Posted in ETSY on November 25, 2009| 1 Comment »
I had to relist the Claret-y Mini Sampler because the buyer never saw fit to pay for those, along with a Made To Order they placed through my website. Don’t you just love that?! I know I sure do. Bleh. So they’re up for grabs again…
Claret-y Mini Sampler - click me!
Posted in ETSY on November 25, 2009| 1 Comment »
Click HERE to get to my shop, or click on each thumbnail below to get to the individual listings.
Hawaiian Mint BLING - click me!
Radioactive Z-Diamond - click me!
Minneola Sparkle (boro) - click me!
Wild Lime Sparkle - click me!
The rest of this week will be spent on orders and the turkey rigamarole. Hopefully I can get to the PO tomorrow and Friday. You may not hear much from me again this week. Still pondering posting the photo of my submission to the competition I mentioned earlier. We’ll see.
OH, and by the way – I added two new pages to my 2009 Gallery on my website. Start on Page 11. … just in case you’ve gotten out of the habit of checking my NEWS page, which I need to update with that announcement. I should also announce that any Made To Orders placed in the next several weeks will not be started on/completed until March. I’m tentatively reserving January and February for boro, but I’m pretty sure it’s definite. I may have boro singles available once the boro binge is over, and the sets I end up with will be available on Etsy later on.
Thanks for checking in!
Posted in blah blah blah on November 24, 2009| 5 Comments »
I had a late afternoon hair appointment – I must have made that when I was still unsure of how Etsy would work out – and then dinner at mom’s. I’ll be adding some great stuff to my Etsy shop over the next couple of hours. I’ll post again when I do.
Meanwhile, might I entertain you with a photo of !BLING! beads before they’re blinged?
Posted in blah blah blah on November 23, 2009| 7 Comments »
Thanks everyone for all your wonderful comments on my last post. This is exactly why I didn’t feel the need to get all wrapped up in it. I had considered showing the piece, but I’m not sure that’s kosher. I’ve already taken it apart and moved on. I do have the picture, though. What do you guys think? I have no idea what sort of etiquette is involved in this. Not that I’d care that much, but then again – I wouldn’t want to commit a big fat faux pas.
I really can’t stand The Holidays, people. It’s bad enough that I get a little weird and depressed this time of year, but the colossal x-mas pile-on makes it insufferable. I get out of bed just fine and I don’t cry all day or whatever, so no anti-depressants are necessary… I just want to throw myself into my work and not leave the house until the rat race is over with. I can deal with a little seasonal depression for a couple of months, as long as I can stay busy. Once January rolls around, things start looking up. I’m pretty sure it’s directly related to the holidays. It’s like there’s this weird undercurrent of stress and angst, and I tend to be too sensitive to these things, and I’ll admit that my own attitude doesn’t make it any better. Can you blame any of us? We’re being constantly bombarded with ads for expensive, poorly made crap, usually accompanied by some awful christmas song that’s being not sung, but SCREAMED by children on the cusp of adolescence – that’s such a wonderful age, isn’t it? Something between sweet and innocent and still loving mom and dad, and a seething hormonal volcano, ready to erupt hateful manipulation all over your life. Or how about those annoying twenty-something hipsters in fuzzy knitted hats, pushing electronics that will be dead or obsolete in six months? I can’t decide which is worse. I just know I don’t take too kindly to psychological programming and arm twisting. Don’t tell me to get into the Holiday Spirit. The Holiday Spirit is the one responsible for sending these evil, torturous minions up from the bowels of despair to parade about in Santa hats and spray perfume at you and offer you samples of shrimp hors d’oeuvres that will put you on the toilet for 3 days. And if you aren’t willing to go broke in order to get everyone in the family to love you at christmas, be prepared for some serious smack talking when they think you’re out of earshot. That is, if you hadn’t already been trampled to death at Walmart on Black Friday. Black Friday, indeed.
