.005-04:00

This should be from Cinco de Mayo, but these beads only appeared in the past few days, so ... better late than never!

I started out with an idea... bright colors on a black background, inspired by a set of beads in a gallery online.

At first, looking at this "set" of beads, I thought, PA Dutch. But, as I looked at the a little longer, I was reminded of the beautifully embroidered Mexican blouses. Usually, the designs are on unbleached muslin, but sometimes on black... So, these are my PA Dutch/Mexican beads! It made me think of my lampworking friend, Rachel, who is of Mexican descent and how when we get together (me being PA Dutch), fun and pretty things result.

One of the beads that came out of this effort was a cone bead. I plan to string it as a pendant with a cascade of other beads of the same colors coming out the bottom. This may give you an idea of my plan.

The entire "set" shows the cone bead along with a couple of multicolored florals, then a leaves and hearts bead. The last five beads on the strand are leaves with flowers - in pinks and turquoises.

Click on the picture for a better look.

I have a pretty good idea of what I will do with the turquoise flowered beads. They remind me of Forget-me-nots and I want to make them into a bracelet along with a stamped link...

I'll have to do a follow-up post when these are finished.

The last few times I torched, it was really for a swap I am involved in, but these beads are somewhat different from what I have been doing lately and they have inspired these differet ideas that I will have to keep at least the ones I talked about using.

Something else sort of different came out of the kiln too...

Thee are some nice round beads with silvered ivory, intense black, murinis and contrasting random dots.

I think these will be part of my swap project.

I'm liking them too and would like to make some actual sets like this... maybe all in one color!

Sets do seem to be escaping me lately. I'm just having fun experimenting and one thing seems to lead to another rather than just copying the same thing over and over.

Baltimore Orioles Up North

2010-05-13T18:11:00.003-04:00

I'm excited about this! I've seen Baltimore Orioles on very rare occasions here in our yard, usually at the top of our big old sycamore tree.

Today, as I was closing a window in the shop and covering the soap, one landed right in front of me and looked in the window!

I was planning to go into the house and as I walked out, I saw him/her(?) fly out of the purple plum right outside the shop and into the sycamore. It hung around and then sort of disappeared into a glob of what looked like dried leaves near the end of a branch.

I went into the shop and got my camera to snap a picture in telephoto mode and see if it was a nest... Yes! It was. I've never seen an oriole nest in person, but have seen lots of pictures of the neat little bag they build.

From one side, it looked like some old leaves that may have gotten caught in the crook of a branch, but I climbed up the hill to try to get a better shot and this was what I got after I enlarged the picture and cropped it. I'll have to keep track of it as it is built - I think there is more to go on it to make it a secure spot for their precious eggs.

It seems to be bird day around here because this past winter, we finally lost our last Guinea hen. But this morning, Bob came home with a dozen week old chicks and set them up in a cage with a heat lamp to nurse them through the first few weeks before we can put them outside in a safe spot to become acclimated to life outside. There is a tree in the spot so they will learn to roost at night.

He also told me he has (I think) 6 silky chicks on order for next week.... Those are the fluffy white chickens. We'll be adding to the menagerie once again.

Between the loud chuck chuck of the Guineas, another few clucks to add to our chicken flock and the sweet clear call of the orioles... it'll be a noisier place around here this summer.

Return of the Muse

2010-04-25T09:40:00.002-04:00

My flameworking muse is back - for how long, I never know.

However, the last few days, I have been inspired to sit down at the torch and create, something I haven't done since last month.

I've had a certain frit around for a long time and at some point, I made an interesting (if wonky) focal with it. The frit floated around in the middle and the ends were red - "bordello" to be exact.

I really liked it, but wasn't inspired to do anything more with it until recently. Yesterday, I made a set with it - frit on a nice neutral in Kalera shaped beads, with bordello spacers. Then I made a large lentil with the same combo. I'll post them soon.

There was a thread on one of my favorite online glass haunts about vessels and I guess that made me think about this application. The very base is bordello with a bordello neck and handles... The body of the vessel is clear with frit spattered through it.

The main vessel turned out so well that I thought it should have a special top, so I made an applied top. It's basically a blob of glass at the end of a rod, dipped in frit, then a bit down the rod, flame cut and tapered. I added a dollop of bordello to the very top and it looks like a little flame dancing on the top.

The first picture was taken inside next to a paisley curtain with very similar colors.

The second picture was taken as it hung in the window. Neither one does it justice. The bordello is a deeper red than it appears on either of the pictures.

When the sun finally appears again I may try to get a truer picture, but meanwhile, I gave up and had fun with Photoshop.... note the lens flare on the handle of the second picture!

The stopper almost fit exactly, but I wound up grinding just a bit off it. It fits very well, but I suppose if I sell it, it should have a cork option!

I'd love to make some kind of a wire stand so it could be displayed too.... Another day, I suppose.

An early spring garden

2010-03-17T22:36:00.003-04:00

We (Tina & I) spent a lovely day on Sunday with a friend in Waynesboro, PA on Sunday. Our excuse for going to visit was to attend the Carroll County Spring Flower Show just outside Hagerstown, MD.

The flower show was a bust, but the visit was great! Sharon had a wonderful variety of delicacies prepared for our visit and we seemed to be eating a good part of the day!

It had been raining for a few days, but the weather held for us most of the day. We went out and explored her gardens, finding a number of brave little plants starting to poke through the newly defrosted ground.

This was the scene that greeted us as we approached her door:
Snowdrops! These are so often the very first flowers to pop open in the early spring, sometimes even through the lingering snow. They always make me happy knowing that spring is really on the way.

We turned a corner, and:
A sink was tucked into an out-of-the-way corner... Her house and gardens are all full of wonderful little surprises like this.

As we toured the gardens, Sharon kept noticing many things, especially birdhouses, that were the worse for the rough treatment they had received in this snowy winter and the last few very windy days before we arrived. She spent a lot of time finding things and putting them aright. One of the things was this:
A butterfly house...

So many treasures. I think we need to return a bit later to see everything after it has greened up a bit. Her garden was a much better vision of spring than anything we saw at the show and the trip and visit were a delight!

Torch Time

2010-03-07T16:41:00.003-05:00

I got some torch time in yesterday and these were some of the best results:

I've been seeing "baleen" beads and reading people referring to "the cuts" - and "the tool", so I decided to experiment just from what I could gather instead of purchasing a tutorial. It didn't turnout too bad for a first try.

Then I thought, while I'm in the zone, why not do a moon vessel. These are always popular and sell quickly, so here's the latest:

It's better than it looks here - really a graceful shape. I should have waited to get a better picture, but just didn't have the patience today.

Resin addiction!

2010-03-01T16:41:00.002-05:00

Okay, I'll admit it. I'm addicted to resin!

Here are the latest:
A little closer up view of the three larger charms. I tried a number of different techniques.
And the smaller ones... The top two are an experiment with trying to use tiny shells we picked up on the beach in Bermuda many years ago. I think they turned out pretty well and plan to make a pair of earrings out of them.
The Queen of Hearts was cut from a tiny deck of cards - a little glitter paste and a red jewel..

Then two "M" charms. Might as well play with my own initial for now!

What did you do in the snow, Mommy?

2010-02-26T09:44:00.003-05:00

Resin! I've been wanting to do this for so long... I took a class a couple of years ago and fooled around with what I learned. Then, one day, while sorting through a bag of dried roses, and found a bottle cap. An article in this month's Wire Jewelry magazine gave me the impetus to make this....I pasted a tiny picture of a rose on the bottom and filled in with beads and wires, covering it all with resin. I had always imagined filling it with rose petals, but i think I like this better. I caught a couple of tiny bubbles in the resin, not good thing, but I got rid of most of them. For a first try, this turned out pretty well!

Here is the original bottle cap:
If you look at the bottom left of the cap, you will see that it is from Pakistan, the same place my roses came from! And interesting to note, the ingredients list says nothing at all about either high fructose corn syrup or aspartame... only in America!

Okay, off the soapbox. While I had the resin mixed up, I made a couple more little charms with some of the bezels I just got from Rings 'n Things:These tiny pictures were cut from scrapbooking paper & coated with Elmer's glue. I added just one tiny matching bead to each one and then filled with resin. I think they'd make a great addition to a charm bracelet or a cute little necklace charm.

So, that's what I did in the snow... Now, to the torch!

Leaf Earrings

2010-02-15T17:36:00.002-05:00

I had a request for some new "leaf earrings", so during the snow, I made a few pairs:

Bronze:
Turquoise:

Lily of the Valley:

Lilac Ice:

Hematite:

& Dark Teal:

These are fun to put together. I make such a mess as I paw through all my beads, finding combinations that I can't wait to put together!

After the storm

2010-02-11T09:34:00.007-05:00

I can't resist. There are just so many gorgeous pictures from the snow!

The one on the left is my favorite. Icicles hanging on the shop. They look almost magical as the sun turns them into prisms! I love icicles even though they can sometimes seem to be daggers ready to fall.

Below, the picture on the right is a scene Tina pointed out to me... our wisteria vine, so gnarled and twisted, covered with snow and icicles hanging above.. The contrasts in this one reminded me of some kind of modern painting. Nature is amazing!

I walked out to see that the winds we thought might undo all Bob's work yesterday had hardly made a difference in our driveway.

The shop is almost hidden behind all the piles of snow. The cars, which were completely dug out only a day or so ago are back to being buried under the new snow.

You can see Tina's house up on the hill to the right. It looks pretty close, right? Well, apparently when one is basically "swimming" through the snow with no gloves, hat or suitable shoes it is miles and miles and very frightening - especially as the snow is still swirling!

The sky has become so blue after days of heavy gray. It looks warm and comforting, but I suspect if we went out on the roads right now, it would still seem a bit threatening.
As I got closer, I saw all the icicles hanging from the eaves...
Now that I'm out here, I have some work to do. So off I go to mix lye for soap to be made later in the week and to light the torch for another day of bead making, but first, I had to share some of the beauty of this most recent storm.

