Memories

I promise I'll actually post something current soon, but I was working on a new website that we are going to be putting up shortly (you're gonna love it) and was looking for old photos of Tina & me when we had our shop at the Renaissance faire. This was probably taken at least 12 years ago, probably more! Oh, I see that was the year of the huge hyacinth bean vine which climbed up to the top of the second floor. That would have been our second year, so 1993.. yep, I was right.

I'm the one on the left. Tina is on the right. Look at her long hair! I loved those clothes. We are standing in front of our shop, looking quite pleased with ourselves. We were solidly in love with the Faire that year. Everything was fun and none of the sleazy management stuff that made us decide to leave had started yet.

Well, just popping in to post something... Sure brings back some fun memories.

The Birds

Since we have been *enjoying* our share of the tail end of Wilma today, obviously this picture was taken a couple of days ago.

I was inside and started hearing quite a commotion outside, looked out the window and thought I was watching a remake of "The Birds".

From time to time in this area, we have infestations of crows. So far we've escaped them, but this day, we were the target! They roosted all over the trees - covering them completely. A dogwood tree was completely black. I haven't checked yet, but I bet a good portion of the wealth of berries it held is gone. When I decided to go outside and get a picture of the blackened trees, they, with one mind, took to the air in a swirling black cloud.

I imagine this happens in a number of communities, but crows were a huge problem a year or so ago in a couple of local areas. In particular, the birds were damaging the covering in the center of our large local mall.

There were a number of methods tried to get rid of them. The one I liked best was cannon fire!

Our local mayor is a cannon collector. Give him a chance and he will fire a his cannons. He brought fireworks to downtown Lancaster for various celebrations and other than a few stray burning pieces landing on the tops of parking garages... it was a good idea. It got people into the center of town. He brought them in for the 4th of July celebration and also, we now have a non-alcoholic "First Night" (New Year's Eve) celebration, complete with fireworks, for folks to attend.

Anyhow, the mayor, of course brought out his cannons and they were used as one of the attempts at deterring the crows. I forget the other methods that were tried. None of them really worked. They all probably annoyed the crows, but basically, one day, the crows just decided it was time to pull up stakes and leave.

Luckily, our visitors just stuck around for an hour or so and decided this wasn't *home*. It was interesting - and a little frightening - but, at least it was temporary.

Food/Soap.... some thoughts

Although the past few days I have dedicated to making all the old stand-bys and building up soap inventory, a couple of weeks ago, we decided to try another seemingly hare-brained idea that we read about on a forum.... Whipped Soap.

On our first attempt, we followed the directions to the letter, but part of the pastry tube was missing, so we had to "make do" with just plopping the soap lightly into mounds. A bit of gold mica and *I* think they look like meringue kisses. The soap itself is nice enough. It's our usual recipe, but just made in a different way. An interesting novelty, but nothing that sends me into spasms of enthusiasm. I haven't tried to do this yet, but understand that it floats, so I guess that is something...

Our second attempt, we were a bit more organized and had all the parts of the pastry bag together in one place. They look somewhat *Martha* and they are scented with vanilla, something that usually turns soap brown. As you can see, they are just a bit off-white. I'm thinking they look like white chocolate and would be great packaged in a candy box with hot pink tissue for Valentine's Day...

Everyday is a chance to try something new... some of them are winners, some are just a new experience. I'm not sure quite yet what these are! Food/soap, is this a good thing?

A glimpse of the past... mostly our own

Well, after receiving passes from a good friend at the Ren Faire, we decided to pay it a visit this afternoon. Now, you have to remember that we haven't attended for about 10 years - after having been vendors for 5 years and selling our herb shop there. I guess it's necessary to visit from time to time to remind ourselves of what we left and why....

It was wonderful seeing the old friends that are still there .. and kinda sad realizing just how few we still know. Laura, who sent us the passes, and Val, both at the Nature's Heirlooms Shop. Across the street was Judy whose head wreaths were always a big part of the faire day. Mark the potter, who we knew first as a patron and then, as a fellow vendor. The Marquis, who we thank effusively on the rare occcasion that we see him for steering us in the right direction for an amazing night out many years ago.. long story, but it involved a group of almost naked men! We enjoyed surprising "our" queen who is again the queen in honor of the 25th anniversary. She dragged us aside for a few brief moments to catch up and take a good look at Molly, Tina's daughter who followed her around for a few years when she played a gypsy and Molly aspired to be her child, I think!