The only consolation is that my immediate family doesn’t play that. We eat food and chat about whatever. No gifts. Every family is dysfunctional in it’s own way, but for the most part, we get along and like each other. Back when I was young, we did exchange gifts, but I never got expensive stuff, and I always appreciated every gift I was given. With only one memorable exception – the alarm clock mom gave me for christmas when I was in fourth grade. I resented the hell out of having to get up and go to school and look at those same spoiled brats every day, and as far as I was concerned, any device that would force me to do that had absolutely nothing to do with christmas. To this day, I still can’t wake up with an alarm clock. A human has to walk into the room and talk to me or call me on the phone. Mr. Sarah has taken to playing a toca drum in the living room, which annoys me enough to drag myself out of bed and stumble in to give him a hateful glare, then a kiss and a thanks for helping me wake up.
If you read between the lines of this rant, you’ll see that I’m very happy with my life and am mostly happy every day of the year. It just irritates me that we’re encouraged (programmed) to buy each other off every December. Sorry to be such a grump, but sheesh. Why can’t we appreciate the ones we love every day of the year and bypass the insanity? I think everyone on the planet would be much better off.
I guess I’ll be hunkering down and finishing up the rest of my November orders. Even though Thanksgiving is going to throw a big wrench into my work and shipping schedule this week. If I can live through the next month, things will be great. Luckily, I have a lot of work ahead of me for December, and that is truly something to be thankful for.
If you’ve gotten this far, thanks for reading!
Posted in blah blah blah on November 19, 2009| 9 Comments »
… won me the “unfortunately” letter.
I’m not competitive. That’s why I never played sports and didn’t stick with music in high school. I thought chair tryouts in orchestra were counterproductive – isn’t the orchestra supposed to be a team? The members of a team aren’t supposed to try to outdo each other, are they? Shows how naive I was. That was some real-world training right there, and I totally missed the point.
I have the same opinion about art. Art is too subjective to be judged and ranked. This is why I think art school is a total rip-off. Being graded on your art? That’s pretty messed up, if you ask me. And if your instructor feels threatened by your talent, you’d better watch your back.
But back to the contest – there was a hefty prize involved. That’s the only reason I bothered with it. I took two pieces of jewelry apart and used beads I planned to sell to make one pretty magnificent piece. I’m surprised I didn’t even make finalist, although I don’t take it personally and I honestly don’t care, except for the $45 for the entry fee. I’ll never see that $45 again.
Thing is, I’ve never sought acceptance or validation from my peers or those who are considered an authority. The only ones I care about are the people who love my work, whoever they are. I love those who look at my site only to enjoy it and never buy anything, just as much as my regular buyers. I could give two dead rats about the politics, the name dropping, the shmoozing and the “who you know” in the various circles. I don’t care about what someone can do for me. I only care if they’re decent and kind… and if they have something beautiful to offer the rest of the world, that’s just one more good thing to admire about them.
Oftentimes, I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I make beads for a living. It’s kind of weird, you know? And I feel a little bit of guilt to be able to do what I love for a living while other people have to answer to and work with horrible people all day long for a measly paycheck. I’ve found that working hard (no matter what kind of work it is) and being kind have their own rewards… rewards much more valuable than any prize. So being a “reject” suits me just fine.
Posted in ETSY on November 17, 2009|
!BLING! Revolting Cogs - click me!
!BLING! Neon Lady Z-Diamond - click me!
Midnight Crash !BLING! Barrel - click me!
Gonna go eat and see what travesties the idiot box is featuring tonight… thanks for stopping by!
Posted in blah blah blah on November 16, 2009| 1 Comment »
Friday, I came home from Bead Ren just in time to catch 20/20, which featured a story about cat hoarding ladies (as I sorted through my own hoard of beads with my two cats watching me). I can see how easy it would be to hoard cats if you already had a screw or two loose. I Love cats and wish I could have all of them, but I know that when I had 3, it was almost too much for me. Anyway, that story got me thinking about my own tendencies. I’m something of a hoarder. Nothing too over the top, but still. I keep stuff. When I was packing up to move from my mom’s house and in with Mr. Sarah, he found weird stuff under my bed, like a Whitman’s sampler box with a lonely single plaster dental model inside. He couldn’t believe that I’d managed to fit all my stuff into my bedroom. He fondly wondered what he was in for.
