Whooo hooo!

I managed to get a few photos of things that are for projects. I'm really happy with the formed copper wire elements. I am itching to try the "electric blue" patina on them.

This is a detail of a necklace that I am working on as a collection of jewelry based on Greek Mythology. It seems appropriate and LONG overdue as "Gaea" sometimes spelled "Gaia" was the Greek Goddess of Mother Earth! How did my mom know I would want to play with the earth some day?!

This necklace is Dionysus, the God of agriculture and wine. A green patina on some of the more grape viney pieces would be perfect!



I love the clasp on this necklace. I'm not so sure of the blue color of the seed beads though. Robert described them as "roadside carnival cheap" He is never wrong. I went back to the store and picked a blue that was more spacey. The necklace is supposed to be of the night sky with multi colored stars. It actually looks pretty good in this picture. It is much more garish in real life.

Fright Night VI

I guess I wasn't the only person with complaints at our local Blockbuster as they have now moved and turned off the monitor with the video games and placed movies with graphic covers to the highest shelves! Thank you! The store manager is always lovely to us and I had to thank her. If only the family owned local video store would find less snotty and unhelpful teens we could go back. I guess cheep labor has it's price. Baby steps.

I've been playing chemist this weekend with copper wire and chemical reactions! Super fun! I love the way copper will patina over time (something I don't ever have enough of) So I looked around online and found some very helpful sites that show how to patina metal with home made ingredients! So now I have BLUE copper and will try the "Green" experiment today! So far I am just playing with the wire alone. Next I will do a whole necklace!!! I've also been playing with hammered copper. I did a few necklaces a while back. I've gotten a great reaction from them and am really loving the effect! Imagine these spirals in an electric blue! Super cool!




Well now I am off to obsess about a new idea. I'm REALLY excited about it and can't wait to get rolling on it. I pushed through the 103 degree heat yesterday to clean the house, or at least I smeared enough of the muck around so that it formed something akin to clean. Either that or I'm a modern artist! 2 adults + 2 kids + 2 dogs + 2 cats - enough time = !#$%#$!@

I just love this band! They ROCK IT OUT!

I got tired of waiting!

So, I went to my local Ben Franklin store and got my own copy of Beads2008! There are some really cool things and a great project from Melanie of Earthenwood Studio. The beads from the Golem Studio were awesome! There were so many wonderful new things and so may bead works of artist I am familiar with it was like a who's who of ceramic beads! I'm really pleased to see so many ceramic artist featured! Congrats to all the Beads of Clay artist featured! Good job!

I have been doing the pee-pee dance for days now! The kiln is all cooled and I cracked it open to find some real beauties!

Fright Night. No TV week continued...

I make a very strong effort to keep my kids from seeing and hearing things that are not age appropriate. Six and 2 year olds should be 6 and 2 year olds for as long as possible. It is getting harder and harder every day to shield them from scary images and inappropriate music. I have decided that even Blockbuster is not appropriate. Just the covers alone for some of the movies should not be seen by kids. Heck, I don't want to see them. How many Saw movies do we need. And video games? Grand Theft Auto 75? I have no problem with them existing but I don't need them being shoved at my curious 6 year old just standing in line at the video store. Our local store decided that it wasn't enough to have multiple viewing screens of features coming soon around the store, now they have a monitor facing us at my child's level in the front of the line. As we were waiting patiently for our turn to rent Scooby-Doo for the 50th time we were forced to watch an increasingly violent clips from several new games. A man getting punched in the stomach by another man. A man then takes a crowbar to the window of a car smashing it into a million LOUD pieces. At this point my Six year olds head whips around to me with a look that says "Did I just see that? And should I see that?" I calmly ask the gentleman behind the counter if we could please turn the monitor off. "It isn't age appropriate." I was horrified by his answer... "I can't turn it off. I don't know how." .... "What about this button here?" So I turn it off. Are you kidding me? I'm not trying to be abrasive. I just want a pleasant trip to the video store. I think we'll just have to stick with Netflix. How do you keep your kids safe from inappropriate things. Am I being too sensitive?

"It is cool. I like it."