Da Beads

2010-02-07T11:35:00.002-05:00

So, after all that absence, now I post twice in one day.

Yesterday, as I waited for the kiln to ramp up, I decided to make a few murini. I have done this before, but I got some pretty good results yesterday.

This brown flower murini seemed to work perfectly on this bead - I think It's my favorite of the day:This one got a little smeared. I wasn't totally prepared to make the bead and that may account for the messiness of it. I kinda went with the flow instead of having everything I needed at the ready!
I was thinking of adding a murini to this one, but I had grabbed an unknown stringer to play around in the background. I think it turned out to be a stringer of a glass called "magic" and it seemed to be coming out so beautifully that I decided not to mess it up!
Finally, I had actually made this bead toward the end of last year with a dusting of enamel and another of the murinis I made before and don't think I ever showed it before.
I sure hope I can get back to the torc regularly now... just as soon as we get caught up with the soap!

Life Goes On

2010-02-07T07:45:00.006-05:00

It'a been so long since I've posted, but January slipped past in a blur of hospitals and sorrow. We lost our brother John on February 2, after a 4-year fight with liver disease.

The weather held mostly clear for us as we traveled back and forth from home to hospital and back, finally bringing him home for a few precious days before we could no longer care for him at home and he was taken to Hospice.

The day he died, we walked out of Hospice into a light dusting of snow. My sister and I looked at each other realizing how lucky we were that we had not had to deal with weather during this and all the other times we have had to take him in for standard or emergency treatment. Even when we were traveling back and forth to Philly, the bad weather always seemed to dance around us, but never gave us a problem.

Friday night, it began to snow in earnest and we woke to 20" on the ground with more to come. This is the scene from our garage door:
It was such a relief to know that there was nothing to worry about and that we could just watch it and enjoy the beauty.

After it stopped snowing, my personal hero, my husband Bob plowed us out and opened the way to the shop.I cleared the snow away from the air vent and made my first beads of the new year.

They should be annealed by now and when I clean them, good or bad, they'll be posted here.

I am the oldest and John was the second oldest in our band of 5 kids. I remember the day he was born. It is hard to believe, after all this time that we never got the happy ending we were hoping for, but life goes on and I know that John would want us to live our lives to the fullest.

One last little surprise!

2009-12-31T09:37:00.004-05:00

On waking this morning, I looked out the window to see that 2009 wasn't quite finished with us yet. Apparently there was some hushed mention of snow, but I never heard it.

These are the scenes we see this morning from our front porch - the driveway:
The steps down to the front deck:
And the woods and pond. The road is that shallow diagonal line in the middle right of the picture:
No longer feeling the need to participate in any of the rowdy traditions of our youth, I will be happy to sit here in the warm and watch the delicate traceries of snow on the trees and the poor folks who still feel they must try to travel on this night as they struggle up the hill and around the corner...

After the Storm

2009-12-30T08:26:00.003-05:00

The winds have been howling around here for a few days. They followed closely on the heels of an early snow and were joined with a nasty rain storm that seemed to freeze on the roads in the evenings.

As we were driving home from the bank/post office run on Monday, we saw this sight up ahead:
The pole had been hit and a guy wire has been stretched across to the right on a diagonal to hold it in place.

As we got closer, we saw this makeshift "bandage":
I'm not sure why this struck us as so funny that we felt the need to document it. At first, the guy wire was not visible and the ridiculousness of the flimsy plastic bandage trying to hold it all together was probably the reason. We thought it might belong in the Fail Blog.

Last day at Frog Hollow - Happy Solstice!

2009-12-21T08:31:00.002-05:00

Our final official day at Frog Hollow, we think! Somebody said Dec. 21 was the last day and due to some language difficulties around here, we aren;t sure if we're still open or not!

The trees still look great, even if they are in "disguise."
The shop looks cozy with its blanket of snow....
And the road is mostly open and clear.
So, it looks like we can finish up the preparations for the celebrations to come.

If the guys will just get the decrations out of the attic, I can decorate the tree! A chicken in the oven for today... Some soup tomorrow.

Sorry - just a stream of conciousness today.

Molded Soaps

2009-12-10T10:10:00.003-05:00

From time to time, when we have extra soap in the pan, or when there is just some there that we don't want to scrape out, we will pour it into a small mold.

Often these molds are used for what we call melt & pour soap because that soap is easily released from them.

Cold process (the soap we make) seems sometimes to become a PART of them and may never come out.

We wait and wait, and finally they pop out - sometimes in one piece, sometimes in a strange smeared parody of the original intent!

One night, not too long ago, we decided to make some molded soaps on purpose! We decided to make essential oil blends for them and the Green Man, above, was made with a nice blend including fir, vetiver and some other woodsy oils.

First, we used less water than usual so the soaps would firm up more quickly and we made sure to add plenty of clay, which would absorb some of the water.

When they still gave us a hard time, we mentioned it to a soapmaking friend who simply said, "Put them in the freezer." So we did - and when we took them out - lo and behold, we had lovely molded soaps.

Then we decided to play with some micas. They were especially beautiful on this sun soap (to the right.) The essential oils in this one are bright and shiny, including some citrus oils.

We touched them all with mica to bring out their details.

The Celtic cube is probably one of the molds we have had around the longest. It is always a nice pattern and the fragrance used in this one was something like patchouli and grapefruit.

Tina took some plain goat milk soap home last night to try rebatching for molding. Her little experiment turned out beautifully and I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't do a blog entry about it soon.

She did post a picture today on her facebook page.

As the days grow short...

2009-11-04T08:37:00.004-05:00

November is here and it means many things... In Lancaster County, one of the things it means is the Amish wedding season.

Yesterday, while we were making deliveries in "Amish Country", we passed a farm that usually has a unique Homemade Root Beer sign out at the end of their driveway and noticed that it was covered with a cardboard sign that said "Closed until Weds." We looked down the lane at the farm and saw this:All those little grey boxes on the left of the buildings are buggies. I cut off a few other vehicles. There were also some vans, called "Amish Taxis", driven by "English" drivers that apparently brought some of the guests from farther away.

This was a HUGE gathering. The 3 wagons I have marked are called bench wagons. For Sunday church services, these bench wagons carry a number of benches - seating - to whatever home is hosting church that week, but church normally only requires one wagon. This was a number of congregations combined.

I worried that it might have been a funeral, but Tina remembered that this is Wedding Season and that the Amish weddings usually take place on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, so it was most likely a joyous occasion for this large gathering.

Another thing that often happens is that we do some experimentation with various products. Usually this is done after the Christmas season here at Frog Hollow is over, but, last night, I decided it was time to try once again to try make liquid soap. I have a couple of projects that this was needed for, so I gave it another shot before I broke down and just bought some ready-made. It seems to have worked out pretty well. I read (and followed) the recipe better than the last time. I saw the reasons for some of the things that were changed from making regular cold process soap and decided to try to go against some hard and fast rules we have always followed.
I poured off some of the finished soap and tried it out. It is NOT finished soap and feels pretty harsh at this point, but give it a couple of weeks and it'll be fine. The stuff in the crock pot is the left over paste which has not melted this morning. I added some more boiling water and will now let it sit, covered so that it will dissolve and become a nice amber liquid...

I'm actually pretty proud of this batch. Apparently I superfatted the previous batch I made and it never was completely clear and separated almost immediately. We'll see how this goes.

Finally, as I walked out to the shop this morning, I noticed we had a frost last night and it was just beginning to melt. These are the fairy soap balls I have stuck in the planter outside the shop..
These always look magical to me, but the frost adds another dimension!

Cemetery Tales

2009-10-27T07:54:00.006-04:00

As we near All Hallows' Eve...

The past two days, instead of getting some of the things done that we should, we've been out enjoying crystal clear days and fall leaves. It's been fun, especially since our brother, who until recently has shown little interest in the outside world, was with us.

On Sunday, we ventured out enjoying and photographing fall foliage. John and I had been out on Friday and the trees were at their peak. They were still beautiful on Sunday, but heavy rains on Saturday had taken some toll. In our travels, we saw a lot of beautiful vistas. We were looking for drama, I think - pictures that told a story - and as we passed a cemetery, John asked if we had ever been up to Mount Bethel Cemetery in Columbia. Most of our relatives from that area are in another cemetery there, but Mount Bethel holds our great grandparents and some great aunts and uncles we never met. We filed the idea away and decided we'd have to visit - someday.

Well, Monday dawned clear and beautiful and by afternoon we were able to put our work plans aside in favor of another photo day. After running a few errands, we headed to Mount Bethel. We really had no idea where our relatives were, but while we were looking, we found a lot of interesting stones and stories:

First, the requisite angel....This is the marker for Charles F. Sourbeer, aged 19 years, 1 month and 16 days. He died in August of 1885. I guess I feel like the childrens' markers are the most poignant... This one says "Our Son" across the top and it marks the grave of David Smith who was 9. There was another one that said "Our Boy" and I was so touched by that.There were large markers that listed a number of children and babies - Often, before the list, it would begin, "Our Babes". I realized that stillborn and very short lived babies were not at all uncommon.

When we finally found our great grandmother, we noticed that there were apparently two very small babies buried with her as they were marked on the front of her stone. Our grandmother was the youngest of 17 and I'll have to check family record to see if the 17 includes the very young ones or not - I don't think so. In that particular plot were our great grandmother, great grandfather and one great aunt, Harriet or "Hallie" who died as a teenager of heart problems. I remember our grandmother always speaking very fondly of Hallie and suspect everyone knew she would not live long. The other one of the children buried there was George. George was killed when he was a young man, in a railroad accident.