I stopped accumulating knick knacks and other useless items years ago. (It really helps to stay away from the thrift stores.) Every so often, I get into these moods to get rid of stuff I’ve kept for years and finally decide I don’t need. I keep things I don’t want to mess with but don’t want to throw away. I may find a use for them… someday. I put them in boxes and under something or in a closet and forget about them for a few years. Sometimes I stumble upon people who can use them. Other times I give up on waiting for the right someone to come along to claim them and just give them to charity.
Over the weekend, immediately after 20/20, actually, I decided to sort through the bead stuff I’ve put off sorting through for years. Mr Sarah pointed out that any time I get something new and if it appears I’ve reached my saturation with a certain item, I spread it all out, sort through it and get rid of some of it. He thinks it’s adorable, thank goodness. (I guess that means I’m not too bad of a hoarder, and cute to boot.) I have trays, tins, boxes and bags full of unsorted seed beads and other stuff I’ve been too lazy to put away. And there were thumbtacks and nails in every single one, oddly enough. Why? I couldn’t tell you, it’s a mystery to me, too. So I picked out the few things I absolutely had a use for and pitched the rest of it into a box destined for the thrift store. There were other things nobody in their right mind would have a use for, and it was difficult for me to throw some of these things into the trash – even though I knew that was exactly where they belonged. This very thing tells me that I need to keep my hoarding tendencies in check.
So, what will I be doing this evening? BLING-ing! I haven’t done any of that since May. I have an interesting new design that I’m hoping will work out. If all goes well, you’ll see them on Etsy. (Not the ones in the photo, those are sold. Just something to entice you to check out my shop tomorrow!)
Tangelo !Bling! Twosome
Until next time…
Posted in blah blah blah on November 14, 2009| 6 Comments »
I’ve been buried under orders all week (hence my lack of updates) and at the last minute, Mom and I decided to go to Bead Renaissance in Tulsa yesterday. We would normally go on a Saturday, and we discovered yesterday that going the first day was a very good idea. We found some intense opaque orange Chinese crystal, like the Red Velvet with an opaque core and a thin transparent layer. There were only 4 strands left, and we got two and immediately after we got ours, another lady grabbed the last two strands. If we had gone today instead, we wouldn’t have any orange velvet crystal. Wouldn’t that have been a shame.
I also got something I’ve been wanting for a long time – something the lady called Geo(?) Quartz, which looks like variegated lemon and smokey quartz. And the holes are actually large enough to string onto something bigger than fine Soft Flex. Those teeny tiny holes drive me batty. Another seller I see at Bead Ren is (I think) Avian Oasis. They have really high dollar stuff, and if I were filthy stinkin’ rich, I’d buy that. They had a few strands of the most incredible pale yellow amber (maybe lemon quartz?) with the most perfect facets, the cheapest one being about $295. I loved how the lady described the different sections – Nordstroms, Macy’s, Target, Walmart. I can’t remember what she called the section with the most costly gems – I just called it Paradise.
chinese crystal, pearls, geo(?) quartz, carnelian and quartz glass
One thing I’ve always been concerned about was using my debit card at these bead shows, so I just take cash. But yesterday, I didn’t want to take much money with me because I really don’t NEED more beads. I knew I’d get some seed beads if Jane’s Fiber and Beads was there, and indeed, they were. And luckily, they accepted plastic. I even remembered to take my list of seed beads I already have to avoid buying the same colors again, and I still got out of there with several tubes of size 15’s. Think I might like purple, maybe?
size 15's - regular and cut
But a few of the sellers don’t take plastic at all, or have a limit, like no plastic under $20. Not sure I’m any better off knowing that, since I might be more inclined to pull out the card when I run out of cash, or buy more to reach the limit. But probably not, I’m pretty good at keeping myself under control. I got out of the expo center having spent no more than $110.