It is "Turn Off Your TV!" week at my son's school. So, we did just that. Sadly, I have come to rely on the TV to do a fair bit of baby sitting. But not last night! We ate dinner and talked (or argued) with each other! We read books. We didn't argue about what to watch. We watched a moth fly around the room and laughed. We had a tickle fight. Not that we don't normally do these things, but the pressure was off. It felt good. Even with a migraine headache things seemed to flow a bit better. Bath time was fun time again. I think I will instate a no TV Monday thru Friday policy. My son even dared to write three sentences in his weekly sharing journal where 2 of the 3 were not "It is cool." and "I like it." Baby steps. I hope to continue the week in this positive direction. It is cool! I like it!

Below are a few things that were almost forgotten about. I will make time to not procrastinate and get them listed...

Post person! Deliver de letter, de sooner de better!

Well not the letter but the copy of Beads2008 which I apparently have a few items in! Yay me! I have been longing to submit jewelry to magazines for publication but am terrified of both cramping my brain to actually put on paper, IN WORDS, how I've made something and then being rejected. So submitting just the pieces with out all that messy paper work just seemed much less of a harrowing experience. I would gladly give beads up if I didn't have to get brainy about it to get published (any designers out there listening?) This must be how my 6 year old feels when I threaten him with no video games over the weekend if he doesn't do his homework. So if anyone has actually put their eyes on this magazine I'd love to hear about it!

Well I've really gone and done it now.

I will have to say that I am not the most... how to say this... dissiplined of people. I guess I really like to do what I like to do and don't really like to do much else. It isn't selfish so much as things don't always go down well when it isn't my idea. Mental block? Probably. Stubborn? Definiately! So when my daughters co-op school called asking If I would like a position on the board next fall to help run the school I didn't mean to blurt out laughing. I really did try to stiffle my guffaw. How desperate are these people? I have trouble keeping up with my own business let alone someone else's. But I guess that is the point of a co-op and we dearly love our little school. It does take up a lot of time with fundraisers and work days, but I love being around the kids and the parents are really wonderful people. I've made so many great friends through my kids. So I've been charmed by the little school that could (along with the free day of school for my daughter!) and will now be the secretary for Ojai Valley Community Nursery School. Those who have come before me have been really great with the advice. So, If you have any words of wisdom, please, chime in!

Go!

Well, it's go time! Time to kick it into high gear and just GET THIS FIRING DONE! It is hard doing just a monthly firing and have been URGED by my dearest to consider maybe a twice monthly firing. It would be fun to have more new goodies in a timely fashion to play with as well. I'm always pushing hard to get the firing DONE! And it would make customers a bit happier as well. Just something to ponder.

Back In Black!

For years now I have avoided using the color black. Which is funny since we lived our teen years in nothing but black (and the Earl Scheib inspired hair color). "Are you kids on your way to a funeral?" or "Who died?" (yo mama!). In art class it was "There is no black! Only darker versions of the colors are used! DO YOU SEE BLACK IN THOSE SHADOWS?!?!?" So I've struggled with using/wearing black for years. Not anymore baby! Black is back! At least it is for me. I made these hand painted beads months ago but I was having trouble working them into jewelry. Alone they were fine but the minute I tried to put my typical copper or silver wire with them or other beads they just looked off. Apparently they needed a little black! I think they are fun and special and totally remind me of being a teenager, but only in a good way (out with your best friends, rollin' into the parking lot of Denny's at midnight for a cig and a cup o' joe) ROCK N' ROLL BABY!

Not as far as I would like to be...

Today is the day I will drop the clay work and pick up the bead work. I will spend most of today making jewelry for this Sunday. I was hoping some fun goodies I ordered from etsy would be here so I could incorporate them into the mix. Next time. I have a hard time switching gears especially when I am in the groove. I will just have to get into the jewelry groove and see where it takes me. I was also hoping to add a few new items to the web site but the pictures I keep taking are not turning out well. Hmmm...

So long. Fare well. We hate to say goodbye!

Well, one quick call to our local humane society and General Grevious was back with his family. Duke, as we came to find out, only lived a block away. He fit right into our little family and we all felt very sad to see him go but happy that he has a family that loves him. It is insane that with in 24 hours this sweet dog was here and it felt like he had never not been.