So, while I'm writing about children, these appear to be two sisters, Edith and Eveline. They were 12 and 11 when they died and it appears they died around the same time in October although I can't read the year, I suspect it was the same for both. What a tragedy that must have been. I didn't really look around - I suppose their parents or other siblings must be buried somewhere nearby, but there is no last name anywhere on the stone.
When I saw the lamb on this one, I assumed it would be another child, but no, it is a 58 year old woman, Fannie A Gohn. I wonder if she was never married...
Since it is a derivative of our name, the name on this one attracted me - Samuel Swartz. As I read more, it is the marker of a young man who died in the Battle of the Wilderness, May 6, 1861, during the Civil War. He was 31.
I just liked the carving on this one and took the picture before I had actually read the stone.. She was 30 when she died and is remembered as a wife and as a daughter...
It was interesting to see the stone work and the difference in the wear in the various stones. I guess some were carved from native limestone and they have worn quickly and are hard to read. They were apparently the most interesting to me because I didn't take any pictures of the marble stones that still seem almost new until you read the dates and realize - oh these are from the 1800's too...

Finally, I loved this obelisk with the beautiful wreath carved on it.
All those stories... All those lives...

Goddesses and Teapots

2009-10-20T18:08:00.004-04:00

I finally updated the "Focals" Page on my Torchsong website.

I had showed both my goddess beads and my teapots before, but I have a few new ones and finally put them up on my site to sell.

The one on the left is the fire goddess. This is the first one that turned out the way I imagined and I'd like to make more - definitely one for me! I'm a fire sign and love my torch.

Even as I was making them, I envisioned how I would display the beads on these neck pieces. The goddesses are attached to a neckpiece of wound silk. I think it makes a nice presentation. They adjust from about 18-20" by buttoning them in different stretchy links in the back.

They are shown in colors including black, dark green and gold.

I also finally listed my teapots.

Last summer, when we were up at The Rosemary House in Mechanicsburg, PA to help celebrate their 40th anniversary, Nancy Reppert saw the vessels I make and asked if I could do teapots.

I went home and gave it a try. They are wired and I give them little tops and bottoms with bead caps and daisy spacers.

The main problem with making teapots is that they begin with hollows, as do vessels. Hollows are a skill I have mostly mastered, but some days I sit down at the torch and find it completely impossible to make one. I was having a spate of that problem for a while and only recently recovered my abilities and added to the collection of teapots I have to offer.

I am happy to now have them all available for purchase on my updated focals page.

A favorite barn

2009-10-02T14:08:00.005-04:00

This is probably the one that inspired me to want to do a series of barn pictures on my blog. We used to pass it every day, way back when we were doing the Renaissance Faire.

I knew there were designs in the bricks, but never stopped to really get a good look at it. On Tuesday, we were on the way home from a small wholesale show up at the Lebanon Expo center and I happened to have my camera. I had decided I would stop and get a picture on my way in that morning and I finally stopped and took this one.

Now, looking at it, I see that the design is interesting, but... the date "A 1816" tells me exactly how old it is. What a very cool barn.

The white building behind it is a "tobacco barn" that is in use drying tobacco this year. See the slats that are propped open? The barn has been filled with hanging tobacco plants and the slats have been opened to get the air flow through that will dry them correctly.

I believe it was the morning before the show that I snapped this one as we were getting ready to be on our way...Such a beautiful sunrise over Frog Hollow, I just felt the need to share it!

Red Hat Beads

2009-09-11T18:28:00.004-04:00

I had a request - or a suggestion - that I should have some Red Hat items for an upcoming event. For the past few days, I've been spending a lot of time at the torch working on that little project.

This was one of the large focal beads I came up with. I liked it a lot and thought it looked sort of "folk arty". It was a way of working my way into the red/purple combo that just doesn't come naturally to me. Adding the ivory and creamy greens made it easy to work with.

As I worked my way into the solid red/purple combo, I eventually wound up with this:
I like the free form, organic nature of it and then I started with the dots...
So, all in all, I like these and think they'll be fun to finish into some nice pieces.

When I get some good pictures, I will post some of the other things I did as I worked through the colors and then wound up with some new techniques that turned out well. Unfortunately the pictures I have taken so far have not!

Barn Bloggin'

2009-09-07T14:32:00.004-04:00

There's something I've been wanting to do for a long time.

In Lancaster County and our surrounding farm lands, we have some of the most interesting barns. I suppose they are intersting in other areas, but in our travels around here, I often say, "I'm going to start blogging some of these interesting barns." Well, I finally got started on it.
This is a beautiful stone barn I've passed a number of times. It is on Rt. 422, on my way to Palmyra. The feature I love about this barn is the semi-circular window at the peak of the roof, but you can also see the slits in the walls for air flow.

More barns will follow... there are so many and they all have interesting features I'd love to document and share.

2nd Sunday Classes - September

2009-08-27T13:22:00.000-04:00

We've got another incredible day of herbal goodness planned on September 13th.

We will begin with a short weed walk and discuss different methods of preserving herbs over tea and a snack. After discussing various herbs that are traditionally used for unwinding and relaxation, we will be blending a relaxing tea. Each participant will make their own blend and take it along. Next, the bounty of elderberries in the backyard beckons, and we'll be making elderberry syrup to help ward off colds and flu this coming winter. We will also mix up eye pillows, and a lotion, the details of which we will probably come up with during the class - depending on what you all want to make. We'll end the day with an herbal supper.
Supper will come from the garden, and will most certainly include the scrumptious tomatoes and basil that are growing so well there. Maybe some wild roots? We'll see :-).
Participants will leave with some of the tea blend, the syrup, an eye pillow, and a bottle of lotion, as well as a booklet that will include instructions and recipes from everything we've done that day. 11:30 to 6:30.

The whole day is only $75!

Come sign up today - space is limited.

Wondiferous Weed Walk

2009-08-16T14:01:00.004-04:00

Tina & I have known Fred and Barb Will for quite some time through the old PA Herb Business Association and we see them every spring at the Landis Valley Herb & Garden Faire where we are "next door neighbors". It seems every year, we (actually Tina) mention some plant or other that we have been looking for and, oddly enough, the Wills have it growing on their property and Fred brings us a big shovelfull or two to plant in our own woods.
Last spring we were talking about what a treasure trove of plants they must have and how much fun it would be to take a long weed walk with Fred through his woods and see all these plants in their "home." Thus hatched the plan for "The Wondiferous Weed Walk."

We traveled out to Somerset, PA on Friday for the event. We got there Friday afternoon and wandered around finding vista after vista of beautiful wildflowers and herbs. This is just a quick example of a hillside of ironweed and Queen Anne's lace. I can't do them justice because everywhere we looked was some new plant, another stunning combination of colors... it was amazing.

That evening, we met up with our hosts, Fred & Barb as well as a few of the other folks who had gotten in the night before the event for dinner. It was delicious and I wish I had taken a picture of the "skillet cookie" we had for desert. Three of us shared it and there was enough left over for another person!
After a night at the campground - which I promise to not whine about except to say I'm just too old to go camping again, even in a "bunkhouse," we made our way to the Wills' home.

The main event of the day was Fred leading us on THE Wondiferous Weed Walk! Here are just a few of the sights we saw:

Shagbark Hickory. I even found some nuts, still in their green coating.

Devil's Walking Stick. As Fred said, so full of jaggers even the Devil doesn't want to touch it.

Wild Yam. For some reason, I always thought it was a tropical plant, but I guess I was wrong! Here, it is wound around this maple sapling.

Just a quick shot of Tina in her element... foraging with a basket in hand.

And finally, the bath house at the campground. On the right are the toilet stalls and on the left are the showers. The glass block windows and the interesting paneling on the doors lead me to believe the camp ground was built in the 50's or so.

Family Pictures

2009-08-06T16:39:00.003-04:00

I was playing with old photographs yesterday and dug out some family shots that have been loved and pawed over for many, many years. There were 5 kids in our family and I have to say there are very few of all five of us together. Often I was the photographer and so there are some of the other 4, but all 5 is something unusual. This was one of the few I found.I'm the oldest one up there at the top and beside me is John. Tina is right in front of me and beside her is Tom. Mark is the baby, of course, and we have never been able to figure out what he was doing in this picture. I think supposedly there was a cookie involved, but I'm not sure. There are a couple of pictures of Mark with his eyes crossed and he tells us that it was because he always wondered what he looked like with his eyes crossed.... but, you know, how many times did he have to see?

The reason I was looking through the pictures was the occasion of our 35th wedding anniversary. I posted a few pictures on facebook, but there are a couple more I've always liked.

This was taken on our honeymoon in Acapulco, on a boat tour of the harbor:Apparently we were boarded by pirates who then posed with us for pictures! You can't tell that by this time, Montezuma's Revenge had hit me and I was constantly scanning for the nearest bathroom! I think that drink in my hand had calmed things for the cruise so I was a bit more relaxed. I had been so careful about everything I put in my mouth while Bob, on the other hand, had been cruising all the little taco stands down the alleys.

A few years later, we went to Jamaica. Not one of my favorite trips, but Dunn's Falls was beautiful:Yes, I am wearing clothes. It's just a weird angle. Back then, the tour took you to the bottom of the falls and you climbed up. It was really nice and peaceful and a lot of fun.
Nowadays, the parking is at the top and you come down steps. After climbing to the top, there is a gauntlet of shops one must run before reaching the safety of their tour bus. I found out about this change when I took my mom on a tour from a cruise we went on together. It really changes the feeling about the place.

Finally, after Rob came along, we didn't travel much until he hit about 4 and we went to Bermuda with Tina and her then-husband John. This is us at dinner one evening:Notice the parade of dinosaurs on the table in front of "Bobby". Our waiter, Manuel, told him that at night, the dinosaurs will come to life and grow. I can't tell you how thrilled we were with that! Luckily Rob didn't believe him.

It came from the kiln

2009-08-03T15:16:00.003-04:00

I know, I know - Time to update the website.... Well, I've been working on getting a nicer variety to put up there. I'm getting there.