And afterwards, like always, we went to Tucci’s, a great italian restaurant on 15th Street. They have the best pizza… you can get pizza for two with a Lemonata Caesar salad for $22, and it’s simply divine. I’ve never had salad dressing like this. Fresh lemon juice and oil with garlic and herbs, and the salad is sparingly sprinkled with fresh strands of parmesan cheese. And the pizza truly is one of the best I’ve ever had. When you pull a slice off the pedestal, the cheese could stretch for a mile. That’s when you know you have a really good pizza.
The good news is, there isn’t another bead show in OK until next spring. What a relief.
Posted in ETSY on November 10, 2009| 6 Comments »
CLICK HERE to visit my shop or click on each item below for the individual listings.
subtle envy bedotted glitter frond - click me!
New Color Mirror Dot Tabs - click me!
Claret-y Mini Sampler - click me!
I’m liking Etsy more and missing Ebay less. That’s nice.
Today is my birthday. I’m 32. And not real jazzed about it. Just thought I’d let you know that.
Thanks for stopping in!
Posted in blah blah blah on November 10, 2009| 4 Comments »
Months ago, I stumbled across a thread on Lampwork Etc. about an alternative to rubber bands for our glass bundles. For years my drawers and racks and pvc tubes have been littered with sticky, crusty, broken rubber bands. I had already tried twist-ties and that didn’t work – since they were either too tight or too loose with no give, sliding the glass out would cause scratches or just fall out all over the place. Someone mentioned ponytail holders, and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of that myself. Hey, at least if they break or disintegrate, they aren’t going to be too nasty. So I finally got around to it – part of last week and the entire weekend was spent replacing all the rubber bands with fabric coated ponytail holders. Not to mention washing the really dirty bundles in the sink and scraping the sticky crumbs away with my fingernails if I was too buried under the glass to get up and get my butterknife. Fun. I wasn’t going to stop until I had all my 104 glass re-bundled. I do get a little obsessive about these things. Unfortunately, the kind I decided I wanted – the black Goody no metal holders – aren’t exactly cheap. I have spent close to $30, and I still have the boro to worry about. Maybe in a couple of years. At least there isn’t quite as much boro.
not exactly pretty, but SO organized!
As you can imagine, after being at this glass thing for nearly 12 years, I have a LOT of glass. This big project had its own little unexpected side project: inventory. I stumbled across stuff I had completely forgotten about. Some of it I haven’t used in years and probably never will. Such as the opaque greys. Yuck. I realized I need to get more Effetre clear. I’m embarrassed to admit that I have probably 5 lbs of that Vetrofond Odd Translucent Yellow (791910), 20 different batches of Effetre Coral and 8 different batches of Effetre Ocher. I’m not sure, but I think someone sent me Streaky Pink by mistake at some point over the years. I think I may have used some of it and didn’t even realize it. Figures.
Did I ever tell you guys about that dream I had about Streaky Pink? Some of you may know Deonne Lindley, aka Galaxy Glass. My friend Tammy and I cooked up this plan to go steal some Streaky Pink from her, and concurred that we would tie her up if we had to. Deonne lived on the next block over from my mom’s house, so we went over and started working on her… just chatting. Deonne left the room to go get something, and Tammy and I saw our chance. We grabbed a pound or so of Streaky Pink and got out of there. (In our defense, we were very relieved that we didn’t have to harm her.) I ended up hiding it in a Dunkin Donuts dozen size box in a funky old garage a few blocks away. A couple of weeks later, when I figured the dust had settled, I went to go get it. I found the Dunkin Donuts box, seemingly untouched – but inside, all I found was 4 stale donuts with sprinkles. I knew it hadn’t been replaced with donuts – it had turned into the donuts. Sure, I was disappointed, but what was I going to do, complain? I knew I got exactly what I deserved.
That dream was hilarious because I never particularly wanted Streaky Pink in the first place. I’ll admit I was intrigued by it – not so much the glass, but the mania it invoked. That dream happened while I was barely considering placing a bid on some Streaky Pink somewhere on ebay. You can probably guess that I never placed that bid and never thought about it again.
Sorry for the long post – I have several days to make up for! Etsy stuff later today…
the z-beads blog 