Another bright spot in the day was the group, Corvus Corax. They are from Germany and are described as a Medievel Rock Star band... Yep, that's about right. If you like drums and bagpipes... lots of drums and bagpipes... kinda oboey bagpipes... and men jumping around in long robes, but scantily clad underneath... very interesting group. We loved them so much we needed to purchase a CD.

The grounds have grown hugely, booze is now sold, and apparently there is next to no "street play" or interaction of the characters of the Shire with the patrons. The street play was always the highlight of the day there for us... and the side conversations of all the villagers in their Olde English accents.

Even the vendors were given lessons on proper speech way back when. We were even encouraged to develop back stories for our own characters so that we all came together as a community... and you know, we did.

Nowadays, anachronisms abound and apparently it isn't important for even some of the actors to speak with an accent.... sad. We even overheard one of the actors on stage discussing the sports scores for the football game that day with the audience... unheard of back in "our day".

Well, we know that we miss a bit of it all, but the changes and growth certainly don't make us miss it all.

Beadfest, Soap and Road Apples!

I know, I know... It's been a long time. It's been a busy week, but lots of fun.

The piece at left was the result of a class I took on Thursday at Beadfest in Ft Washington, PA. The instructor, Susan Lenart Kazmer, is someone whose work I have always admired and found fascinating. When I had the chance to take a class with her, I was thrilled.

We learned to rivet and create dimensional layers of metal along with different surface treatments. There's a picture in the center which is sandwiched under mica between the "frame" and the copper backing.

Susan seems to spew positive energy all over the place and her enthusiasm for what she does is quite inspiring. I'd jump at the chance to take another class with her in a minute.

Other than the class, Beadfest seemed to be even bigger and better than ever before. Lots of variety in the vendors - at least the ones I saw. I felt I hardly had time for shopping, or the energy for it, but I still managed to make a few purchases. Friday night, I met up with some friends, Nolly & Laura "The Bead Ladies", for what I hope will become an annual event... Margarita Night!

The trip home on Saturday morning was a real nightmare since we were experiencing the dregs of Hurricane Tammy. I can't complain about the rain, we needed it desperately, but it did nothing for driving on the Turnpike!

Earlier in the week, we delivered the finished cookbook we've been editing for Nancy Reppert at Sweet Remebrances Tea Room in Mechanicsburg. It's going to be a winner. I think I may have gained 5# just typing some of those great recipes!

We've also been packing soap, making soap, cutting soap, trimming soap...... Lots of orders have come in and we are also planning to open the soap & jewelry studio to our Christmas tree customers this year here at Frog Hollow along with participating in a consignment craft shop in Lititz, PA.

Today, we seem to have managed to finally reach a point where we can breathe in the soap/orders department and finished up a new product we've been working on for quite some time.... Soap balls, but we're calling them "Road Apples". It'll be a special item at first for the Amish roadside stand that sells our soap. We'll see how it goes, but, you know around here, there is a chocolate candy called "Cow Patty" that looks like.... well, you know. And they sell that stuff....

Sit down for a minute and....

So, I hauled everything into the house on Saturday and decided to just sit and make jewelry. I haven't put any bracelets together lately and want to have things to sell over the holidays here at the little shop we're planning to have open at Frog Hollow, our Christmas tree farm. I actually put 6 bracelets together, but in the interest of brevity (for now) I'll only post three.

I had a number of sets lying around that I haven't posted on my website for sale. This---> one was my first floral experiments with the Kalera press. I love the shape of these beads and the flowers just float there on the surface. I used three different colors of purple for the petals and there's some silver inside to shoot a bit of light through the smoky base. I used my favorite - a magnetic clasp. These things are really strong. I've been known to raise my hand at a restaurant with a fork attached to my bracelet! The spacers were from a large string of purple beads I had left over from trying to match up with some spacers I made earlier. I was having trouble with "striking" the color. As it turns out. I'm grateful now to have the lovely selection of purple beads.

Actually, this bracelet "Denim & Khaki" was made a couple of weeks ago. The colors are my favorites to wear, jeans and a cream colored shirt or khaki colored pants and blue top. I was looking for something to wear with it and decided to just sit down and make myself something. I think it turned out pretty well and it certainly matches jeans and anything neutral... The cream colored spacers are ceramic discs I picked up at Beadfest a couple of years ago and they come in handy so often.

