Posted in ETSY on November 22, 2011| 4 Comments »
Click HERE to visit my shop, or the thumbnails below to see each item.
I’ve been absolutely immersed in my latest boro binge and I’ve been a bit neglectful of email and blogging. Compared to the last binge this past March, I’ve been very productive and excited about what I’ve come up with. I just wasn’t feeling it last time, I guess. Anyway, you’ll see the results on Etsy at some point, but it will be a little while yet.
Thanks for stopping in!
Posted in ETSY on November 17, 2011| 11 Comments »
Before we go any further, I announced yesterday that I was going to have a Superstars sale on Thursday November 24… well, that turns out to be Thanksgiving Day. So, how ’bout right now we sit down to a heaping helping of Derp, smothered with DUH and a side of Do You Live Under A Rock?
Anyway, what will I do? I’m thinking my best approach would be to throw everything on Etsy this month and forget the Superstars. Apologies to those who prefer Superstars, but apparently, I can’t get my act together long enough to plan my schedule around a speck of dirt, let alone any major holidays.
So. Here’s some good stuff – click HERE to visit my Etsy shop, or the thumbnails below for each item.
Hey, wow, these look pretty good! Lots of green stuff tonight. Hm.
Okay, so I’d better leave on outta here – the cupboards are bare and I guess I need to get me to the grocery. Thanks for checking in!
Posted in blah blah blah on November 16, 2011| 9 Comments »
Just the way I like it.
Dad took me tool shopping for my birthday. As usual, we made a beeline for Steve’s Wholesale. I’ve told you guys about this place before – we never know what we’ll find, and if we find it and we like it, we’d better buy it because it probably won’t be there next time we go. A swivel vise and some new bastard mill files were on my shopping list. We did find a vise – it is a little dirty and in need of some oil and some TLC, and possibly some new jaws because they’re pretty gnarly.
As for the files, I got a few different sizes in the bastard mill, and got a really big one (for really big bezels), a small one and a medium sized one to have a backup if my current one wore out. The medium sized one ended up being bigger than the one I had, so I now have 4 different sizes. These bastard files are Simonds brand, made in Honduras – I couldn’t justify the expense of fancy swiss bastards for gruntwork (that sounds awful, doesn’t it?). The cheapy bastard has served me very well and has been my go-to for quick trimming, but you can’t beat a well-made Swiss file for the important shaping and finishing touches. I also got a cheapy round file, they are always referred to as chainsaw files, but thought it might be handy for large round holes if I ever try open back settings.
I also found a couple of nice brass hammers. One needs help already, the black gunky glue has turned loose, but I can fix that right up. I had been wanting little brass hammers like these, and the price of less than $6 each was too good to pass up. I also found a little baby orange 12oz deadblow, and an odd little stake anvil with square edges… you know, because a true square ring mandrel is too difficult to come by and maybe I can make it work. And you can never have too many cold chisels.
Yes, I like tools. I feel weird at the department store, and even more weird at the salon, but right at home at the tool store. I try to look nice and fix my hair, and I’m not exactly what you’d call a tomboy, but I’m definitely not what you’d call a girly girl. You wouldn’t have to worry about me spending the rent money on a Coach bag, but you might have cause for concern if you see the Pepe Tools or the Glass Torch Technology website open on my computer screen.
Now for the containers. People, if you go to hobby and craft shops like Hobby Lobby and Michaels, plan on spending a good bit on plastic storage containers. Some of those are made for specific objects and you really can’t go wrong with them. But if you need some basic bead and craft storage, you’ll find some interesting options and spend less at these odd junky tool shops. As for these particular containers, they are small round jars with screw on lids inside a clear plastic container. I have never seen anything better suited for my tastes in cabochon storage than these little guys. The yellow box beneath is Stack On brand, and I love those containers. I have two smaller ones in yellow and red, but this one was bigger and wider with larger compartments… perfect for staying organized during a boro binge. I like that the Stack On lids have flexible slot/tab latches and don’t open or close too easily, and while a completely clear (rather than colored) base might be preferable for some, the bright cheese yellow color makes it easier to find in my hoards and stacks of junque.
