Back and Posting

Well, after that great flurry of posting, I feel kinda bad having missed a week or so.

The computer being sort of incapacitated threw me for a loop, and then I had the bead show to work on in York. Came home to some soap orders and then restocking to be done, but now I'm ready again.

These are our stargazer lilies. We planted them some years ago and they have rewarded us every summer since with a fabulous show. It is short, but so gorgeous!

Every year, it is a little better than the year before.


And the chickens...

I can't seem to catch them all at once, but here you can see our rooster. We've decided they must be Scandinavian, so his name is Sven. We have Olga and Helga and are trying to come up with some other Scandinavian names for the girls.

Finally, this is one of the best beads I ever made. She is a purple fairy. Her proportions are great, her hair all stayed on, the ends are smooth, but... Even though I tried really hard to pay attention to keeping her evenly heated, her skirt just splintered beneath the surface.

I'm thinking I have a bit of an incompatibility problem. I used both Moretti and Lauscha. It should all work together, but, I guess this time it didn't.

I am really heartsick about her. But I have the picture and I'm actually thinking of painting her with resin so she will hold together. Maybe I'll encase her in a cube of resin and keep her as my "frozen fairy".

Life in the Country - Kaboom!

I started to go into great detail, but suffice it to say that Tuesday afternoon and evening, we experienced a real "Thunderboomer" - and a little too close for comfort! We're not sure exactly where it hit, but it was close.

It took out (fried) our cable modem and router along with two desktop computers. My laptop is still fine, but this is the first I have been "connected" since the strike. Our electricity was out for 13 hours. The telephone line to the shop is not working.

Thunderstorms are usually not so destructive, but when they make a direct hit, they can wreak havoc. All the repair and insurance calls have been made, new surge suppressors have been installed.

Life in the country will now return to the usual chaos.

The Good, the bad and... the turkeys

First the good news. This is one of my first uses of gold foil. I think the combination of clear cobalt glass and gold foil is magical. It reminds me of shooting stars at midnight, but I call it "Goldrush".

Imagine the feelings of those 49'ers. It must have been amazing, lying under the stars, late at night, dreaming of the big strike.


A second piece of good news is this vessel which I call "Green Jaguar".

The pattern is something I wanted to try that the originator calls "dragon scales". The color reminds me of the rain forest and the spots of something sinuous and stealthy... a Jaguar.

The lighter clear glass in the middle is my favorite, pale emerald, because it catches the light so beautifully.

And then the bad...
I say bad for two reasons.
First, you can see that I somehow burnt the handle. See the black spots on the inside of the handle? And second, on the other side of the vesel, there is a pinpoint hole. I saw it while I was working on it, and thought I had covered it, but, alas no. This was a lot of work. I pulled a number of twisties to lay on the surface and then placed a twisted flower right on the center. On the back, the design is more abstract, with raised and flattened dots.

Oh, well, I'll have to try it again like I did the mermaid yesterday. No photos yet, but she turned out very well.

TURKEY REPORT!! A neighbor stopped in yesterday just to tell me how much she loves the turkeys. She wanted to ask if she could feed them corn. Sure, make more poop. She didn't say, but, from her very forceful, "I like the turkeys!", I get the feeling that all the neighbors might not be in complete agreement.

Also, a PennDot crew was working on the road in front of our house. I left while they were there and noticed the whole flock of turkeys had settled in along the orad to watch them. Apparently, Bob, my husband, left shortly afterward and asked if the turkeys were bothering them. The "Stop sign guy" replied, "Oh, no, they're so tame. We almost caught one!"

So, now we know what the PennDot guys do. When they have a chance, they chase turkeys!

New Mermaid & Pea Blossoms

If you click on any of the pictures, a larger version should open in a new window.
A new mermaid. Her tail is covered in fish scales, though not as precise as I'd like. I'll have to give it another shot today on another one, maybe. I do love her hair. The stringer came out pretty well and gives the curls lots of definition. Looks like it's just floating around her. And, she's modest... Sometimes those mermaids just don't know how to cover up!

The hole on this bead is lengthwise and mermaids look really nice as pendants, with a fringe of matching beads and seashells pouring out beneath them.

This color combo turned out really well. It's dramatic, but a really nice way to use the ocher and coral together. The little green turquoise beads I used as spacers match it perfectly and I call it "Pea Blossoms" even though I've certainly never seen pea blossoms that color, but the spacers look like little peas.