Finally (for today!) I call this one "Victorian Cranberries". It would be perfect for Christmas, but the colors are not the usual garish red and green, but more cranberry and greenish aqua (copper green). It just looked so formal that it needed a bit of extra goodies... some bead caps and a fancy bali magnetic closure. I was thinking of adding some matching round beads in the main bracelet like the one on the "dangly", but it just didn't make it... The silver bead spacers worked better with the more "formal" feel I was going for.

It's amazing how easily they go together after you've been thinking about them for a while. The Purple bracelet as well as the Denim one were in my head before I even began. The Victorian one was the hardest to finally pin down... I bet I tried 5 or 6 arrangements before I was satisfied.

Believe it or not.... we've actually been making soap like crazy the past few days. Somehow, the shelves had gotten depleted beyond the norm and, of course, the fax started cranking out orders!

Long-short day

Well, it's been a long day... or a short day, depending how you look at it. It was a long day because it was pretty frustrating. It seemed everything I did had to be done over again - a couple of times. It was a short day because it seemed I accomplished next to nothing!

I did manage to get some new labels finished for the salt-spa bars we've been working on. We're really pulling out the stops in the packaging department. It makes a bar of soap look like something more than a bar of soap. It IS the spa bars we're talking about here however, and they really ARE more than a plain bar of soap... even handmade soap.

This is the Mocha Java Spa Bar. It is scented with the most delicious fragrance and colored a light cafe au lait tan with specks of white salt all through it. The lather from these bars is something really special and they last forever. As they wear down and are polished with use, they look like river rocks.

We also have made a "Cowpoke Bar", "Good Morning Starshine" and "Mermaid's Treasure". They each have their own over-the-top packaging, but at the moment, the Mocha Java is my favorite.

Brother John came over to try to help me with my website woes and we may have figured part of it out... We'll see. I have so many changes to make - old stuff to take down, new stuff to go up... And meanwhile, the header keeps changing along with the cells in the tables having minds of their own. I know, I know... that shouldn't happen, but it does.

Maybe it will all make sense tomorrow.

Robot Dreams

I had such a hard time naming these beads. I really love them... the shape and the colors. The colors are just perfect for fall and for jeans... my usual uniform! There's also enough khaki color in them to make them work with my favorite combo.



So often, I feel like I'm only able to poorly attempt to duplicate something I've seen sommeone else do, but these are the result of an actual original idea! I made the first one like this for a charm swap. It was inspired by a piece of architecture, oddly enough. I thought of them as tiles, but the name just didn't quite fit... Robots... little robots.

On another note, we started wrapping some of our extravagant salt soaps today.. The soap is great and we enjoy really doing it up. I can see them as stocking stuffers come Christmas time. They have names like "Good Morning Starshine", a pretty peachy soap wrapped in "denim" with Rickie Tickie Stickies from the 60's. "Cowpoke" denim blue soap with cranberry gingham ribbon threaded through a concho. "Mermaid's Treasure", all seafoam green wired with "jewels". Oh, and "Java Chip" , a pebbly brown in a woven "coffee sack".

I'll be posting pictures tomorrow... Really.

Pods & things

So... all the things I was planning to do this weekend.. I did.

And what do I post? Pictures of the Womens' Expo in Edison? No. A cute shot of my niece (who accompanied us to the Expo)? No. Pictures of the Sizzlers gathered here? No. Not even a one of those heart melting pix of our shedding Shelty, Rudy. Instead today, I give you ... Pods.

The lush, beautiful flowers of the spring Wisteria become these strange velvety pods that hang from the "pergola" that leads to our back door.

I believe that last year, probably 6 years after planting this amazing vine, we had our first truly amazing bloom. It took some time to see my first pod. They weren't very obvious and in fact when I first saw them, I thought some very odd, very large butterflies were creating some frighteningly odd crysalises. At least that was my first thought.

It soon dawned on me that these alien-looking things were actually the seed pods of the wisteria. There weren't THAT many of them and they were kinda interesting, but mostly high above the foilage and so out of sight until the leaves fell from the vines in the fall.

