Here they are!
Click here for my shop or the thumbnails below for each item.
Psychedelic Sorbet !BLING!:
Lavender Fields !BLING!:
Bell Pepper !BLING!
Random Acts Of Turquoise !BLING!:
Gonna go now. Thanks for looking!
Archive for May, 2013
Etsy in just a bit…
Posted in blah blah blah on May 24, 2013|
I had everything lined up to do this yesterday, but we were further insulted yesterday morning by torrential rains and flooding. The constant interruption of having to check the basement to be sure it hadn’t turned into the neighborhood swimming pool, and staying awake extra long to keep an eye on the weather report… well, it just didn’t work out.
Here they are now, in all their bling’y glory – you can expect to see these beauties later this evening on Etsy.
aren’t we special!?
I’ll be back in a bit with the new listings and links.
Yes, I’m okay!
Posted in blah blah blah on May 22, 2013|
image lifted from thelostogle.com
Because of where I live, I find myself reassuring folks of that quite frequently.
Thanks for the emails. Moore is about 20 minutes from my house, if you travel at a speed of 65MPH on a major highway. Which is currently closed thanks to extensive damage and because it’s littered with… well, you know. I know I don’t need to fill you in on the details, it’s all over the news. I watched the whole thing happen Monday, helpless. I knew things were gonna be bad when the weather man told us to cancel our hair appointments during the morning broadcast. But on Monday afternoon, when I got a load of Mike Morgan’s Severe Weather Tie (red satin beadazzled with rhinestones) I knew we were in big trouble.
And just when I thought things were looking up. To make matters worse, some fine folks are looting the joint. Isn’t that wonderful? But so many more (truly good people) have pitched in with money, supplies and help in the rescue and recovery efforts. I’m so thankful that some people are not only willing to help in that way, but will travel for hours from other states to lend a hand in such a gruesome task. Thank you for your positive thoughts and support.
Being the critic I am, there is one thing I can’t let slide… and I’m not alone. As I had predicted, questions are being asked about why any school in Moore (which is the hottest spot in the dead center of Tornado Alley) would not have a tornado shelter. What’s the reasoning behind this? The short answer is politics and funding, as usual, but my simplistic idealism can’t accept that answer as-is. How did they not see the value of storm shelters in all of the central Oklahoma schools after May 3rd, 1999? How about after May 8th, 2003? I guess forcing very small children to hide in vain in hallways and bathrooms was worth saving some coin. We’ve gone broke on war, so why not on building storm shelters when they have been proven necessary many times over?
Whatever, I’m glad this little “oversight” is receiving national attention. There’s nothing like scrutiny and ridicule to light a fire under someone’s ass. Considering the location of Moore and its surrounding area, and its rich history of enduring particularly destructive storms – storms that you cannot hide from in a broom closet or under a mattress in your bathtub – you’d think that SOMEONE would have already put some thought and effort into coming up with an acceptable solution. It wouldn’t have to be perfect, it would just need to serve a purpose in times like these. This will be the third time in the last fourteen years that Moore has had to rebuild and deal with the horrific injuries and deaths of loved ones. It took years for our state to return to something resembling normal after the May 3rd 1999 tornado. I can’t fathom what they’re facing this time around.
Some articles about the lack of storm shelters, and a few lame excuses about why:
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/u-s-world/moore-oklahoma-schools-hit-by-tornado-did-not-have-reinforced-tornado-shelters
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/21/oklahoma-schools-tornado-shelters_n_3314821.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2328535/Oklahoma-tornado-Elementary-school-7-children-killed-tornado-afford-storm-shelter.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
And this one was pretty interesting as well:
theatlantic.com – click this for the full article
I’m thinking I should buy the big fat powerball ticket. If I win, storm shelters for every school in Moore OK are on me. Those poor little ankle-biters. I view most children as future monsters and layabouts, but they deserve the chance to make it to adulthood and prove themselves to be one or the other. (yes, that was a bold attempt at humor in an unbearably sad chunk of time.)
I don’t have much more to say but thanks for thinking of the people in Moore.
Here they are!