First a vessel in Copper Green/Pale emerald with a salmon frit swirl. I love this combo and have done it a couple of times before. I'll continue doing it until I wind up with one left in my hot little hands that has not sold!
Another vessel made of a pastel slate blue that I think is one of the Vetrofond colors that they did once and may never make again.. I love it, but I might as well use it. The vine is goldstone and the flowers are "magic" - a reactive color that just does downright magical things!
A water goddess or os she a mermaid? Hmmmm

And finally, my fire goddess! I tried this a couple of times and wasn't satisfied with the results. This gal, I like with her little wisps of flames licking around the edges...

More Tute Results

2009-07-28T15:22:00.002-04:00

These were done some time ago - when I was on my wild tutorial binge. I love the results though and have been wearing them a lot. I have to make some more because I think other people will like them too.

These were from Ann Rickett's Tutorial, She gives you a good starting point - and one of the bracelet beads is an exact copy, but then, using the techniques, I branched off and created my own.

First the bracelet:
I strung it with leather spacers and ivory colored beads. The counter-weight bead is a topaz tiger bead.

More recently, I sat down and made this focal. I wired it up and wear it on a ball chain.

I think the bottom part of this bead reminds me of Monarch butterfly wings, so there's another direction to take it!

Second Sundays - Herbal Adventures with the Twisted Sisters

2009-07-16T13:36:00.005-04:00

We've been talking about it for a long time, and now we're ready to do it... classes here on the farm, Frog Hollow Evergreens, in Manheim, PA.

Second Sundays with The Twisted Sisters

Each Herbal Adventure day will begin at 11:30 AM and will include:

~ A short weed walk where we will identify the plants of the season.
~ An herbal craft or two
~ A culinary creation
~ A medicinal preparation
~ A talk/discussion of a pertinent herbal subject
~ A light herbal supper
We will finish up around 6:30 PM and participants will leave with samples of everything we've made and a booklet put together specifically for that day with recipes and instructions to make it easier to continue at home.

Beginning with the August 9, 2009 Adventure:
Limit 8 fellow adventurers.
Cost $75
pre-registration and payment required. Click here to register and pay.

We'll start the day around 11:30 AM, with a short weed walk,
and then return to discuss what we found and talk about foraging while having a snack and tea (most likely the tea will be from the walk).

We will be making herbal vinegars,
distill some mint,
create some neck coolers, and then finally make up some passionflower tincture
before sitting and relaxing together over a light herbal supper. Tomatoes and basil are expected to star in that menu!

Around 6:30 PM, you will leave with a bottle of herb vinegar, some passion flower tincture, a neck cooler and a booklet with instructions and recipes for everything we did today.

After the winter holidays here at Frog Hollow Christmas Tree Farm we'll switch to Second Saturdays, but until then it is Second Sundays. Join us!

You an see all our Second Sunday plans and keep up with all the latest announcements on our new blog Twisted Sisters Herbs

Market on the 4th

2009-07-05T10:57:00.007-04:00

It was July 4th at Mount Joy Farmers Market. Flags lined the streets of our small town, and at Market, one of our vendors set up a little vignette to celebrate!There were even red, white and blue potato varieties. Supposedly they hold their color and it was very tempting to try making potato salad with them, but knowing our family we stuck to the tried and true!I walked around market part of the way through the day and when I got home and downloaded the pictures I took, I was thrilled and amazed by the beauty that surrounds us every week.

You can tell the pride that goes into growing or producing the products by the way they are displayed.

CORN - Seems a little early for local, but....

Wonderfully displayed root veggies

And more

Tomatoes - again, very early this year. All the rain really slowed the crop.
More and more variety every week.

Not local, but... yum! Melons

And some of the delicious baked goods offerred.

Some of the herb and flower plants you can find every week!

And, of course, a sunflower to finish off the day!

What a week...

2009-06-28T09:34:00.007-04:00

Until I started downloading my pictures from the past week, I didn't realize just how much we managed to pack into it.

I'll start on Saturday, the 20th. We were to be speakers at a family reunion in Shippensburg. The theme was colonial times, when the family had settled in the area and we were to tell them about the way the mother of the house would use herbs in her daily life.

If the weather had been more pleasant, it would have been a nice ride and a quick little gig. Unfortunately, it was raining and so, not very nice. It gave us some insight into how it must have felt to have been a pioneer woman out in the godforsaken wilderness. We entertained ourselves taking pathetic self-portraits!

The rest of the weeks seemed to be a celebration of lavender! We spent a few quiet evenings in the beginning of the week on Tina's deck making lavender wands.

On Wednesday evening, we headed down to Pottstown to visit with Sue Hess at Farm at Coventry, where we did a lavender distillation and made some lavender wands - also called lavender bottles and lavender baskets.

Sue's place is lovely and I took many pictures of the farm, from the welcoming vignette on the front porch (shown here) to the cats, the chickens and the gardens.

I can't post them all, but wanted to show the lavender treats we enjoyed on her always-beautiful table as a snack.

My son and I decided we needed to get moving and started walking each morning at our nearby community park. We discovered that the edges of the new park have been planted in wildflower seeds and I took a picture of the drift of wildflowers along the side of the trail.And one particular hill covered in many colors of yarrow with the large golden variety at the very top, reaching for the sun!The vistas are just beautiful!

We wound it up on Saturday at market with yet another lavender event. We had attempted to coordinate a mini lavender festival for market mid week, but had apparently waited too long!

But, on our own, we set up a lavender distillation (how essential oils and hydrosols are made) which seemed to fascinate patrons and other vendors alike. Here's Tina explaining the process to our market neighbor, Mary Prescott of Prescott's Patch (organic vegetables).

Tina had also baked some gluten-free lavender shortbread for everyone to try and we had piles of lavender so anyone who wanted to make one could try their hand at a lavender wand.
Somewhere along the line, I also managed to get orders out and make some flag beads so I will have earrings and necklaces for the 4th next week at market!

And more goddesses (goddessi)?

2009-06-14T09:11:00.002-04:00

I was anxious to get the photos of these latest goddesses. I'm not even sure if I like them as much as the first ones, although I guess they just aren't as "new", so not as exciting to me. I still like them a lot:

Topaz Goddess

Star Goddess

Mermaid Goddess

Cocoa Goddess

Mossy Goddess

And this is when I ran out of propane. I was almost finished with the goddess on this vessel and realized the flame was getting smaller and smaller, so I worked feverishly to get her head on! No lip to the vessel, but I think I'll finish this up somehow by electroforming a strap around the whole thing. It could turnout to be a serendipitous catastrophy!

New Goddess Beads

2009-06-12T13:10:00.006-04:00

My goddess beads in the past have been quite anatomically correct and actually, some folks have been upset with me for showing them (the children, you know - who will probably not be allowed to visit an art museum until after marriage!)

Although I can't claim what follows as an original idea, I have to say that I saw some similar beads online and sort of took it to another place. The original idea was posted on Lampwork, etc. by LouiseI. Her Etsy name is Fireseed.

This is my first try at this particular goddess bead. She's very similar to the first one I saw. So, she's okay, but not something I can really claim as my own. She does look very fertile though (as they all do!)

My second try was the one to the right, an attempt at some color. This was more original and I like it pretty much. She's a little fire goddess.

I should probably keep her as my own since I am a fire child.

As I started my third attempt, I thought of Tina and her affinity for green - leaves in particular.

This gal could be surrounded by jade and would blend in beautifully. I kinda like her as the star of the show though.

Finally, I got really brave and started playing with enamels in a bigger way. This is what resulted:

I really like the way she turned out and will be doing more like her - in new and exciting colors!

I suspect these will be for sale soon at Radiance in Lancaster.

Adventures in Soap Making

2009-06-05T09:15:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was a soap day... We were going along smoothly in our usual soaping groove. Our latest batch had been finished and tucked in for the night. I went into the house for a few moments and when I came back out, Tina said, "what is that?"

I became aware of a hissing sound and then we both noticed that the lid of that most recent batch of soap was hovering about 2 inches above the soap.

I removed the lid and this is what we saw (Notice the normal, well-behaved soap next to it.) : Just under the little oval shaped "bloop" in the front, steam was escaping, causing the hissing noise.

We've (just recently) had soap over heat before, but that time there was no sinister spitting and hissing noise.

I stabbed it a few times to try to release any more steam, but by that time, the damage was done. Unlike the goats milk soap we dealt with before, this one never collapsed into itself. It was set up and solid in no time at all.

We somehow hoisted the steaming hot mold and soap onto a cart and wheeled it out into the garage bay next to the studio so it could cool down a bit before we even tried to deal with it.

After we were finished with the rest of the uneventful batches of the day, we brought it back in and took it out of its mold:If you notice, the freezer paper we use as a release became brittle from the heat and also stuck very solidly to the soap so it is now "part" of the soap! This shows the "cavern" on the side - one of many as it turns out. And in case you're wondering what it looks like close up, here's the "gaping maw":Scarey, huh? There seem to be crystals inside. I haven't tasted them, but I'm pretty sure they aren't lye!

And when we set it up on it's side and cut, we saw there was no salvaging this one:We aren't sure what caused this. The only thing we can figure is that it was a new bottle of fragrance oil and the formulation had been changed somehow. It doesn't smell at all like it should, I'll say that!

One other possibility is that the water we use as a carrier for the marbling colorant wasn't mixed in thoroughly(and I mixed it and know it actually wasn't), became trapped in the soap and as the soap heated up, it turned to steam...

I'm hoping it's the latter because this is a popular variety and I'd hate to have to stop making it because of the oil change.

Just goes to show you, no matter how long you have been making soap (we've been making it since the early 90's) there's always something new that can surprise you!

Geldard Tutorial results..

2009-05-29T09:33:00.003-04:00

One of my favorite glass artists is Jennifer Geldard. I've wanted to take a class with her for years and always managed to miss out. On Monday, it occurred to me that I could purchase her tutorials and get as close to a class as possible without taking one!

