Safety First

Only a few safety issues left to work out and I will be ready to light up and make glass.

Grace Under Pressure

There's been a lot of progress at the studio. Moving around the room from left to right.

The tables have been ground down, the kiln unpacked and positioned and the oxygen concentrator rolled into place. Just look at that silly thing. Nine weeks it was back-ordered. I still cannot believe that I am almost ready to make glass. What a long and frustrating process this has been. "Grace under pressure," my friend Jacqueline always says, "grace under pressure."

There's that handsome kiln. It's a Paragon bluebird XL with a custom red paint job. My redbird, more on that later. It too had some problems on its way from Texas to upstate New York.

Tomorrow's job?
Unpacking and putting away all my glass and tools.

Zen Velvet

The remains of a spectacular, if I do say so myself, red velvet cake.

Today was a great day. My kiln and concentrator, the rest of my (indecent) glass stash, tools and glass books were moved into my studio. Tomorrow I unpack. Later in the week, if I am lucky, the set up will be complete and I will begin making glass.

I get nervous just thinking about it. It's been so long since I had my way with the flame, perhaps I have lost my touch, perhaps I will hate this new torch, what if I don't use the concentrator right? It's not at all like me to be skittish but this whole process of setting up a studio has been so infuriating difficult. Unforeseen delays after uncontrollable delays at every turn. I cannot imagine that mu luck will turn around and somehow things will all go smoothly from this point forward. I need to 'chin up' and get my zen (whatever will be will be) mojo working.

Soon, there will be glass. Say it with me... soon there will be glass.

My Phone Is A Toy

I downloaded a free app to my phone called "Instagram" and now my phone is my new favorite image making toy.

You snap the photo and then try out a bunch of weird, over the top, filter effects and then viola! You have a goofy snapshot.

Artsy right?

Deep soul or overly dramatic !
Sooo much cheese, so little time.

Rust Never Sleeps

Neil Young was right - "rust never sleeps..."

When I bought the table I asked my husband how hard it would be to get the rust off. "Piece of cake" he said. What kind of cake he was talking about I'll never know.

I started with a rust removing solvent - not effective. (except at burning my skin through my latex-free gloves)

The next day I tried my trusty Dremel outfitted with a wee wire brush.
The rusty dust cloud was intolerable but I was clearly on the right track.

At this point I was truly worried that the name of this blog post was going to be "I fought the rust and the rust won."

Day three dawned full of dread. I went to the hardware store and found a friendly, knowledgeable handyman. Armed with dust masks and big wire wheels to attach to an electric drill I drove back to the studio. I should also have gotten some earplugs because it was an endless, whirring, grinding drone. Three hours later - Viola! The table is looking good. A few wisps of rust here and there, but all in all a success.

Now all I need to do is get the rust dust off of the floor, walls, boxes, radiator and out of every ass crack in my space.

Record Store Day 2011

Where have I been?

Where I always am mid-April - celebrating Record Store Day.

My husband owns a large independent record store and throwing the party of the year is a big production.
What with 9 live bands, 3 giant cakes and thousand and thousands of guests it's much bigger than a wedding.
Thanks to everyone who stopped by and partied with us - it was, as the kids say, epic.

above - the 2011 Record Store day button from the Record Archive.
I designed it and made 200 that were given away on Saturday.

Daffodil

Just because it is so lovely.

Tangled

Photo-collage of wisteria vines.

Sorry for the absence, I blame it on tax season. They're done now after several days of paper sorting and an endless session with the accountant yesterday. It should not be that difficult, what a tangled mess.

Birthday Boys

It would be impossible to explain how happy this snapshot makes me.

Settling In & Setting Up

Despite the frustration of back ordered equipment - I am starting to nest in my new lampworking studio.

Hundreds and hundreds of pounds of metal tables, chairs and carts have been moved into place.

Bags and boxes of glass rods, books and tools have been lugged up to my new studio - and dumped. 

Storage drawers are heaped up and waiting to be cleaned out. They're full of all sorts of detritus from the previous owner. There's all sorts of cool stuff that got left behind in them: 50 year old pencils, screws, odd ball staples, lint, brass tacks, small tools, prehistoric rubber bands, spools of wire...

Here's the cabinet that all those freaking drawers go in.
Ooh what a treasure trove of tools and glass goodies it will be home to.

Oxygen concentrator, O Oxygen concentrator, where are thou my Oxygen concentrator?

Daffodils

The daffodils are not blooming here yet but in anticipation I made a pair of yellow and green pearls bangles.

 The bangles are hammered brass and the wrapped wire is a pale pear green plated copper.

The green pearls are two different shades - a lighter apple color and a darker grass green hue.

Love them? They're up in my "Belvedere" Etsy shop.

What a Difference a Day Makes

Canandaigua Lake - the view from my work table last weekend.

Just a Hint of Green

The landscape here is beautifully grim this time of year.

The snow is mostly melted but nothing has turned green just yet.

It's all about the anticipation of spring.

Blue Skies

I went away for the weekend with a bunch of like-minded, wine swilling women. Thirty-two of us crafted our fingers to the bone, in a nice hotel, for three days and two nights. It was everything you are imagining - and more.