Oh, look, Rachel, they aren't glowing! I was trying to change the color of the backround with layers and found I must change the original or the glow "happens". Doncha just love Photoshop?!

Never a Dull Moment

Back in May, when it was first built, I posted a picture of this structure. With all the rain we have had, plus judicial care on Bob's part, they have grown at an almost frightening rate. Part of this "care" included installing electric fence around the whole thing to keep the turkeys out.

He also felt the need to install electric fence around where the turkeys slept the first night because we think a fox carried one off. This (I'm not sure if it was the fox or the electric) led to their most recent perch which I showed you just the other day.

The turkeys were not at their usual spot last night (thank heavens!), so we aren't sure where they are spending their time now. Bob's worried, but I think they were just probably insulted since he washed away the piles of excrement that they left on the brick path to our back door!

Okay, back to the gourds. They have started actually bearing fruit. These are just a couple of the tiny baby gourds forming all over the vines. These particular ones look like bottle or bird house gourds, but there are also snake gourds, dipper gourds and mini gourds that I think might be fun for jewelry use (somehow)!

This morning, the new rooster started crowing. A sound Rudy, our pooch, has not heard before. Rudy decided that the correct answer to this noise should be a howl! I was outside, talking to Tina on the phone when this interchange began, and both of us were highly amused. The rooster would crow, Rudy would follow with his answer, and it continued for some time.

Honestly, there is never a dull moment around this place!

Name challenged

Today I worked with silver and copper blue frit to make these lentils. The silver and frit combine to create this glowing finish. I looked and looked at the picture trying to come up with a name. They remind me of some splendid reptile. Although reptiles and amphibians don't necessarily make me think of jewelry... or anything pretty. Maybe "Enchanted Rain" because it looks like rain spatters on dry ground, only sparkling deep turquoise spatters on silvery ground.

I thought of the men in space right now and considered calling them "Nebula", but the next set is much closer to a nebula.

Looking at the picture of these has convinced me to change the original name "St. Elmo's Fire" to "Orion Nebula". They just remind me of the first pictures sent back from the space telescope. They were so amazing, with myriad colors and so many swirls and sparkles.

I remember how unimaginably beautiful those pictures were in, was it, National Geographic?

St. Elmo's Fire, gargoyles and Silver Wyandottes

We'll start with something pretty. This is the beginning of a set I'm calling St. Elmo's Fire. I'm going to pick out colors from the )Raku) swirls and make a bead using each one. It's going to be pretty and Tina bought a bunch of the color changing beads (which some of us remember as mood beads) a few months ago.

This is one bracelet where they would make sense since no matter what color they are, they will match something in the main beads.

Then we have the turkeys - again!

Every evening around dusk, they come in and roost at the end of the pergola leading to the back door. The first time they did this, we weren't aware and when we turned around and looked at the entrance, it was like finding our own set of 11 gargoyles staring at us!

The one on this end doesn't seem to be too keen on the flash.

Somehow we got on the subject of chickens on Friday night and Bob immediately began researching them. He found some that look like these at a farm nearby and fell in love. This morning, he will be going to pick up 5 hens and a rooster - Silver laced Wyandotte.

Yep. More birds. These are really pretty and I'm thinking they might actually have some purpose for a change. Apparently, the rooster really doesn't make much difference as far as egg quality goes as long as you collect the eggs when they are fresh and if we decide we'd like to have some babies, bingo!

I must have a talk with brother Mark and his wife Pam, though, about mentioning any new animals...

Today and maybe tomorrow

Just one set today, and it isn't topaz. I've been wanting to make something in pinks and today was the day. This is a combination of pastel pink and transparent pink. The transparent tends toward peach, and I added a roll in salmon frit before I swirled the glass. The transparent is lighter than it appears in the picture, but I decided not to do so much fooling around with Photoshop today. (I don't know if you know this, but if you click on the picture, you'll get a bigger version in a new window.)

Most of the day was spent helping with Tina and Molly's official move. The one that included pickup trucks. So, now they are officially in. Even though they've been sleeping at the new house, half their stuff was still at the apartment.

Maybe tomorrow I'll start working on organization... yeah... tomorrow....