This is the result of her "Ornate" tutorial:

The one on the bottom left is my first attempt on Wednesday. I got mixed reviews from the family, and I knew I could do better. The larger blue bead was another attempt to copy the tutorial bead exactly. The purple and orange beads were my own color combos and I was especially pleased with the purple/green one!

The other three were done yesterday and this morning I etched them to get the wonderful glow that comes from etching some encased colors.

I tried making beads like hers when I first began making beads and had some limited success, but it is really nice to find out exactly how she achieves some of the effects.

This technique reminded me that I need to take my time and be mindful of heat control. I'm often much too impatient and these certainly slowed me down. It was worth it though and I can see getting much better results as time goes on.

I'll probably post individual photos on my facebook page later today... You can become a fan there at TorchsongStudio if you would like!

Springtime at Frog Hollow

2009-05-17T20:45:00.003-04:00

So, it's spring here at Frog Hollow and our prolific chickens are "at it" again!
This is the first clutch to hatch this year and the first clutch is greeted with a great deal of excitement. This mom is a really good mother. She is extremely protective of her chicks. She's the first one Bob has let have pretty free rein with deciding when she could take the kids out for a walk, etc. Usually he puts new little families in their own protected nursery areas, but this gal was exceptional in many ways.

We saw her nest some time ago when she first started to lay. She chose a spot in one of the bays next to the soap studio and as soon as Bob noticed, he started blocking the door open so she could get in and out. The odd part about the spot was that it was almost underneath a large air compressor that would start up at any odd time of the day or night with a loud, loud clamor!
I'm assuming the first hatch of the year is a bunch of deaf chicks...

We;ve also been visited more than usual this year by an assortment of wild animals.

My little chipmuink was back dancing on the wall outside the bathroom window, a doe seems to have decided our back yard is a great spot for her mid morning naps and three wild turkeys have started hanging around.

A couple of weeks ago, I thought I caught a glimpse of a turkey slipping around the house. A few days later, a neighbor showed up wondering the turkeys he saw were ours.... no, not this time. Then, last week, Bob came in and told us to come out and look.... The elusive turkeys were in our front yard.Now, they seem to show up in our yard almost every day and I finally got a picture of them this afternoon as they strolled across our driveway. We're especially impressed with the one in the middle - the coloring is really unusual.

If the doe is ever in my camera sights, I'll post a picture of her too.

Mothers Day Surprise

2009-05-10T17:34:00.007-04:00

I just got home from a lovely late luncheon with DH and son. We went to one of my favorite restaurants and I had a wonderful meal.

Of course, Mothers Day had me thinking of my own mother and I dug out a couple of pictures to share:

Here's Mom at the beach. Cape May, I'm sure - her favorite.

And Mom with her first three grandchildren (Rob on the left, Tommy on her lap and Janie on the right), again at the beach! Does she look overwhelmed? It got even better after Molly was born.

The surprise was that after we sat down for our lunch and were perusing the menu, a woman at the next table said, "Maryanne, is that you?" I looked up, and it was our mother's friend, Marie!

This is Mom on the left and Marie on the right - at a High School reunion.

Marie was mom's best friend at least back to high school, and she was the nurse in the delivery room when I was born. The story was always that Marie managed to slip Mom a little extra something to make the delivery easier.

Apparently Mom had introduced Marie to her future husband, Charlie, and both women were in each others' weddings. Marie and Mom both had lots of kids and would only see each other sporadically after the kids started coming, but when they did, there was never the feeling of time passing. They would just pick up where they left off.

We caught up on what is happening with all of us and then she told us a story about how she and Mom used to go to the park to swing, and pick up guys.

I hadn't seen Marie since Mom died over 4 years ago and it was wonderful to see her again. I feel like it was as close to being with Mom again as I could get.

Week 10 Blog Contest WINNERS!

2009-05-10T09:15:00.002-04:00

First, I must apologize for being so late in posting the contest winners. I will say we just got through the biggest herb event we take part in every year, so I have a little bit of an excuse, but nonetheless, a commitment is a commitment, so again, I apologize profusely!

And on with the winners!

Aquarian Bath - katnjack
Garden Chick - Teeoff10
Herbs from the Labyrinth - Badgermomma
Nature's Gift - Debra
Patti's Potions - Tumbleweed
Prairieland - MollyCulley
Rosemary House - lemonverbenalady
Sunrose - Green Womyn
The Essential Herbal - Marnie
Torchsong - Anne

I will be sending out emails to the winners shortly to let them know and to request their addresses.

Once again everyone, THANKS for taking part in our little blogging adventure! And congratulations to all the winners in the past 10 weeks.

May Flowers in the Rain!

2009-05-04T10:29:00.003-04:00

Please continue to comment on the previous post to win the pin, but meanwhile...

It's been a bit rainy and dreary for some time now, but the flowers and the way they glow in this weather are actually enough to lift my spirits!

This was the view that inspired this entry. It's outside our kitchen window and it just makes me happy looking out at the vibrant lilacs, the dark soil and the hostas coming up and taking over... not to mention the rooster sculpture - I just love him!
These are my favorite pink tulips... verging on apricot. They were blooming right along with the daffodils, but unfortunately I didn't get that shot... The clump of chives next to them should pop open if and when the sun comes out again and will be a beautiful sight...
This dogwood has been moved a couple of times and I'm happy to see that it is coming into its own again. Originally, it was right outside our bedroom window and was always such a joy at this time of year and the green shade was so lush all summer.
And this corner of the yard is always a fun place. Right now it looks pretty tame, but the butterfly bushes come up and become a riot of activity, set off by a couple of miniature roses. There's always something going on in this corner...
Although I'd love to see some sun - especially for the Landis Valley Herb and Garden Fair this weekend, just seeing all the green and growing things responding to the rain still makes me very happy!

Blog Contest - 10th and Final week

2009-05-01T01:38:00.001-04:00

Torchsong Studio will be hosting the 10th and final week of our blog contest.

Maryanne is offering something a little different to close out the contest.

A lead free pewter garden pin with a little glass ladybug charm in the middle and garden tools on either side.

Just comment on this, or any of the other blogs participating for a chance to win one of ten pins to be given away. MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE A CONTACT email.

Remember all of the blogs below are participating, so visit all of them and post to increase your chances of winning.

The Essential Herbal magazine subscription
Garden Chick - fairy cookie kit
SunRose Aromatics - facial exfoliant and liquid soap
Herbs from the Labyrinth - tea sampler
Patti's Potions - lip balms
PrairieLand Herbs - healing wand
Aquarian Bath - lip balm and soap
The Rosemary House - Bertha Reppert's "Twelve Month Herbal"
Nature's Gift - purse-sized inhalers & inhalation blend
Torchsong Studio Our final contest - check back on May 8 for the list of winners!

Thanks everyone for participating and for playing!

Blog Contest - Week 9

2009-04-24T07:40:00.005-04:00

At Nature's Gift we have been pleased and excited about hosting this week's contest. The hard part has been trying to decide what to offer as the prize!

We chose Deluxe Personal Inhalers from our new shipment, filled with the winner's choice of several healing synergies.

We'll ship one of these pretty purse-sized inhalers filled with your choice of our SineEase Synergy, for easing sinus pain and congestion, Happy Morning Synergy, recommended for easing the nausea of morning sickness, but also helpful for motion sickness, etc., or our research based depression fighter "Citrus Smile."

To be entered in the contest, respond to this post, here, and at all the blogs listed below. BE SURE WE CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN.

And to make the contest even more exciting, ONE lucky entrant, drawn from one of the listed blogs, will receive a signed copy of Marge's Book "Essential Oils and Aromatics". You may check these links for some of the reviews. From the Journal of the Northeast Herbal Association, or from The Massage Therapy Journal.

Remember all of the blogs below are participating, so visit all of them and post to increase your chances of winning.

Torchsong Studio Our final contest - to be announced next week
The Essential Herbal magazine subscription
Garden Chick - fairy cookie kit
SunRose Aromatics - facial exfoliant and liquid soap
Herbs from the Labyrinth - tea sampler
Patti's Potions - lip balms
PrairieLand Herbs - healing wand
Aquarian Bath - lip balm and soap
The Rosemary House - Bertha Reppert's "Twelve Month Herbal"
Nature's Gift (winners will be posted May 1)

We're getting down to the wire with some wonderful prizes! Be sure to keep playing to the end.

Herbal Blog Contest - Week #8

2009-04-17T07:39:00.005-04:00

Bertha Reppert (1919-1999) was the founder of The Rosemary House and our mum. She was a Renaissance woman ahead of her time when she opened a herb and spice shop in a conservative East coast town in 1968. Convinced that once everyone learned about herbs they would love these plants as much as she did, she became an avid educator about the secrets of herbs. Lecturing, writing and always promoting herbs, Bertha Reppert became a mentor to many. This weeks prize is a copy of her last herbal and one of our very favorites.
Bertha Reppert's TwelveMonth Herbal features 365 herbal essays one for each day of the year. Written like she is speaking to a friend this book is fun, informative and easy to read. Many folks have told us they reread the book every year and make their own daily notes in the margins. Be sure to leave a comment to this post and at the other participating herbal blogs (see the links below) for your chance to win this clever book
(an $18.00 value) filled with herbal lore, recipes and crafts (priceless). Sisters Susanna, the herbalist, and Nancy, the culinary artist, continue to share their Mother's love of all things herbal at The Rosemary House, the herb and spice gift shop, and at Blog Contest - Week 8 tea room.
The following blogs are also participating, so stop over, post a comment on these blogs for additional chances to win this weeks giveaway AND the chance to explore some cool blogs.

Nature's Gift to be announced (next week)
Torchsong Studio to be announced (two weeks)
The Essential Herbal magazine subscription
Garden Chick - fairy cookie kit
SunRose Aromatics - facial exfoliant and liquid soap
Herbs from the Labyrinth - tea sampler
Patti's Potions - lip balms
PrairieLand Herbs - healing wand
Aquarian Bath - lip balm and soap
The Rosemary House (where a list of winners will be posted on the 24th)

Check back we have a couple more weeks of give-aways!

