Ease on Down the Road

I'm oh so gently easing back into the routine after a few days off. I can't speak for more than me but when the holiday's so wonderfully interrupt what goes on daily in your household I just want to continue having a vacation.

It's not that I don't want to make art. While on this "vacation" I taught my daughter how to use her Grandmother's old White sewing machine. I consider sewing an art form. It requires quite a bit of technical expertise to run a sewing machine and create a well sewn piece. And that doesn't even address the color, pattern range, and types of textiles available to the artist.

In fact, much to my spouses dismay when some semi-ignorant cave man type used to question us at art fairs about his wooden toys I was ecstatic about pointing out the fact that band saws are simplistic machines as compared to those made by Singer, Janome, and Bernina. Poor man used just wilt as I explained the finer points of picking out thread and needle as compared to the limited number of tooth styles available in 80" continuous blades for his Sears Craftsman!

I don't want you to think I am a terrible booth sitter or artist. I never frightened them away. Besides, they were always accompanied by some darling wife like - MA WAH - who always stood behind him with this enormous smile across her face. When the discourse was finished she would then pass me several toys she was interesting in having for her children. AND, she'd instruct "cave-boy" to pay the lady. Did I make any converts for forward thinking from the males - doubtful. But, it's the women who buy the toys for their children and they were consistent repeat customers.

My DH would laugh it off - as would our artistic art fair neighbors. Anyone who has engaged in a cooperative "art team" knows that artistic women are not generally bound by medium or frightened by tools. My personal belief: If you can handle the damn adjustments, feet, thread, tension, and the round robin of other nefarious crap on a sewing machine you can probably handle the space shuttle on mars mission!

Okay, so it doesn't sound like I'm gently easing back into anything....I'm jumping in like a belly flop. No use sticking your toe in the cold water. You might as well just jump in and get it over with. I left my sewing machine up - just in case my mind wants to wander back to it. My darling daughter; Kate, took her Grandma's back home with her. She also took a new set of skills, two lined Christmas stockings, and a great pair of flannel PJ's. You Go Girl, onward and upward.

Oh, there a new things in the Etsy store and if you want a great Christmas Red that does not burn (and you torch workers know what I mean) try the wonderful red from Lauscha Glass.

Addition to the "Resource List"

Here is another resource to add to the forum list: Metal Artists Forum. There is some pretty heavy duty metalsmithing going on here. It isn't exactly all jewelry but it sure is interesting.

Happy Thankgiving

I'm thankful for so much this year. I'd list it for you but you all know who you are. Family, Friends, Internet buddies. You're all on my list for wishes and prayers. Love you all. Don't eat too much or we'll all be doing Zumba instead of shopping tomorrow. Love, Sharon

Hahahaha - The Sunday Funnies - pass it on!

I am passing this on to you because it definitely works, and we could all use a little more calmness in our lives.

By following simple advice heard on the Dr. Phil show, you too can find inner peace. Dr Phil proclaimed, "The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and have never finished."

"So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos, a box of chocolates, and a half bottle of scotch.

You have no idea how freaking good I feel right now."

Catching Up...

There are new beads listed on Etsy and more will be there tomorrow. For now, I think I'm still recovering from all of the Faerie dust. Which brings me to The Fairy Apothecary. I bought some great skin dust. It goes on very lightly, comes in different colors and skin tones and just leave a nice light blush of shimmer. I purchased a kind of Salmon orange color - love it. I sparkle but I'm pooped. You can also catch their blog, Etsy, or write to them directly on their gmail.The photos are of me resting incognito and the owner of the fairy Apothecary. Oh, and she had some great lip moisturizers too - I love my peppermint!

Last Comments on the Faerie Con Adventure

I have more photos and will leave you with just few parting shots…my suggestion for next year is that they hang photography stations so that all of us who are toting cameras around will have better backdrops to photograph against. And, I’ll tell you – I rarely saw anyone without their camera.

This outfit is for the very daring. It was one of the many in the Steampunk booth - It says "Treasure Chest" on the front. No other comments needed!

Need some wings ? - Pick your color, your type, and you are definitely in business.

Another Steampunk booth - They had just the greatest leather and goggles. Susan kept wondering if she could get a didyium lens for some of them.

Perfect ballgown for the Bad Faerie Ball - How much you ask? I couldn't bare to look.

These faerie balls were from the Faerie World Magazine booth. Yes, they have that magazine too. Go out to your local purveyor of magazine and find one to read. Great fun in there too.

It’s back to reality in all ways today. The last of the photos (almost!) and time to get the house cleaned for Holiday Company. That will snap anyone back in the game! Ugh.

I changed the tree topper and put a skull cap on the skeleton instead of a bridal veil – it isn’t quite making the grade either. And, after seeing all of the costumes at Faerie Con I need to shape up my skills a little and get something zippier. Maybe he needs a set of wings! I will save that for next year as I don’t even have time to contemplate doing something like that right now.

At the Con I learned a new term, “Wing Whacked”. That’s what you get when you walk down an aisle with lots of faerie’s coming your direction who are wearing their wings….Yup, “wing whacked”! You learn to do a little ducking and they do a faerie shuffle if they notice you. Use your imagination on that one. Where is that unabridged dictionary when you need it – I think I have new meanings to submit.

TAH TAH - For Now!

Too Pooped.....More Pics

Mae and her Friend wearing her costumes. I wish I'd of gotten one of Mae when she had the headdress on - it was a paper mache cow skull with lots of white and when beautifully with her design.

This was taken at the "Bad Faerie Ball". I wormed my way up near the front to take the photo. Faun was playing - kind of Celtic Rock from my view point but much much more. The ballroom was packed and it was so rocking that the booth shook. We were to the left behind a brick wall and the toggles were clanging against the acrylic necks.