Instead of cleaning

Well, I really intended to get some work done... cleaning the shop ... but instead, I had a bracelet to finish and decided to make some beads and put one more together while I was at it. This first picture is the bracelet that was ordered from a set of my beads. It's called "Funky Friday" because I felt the khaki and blue denim colors would be perfect for casual day in the office and the clunky shapes made it funky.

This second set is my own fireworks, a purple version of the aqua set I made a few days ago. I just love the swirls and the straight sided lentil is a more solid version of the lentil, so it takes the poking and prodding necessary for a design like this one.

I think I'll do another set like this with topaz, ocher and ocelot frit. It should be quite colorful with a bit of tortoiseshell look to it.

I call this bracelet "Olive Petroglyphs". The scrolls and lines remind me of ancient petroglyphs, the colors are great and all the silver makes it extra special.

Okay, okay, maybe I'll get back to the filing and rearranging. Oops, nope, gotta do some grocery shopping. Well, I evaded it for today...

Yeah, I know the pictures "glow". I'll have to work on my photoshopping....

And we pause...

To celebrate our Nation's 4th of July.


An annual tradition with us, this year was better than most. Lots of people in our rural area have fireworks exhibitions of their own, along with the large displays in the various communities.


Saturday night, we gathered on the deck up at my sister's and watched the neighbor's display. From the vantage point on the hill, we could also see probably 3 or 4 other large displays, although farther away.


Last night, we had our own and while our "boys" were setting off their own, another neighbor proceeded to send bottle rockets screaming over our heads.

Rob and 3 of his best friends have been doing this (more or less), with lots of adult supervision, since 7th grade. Now, they are almost all 20 and staged their first (almost) solo presentation.

What a blast (sorry about that)! Tomorrow, it's back to beads, etc.

Beads - oh, and turkeys...

When I uploaded these pictures, they were in a different order, but I'll go with the way they came up to comment.

These are called "Sailing away" and I only made two of them to begin with - as a sample to see if I liked them.... well, I did. I made three more, so they are now a nice sized set. The gray-blue faceted spacers were one of the things I found at a show in Timonium on Friday and I was very happy to find that color since it matches one of my new favorites. It is like a well worn pair of jeans. The gray-blue makes a nice contrast with the sparkling medium blue transparent and the whole effect with the curling waves makes me think of sailing the seas!

Another set which includes the same color of gray-blue along with some purples and an ocher. It was a day of trying things... stringers, dots and twisties. I call it "Lollypops and Jawbreakers".

These guys again! Remember the little, ugly wild turkeys I showed you a month or so ago? Well, we set them free. Unfortunately, they seem to have imprinted on humans, specifically our family. For a while before we let them out, they set up quite a ruckus whenever they saw me or my sister since we had gotten into the habit of bringing them piles of chickweed to munch on. Now, I walk between the shop and the house and turn to see them (all 11 of them) walking quietly behind me in single file. It's kinda creepy. Reminds me of the velociraptors in "Jurassic Park"!

While mowing the back yard the other day, the whole "gang" suddenly emerged out of the woods. (A little unsettling!) They loved the cut areas with all the things hopping around rearranging their lives, etc.

And finally, some more beads. This is another of those unmatched sets. The only thing that they have in common is the colors and the shape/size. Another set of vintage porcelain beads used as spacers did the trick and really made them work together.

Soon, I will have my website updated. Some of the things I have shown on the blog are already sold, but many of these will soon be available on the pages of Torchsong Studio.

Did you say vessels?

So, I got this new glass and felt the need to make a bunch of it into vessels. It is wispy and nice to work when making hollows... a bit "stiffer". These are not the best pictures... not a great angle, but they were quick and dirty, just to get them up.

"Orange You Glad" I started with this one? I grabbed this vibrant orange rod and voila! The very center wrap is yellow which doesn't show up unless you are really looking for it. The neck of this vessel is very slim and sinuous, swelling to a voluptuous body... wow!

"Spun Sugar" I almost feel like this one would be sugary and sweet like cotton candy at the Fair. I even love the (unplanned) bubbles in the handle. It is just sweet, sweet, sweet. The top is straighter than it looks in the picture - as I said, the photos are not the best.

"Deep Sea Amphora" This one looks like it may have been dredged up from the depths, or found by chance along the shore. What a find that would be! Again, I'm using one of those colors I love that remind me of beach glass. Pale turquoise swirls.. yum.

"Sparkling Jungle" Can you see the sparkles in this one? The glass has tiny bits of silver all through it and in a bright light, it sparkles like stars shining through the canopy of a rain forest.