Inspiration

2009-04-16T08:35:00.004-04:00

Sometimes I wonder where to find inspiration ... and then I take a walk in the woods.
The woodland path changes with the seasons and right now, it is just starting to "green up" with spring.

Along the path, we find lots of plants pushing their way through the sticks and dead leaves of years past. These are May Apples just starting to unfurl...
All this new growth and unfurling served to inspire a new vessel... Bright green tendrils unfurling around a gray base... It reminds me of jungle growth on ruins, so I called it "Tulum". If you've ever been there, you know why.
While I was in a "jungle" mood, I made some Tiger beads. I tried doing them more free form than I usually do and I think I like them. They're just waiting to be made into a bracelet.
And then, still in the jungle mood, a tiger vessel wass the result.
I found a pack of glass that I had never tried before. The rods looked much more orange, but the glass came out this lovely soft peach color. It's a color I have tried to find, but always been disappointed in until now. I made this on a hollow mandrel, not intending to attempt to blow it, but when the end slipped and uncovered the hole, I thought it was time to give it another try.

It turned out much larger than my usual vessels and it is quite "free form" and "organic". I like it and will probably keep it for myself since it was more or less a happy accident. The salmon frit looks great with this glass - I'll have to do more with it.
So, that's how this particular group of goodies came about and you've seen a tiny peek at how my mind works... Believe me, that's enough!

Week 7 - Blog Contest

2009-04-10T09:29:00.002-04:00

Welcome to week 7 of the herbal blog contest! This week we are featuring Aquarian Bath your source for all natural gentle soaps, herbal balms, salves, deodorants, and spa pillows. Aquarian Bath's soaps, balms and salves are either unscented or lightly scented with only pure essential oils. This week, enter to win you choice of a Lavender Spearmint Lip balm in a 0.15 oz tube OR a Lemon Lime Lip Balm in a 0.25 oz slide tin, and 20% off on your next order with Aquarian Bath.

The Lavender Spearmint Balm is made with Extra virgin olive oil, Shea butter, Beeswax, Castor oil, Spearmint and Lavender essential oil.

The Lemon Lime lip balm is made with Coconut oil, Shea Butter, Castor oil, Beeswax, Jojoba, Lime and Lemon Essential oils, and Zinc Oxide, a mineral used in sunscreens.

To win one of these lovely balms, enter by posting a comment in response to this blog entry and take a chance at winning! Entrants must include their email address to be eligible to win. US and Canadian residents are eligible. You can receive additional chances to win in the following ways:

* Tweet about this blog contest on twitter.com including @aquarianbath in the tweet. Come back and log your tweet with a comment to receive 1 additional entry.
* Visit and join Aquarian Bath's fan page on Facebook. Leave a comment so we know you joined to receive 1 additional entry.
* Make a comment about your favorite item from Aquarian Bath's etsy or 1000markets stores to receive 1 additional entry.
* Make a purchase with Aquarian bath to on etsy or 1000markets to receive 3 additional entries.

*The following blogs are also participating, so stop over to enter with them for additional chances to win AND the chance to explore some cool blogs.
Aquarian Bath
Make a purchase from one of these 9 host blog's online stores to receive 2 additional entries and leave a comment at the host's blog's contest:
The Essential Herbal
Herbs from the Labyrinth
Patti's Potions
PrairieLand Herbs
The Rosemary House
Nature's Gift
Torchsong Studio
SunRose Aromatics
Garden Chick

One lucky winner from one of the 10 host blogs will be contacted to receive 2 free soaps of their choice along with their lip balm and 20% off coupon, so be sure to visit and enter at all 10 blogs.

The winners will be announced at the Aquarian Bath blog when the results are in from all participating blogs. Enjoy.

Keep coming back and keep entering. We have some great prizes coming up, and we'll be having the contests until the middle of May!

Out of the kiln

2009-04-04T19:36:00.004-04:00

BTW, You can still win the healing wand in the least post by commenting here or there..

So, I finished up the last of the "production beads" I've been working on and as my treat, I made a few just for fun.

The first one is Wild Blue:I like the way the multicolored wisps move around the vessel. It is translucent in the middle where I used transparent glass.

But the best thing I pulled out of the kiln today is this one, I call it "Stormy Moonlight":
This shows both sides. There is layer after layer on this one including a little bit of dichro inside. The moon just floats calmly in this wind swept, starlit sky.

Yep, I'm ready to get back to the kind of thing I enjoy!

Week 6 - Blog Contest

2009-04-03T09:20:00.000-04:00

Welcome to week 6 of the herbal blog contest! This week, enter to win a .15 oz. Healing Wand from Prairieland Herbs! These healing wands contain herbally infused certified organic olive oil, locally produced beeswax, vitamin E, essential oils of tea tree and lavender, and are the perfect size for your pocket, purse, or diaper bag. They work wonders on cuts, scrapes, rashes, burns, dry skin, hangnails, etc.

To win one of these useful and natural healing balms, simply enter by posting a comment in response to this blog entry and take a chance at winning!!! Don’t forget to include your email addy so we can contact the winner! The following blogs are also participating, so stop over to enter with them for additional chances to win AND the chance to explore some cool blogs.

Prairieland Herbs
Aquarian Bath
The Rosemary House
Natures Gift
Torchsong Studio
The Essential Herbal
Garden Chick
SunRose Aromatic
Herbs from the Labyrinth
Patti's Potions Visit Patti's Potions to see last weeks winners.

Keep coming back and keep entering. We have some great prizes coming up, and we'll be having the contests until the middle of May!

Blog Contest - Week 5 - LIP BALMS

2009-03-27T08:09:00.003-04:00

This is Week 5 of the Herbal Blog Contest. Friday March 27th to Thursday April 2nd.

Featured this week are moisturizing Lip Balms from Patti’s Potions Natural Soaps, Ltd.
Did you know that most lip balms contain petroleum products that are NOT eco-friendly? This is your opportunity to experience fine natural oils in your lip care experience. Ingredients: calendula infused olive oil, shea butter, natural beeswax, jojoba, castor, & vitamin E.
To win TWO of these luscious lip balms, simply enter by posting a comment in response to this blog entry and take a chance at winning!!! Don’t forget to include your email addy so we can contact the winner!

The following blogs are also participating, so stop over to enter with them for additional chances to win AND the chance to explore some cool blogs.

PrairieLand Herbs
Aquarian Bath
The Rosemary House
Natures Gift
Torchsong Studio
The Essential Herbal
Garden Chick
SunRose Aromatic
Herbs from the Labyrinth- Where the winners from week #4 will be listed
Patti's Potions

Keep coming back and keep entering. We have some great prizes coming up, and we'll be having the contests until the middle of May!

2009-03-26T12:46:00.002-04:00

Spring is almost here and my husband, Bob, is more than ready!

This is always a difficult time for him because while the weather looks good and he can get outside, it just isn't time to really be doing anything yet. He's already planted the trees for the year, but we need a little rain before he can start to dig any trees.

So, while he has time, he finds things to do. I was surprised to see this going up the other day:
Years ago, we had a heated plastic greenhouse built out the front of one of our outbuildings. When Bob took it down, he saved all the materials. He decided we need a seed starting area and so, he built a nice sized cold frame. The thermometer inside registers 70 degrees most of the day when it's around 30-40 outside.

I went inside and looked around. He has a nice little bench set up on the sunny side of the building:
Another project was to clean out the beds that we use for our gardens in the summer. So, their permanent home is ready for the little seedlings he's planting now:
It seems that we're still in winter, but before we know it, the trees will be green, the tulips will be blooming and we'll be planting those veggies and anxiously awaiting the first ripe treasures of the year!

Shards! (and enter the contest)

2009-03-22T09:51:00.002-04:00

Yes, you can enter the contest by commenting on this post too!

I purchased these shards some time ago, but hadn't had time to work with them. I finally made a couple of focals using them and am thrilled!

This picture shows both sides of the first bead I made with them:
Lots of silvered ivory and reflective dark silver plum shards... This bead is probably about 35-40mm tall (I don't have it here to measure.)

And then, I got out the raku and this was the result.....
I think it's the most colorful reaction I have ever gotten from raku and then the oil slick look of the shards just combine with it perfectly! This one is about the same size as the one above.

Take a Chance - Win a prize

2009-03-20T06:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to week 4 of our Herb Blog Group Contest!

For the week between Friday, March 20 and Thursday, March 26, you can enter simply by entering a comment and your email address in response to this blog entry and take a chance at winning a sampler of hand-blended herbal teas from HerbsfromtheLabyrinth.com, including one each of the following: Moontime Tea, Lover's Tea, Spring in My Step, FemininiTea, Dandy Lion Tea, Hush-A-Bye, Strong As Nails, SereniTea, SmarTea, DigestiviTea, Nursing Mother Tea, Endo-Liver Tea, Love Your Liver Tea, and Mid-Summer Tea

HerbsfromtheLabyrinth.com has a wide range of herbal products to choose from.

The following blogs are also participating, so stop over to enter with them for additional chances to win AND the chance to explore some cool blogs.  

Patti's Potions
PrairieLand Herbs
Aquarian Bath
The Rosemary House
Natures Gift
Torchsong Studio
The Essential Herbal
Garden Chick
SunRose Aromatic- Where the winners from week #3 will be listed :-)
Herbs from the Labyrinth

Keep coming back and keep entering. We have some great prizes coming up, and we'll be having the contests til the middle of May!

Herbal Blog Contest - Week #3

2009-03-13T04:00:00.001-04:00

This week (#3) our herbal blog contest swings over to SunRose Aromatics, where Roe whips up the most delightful of aromatherapy and pampering products. For the week between Friday, March 13 and Thursday, March 19, you can enter simply by posting a comment and your email in response to this blog entry and take a chance at winning!!! 