Sometime, during the winter, the pods "sprung", creating some quite interesting, springy looking twirls, and a shower of the shiny, flat seeds. I started picking them up in the early spring thinking I would make them into an unusual piece of jewelry.

Well, I haven't done anything with them yet, but, as you can see from the picture, this year, the pergola is full of the bizarre things and we'll have an amazing crop of the shiny seeds - not to mention the swirly sprung pods.

I will just have to do something soon with the seeds I saved from last year. Stay tuned!

Here we gooooo......

Another crazy weekend coming up. Women's Expo in Edison, NJ tomorrow. My DH, Bob, says it should be a two-hour drive, so I guess we'll give it three - we need to check out those rest stops along the way! Tina's daughter, Molly, will be going with us (Tina & me) this time which should be fun. Nothing like a little youth to perk things up.

On Sunday, I'll be hosting the Sizzlers here for a meeting to eat, pass beads around, eat, yak, pass some more beads around, eat and maybe light a torch... Oh, I forgot to say eat and laugh... lots of that. So far, I know there are 4 coming... I'm sure there will be more come Sunday. It's such a great group of people - so encouraging and accepting. Everyone is only too happy to show the others any techniques they have learned or share a piece of equipment they have acquired so that everyone can try it out.

I keep planning to clean and make soap... making lists and ignoring them... well it doesn't look THAT bad around here. And I can finish the soap on Monday.

I hope to have pictures of both the events of the weekend to post on Monday.

New Fantasy Jewelry

I really need to get these up on my website. I'm planning a new page called "Fantasy Beads", but my website software is driving me crazy - not to mention that I'm apparently challenged in focusing my digicam properly, or at least in transferring well focused pictures to the web! Still need to learn a bit more about html so I can just do it myself instead using of the dang template thing I started with. It keeps corrupting itself. Probably has to do with the fact that I keep switching back and forth on web page editing programs, but it still shouldn't do that....in my opinion.

This little gal is "Serena" and was so fun to make... well, they all are, but I layered silver in her body and you can see it shining through. Gives her a really nice look and shows all the different green and turquoise colors I used.

I had so many ideas about making her into a necklace. Lots of beads and shells would look great with her, but I guess this needed to be kept simple since she's so intricate herself. She's strung on Waxed linen with a few embellishments on the necklace itself.

The hole on this bead runs vertically through her body which made it easy to add a tassel of bubbly beads which sort of add to the lushness of her tail.

The necklace is long, but it is made to be easily adjusted in the back. Both ends of the necklace slip through a largish bead in the back and end in small tassels (see picture to the right). Because the thread is waxed, it holds pretty well, but can be loosely tied to keep it in place.

The purple fairy, "Violet", seems characteristically shy as she turns her face slightly to the side and her hair falls over her face. There are garlands of vines and flowers flowing through her hair and held in her hands.

"Violet" is built on a bead and the hole runs horizontally so that she is strung simply on a triple strand of waxed linen and matching beads are worked into the design near the focal, using a knotted pattern.

This necklace is finished the same way as "Serena", with both strands running through a large bead and fringed at the ends.

I'm going to be making a number of beads and necklaces like this. The blue and pink faireies I showed a couple of weeks ago are already gone and I have a fall fairy ready to be strung with some glass acorns and oak leaves I have made. Another "coming attraction" is a midnight fairy in shades of creamy, opalescent white and lapis.. silver star spattered spacers and a large moon bead go with her... better get busy.

Our sweet pup, Rudy, is having one heck of a shedding season. This is the first time it has been an issue. He was only a little guy last year at this time. Now, he's a big boy. He's been through a winter and a hot summer and his fur is coming out in huge bunches!

Here's the culprit. Doesn't he look like a perfect little gentleman? What an innocent face, huh?

He's normally a very mild mannered fellow, but what a whirling, snarling dervish he becomes when the brush comes out! For some reason, he really hates it.

We've been attempting to brush him as often as possible even though it means tying an old handkerchief around his "snoot" which seems to calm him so that he lies peacefully while giving off quiet little growls.

It's pretty obvious he holds no grudge because, afterward, he's full of fun and ready to play - oh, and expecting a treat!

What do you suppose this is? Is it a cotton boll gone unpicked? No. Have a herd of sheep passed by recently? No.

This is an echinacea seed head that had fallen across Rudy's pathway. It seems it caught on a clump of his fur and it just pulled right out...