Tomorrow, some experiments with some more of those half and half beads... and a trip to the Intergem show at Timonium.

Outta the kiln...

These are the florals I was talking about yesterday (I think it was yesterday). I was having some problems getting a good picture and finally got the tripod out and these turned out better. The one on the left has silver wrapped on the base, under the flowers and the oneon the right is an experiment with dichroic. I think I need to read up on that a bit more.

I'd save the best for last, but I'm so anxious to post this. It is Caliente glass from Canada and very similar to Gaffer. It is hand pulled and I love the effects that result, just from the "plain" glass. The handles are even. which is a major accomplishment in itself! And the Foster Fire release, again is amazing, not much residue to wrestle out in a vessel... YES!

These are what resulted yesterday from just trying to make something interesting with some of my favorite colors... Teal and Topaz. I'm not thrilled with them, but will persevere and maybe wind up with another nifty charm bracelet full of various styles of beads, with just colors to tie them together.

In the groove

It seems I've finally found my rhythm. Get up early, turn on the kiln, clean and photo beads, then torch for a couple of hours. These are the goodies I produced yesterday and I'm pleased. Nothing spectacular, but a fun set nevertheless. They remind me of toy jacks, so that is what they will be called.

I also made a couple of large florals - one with silver inside and another using dichroic (one of my first ventures into using it). I didn't get any good pix of them yet. Gotta get the tripod out for the close ups.

The rest of the day is free for soap and whatever other project awaits.

The current project is trying to get my sister, Tina, moved. We're experiencing a LOT of rain and storms, so actual moving is out of the question and luckily, it isn't pressing (except, she and her daughter are ready).

We have had a lot to sort through because this was the house where our mother lived until her death last March. Mom had not only her own possessions, but also, those of her mother stashed throughout the house. She was also something of a pack rat, so there are lots of decisions to be made.

We made three piles: what needed to stay, what needed to be thrown away and what would go to a yard sale (to be held next month at our brother's house). This sorting is interesting as we find the bizarre and the long lost treasure. Feelings would have been too raw to make the decisions that had to be made last year and I am glad we had the time for healing.

So, the kiln is clicking and it's time for my morning torching session... I can hardly wait to see what comes out of the kiln tonight!

Onward!

Phew! Well, it appears that little blip is over, so on we go...

First, I must begin with these beads. This is one of my favorite color combinations in glass. They were in my head and actually appeared as I envisioned them. (I love it when that happens!) I cleaned the holes, but they still need a bath in Coke to clean up the grayish haze on the solid color. Even with the haze, they are just what I was hoping for. Such a "beachy" feel to them, I think I have to make something from them rather than holding on to them to sell as a set.

Not to be outdone, we played with some new soap ideas and are pretty pleased with the results.

The first soap, on the left is the result of the Bear fat I showed in a previous post. It is so hard and creamy and white. We scented it with a nice smoky, woodsy combination of essential oils and it turned out really nice. I washed my hands with it almost immediately, even though it hadn't cured yet. The lather is lotiony, but, of course, since it isn't cured, my skin was tight (although still very soft) after washing. If those mountain men could have gotten hold of some nice coconut oil, they would have had a lovely soap!

The swirly copper colored soap is "Wild Ginger". We love the scent and if it holds, it is a sure winner. This is the first soap I have ever made that will actually match the terra cotta pavers in our main bathroom and also, our "cinnamon taupe" (okay, pink!) kitchen. And the aroma.... a citrusy ginger.

The third soap is something I just wanted to do for midsummer. We made all three of these on Midsummer's day, but this was special. Almost every fancy schmancy oil and butter I had went into it along with powdered rose petals and rose clay. Not as glamorous as I had hoped, but it should be fabulous when it is cured.

For any soapers reading this, I have to mention that after making soap since the early 90's I have never tried discounting my water before and these are the result of my first experiments with water discount. After this experience, I will never use full water again and can't believe it took me so long. If you have not tried it, don't wait any longer!

Hmmm Something strange going on

I don't know what's going on with this blog. Everything was fine and suddenly there's no sidebar and no history... I'm aware of it and am working on it, but with my limited knowledge of html, I'm not sure if it'll get fixed. If not, I guess I'll start a new one and post the link to it here.

Edited to add: Well, it seems all I had to do was to make a new post... I have no idea!