Here's the prize:

Facial Scrub w/ Organic Liquid Soap Set:

Pamper your face with all natural ~ * apricot kernel meal  * organic liquid castile soap
Mix in the palm of your hand & then apply to your face. A wonderful exfoliate!  

The following blogs are also participating, so stop over to enter with them for additional chances to win AND the chance to explore some cool blogs.  

Herbs from the Labyrinth
Patti's Potions
PrairieLand Herbs
Aquarian Bath
The Rosemary House
Natures Gift
Torchsong Studio
The Essential Herbal
Garden Chick - Where the winners from week #2 will be listed :-)
SunRose Aromatics

Keep coming back and keep entering. We have some great prizes coming up, and we'll be having the contests til the middle of May!

Last Weeks Winner!

2009-03-07T11:31:00.002-05:00

The winner of the 1 year subscription to The Essential Herbal Magazine is (Drum roll please!):

Crystal (Gnightstar)

Congratulations!

Now, everyone post here or in the last post to win this weeks prize, the cookie set from Gardenchick!

Week 2 Blog Contest - take a chance!

2009-03-06T08:42:00.004-05:00

Welcome to week 2 of our Herb Blog Group Contest!

For the week between Friday, March 6 and Thursday, March 12, you can enter simply by entering a comment in response to this blog entry and take a chance at winning Fairyland Cookie Cutter and Fairyland Recipe Card.

Each cookie recipe comes with 1 "friend of the fairies" fairy cookie cutter and fairy sprinkles. Cutters include bird, dragonfly, fairy, gnome, flower, butterfly – she’ll choose one for you!

Garden Chick has a delightful selection of products that are either created by Karen or something she found on her adventures and loves enough to share!

The following blogs are also participating, so stop over to enter with them for additional chances to win, the chance to explore some cool blogs and maybe get a preview of things to come in the contest.

Garden Chick
SunRose Aromatics
Herbs from the Labyrinth
Patti's Potions
PrairieLand Herbs
Aquarian Bath
The Rosemary House
Natures Gift
Torchsong Studio
The Essential Herbal

We'll be posting the winner of last week's contest shortly!

Mystery Solved!

2009-03-03T19:02:00.003-05:00

So, for me this has been a huge mystery and I have been trying to solve it for months... This blog entry showed a plant that we found outside our Post Office in Mt Joy. No one knew what the plant was, but it had some amazing berries.

The mystery has been solved. It is an Euonymus bungeanus Maxim. winterberry euonymus.

What a relief! I have a friend I can't wait to tell because I know she was wracking her brain just as hard as I was.

New earrings - and you can still enter the contest

2009-03-02T13:59:00.003-05:00

You can still enter the blog contest I talked about in the last post. Just Comment on this or that post and be sure to leave your email so we can get in touch if you win!

We had a little snow storm last night and this morning and although I didn't make these then, I photographed them this morning.

Although I don't make these beads, I love this style of earrings. They are pretty dramatic and make a statement.

The two pairs I have here are both very springy with bright greens and pearly beads on one pair and creamy blue green leaves and golden beads on the other.

The remaining pair are made with some little healing hands charms. I love putting things like this together.

Any of these pictures can be enlarged by clicking on the picture so you can get a better look. To come back to the blog just click on the back button.

Thanks again for looking and don't forget to leave a comment to win the magazine sub mentioned in the last post.

Win Stuff - Blog Contest!

2009-02-27T08:32:00.004-05:00

Welcome to our Herb Blog Group Contest!
For the week between Friday, February 27 and Thursday, March 5 you can enter simply by entering a comment in response to this blog entry and take a chance at winning a full year's subscription to The Essential Herbal Magazine! The Essential Herbal is written by, for, and about herbie people and the things they love. It is a grassroots publication that talks about the things you want to know when it comes to herbs.The following blogs are also participating, so stop over to enter with them for additional chances to win AND the chance to explore some cool blogs. If you are already a subscriber, we"ll just add the free year on the end. Be sure to leave an email addy in your response so that we can reach you if you win!

Possum Creek Herb Farm
Blessings of an Herbwyfe
Garden Chick ***
SunRose Aromatics ***
Herbs from the Labyrinth ***
Patti's Potions ***
PrairieLand Herbs ***
Aquarian Bath ***
The Rosemary House ***
Natures Gift ***
Torchsong Studio ***
The Essential Herbal ***

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My treats!

2009-02-22T14:58:00.003-05:00

I know I mentioned the big project I am working on and so I am working on the torch much more than I have been. It's kinda wonderful because I feel like I have to complete a number of the required pieces every time I sit down. After I have done my "must do's" I treat myself by making something I really want to try or do... Yesterday, it was mostly vessels, but I did have one set:
I call it "Winter Wonderland" or "Winter Whites". It is pretty simple, but it is a great color combo that seems to go with everything in the winter time and was probably one of the first successful organic-style bead sets that I ever made.

My first vessel was "Golden Tea":I call it that because the top and bottom are made of a gold luster glass and the center is clear glass called iced tea. It is interesting because some of the luster actually turned gold, but it also fumed the iced tea glass. It is see through, but there is a sort of oil slick look to the whole thing..

Next, I tried a different combo and came up with "Gold Depths":
This was a different gold luster glass that seemed to behave a bit better. I used it with a veiled olive green glass. The bubbles in the glass along with the aged gold look makes it look like something that has been pulled from the depths of the ocean.

Finally, I think this is one of my all-time favorite vessels, "Blue Luster":
I don't think I ever used this glass since I purchased it a year or so ago. I just seemed to discover it yesterday. The top, handle and bottom are blue luster and the center is a veiled blue gaffer glass. There is a strong iridescent or metallic effect all over the dark blue while the center is clear, threaded with blue. In person, it is very much like a shimmering blue soap bubble.

Signs of Spring - and beads

2009-02-20T08:19:00.003-05:00

In February, we're always looking for signs of spring around here. This picture shows a few of them. First, you can see two scooters parked in front of the shop. We had a little break and the temp actually got up to the 60's over the weekend and the guys immediately got the scooters out and went on a short excursion.

Then, there's Bob working on the tractor, getting things ready to go as soon as there's a real break

And, of course, there are the chickens... They're traveling in packs now. Little harems. Lots of squawking and chasing going on, so I guess they believe winter is soon coming to an end!

While we're waiting, I've been getting in some torch time. Mostly I'm working on a large project that I'll be revealing in a couple of months(!) But, I am getting a few things done here and there and doing a bit of experimentation.

I haven't made any "nebula beads" recently and I love them. Everyone who sees them seems to love them too as they disappear almost as soon as I make them!
And then, this is an interesting little collection that has grown through various experiements with new colors and techniques as well as a couple older ones. The beads were all together and I realized they would make a great set/bracelet just as they are.
I'll be making the bracelets up soon and getting a bunch of stuff up on the web site as well as probably taking some to Radiance in Lancaster.

Winter beauties

2009-02-08T11:21:00.005-05:00

So, it looks like the groundhog has thrown us a curve ball this year! I'm sure it's just temporary and we can fully expect our usual 6 more weeks of winter, but today, you could hardly believe it.

A couple of days ago, we narrowly missed a real "dumpage" of snow. A rare band of heavy, isolated snow showers covered a good part of our county with 12" of snow. We had a few flurries earlier in the day and when the reporter came on TV that evening talking about the amounts in Lititz (15-20 miles away from us) I found it hard to comprehend.

When the newly inaugurated automatic phone call system for Lancaster Country Day School woke me the next morning AT 5:30 AM (!) to let me know there was a 2 hour delay, I was still confused, especially since my son graduated from the school in 2004!

So, the next day, when we took out a few deliveries, it was interesting to see all the snow within miles of our house.

We had stopped at Landis Valley Farm Museum and were greeted with different vistas than usual. A couple of the buildings really stood out in the white background, much more than in the usual lush greenery I am accustomed to.

This yellow building is right across from The Weathervane (the gift shop) and I had never noticed how bright it was until this day, seeing it framed by the bright blue sky, the bare branches and the snowy ground.
As we were climbing in the car, I thought a shot of the newly painted Weathervane Shop would be in order too. This is really a lovely place to visit. You might want to think about it if you come to visit our fair county and have never have been there. The museum is full of nifty old farm equipment and lots of interesting stuff for kids and grownups as well!
The other thing I wanted to share today was a charcoal drawing I did, probably 30 years ago. I had just finished a drawing from life class and was pretty pleased with how my skills had progressed.
One afternoon, I set up this still life and started drawing. It has always been one of my favorite pictures and it is framed and hangs in our living room. A new forum I frequent has a thread right now of people's artwork and although I don't think I'll share it there, it inspired me to take a picture of it - just in case something should someday happen to it.

We've just realized that orders are starting to come in for spring (despite the groundhog) and we are sadly in need of some soap on the shelves... Today will be spent getting a couple of orders out and then preparing to make soap: weighing fats, preparing molds, etc., etc.

Murrinis & Focals - Yummm

2009-01-29T12:31:00.002-05:00

So, I mentioned Murrinis yesterday on Facebook and this is what I was talking about.
It isn't a food, but it is glass and it is a cane that is built by forming a glob of glass, a large version of what you want the smaller "cane" to be when it is pulled. It winds up as a long "cane" which must be cut into sections to be applied to beads. This is a VERY simple version of a murrini. Some are extremely complex, for instance I believe someone made a Mona Lisa murrini.

I applied it to a bead yesterday and this is the result:
I was really happy to see the result because I was sure it wouldn't form the pinwheel, so when it did it was a happy surprise. I had fun making the base bead, just because it is such a departure for me. I've been collecting some really nice corals and pinks, so had the chance to use a few - along with some pale lavender and a bit of silvered ivory.

After that little triumph went into the kiln, I started playing with some other colors. There was also a complex stringer used in the next bead, but it disappeared in all the various layers. Oh well, I was happy with what the silver and "magic" did all by themselves:
So, I spent a good hour at the torch and the two beads about were the result. both of the focals are about 25mm long, about 18 mm wide and about 10mm thick. A nice size for a pendant.