On another note, you can see in this picture how dry it is, too... We've reached the typical brown ground stage of summer when much of the grass has become crunchy underfoot.

Usually our summer drought is ended when the tail end of a hurricane sweeps up our way and soaks the thirsty earth. Maybe the seemingly drunken path of Ophelia will lurch it's way up here and end it for us this year.

Back to the Woods

So, Tina was over and we decided to venture into the woods once again. With the weather as dry as it has been here, the lush summer undergrowth seems to have thinned a bit and we were able to actually venture in a bit.

I didn't get far before I started thinking about all the mosquitoes and "snakey" things and the fact that I was wearing my sandals, so I just kept track of Tina's shadow as she dove into the heavier growth searching for the bayberry bushes we planted this spring....

While I was waiting, I played with some of the prematurely colored and fallen leaves along with some other odds and ends I had found to make a temporary collage. I guess it's sort of "found art".

The colors on the leaves were oddly mottled. The black walnut still in its hull (up in the top left corner) reminds me of walks around the pond with "Bobby" (now Rob and apparently even more recently, Harry!) who always insisted on picking them up and sticking his little thumbs in the mushy ends to turn them black. The feather is a gift of one of the birds who has lived this beautiful summer here among the trees. Wonder if he (or she) will be sticking around for the winter?

Speaking of winter... one of the supposed predictors of a hard winter is lots of berries on the dogwood trees.... what do you think? This looks pretty thick to me...

I guess I should hope for a mild winter this year with the predictions of high costs for heating oil, etc.... and I guess I do, realistically, but a good storm or two (no more than that) is always nice if you are stuck and have nothing to do but sit by the fireplace watching the winterscape outside while a pot of soup simmers on the stove.

BUT, it's barely autumn and certainly not time to wish for a snowy day! Despite the horrible weather catastrophe recently on the Gulf coast ... and Ophelia lurking off the east coast, we have been blessed with absolutely perfect weather - although awfully dry - and I'd hate to go wishing it away.

Well, the lye's ready for tomorrow... it'll be a soaping day. Lot's of varieties to get up to speed and a couple special ones I'd like to make for the holidays. And of course, the torch is always waiting...

(Edited today because it's a collAge not a collEge - and I'm an idiot!)

Where's my camera?

You know, we live in the country.

We aren't that far out, but we get used to watching for farm tractors and even Amish buggies on our roads... they're just a fact of life. On Sundays, the "courtin' buggies" go past the house and the kids are out playing on their scooters and riding their wagons down the hill.

This evening, though, I saw something that even surprised me.

I was pulling out of the grocery store and something caught the corner of my eye at the bank. There in the drive-up lane was a car, waiting patiently for the Amish buggy in front of him to finish their transaction! I'm sure I did a double take to be sure I was really seeing what was there. It is just something unexpected... looked absolutely out of place. The only thing worse would have been that the buggy was at the ATM!

I guess that's progress.

Some enchanted beading....

Some new beads - all in one torching session. One of those magical moments when it all comes together and everythingin the kiln is a wonderful surprise.

Something inspired me to work with silver and green and along came... The Woodland Fairy. She reminds me of the painting, "Midsummer's Night". It's all shades of greens and sparkling golds.... She's built on a bead so that she can easily hang on a cord or string(s) of beads.

After I finished the fairy, I was in an enchanted mood and decided to make a mermaid as well with the deep colors of the seas and the woodlands... That produced the "Mermaid of the Deep".


The mermaid is built on a mandrel so the hole goes through her vertically. I can see her as a focal with a fringe of greens, pearls, and little silver beads spilling out above and below her.

The silver foil deep inside each one shows through in flashes of all the colors used including dark & light greens along with transparent teals - just luscious and they matched perfectly with some of the beads I just purchased at the Lebanon show.

Along with the "ladies", I was inspired to make a few foiled florals, one resembles a deep Koi pond, with the orange Koi flashing through the sparkling water as seaweed and flowers drift among them.

These colors really call to me. They are deep and mysterious.. I may be working with them for some time.

It is so exciting to hit on something that works... I guess that's what it's all about.

The next step...

So, here's our boy, car loaded and ready to take the next step in his life. He didn't want to pose for this shot, but I told him it really was a momentous occasion and he finally agreed.