And still more..

Yes, I waited 'til the kiln was cool enough. And I have to say, I've been using Foster Fire bead release and can't get over how quickly and completely the beads clean up with this stuff..

Anyhow, I had to come up with a name for these and all I can think of is "Custard Dots". The yellow color reminds me of custard, so creamy and oddly enough, I guess the pale lavender/periwinkle color does too. I had some fun with a new press for the cubes and "jewels" and was pleased to see that I was accurate enough that the dots actually hit the corners of the beads. A few squiggled kaleras sprinkled in and it's a pretty nice set. Oh, and of course, the heart!

And then I made "Daisies Won't Tell". I've personally been wearing a lot of the bright "grizzly green" (as my grandmother would have said) with my jeans and this is a perfect match for that combo. Doesn't it look - perky?

The flowers are pretty detailed in that I split the petals so they look even more natural than usual. The round blue beads are some sponge coral that I searched and searched for last year because I knew it would match this glass so well - and because I just love the color.

All in all, it has been a pretty productive couple of days. I need to do this more often!

Torching again

I've been back to the torch. A little rusty with the stringer control, but this color combination just inspired me to keep going and going!

There are enough here to do a bracelet and earrings, maybe even a necklace, if there are plenty of "companion" beads added in.

I have some others in the kiln and am having trouble letting it cool completely. I'll post them later, or if I must, tomorrow.

The past couple of mornings, I've been getting up early, coming out to the shop and just "going to town". It's a good system for me and I need to keep at it. There is a "edge" involved in lampworking and too much time away from the torch will cause one to lose it.

Babies & bear fat

Aren't these little guys adorable? They're the latest additions to "Bob's Menagerie". I wish he had put his hand in with them so you could see how tiny they are. Fluffed out, they aren't quite as big as ping pong balls!

They are partridges - chukkers. We raised them before and a few of them hung around for months. They found a place to roost inside one of the bays of our shop. We left the doors open and they would come in to get out of the wind. They would line up on a rafter and it was a bit disconcerting to be standing there talking to a Christmas tree customer and happen to look up and see a line up of chukkers looking back. I'm sure it was even mor startling for the customer!

And then there's this stuff. This is bear fat. A customer was here for trees and one thing led to another. The next thing I knew he came back with these jars of bear fat for me to use to make soap.

I know how to do it. I have no doubt it will turn out well. I just can't decide how to scent it. Something woodsy? Yeah, that's probably a good idea. What should I add? Coconut for bubbles, for sure. Nothing will be necessary to harden it up. Maybe some honey!

And one last thing. Have you seen the new Ford commercial with Taylor Hicks - our new American Idol? I like the guy. I like the commercial, but, jeesh! They must play that commercial a million times a day!

Catching up

It isn't that I haven't been thinking about blogging. Everything just wasn't in the right place at the same time... how's that?

Last Saturday - was it that long ago??? we got the latest edition of The Essential Herbal in the mail. As always, it's going to be another great edition, full of lots of info and fun articles.

We somehow managed to get this edition out at almost the same time we put Tina's latest book together. It's the one about wild foods I mentioned before. I may be tempted to try some new "wild" stuff even though that isn't my usual cup of tea, so to speak!

One of the last few evenings, I snapped a picture of the sunset. They are so beautiful around here - the creamy colors of the sky and all the trees in silhouette.

This is our view from Frog Hollow. As you can tell from the name... we are usually looking up at the sunset.

I have been working on jewelry and beads.

I think I've shown these fairies before. One lady bought all three as Christmas gifts - and another lapiz one that I haven't finished making into a necklace yet.

Anyhow, this is how I string them on waxed linen with matching beads from my stash. The fringey part must be trimmed and finished, but I'm happy with how they are turning out. They are special beads and they will be very special necklaces.

Today, I was working with twisties and made a couple of pretty nice vessels with them. I like to make them so that they are transparent and it is easy to see that they are actually hollow. I haven't cleaned it yet... I get the idea I shouldn't be showing it without cleaning, but I was excited that I produced something for a change, so here you go...! The little post in the center will be gone once it is cleaned. That is the "mandrell" or the stick that the glass is wound around while it is being worked.

I made another vessel that unfortunately wound up with a pinpoint hole in the side, so it will just have to reside with me... It's ivory and covered with various twisties. I guess it was just a little too complex to make it.