There is too much to do before this weekends Earth Day 2008 festival (if you are in Ojai this Sunday, find me at Oak Grove School!) I had hoped to get this months firing done early to have some fun new things to play with. I have high hopes of making 40 pairs of earrings and 50 necklaces. Hmmm... what are the child labor laws again? Ok, enough procrastination!

Here General Grievous, Here boy!

So we found a stray, a mighty adorable Basset Hound over the weekend, running wild with a pack of dogs. This happens frequently in our neighborhood. My husband tried to round as many up into our yard as possible to keep them safe. We got two and only one had a name tag so he made his way home. The other is now happily napping, playing and eating as a part of the family. At least that is what my 6 year old and 42 year old children are hoping. I think he's adorable but honestly, 3 dogs!?! My 6 year old has decided to name him "General Grievous, MOM! No! LEGO! No! General Grievous!!!!" Why? "Because he has red eyes!!! And I love General Grievous. Mom, can we keep General Grievous?" Um, no. We've been playing Star Wars Legos. I'm thinking that there is a family missing him terribly. I'll put signs up this afternoon. Mean mommy.

Calm blue ocean, calm blue ocean, calm blue...

OK. I've been repeating this to myself over and over again. It makes me laugh and takes the edge off when things get tough. It came from the first season of the Tracey Ullman Show, (I miss that show!) back before they had the Simpson's between skits. It was this cartoon of two women of a certain age, in a car, one attempting to show the other how to drive on the freeway. The driver was anxious and nervous and kept repeating "calm blue ocean" over and over again in a very panicky way. As they drove along the slightest thing would make her panic and she would repeat her mantra in an increasingly panicked tone! Hilarious. So for years this has been our mantra and yesterday was one of those days that needed a mantra. It irks me to no end when you are trying to play by the rules but the giant corporation you are playing with isn't. And let's just say that this time of the month I should be barricaded in the kitchen with some old Sex and the City DVDs, a cup of coffee and a pint of Ben and Jerry's. So it took all of my strength not to reach through phone and strangle some poor schlep who was maybe doing their job?!? It all started last month in a serious attempt to cut my business costs. I figured out that by getting rid of my credit card processing company and using only PayPal I could save at least $30 a month. So I just lucked out and called to cancel my serves the one time I can within a 24 month cycle, which was last month. It took quite tome doing and a lot of run around but managed to send emails to the right people. So what should appear on this months bank statement? A charge of $60!!! Not only had they not canceled my account but they added another $10 to my bill!!! ARGH! So I called up and got a run around and they tried to tell me that I didn't cancel but if I would like to I could but there would be a $275 dollar cancelation fee. Uh. No. So I get my contract out and what he telling me is not correct (mine says $240 at least!) and of course he can't change anything in the system. So I send him a copy of what I have and like magic, the system changes! After more run around I ask for a supervisor and I've been on the phone back and forth for hours. I keep thinking this is costing them more in man hours than my $275 and they have lost me as a customer already anyway. They never tried to win me back either. And yet when I called the office where I sent my cancellation notice they said I had been canceled. Duh. UGH! So the lovely supervisor get on the line and wrangles the 6 headed beast into a logical conclusion! Yes! I have been canceled. No! I will not have to pay the fee! AHHHH! calm blue ocean, calm blue ocean, calm blue ocean....

This one is for you Mellanie! (my son is on a General Grievous kick and it made me calm blue ocean.)

see more crazy cat pics

Wishing and Hoping.

I've been all over the place this week. Maybe it is a form of procrastination but I get flooded with ideas and feel compelled to produce them all at once. I know I have other things to get done yet here I am working on something that doesn't really need to get done right away. I guess it is better than not getting anything done. Of course making new ideas happen is far more fun than doing laundry or washing dishes (Imagine my shock! Oh! Are they dirty again?!!?). I can not wait to see these new heart pendants with glaze! And I just picked up some really fun looking new colors! Wheeee! Now I guess I will have to get all that other work done to see the glazes. Humpf!