I've been tempted to dig out the old pix of him "graduating" from pre-school for comparison, but I'm not sure I could handle reminiscing about that little guy today!

We've been through this before when he left for RIT last fall, and even though this is much closer, I think (and hope) he will find a true home at Ursinus. We may actually lose parts of him as he finds his own niche. Wonderful and awful....

No official programs to help *us* let go, but it sounds like there are lots of opportunities for the kids to get to know each other and to help *them* adjust, which is the most important thing.

We really are here to give him roots and wings. I remember that as my mantra last year and it looks like it'll be a big help again this year.

I'm about to turn on the kiln, light the torch and attempt to get things back to our regularly scheduled program....

A Sizzlers' Event

Well, I had almost regained my bearings after the ill-fated Chicago trip when it was time to get ready for the local Gem Miners' Jubilee in Lebanon, PA. What a fun time!

Four of the "Sizzlers" teamed up to man a table at this rock & gem show. Rachel took care of setting us up with the promoter and brought her gorgeous "Kissing Fishies". Ann (and her many, many beautiful and technically perfect beads) came up with a unique table dresing in purples and "grizzly green" that made us stand out. Faith brought a good selection of her goodies all the way in from Chambersburg. For a first time out, it was quite successful!

Here's a shot of my display. First thing on Saturday, my "Ursula's Sister" mermaid bead and my "Pink Fairy" bead were purchased. I'll have to make some more sculptural beads - I love to create them and apparently they are in some demand.

My "Blue Fairy" necklace was also purchased. Click here to see a close up of the Blue & Pink Fairies.

A few bracelets, sets and earrings rounded out the weekend.

We were in a new room added to the show just this year, but doing demos constantly seemed to bring people to our table. The promoter seemed to get a kick out of us - the lampworking and demo added something a little different to the many rock, gem and bead vendors there.

I felt like the guy on the boardwalk at the Jersey Shore who used to keep me spellbound making his little lacy pyrex creatures, or the guy who made the blown swan barometers - remember them? Since I tend to be something of a ham, I enjoyed the attention and loved answering questions about every facet of lampworking.

It was interesting for me since it was my first time using a "Hothead" torch. The Hothead was the perfect, easily transported and easily set up, tool for a demonstration. Conditions were not ideal and I kept trying to find the sweet spot in the flame. Although wonky, the beads we created were just perfect for their purpose.

Since there were four of us manning the table, we had plenty of time to shop as well. Good time, good company, pretty good sales....and Rachel, great Guacamole! We'll be back next year!

Chicago and Back!

Here's a picture of Tina behind the table we shared at the Chicago Area Soap and Candlemakers' Conference. You can see my jewelry display on the left and her magazine and book display on the right. Tina isn't really a mouth breather! I think she's talking to our neighbor, Art, the shrinkwrap guy while holding coffee to stay warm.

Well, we made it there and back. What a trip! The universe seemed to conspire to make sure we got our fill of driving and turnpikes this trip. We may not be straying too far from home for a while.

The trip was going pretty well until we got about 2/3 of the way through Ohio. The turnpike was shut down because of a serious accident and Tina had brillliantly decided to turn into a rest stop just before everything stopped. We were stuck there three hours which meant by the time we left, it was close to sun down.

By the time we hit Indiana, it was dark and we were punchy. Road work loomed.. maze like contortions of roads which seemed to end periodically, no they didn't really, but it was getting late.

Then the signs began.... We really didn't understand this one. Here you see it in the daytime - snapped on the way home. But, a sign like this, saying, "Animal present when flashing", looming out of the night is rather disconcerting, especially when it is flashing!

And when it is followed by another sign saying,"Vehicles entering exiting area", confusion is complete.

At least they gave us something to talk about and eventually babble about on the way. The area the IN turnpike crosses is pretty desolate, so...

We looked so forward to getting into Illinois, thinking that, besides the fact that we would be closer to our goal, probably the roads would be in more populated areas... maybe even lighted.

Oh, the road was lighted all right.. And completely under construction... Orange barrels and cones everywhere... At one point, I had to veer around a bridge abutment, but by that time, we were running totally on adrenaline anyway.

It was nearing 12 midnight - our time - and we knew we were getting closer... a sudden exit appeared - and it was the right number (the order of exit numbers had not made sense for some time). We took it, and to our surprise, the gas station we saw ahead (where we planned to ask directions) was a toll booth. We escaped to the correct street and turned almost immediately into our hotel... Whew!