Let’s not forget Bead Ren last Friday. 11/11/11, the perfect day to go. I was disappointed not to see Jane’s Fiber and Beads this time, but found a new (to me) seller called April Melody. They sell Czech glass, the best new stuff and some of the best vintage I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, they only took cash and checks, and I had already shot most of my cash wad at Bokamo. Mom saw the look on my face and literally had to usher me away from April Melody’s booth, and I only got out of there with two strands. I explained that I wouldn’t have been able to carry on if I didn’t have that strand of yellow moonglow glass and those chunky red and white square disks. This trying to keep myself under control THING was very difficult, particularly with vintage glass, but it had to be done.
I also got some tiny fused glass dichro beads from Sven Weir (sp?). What initially drew me to his booth was a basket of Indonesian lampwork. Yes, I know that sounds odd, but that’s not something you see all that often and I had to get a gander. I was quite impressed with the workmanship. By comparison, the Indonesian has a vintage Japanese look and feel to it, and much more character than today’s Chinese mass produced lampwork. And a higher price tag to go along with a higher level of quality. Maybe it’s just me, but the Chinese mass produced lampwork has a dull and muddy look to it, and while the Indonesian glass had a fairly limited color palette, the colors were brighter and the detail was better.
Oh well, enough babbling. I’ve been making beads like a mad scientist, organizing stuff, cleaning house and cursing the ill winds, so I’ve been a bit neglectful of Superstars sale planning. So you can expect a Superstars sale next Thursday the 24th, for sure. (scratch that. Next Thursday is THANKSGIVING, for crying out loud. Derp-de-DERP.) I’ll send an email to the subscribers some time tomorrow, and will list some stuff on Etsy tomorrow, as well. Talk to you again, then! Thanks for reading.
Posted in ETSY on November 10, 2011| 16 Comments »
Click HERE to visit my shop, and/or the thumbnails below for each item.
Seems I was in the mood for something colorful today. You’ll find that I didn’t get as wordy with the descriptions today… I’m particularly tired because I had to get up for the repair guy, who diagnosed the problem with the wall heater and decided he should let someone else do it. Hey, fine by me. Like I’ve said before, I admire a man who knows his limitations. And it isn’t going to be too cold for a while, so I have time to be patient.
So, today’s my birthday. I’m 34, I think… yeah, I’m 34. Whoop de freakin doo, I guess. Just another day. I’m going to the Bead Ren show tomorrow in Tulsa, and if anyone buys anything at all tonight, I’ll have a little bit of extra spending money to take with me. But really, it isn’t as if I need MORE beads. Then we’ll have dinner at Tucci’s, where they have incredible pizza and lemonata caesar salad, and I think that’s the main point of the trip.
I actually need new glasses and prescription lenses much worse than I need anything else at the moment. I went to the eye doctor last Friday and found that my current prescription is way too strong, and that could account for the headaches and brief hints of dizziness. After a long series of “One? Or two?” “Which letters are darker, on the red or on the green?” “Are you sure?” Dr. Goodhead nailed down my new prescription. After my eyes had a long while to relax, he whalloped me with my current prescription for comparison. It was so wrong, it made me squirm. It’s been 8 years since I’ve been to the eye doctor. I suppose my distance vision has improved, but I wonder if it’s because of all the close-up work I’ve been doing lately. I don’t need to get that close to the glass when I’m making beads, but detail work like filing, stamping, soldering small parts and seed bead weaving is a different story. Meh, it’s probably because I’m getting older. Just in case, I got a prescription for readers too in case I decide I need them.
Enough about that… see the new beads! Thanks for checking in.
Posted in blah blah blah on November 10, 2011| 15 Comments »
My family members are dropping like flies and I still can’t really talk about the mountain of detritus that suddenly fell on me and could take a while for me to dig myself out from under. What’s next? An earthquake? Yes, three in fact, one of them being the most powerful on record in OK history.