I promise to get busy finishing up some of the vessels and pendants so I can post them for sale soon and get my website updated.

Our (as yet) unnamed holiday

2009-01-18T18:24:00.002-05:00

Tina did such a good job posting about this (and took all the pictures) I'll just refer you to her entry which covers our day yesterday pretty well!

I do have to say that the celebration seemed to settle something in me and I wound up sleeping in until 10 AM today. I really think I haven't slept so late since our son was born - almost 23 years ago! It was wonderfully decadent, but not getting started on the day until close to noon is a very weird feeling for me!

Everything is here for the magazine (deadline was the 15th) so in the few hours I had today, I started working on that after proof-reading Tina's latest book... which I'm sure you'll be hearing about soon.

And another day at the torch

2009-01-08T12:40:00.006-05:00

I was still curious about the silver brown reaction on black and so had to give it another try.

This is much more what I was expecting. This time, I was sure to reduce the finished bead, just waved it through the flame and this is what happened.

I thought it required encasing, but I didn't do any of that and a gorgeous reaction happened all on its own.

I haven't made any vessels for a while and my selection was looking a little slim, so I had decided to work on a few of them.

This is the first one I made. A green opalino base with some sprinkles of spring frit. green scrolled stems with little candy flowers dancing on them.

I was so anxious to show this that it really isn't finished. It'll get wired and a cork or maybe a fancy top will be applied. Same goes for the last vessel on this page.

To the left, you will see two different views of, in my opinion, one of the most interesting vessels I have ever made.

It's interesting and beautiful.

The base is a grey-blue opaque glass and the handle and "decorations" are made of silver plum. Silver plum is a very cool purple glass that blooms in the right flame to become silver.

The decorations on the vessel are shards, which are a very thin pieces of a bubble that is blown with the glass and then broken when it has cooled. The pieces are applied very carefully so that the shards will just melt onto the shape rather than ball up from too much heat.

After everything is on the vessel, it is flashed in the flame and the silver appears. It is like magic happening before my eyes!

Finally, I have been thinking of making a new moon vessel.

I formed the vessel and then began the moonlit sky. The stars skimming across the sky are fine silver wire, melted in to become spots of shining silver in the lapis sky.

The moon was added and then I thought some filmy clouds would make this moon vessel different from the others I have made in the past.

I remember one night, long ago being with some friends looking up at the sky. It was full of wispy clouds and the moon just sailed along through the clouds, never completely covered, but dancing in and out of the "veils". One of my friends called it a Hamlet moon and ever since, when I would look up and see the moon peeking in and out of clouds, I think of her and that long-ago night.

Finally! Some time on the torch.

2009-01-03T16:47:00.007-05:00

I finally sat down at the torch on the last day of 2008. I had received some new glass in the mail(my Christmas present to myself) a day or so before.

What to do... what to do? Well, this was the first thing....

I read up on the glass that had so intrigued me and sat down to try some of it out.

The base of this bead is regular old dark ivory.

The dots are two new (to me) colors. The gorgeous blue one is called "dense iris blue" and it is truly such an intense color, the name fits it perfectly.

The other dots, which range through many shades of amber to blue to green is called "silver brown". It reacts strongly with different colors and varies depending on the application.

The little raised dots, some of which are undercut probably because it's been so long since I was at the torch and also because this was just an experiment and never was intended as a salable bead, are also made of silver brown. Leaving them raised and just reducing them slightly made them strike to this golden color.

The one to the right is another example of silver brown with a much different outcome.

The base is black and I understood that silver brown on black would turn brown and green. Well, it does, but they are transparent, so it is very hard to see them!

In the right light, if you hold your head just so, you can see some of the hints of electric blue.

I'm not sure where the wispy inclusion came from, but it is about the most interesting thing about this bead, with the exception of a strand of silvered ivory I put down between the stripes of silver brown...

This is what I like to do with my experiments with new glass. I have a notebook of ideas and inspirations. After saving pictures by themselves, sometimes I will label them like this so I know what I did to get the effect. The Mystic Beige is a new color and I tried it with the desert chameleon. I'm afraid the beige overpowers the chameleon, but maybe I'll try it again. The striped one is much more impressive in this photo. In real life, the green stripes are hardly noticeable!
I was getting tired by the time I started working on these and they are just small round beads that I decided to use for experimentation. The one in the middle seems to be the favorite!

Another Tree Season

2008-12-20T16:07:00.005-05:00

This is the last weekend for Frog Hollow this year. On Sunday, we will have sold our last tree for the season.

On Tuesday, we had a beautiful snowfall and expected to have a pretty uneventful day, but apparently there are some folks who don't mind braving snow (or even the occasional changeover to freezing rain) to cut their tree.

Somehow, I found myself up the hill with my camera and decided to take some "winter wonderland" pictures.

Bob and Rudy had to come up too. You can see that Rudy, as ever, is proving he can outrun the "Frogmobile".

Sometimes he leads the way and sometimes he decides to take a shortcut through the trees or on a connector road and manages to pop out ahead of his nemesis!

I took this picture today. This is a huge Blue Spruce. I wish I had thought to get the camera a little sooner, because when they began to load the tree, it appeared to be a nearly impossible job. It seemed bigger than the van! As it is, it barely fits in the van.

The people came into the shop and we laughed about the fact that they usually bring a bigger van and they just overestimated this one's size.

I found it interesting that their son's girlfriend had the job of sawing this monster down...

So - another tree season has come and is just about gone...

An interesting pendant

2008-12-12T16:59:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago - or was it more(?) - a friend handed me a little baggie full of beads, stones and crystals. She asked me to put them all together into a pendant.

They've been sitting around in my living room, taunting me for all the time since then.

Last night, I finally decided how I would put them together and this is the result.

The pendant is about 4" long and quite impressive...

I have to drop Roe a line to let her know to check here. If you want a better view of it, just click on the picture and it will appear on a new screen, enlarged.

Another mention ... and Rudy in the rain

2008-12-11T07:47:00.004-05:00

After all the media attention we have gotten this year, we have had some fun and busy weekends around here.

There are usually two busy weekends each year - Thanksgiving weekend and the weekend after. This year was no exception.

We set up our shop, but when things are crowded, most people want to just get in and out as parking is at a premium around here. This year, we offered free cocoa and hot cider on Saturday and Sunday both weeks and at least had a few folks stop into the shop for that! Last Sunday was bitterly cold and we were glad we had something to help our customers warm up a bit.

Things should be a bit more leisurely the next two weeks and that is fine with me.

I was surprised by a google alert this morning that led to this article which is about keeping Christmas green, and mentions Frog Hollow!

Every year during "tree season", we have a day or two (and sometimes more) of rain or other inclement weather. The rain is the worst though.

I was hoping for a day or two of respite in the middle of the week, but it is stretching out and people are coming out despite the pouring rain.

<<This is Rudy, our self appointed welcoming committee. His job is to keep track of everyone, but especially to chase the "Frogmobile" a utility vehicle we use to get around here, and Rudy's nemesis!

He was outside off and on all day today and when he wasn't out in the rain, he was spending his time wrapped in a big old dry towel, sleeping!

This is his post rain garb! Poor baby...

Media Coverage

2008-11-30T08:45:00.004-05:00

We've been really lucky this year with a lot of media coverage for Frog Hollow Evergreens, our Christmas tree farm.

It started with an article in our morning paper the morning before Thanksgiving. A reporter had called me the evening before and I just tossed off the line about how we avoid haggling price by keeping our pricing simple. Bob brought the Paper home on Weds. and I was surprised to see my quote starting off the article!

Another reporter had called me earlier in the day and asked many, many questions. I kept checking the papers because I hadn't remembered to ask what paper it would be in - datewise. As it turned out, he was from our Sunday paper and that interview resulted in this article.

The first article attracted the attention of a couple of TV stations! First, our cable service has its own channel and they came out on Weds. evening. They did a cute little bit with the footage they shot on their evening news.

Then, the local FOX channel was scheduled to come out on Saturday which, as a result of the newspaper was crazy busy - although it is usually pretty insane Thanksgiving weekend. They had to cancel, but said they'd be here Sunday. I was shocked that they did show up in on Sunday since it was raining all day and we had only a few very hardy customers. We did an interview in the drizzle on Tina's deck, overlooking the trees. Again they showed a clip that evening on their news broadcast. I thought I wasn't identified, but a couple of friends have let me know they saw it, so I guess I was... I'll have to watch the tape again.

it was amazing the amount of footage that is shot for a 10-20 second bit!

First Snow

2008-11-21T21:10:00.002-05:00

Of course the first snowfall of the year is news. It's beautiful and exciting. I'm sure if there is a lot of this this winter, it will become boring and depressing, but for now... it's great!

This morning, I woke to a surprise dusting and, after talking to Tina, we decided to take Molly to school in the Rav - it is wonderful in snow. Her school is in our old neighborhood and after dropping her off, we stopped to snap a couple of pictures:

This is State Street in Lancaster and it is tree lined and shady in the summer... In the winter, it becomes a snow dusted fairy land!

Here is the yard of just one corner house. There are so many shrubs and big old trees in this area and when the snow hits.... they're just beautiful.

I was just outside a couple of days ago, photographing the last of the leaves on the trees and a couple of late blooming roses... It's always amazing to me how things change so quickly.

New Bracelets

2008-11-11T16:19:00.003-05:00

I've been busy the past few days. I had some orders to get done and while I was at it. I thought I'd better put some bracelets together for the shop and bracelet page of the Torchsong website.

This one is Robin's Nests:

Favorite Colors:

Midnight Wanderings:

Lights in the Forest:

The last three haven't gone up on the Web yet, but here they are...

(Please feel free to groan!) Fiesta-wear:

Bee Flowers:

Purple Custard: