"Arts of Engagement: Beyond a Glass Bead"

This Monday June 20th an email arrived with:
Congratulations! Your work has been selected for ISGB's pendant show,"Arts of Engagement: Beyond a Glass Bead".
This is great news! I'll be in two galleries on the gallery tour at the ISGB Gathering in Louisville Kentucky.
I'm sending 6 Corazon de la Gitana's - Heart of the Gypsy pendants and a selection of necklace's from very fancy to plain.

Here is a sneak peek of the pendants and the necklaces. All Six above and close ups below.

The Studio is coming along nicely.I finished painting my desk and moved it in. This next week I will be ordering the glass and supplies and in a week or two I hope I'll be open for retail.
That it for this week.

Some Assembly Required = Progress

OK yes I admit long time no blog! It has been just a little over a week.
But...... I have been busy getting the studio ready.
Some of the best buys come with "some assembly required" on the box.
Here are some of the new additions to the studio.

This is the coffee cart I put together.

 almost together-

Yes Dream Fire Studio has coffee or hot tea for students who need a boost before or during workshops. If you stop by to shop there's a cup for you too.
I know in the Texas heat hot beverages my not be quite right but I need a cup of coffee in the morning. The studio is an extension of my home and I want everyone to feel welcome and comfortable.

The chairs had to be put together after they were painted and the cushions recovered- A big thank you to  Darrell for the great job and amazing paint he used on the chairs. Beautiful is all I can say.



recovered and waiting for the chairs



 If you go back to the first two chairs I recovered the material is a print with happy bright colored flowers.
The fabric was no longer available so I used the "best" colors from those chair and a little inspiration in the form of a dust brush.

 Pink, lime ,black and olive seemed to be a good mix. something for everyone. Yes Kim and Kelly the pink chairs are for you.



just a few of the finished chairs

You can't do everything by yourself sometimes you need help.  My most excellent crew of helpers - my husband and son have been working hard helping me get things ready. Here they are at work.

Some things you just have to build yourself.
My husband and I designed and built these glass rod holders. Again some assemble required after the design and drilling all those holes, painting etc. we have to put them together

This one is for the COE 104 glass. Rods in the rack will be sold by the rod
The boxes below will hold rod that has been bundled into quarter pound ,half pound and pound bundles.
That way you buy a little ( try it before you buy a bunch) or if you know its the glass for you can buy a pound or two.


Not full yet but you get the idea!

Here is the best husband ever working on the Bullseye glass rod holder. 



He's cute and handy and mine!

I'm going to have lots of glass Moretti, a little Vetrofond, Messy, Double Helix in COE 104 and maybe more if you ask for it. In COE 90 what else is there? BULLSEYE  you know how much I love Bullseye glass and you know I really like those special colors they come out with every month. I'll be stocking up on Bullseye next. Don't worry yes there will be yummy frit ,dichroic noodles and other goodies in both COE's and enamels too.

Last but not least this week we did a little work on the bathroom.

Replacing the old office bathroom light not only updated the bathroom it brightened it up in there.

All we need to do is hang the towel holder, a mirror and that necessary room is done.





Old light not too pretty and dark



Nice and twice the light

It has been a busy week we got a lot done and we are closer to opening the retail part of the studio. That could be as soon as the end of the month.

I'm still thinking it will be September before the hood and gas are ready to go BUT you never know once the momentum gets going things could start happening faster.

Keep checking in. Call me if you want to drop by 210-342-3473 I'm not there all the time right now so leave a message and I'll call you back.



Many Hands Gallery

Many Hands Gallery is a beautiful gallery in San Antonio owned by Kathy Moore and Barbara Wright.
They are a Mom (Barbara) and Daughter (Kathy) team who have put together a wonderful collection of Texas artisans work painting, pottery, photography,turned wood vessels and  glass fill the gallery. If you are looking for just the right piece to adorn your home or yourself visit Many Hands Gallery.

I met Kathy's husband Ken several years ago when he and his son took a beadmaking workshop from me just for fun. Ken and Kathy are the nicest people and they have two very talented sons. This is a family of artists.

Ken and Kathy Moore

Kathy invited me to show my work at Many Hands Gallery and this month I was a featured artist.
Today was the meet and greet. Here I am with a few of my necklaces and buttons in my leaves series.



Flower necklaces

Art, Inspiration and Collaboration. Not Chairs!

It is time to talk about Art, Inspiration and Collaboration.
Not Chairs!
At the beginning of 2011  Peggy Potts, a wonderful silversmith, and I started a collaboration on a piece for Convergence III.
At our 1st meeting we agreed that the architecture of Antoni Gaudi moved and inspired us. Peggy and I got to work pouring through books on Gaudi and his work, searching the internet for images of spires and mosaics designed by Gaudi.

 We learned about his collaborations with the artists who brought his plans to life. Each craftsman whether it was a stone carver or a tile layer influenced the final creation of a Gaudi's work.

Peggy and I decided to meet once a week and each week we would talk and share our drawings and ideas.

 

 We each had a vision of what the piece should be the ideas were both similar and very different. We worked together to developed the piece, not digging in to have our own way, but considering the ideas of the other. Taking each other suggestions back to our studios and working on how to incorporate them. Drawings and plans became test beads and a framework of sterling silver. 

We began the work of  balancing  the colors, architectural elements and wear-ability of the piece. I love the attention to detail Peggy gave to the piece every part of it was made by our hands even the tiny silver bead caps and chain.