Yes, earthquakes. Us Yokelhomans are like “Whut?” I could hardly believe it. I know we’re on a fault line, but I’ve lived here my entire life, and by the notion that earthquakes were for California. At 2:15AM Saturday morning, I was sitting at my bench and heard what sounded like a garbage truck rumbling by, and then felt what I assumed was a cat pouncing around on the floor. After all, there’s no telling what we’ll hear outside on my street at any hour, and these cats are constantly thundering from one end of the house to the other. But I only saw Nelson where I thought I heard the noise coming from, and he’s too small to shake the floor. Then I realized the entire house was shaking, and a second later, Mr. Sarah announced “earthquake.” I found this one mildly amusing, I believe it was only a 4.7 and lasted maybe 10 – 15 seconds.
The next one was later that night at about 11PM. I was soldering when I heard the telltale garbage truck sound, and when it didn’t stop after about 10 seconds and only seemed to get more intense, I stopped and stood up. The house was swaying side to side, (so was I as I stood) and more dramatically than the time before. It may have been about 30 seconds, but it felt like it lasted much longer than that. This one scared me a little, even though nothing fell over. I believe that one was a 5.6. The epicenter is about an hour away, and those folks definitely experienced some damage. Then the phone started ringing – everyone was still awake and called me to ask if I felt it. Sheesh, how could I not? If I were sleeping, I’m sure the first one would have woken me up, and the second one, no doubt. Then Monday evening, we had a very small one that lasted about 5 seconds, right in the middle of a thunderstorm.
These feel like end times, people. Relationships and situations that have been needing to die for a while are suddenly being quickly put out of their misery, one after another, and the earth is literally shaking from it. It’s as if an unpleasantly cleansing epidemic has swept through my life. I can’t help but wonder who’s next, what’s next, which variety of reeking, putrid crapcake am I going to wake up to today? Will it be prettied up with pink perfume and sprinkles, or will it be unabashedly steaming and ugly? Although I’m a dyed-in-the-wool cynical pessimist, I have managed to retain some optimism; I don’t have a secret underground room full of guns and non-perishables and giant drums full of water. Not yet.
I haven’t gone completely off my nut thanks to the small silver linings I keep running into. We’ve had many rainy days throughout the last month or so – not just a sprinkle, but several good soaks that are almost too much for the earth to drink in, but without any flooding. Miraculous. Mom won a door prize at the gem show this past weekend, and she never wins anything. I found a thing of beauty in Mom’s backyard – an anvil made of railroad track. It’s not too big, not too small, and handy for this very reason. It was horribly rusted, it had been sitting out in the elements for who knows how many years. I sanded and scrubbed (with water, most definitely), and was able to get the surface smooth enough to use, although there are several dings. I was able to file out the high spots around the dings, and should be able to avoid transferring those imperfections onto my metals. I am aware that power tools may end up being necessary if those dings can’t be worked around, but I’m not going to tell Dad to get out the belt sander until I know for sure.
And times like this, it’s great to read Kate McKinnon. She is uncannily (word?) connected to the undercurrents. (Kate McKinnon says I Love You.) Oddly, I’ve been thinking about this lately, too. I often blame myself for lost connections and friendships, it’s easy to do when I work all the time and ignore the telephone. Sometimes I wonder if I’m too harsh and judgmental of other people and the ridiculous things they do and maybe if I’d ease up a bit and put the beads down for a minute I’d figure out I’m no less ridiculous and then we can all be best buds and get arrested for being publicly indecent while carrying a controlled substance.
Anyway… the wall heater in my bedroom is broken, so a guy is supposed to come over tomorrow and bang around on it for a while. Hopefully I can work some Etsy in around that. You’ll see it here if I do!
Thanks for reading.
Here we are! Apparently WordPress is having some issues today, so I can’t link to the listings from the images. So…. Click HERE to visit my shop.
Rare Glaze:
rare glaze
Silver Bullet:
silver bullet
Black Magic Bubbles + Stars:
black magic bubbles + stars
Pink Mink !BLING! Barrel:
pink mink bling barrel
Copper Rose Shimmer Spike Trio:
copper rose trio
Must get back to work… I’m working on something new I hope you’ll like! I don’t know when you’ll see it, but soon enough. Thanks so much for checking in!
Posted in blah blah blah on November 3, 2011| 3 Comments »
Thought I’d give you a heads up and a sneak peek at what’s to come:
black magic bubbles + stars: tonight on etsy
See you later on!
the z-beads blog 