Click HERE for my shop or the thumbnails below for each item.
Intense Hana CHUNKY:
Iris Hana:
Intense Hana PETITE:
Now that that’s all done, I’m gonna go find something to eat. And hope the ants haven’t found it first.
Thanks for looking, I hope you guys like the beads!
Thursdays…
Posted in blah blah blah on May 9, 2013| 5 Comments »
Thursdays probably mean something different to everyone. To me, Thursdays have always been just another day of the week, made more bearable by the fact that the following day is Friday. And in recent years, my Thursdays mean putting beads on the internet. I’ll get to that in a bit, once I’ve returned a phone call and caught up on my Ant Patrol duties.
on our way to the etsy shop
But before any of that, I’m pleased to announce that all the right elements came together and revealed a way to permanently affix a vise to my bench. (Kathy, you and I discussed this a while back.) You guys are probably like “who cares?” But it’s taken me 15 years* to get my beadmaking table to the point of maximum efficiency+efficacy, and with very little change over the last 10 of those years. I’ve been struggling with the jeweler’s bench for the last 3 or so. It isn’t as simple as bolting a vise to the table top, I need as much work surface as I can get, and the ledges of the bench surface don’t extend far enough to clamp anything to. All that considered, I needed the right kind of vise, but I didn’t know what that was until I found this one.
This vise belonged to my dad – it had been attached to a little work bench in Mom’s garage for over 30 years. The wooden jaws have been in this vise for at least that long.
As you can see, the posts fit under the ledge and the jaws open wide enough to allow just about every one of my tools, even with the thick walnut(?) blocks.
The vise now covers the pin slot, so we modified the pin so that it will fit into the vise.
It will hold my ring mandrels, hammers and my metal catcher…
Now that that little quandary has been squared away, a free day or two to put it through its paces are in order.
———————
*Yeah. I’ve been making beads for 15 years. I started to feel it about 5 years ago. To avoid permanent burnout, I’ve had to change my approach by focusing on little side projects like seed beads, metalsmithing and very light jewelry making. Recently, I’ve been trying to spend less time fretting about offering a variety of color and design every week – instead, I’ve just been making whatever I’m in the mood to make, even if that means making three sets of something similar. Week before last, I offered three sets of Spikes, and this week, I’m offering three sets of murrine beads. I had a strong craving for pulling murrini cane the other day and was very happy with 90% of the canes I made. That’s rare. I’m lucky to be semi-happy with one out of four. I guess that means I did exactly what I should have been doing this week.
I’ll return shortly with the Etsy announcement+links… thanks for reading!
SUPRISE! Etsy!
Posted in ETSY on May 2, 2013| 2 Comments »
Sorry kids, I didn’t have as much time today for the usual pomp and circumstance for my Etsy announcement. So…
Click HERE to get to my shop, or the thumbnails below for each item.
Cerulean Hana:
Sizzling Shisha Sprees:
Bright Star:
Early Spring !BLING!:
So, how’s the weather in your area? Well, it’s May and I’m heating up the bathroom for a bath, if that tells you anything. I’m not complaining, but everyone around me is ready for spring. What they don’t seem to be thinking about is what’s next: summer. I really don’t want another summer. Alas, it can’t be stopped.
Mo hurt her foot. I don’t know how, all I know is that I heard a loud crash last night and found the heavy wooden ladder on the kitchen floor and her looking at me sheepishly. I didn’t realize she was hurt until early this morning when I saw her limping around. This elderly calico goes tearing through the house, pa-toing’ing sideways off of furniture and doorframes, green beaded belled necklace jingling the entire time. It’s by some miracle this doesn’t happen all the time. And you should see her go after the red dot (laser pointer), defying the laws of physics by running sideways across the back of the futon. Anyway, I don’t think it’s broken but please think a few positive thoughts in the direction of her swollen crazy old lady paw. As you can imagine, she’s having her dinner served to her wherever she is, though we probably shouldn’t encourage this variety of spoiled-ness.
way too crazy Mo
We’re going to go see what magically appears on the stove for dinner… thanks for having a look at my new Etsy stuff!
the z-beads blog 