As the Gaudi piece began to take shape it fascinated both of us. When you collaborate to create something it is not just yours and we both felt an almost strange awe of what we had created. We jokingly called it "my precious" because we both wanted to have it in our possession. It traveled back a forth from her studio to my studio for each addition and after 2 month of work "Gaudi" was finished.

The photos were sent for Jury and we waited..........Joy!!!

Gaudi juried into the exhibition!

Like Convergence II Convergence III will travel the country and hopefully the world.

The first stop is the Gathering in Louisville KY 

We carefully packed it up in it's own little "suitcase"  and said bon voyage.

 

Around the Corner

You know when you move into a new neighborhood how much fun it is to explore what is there?
This week I took a look around my "new" neighborhood where Dream Fire Glass studio is located

I have lived in San Antonio 30 years and I have driven down West Avenue too many time to count. This time I was looking at it with new eyes. I wasn't just going from point A to point B. I was really looking at what was there.

I was happy to find a Fire Station just a few blocks from the studio.

Why so Happy? Well beside the obvious reason. I have always had a good working relationship with the fire inspectors. I aways get a "gold star" for the proper storage of my O2 tanks and the correct amount and placement of fire extinguishers etc. Knowing they are right around the corner makes me feel safe.

Another welcome neighbor is Jeff's Backyard this is where I get my propane refilled. I love this place they are so nice and have a rewards program for filling you tanks! I also got an awesome tray to cook my veggies on the grill there.

Everyone needs place to buy grocery. Now there are plenty of grocery stores in San Antonio but knowing where the closest one is helps. Good to know there is a great grocery store just up the street.

Then if I just need to grab a soda there is a great little convenience store across the street.
Need a breakfast taco (yes we eat tacos for breakfast here in the land of the pinata) all I have to do is walk across the street to La Cocinita (little kitchen) the bacon and egg tacos are to die for! yum

Speaking of across the street there is a chocolate shop. YES a chocolate shop and you can walk there too.

Here is other place to get into food trouble.......One of my naughty fast food treats is thankfully not in walking distance but close enough to get me in trouble! I found out that lots of people have cravings for this fried treat!

Last but not least an old favorite Panchito's.
Many a happy evenings have been spent here with friends and family.
There will be many more to come. Maybe to many for my waistline.

Remember what happens at Panchito's Stays at Panchito's

After a long day at the torch where else would you want to be?

I say on the patio with a refreshing beverage.

Dream Fire Glass Studio's location is convenient to so many different place to get food and refreshment, you will have a hard time deciding where to have lunch or dinner after class.
We will never run out of propane and if you need to catch a plane it is less than 10 minutes from the airport.

Hope you enjoyed the neighborhood tour.
Now I had better get busy getting the torch room up and running!

Inertia of Motion?

Do you ever feel like you are not getting anywhere?
Even though I know I have accomplished a lot this week I feel like I'm not moving.  I have to wait before I can start getting the big things done. Right now the table, the hood and the gas lines are on hold while I get bids and work on code requirements. I feel like I'm not moving fast enough not getting enough done. I want to have the studio finished and be sitting at the torch. I want Fiery Fridays I want it all now!
I'm sure my students feel the same way.

So what did I get done?

Chairs Yes more chairs.
If the table is going to accommodate 8-10 people then I needed more chairs. I did a little running around town looking for tall bar stools. I didn't find anything so I went to the place should have gone first. I knew Home and Patio had the best selection and yes the best prices. I was in luck 6 very nice sturdy quality chairs on sale! They are really comfortable and they swivel. Now they will need a change in color (going to have them sprayed black) and replace the seat covers with non flammable material. So think black chairs not this crazy "wood" tone and pretty bright colors for the seat covers.



Put together chair

As you can see only one chair is all put together. I was thrilled to find out the rest of the chairs were not put together yet. That way I don't have to take them apart to have them painted they can go strait into the spray booth!
I measured out the 5 foot by 10 foot table on the floor and outlined it's footprint in blue painters tape. That way I can walk around the imaginary table with the "chairs" and see if it is going to work before we build the actual table. So far so good. I can walk around with room to spare.

OK! it's clear:
An object in motion stays in motion...........even if the motion is not fast enough for me!
The studio is still moving forward.

Got it done!

Today I worked on and submitted a proposal to teach at the 2012 Gathering.
I was thinking I had everything ready to go and it would be a simple matter of cutting pasting a little tweaking and hit send. I was having dinner at a friends house and thought I'll double check everything and send it from her house. All this before midnight today piece of cake. Yeah right.................I forgot about the thwart factor.
Renaming and tweaking takes way longer than you would think.
Got that done with time to spare. Hit send..... ERROR .. that's not good

Well my email is set up in some sort of strange configuration. Sometimes when I move from one hot spot to another my email will receive but not send. You will not thwart my efforts computer!
I can fix this hurry and go to another email system I use with my computer. Cut and paste the email, re-attach all the photos and applications etc. Ok how did it get to be 10:45 PM ?
Crossed my finger hit send and yes off it went,
So we shall see if I am a good fit or not for 2012.
Here is a sneak peek

Tiny Worlds: Creating a scene with small murrini

This 2-day workshop explores the miniature world of murrini. Students will learn to create murinni that represent components of a predetermined scene. Students will be ask to bring color photos of a scene they would to recreate inside a bead. This could be nature, a painting or anything that has small components in it.

We will be using COE 90 glass to create these tiny worlds in the beads. All skill learned can be used will any soft glass.

What do you think sound interesting?

Here are some examples