This beautiful girl was working in one of the vendor booths. Isn't her costume spectacular?

Future Harry Potter! He was so cute and I asked his mother's permission to take this photo. He got into character and gave me the "wizard's scowl" - how adorable - but he wanted to be scary.

Green Man Brigade! Just before they started on their tour of the convention.

Home from Faerie Con but still feeling like Tinkerbell

Green Men from the Green Man parade! They drum, weave their way dancing through the convention, bestow blessings to everyone, and hand out acorns.

Isn't he adorable? He just had his face painted for the "Bad Faerie Ball"

This is one of my favorite outfits at the ball. This young lady was also dressed for the "Bad Faerie" ball. Her costume was just so neat - she's the only "Nightmare Before Christmas" faerie I saw. Too cute!

Well, I arrived home late this evening from Faerie Con. What can I say - it was a blast! I could of - and should of - taken hundreds of more photos of this fun event. But, sometimes you just have to stop and enjoy the party of it all. I wish a hundred of my lampworking friends could have been with me because I know they would have thoroughly enjoyed themselves. I have the photos I've posted tonight and some for tomorrow, then I will close the curtains on this years festivities and start dreaming about next year. Maybe next year I will have more than just Fhairy Strands, a fun tattoo, pixie dust apothecary, and desire for my own costume to show for it. Who knows ???- If you're going to visit maybe you ought to dress the part! I would still like to be the tooth fairy! Back to beadville, reality, and the torch in the morning.

Fairy Wing Designer

All weekend long there were some exceptional costumes. Of those costumes there were a set of ladies wearing wings and matched pieces that were so extraordinary they were stopped by everyone attending Faerie Con for photos. The costume designer was May Burnett. She designed the blue water wings you saw on the previous post. Today as I snapped another photo of the latest designs they were wearing I was able to talk to one of the Faeries and get more information. May has a web site, is on Etsy, and has a Facebook page. She is the Monarch Butterfly in these photos.

Tomorrow I will be home and I'll post more Faerie Con photos...I still have to see what I have from the Bad Faerie Ball. Maybe I was too busy being bad to take any "good" photos!

More From Faerie Con

It's been another long day at the conference but with all of the eye candy the time seemed to fly past. We even had a wonderful treat as Brian Froud dropped by the booth tonight to talk to us. I can hardly believe it after he and his lovely wife Wendy spent such a long day at their own booth. We talked about art - and how the nature of the world has changed - about mystical happenings - and new projects. We even did some storytelling. I am in awe and it is the least I can say about this delightful artist. Susan Lambert drove up to see us from Virgina where she and DH were visiting a relative. We shopped and gabbed and Susan treated me to an airbrush tattoo. It will last for about two weeks - or until I decide to be bold and remove it. I think it will stay awhile. I'm passing along some photos from today. Tonight was the Masquerade Ball for the "Bad Faeries" and everyone was changed into darker costumes - and I'll try and get to those photos tomorrow.

FaerieCon

As I said - so sorry I have not been around! The Moon Wax is ready to be cast and will be cast late next week. I also completed a heart. And, I'm in Baltimore, Maryland. It's FaerieCon time and I've come with my friend (Sharon Berkan-Dent) to help her with her booth. She does incredible silver and gold jewelry sculptures in the mystic realm. As if that isn't fun enough - I'm at FaerieCon! The costuming is wonderful. I didn't have time to edit as many photos as I would have liked but here are a few photos of what I am seeing - - -

More later - - - - - - - - - -

Sorry, I've been busy.

Don't you just love inspirational photos and posters? I do - and I'm kind of unabashed about it all. If it peps up your day and makes you feel like a tiger who can take on the world - well, why not! This is one of my favorites:


I've listed a group of Holiday beads on Etsy so if you'd like to take a peek just click on the Etsy on the left side of the page and it will take you there.

Amazon Pre-Order

Look at what is coming to Amazon and a book store near you - Creating Glass Beads by Jeri Warhaftig. Okay, I'm more than a little prejudiced on this one because I was part of the focus group. But, in the Spring when this book is released you are going to understand why. In there a some new techniques that lots of people have been itching to try. We got try them - yes, yes, yes! You'll have to trust me on this because I can't let the secrets out but there are lots of new techniques you are going to want to try. You can pre-order your copy from Amazon and it will be delivered to you whe n it's hot off the presses - I promise, you're going to like this one.

Working on Wax Sculptures to Cast

This side of the studio is mostly for fabricating and the one below for casting.


Happy November! I thought I'd show you the studio set-up we work in to cast. This is the Jewelry Studio at The Midland Center for the Arts. We have such a great time while we're here you couldn't consider it work. Below is one of the new waxes I'm working on to cast. I took photos as I began the process so I could share. I started with a very hard wax (the green - it comes in blocks of varying thickness) and began to carve out the design. To this wax I added some red wax details to build up my design. This is injection wax but works very well for sculpting so I always keep some around to work with.

Doesn't look like much in the first photo, huh? They all mostly start out kind of yucky - just like whittling a piece of wood. A gouge here and there before you switch to smaller tools and more details.

We are almost done here. There are details, refinement, and cleaning to go but it's almost there. I'm hoping to do the casting next week so I better get to it. It does sound like the final words just before my usual procrastination - Yikes.

Oh, just a side note too! I joined a new group - a forum on torch-fired enamels by Barbara Lewis. If you scroll down the page there is a link of the left - interesting stuff that torch enameling. There are lots of names you lampworkers will recognize on their member's list. Come on now - you know you want to try it! Join up...they've lots of tips and interesting ideas.