Gee, and almost 5 hours left to sleep before we had to get up for the Convention - great!

The convention itself was great and we made some good sales and even managed to pull off our presentation about adding herbs to soaps and other bath products. If the trip itself hadn't been so bizarre, I'd probably have a lot more to say about this!

Unfortunately, we still had to drive home... The trip home was very similar, even included an extra night we took to hide out from a nasty rain storm and pull ourselves together after a bit too much stimulation from said storm...

We're still recovering from the trip and grateful to have made the final leg of the trip from Pittsburgh to Lancaster without mishap... Maybe next time we'll go East - or north - or.. just stay home!

New favorites

This is another set of the Champenois beads I had on my site. I just love the color combination and had an inquiry about another set after the first was sold. This one is different enough that I don't feel I'm making a copy of the original. This one even has a Pa Dutch look about it... Truthfully, I'm going to have a hard time selling it, because it's one of my favorites of all time. What am I saying? They're all my favorites! Even if I do sell this one, I'll have to make yet another set for myself. I need to make a bracelet from this combo for me!

These are two "Fairy" beads I've been working on. They are ready to be strung and I've been itching to get started on making something wonderful with them. The colors on both just glow and I LOVE the iceberg/galaxy color on the blue.

As you can see, I've already begun stringing the blue one, and I have a lot of ideas for the pink one too.... Both are perfect for a pendant length that will add a bit of whimsey to winter clothes, I think.

Well, we're getting closer and closer to the Chicago Conference. I'm actually looking forward to the trip and the drive, even with Mercury still in retrograde! If my next post is from Canada or somewhere to the west though, don't be surprised.

I'm about to update my website with a number of new vessels (unless I screw it up again!) and maybe a couple of new sets to replace what has been sold.

Herb Wreaths, time & internet anthropology

Herb Wreaths -
This is a wreath that my sister & I made on Monday (I think). It was for an article in her magazine. We photographed and explained all the steps.

Unfortunately, the magazine is not in color, so I thought I'd post the color version here - didn't it turn out beautifully?

I'm thinking of taking a picture each week as it dries. It'll still be nice, just not as colorful.

Time is just flying by. We decided some time ago to attend, as vendors, the Chicago Area Soap & Candlemaker's Conference, August 13 in Tinley Park, IL.

I thought I'd have plenty of time to have a large number of soap beads made and ready to go by then. Life seems to have gotten in the way. Between soap orders and the ensuing soap making, etc., dealing with our son getting ready for college and the other normal day to day stuff, I woke up yesterday and realized it's only a week away! How did this happen??? Looks like there's a lot of torch time in my future.

On top of the Chicago Show, the next weekend is the Gem Miner's Jamboree in Lebanon, PA. I was hoping to get some more regular "art" beads made for that!

Internet anthropology - The other thing I've been wanting to write about is sort of a little anthropology study I've stumbled into online. Have you ever noticed that people say things in some forums that they would never say in person? Or, have you noticed how each forum seems to have its own personality?

There are lists I've been a member of for years. One in particular where I feel pretty comfortable has always been very careful about touching on any subjects that might be controversial. Topics are closed before anything even begins. It kinda bugged me. We were adults after all, but I figured it was the list mom's right to make whatever rules they wanted. In the past few months, I've branched out and joined a number of forums and now I understand the rules of the list!

Each forum seems to have a personality of its own. I learned long ago "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

What I've seen in one forum in particular, reminds me of the "in" crowd in high school or the movie "Mean Girls". There are definitely the old-timers who can, and do, say anything to anyone, counting on their "posse" to back them up. Woe unto the new girl who innocently expresses an opinion contrary to the position of the "in crowd". The wrath of the "Mean Girls" is brought down upon her full force. In this case, even the moderators join in. Saw a card the other day that said. "If you don't have anything nice to say... you'll fit right in here." Seems to fit! I've noticed the postings have definitely slowed on this forum since I've been there and it isn't because it's summer.

Those same "Mean Girls" are on other forums I frequent and are completely different people. I can only guess that they don't have their back up. Remember, the "Mean Girls" in high school were pretty nice until their friends showed up!

Just find it interesting.. I thought we left high school a long time ago.