Ahhhhh CHOOO!

The cold germ always seems to find me when I'm at my busiest. Does that happen to you too? Just when you are chugging along making headway and BAM! out of nowhere you get a sore throat and swollen glands. This feels a bit more than a cold and I don't want to pass it along to you, so I'll keep it short and sweet...

This mess o' goods is about to be glazed and fired! At least it has cooled down to the low 90's! (It was 113 on Tuesday!!!!)

Big Green Bead Machine!

Have you seen it? The Big Green Bead Machine? Spitting out deals every 5 minutes! I love it! See it in action at Lima Beads! Too cool! My cart runnith over!

"I'm A Hot Toe Picker!"

If any of you are as juvanile as I am you may remember the classic Fosters Home For Imaginary Friends episode "Squeeze The Day". It's just my way of saying it is too dangity hot out! 107 is not acceptable. My clay is drying out the second I touch it! I have a cramp in my hand from using a spray bottle to keep it all moist and it is going on day three for this nasty sinus/migraine thingy. And I'm all crabby and what not. I just want to finish up this clay work and move onto glazing so I can fire up the kiln. in. this. heat. WTF am I thinking! Thinking cool thoughts... Hope you are comfy and cool...

Out Into The World...

This one....

and this one....

and a few others, have been sent out into the world. Is it strange for me to miss them? I do. I really had fun with them. The remind me of spring. We have many seasons until I meet spring again. I will enjoy fall and winter though...Happy Fall!

Lucky Girl!

I've been haunting The Noisy Plume for ages. Stalking in the best way. Hoping. Dreaming. Urning....

Yep. It's mine. 

Sometimes you gotta get the pretty shinny bauble instead of the hair cut! Gotta smile about it!

Etsy Preview...

I have so much fun putting these bundles together. I wish I could turn them all into jewelry! Here are a few new items going to be listed soon...

Whoooo! Where Does The Time Go?

We spent Saturday at the L.A. Zoo to do a late birthday celebration with grandma for the kids. It was such a good time. It seemed like the zoo had so many improvements since the last time we went 4 years ago. They are currently working on a HUGE new elephant compound. It looks like it will be amazing!

Sunday I got a bug up my bum to find Robert and I new phones. I didn't intend to but we ended up walking out of the Verizon store with the new Fascinate! Maybe it was how helpful and friendly they were or the fact that they set up the kids with cartoons while we shopped... or because they were having a buy one get one free deal... or maybe because I was sick of trying to squeeze the most out of my 100 minute a month plan for the last 15 years... or maybe because I'm crazy... either way, we love them! I know I will have a Homer Simpson moment when the bill comes though! LOVE IT!

Yesterday...

Made new bundles for my etsy
Sent out etsy orders
took photos of etsy bundles
made a necklace
sent a huge box of goodies to a consignment shop
made a huge pile of jump rings
payed rent at the Made In Ojai shop
bought potting soil for science class
tried to watch Killers while making beads

Today....
Finish watching Killers (it's ok)
list items on etsy
help teach science for the 4th graders
gather jewelry for another consignment shop
wash laundry, maybe
wash dishes, have to
take a nap, I wish
make lots and lots and lots of beads....

So I am now in GET-IT-DONE-NOW!!!! mode and will be trying to squeeze in some new designs for magazine submissions! AHHHH!

What are you up to today?

I Hate To Alarm You...

I'm not an alarmist, but the holidays are just around the corner! In fact I have a few events to get ready for even before I start thinking about the holidays! One is a trunk show at really lovely bead shop, Brea Bead Works. They have studio spaces that you an rent for torch work and beading. It looks like a beautiful shop! The other is a local even, Ojai Day. I really look forward to Ojai Day but even in mid October (the 16th to be exact) it can be mind-blowingly hot! I will be thinking cool thoughts until then.

Join Us.

It occurred to me that anyone who would like to, is super welcome to participate in the Copy Me challenge. I don't have the resources to send beads to everyone, but everyone is welcome to participate! See the previous post for what's goin' on!

Copy Me! Here's The Plan...

I am so excited that the Copy Me post got such a positive response! I would like, for the benefit of this project, to not throw out your ideas about copying. Negative or positive, they should stay. Put it into your design! When I hear my older kid say to my younger kid "SHE'S COPYING ME!!!" I hear his outrage and frustration in his voice and then I hear them both giggling, trying to out do the other as it becomes a game for them. I want this to be a game. Have fun. Go where you want. Where ever it takes you. Just use the items provided and if the original design inspires you, go there, if not work it out!

So. Here are the list of randomly drawn participants.

Michelle
Erin
For My Sweet Daughter
Lorelei
SueBeads
Spirited Earth

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

16
11
13
2
7
1

Timestamp: 2010-09-16 18:57:38 UTC

The inspiration item is a bracelet with mermaid beads, stamped metal, garnets and chain. I will send 3 mermaid beads and the rest will be up to you. It would be great to be ready to share by blog by the 19th of October. If you do not have a blog, please send photos to me and I can post them. Send me your address and I'll get these out to you ASAP! (gaea (at) gaea (dot) cc)

Have fun!

Background.

You may have noticed something about my photographs. I like a white background. Nothing beats a solid white backdrop to bore the pants off of everyone. Ok. it's more like I'm afraid of trying something new with my backgrounds. I've gotten comfortable and it is feeling a bit stale. Don't get me wrong, the white can really be suitable for most projects but I don't feel like I've stretched myself lately in the photography department. Fellow Made In Ojai artist Evergreen wears many hats. One hat she dons is at an amazing shop/charity in Santa Barbara, Art From Scrap. As part of our monthly art challenge with Made In Ojai she has donated various items and a while back she showed up with these amazing scraps of fabric. Fabric junky that I am, I could not resist. I have a few ideas for them but what jumped to mind immediately was their perfectness as a backdrop for jewelry.....

I love that the sharkskin fabric will change color when it is at different angles. I may not be out of the rut yet, but at least I'm flexing that muscle!

Conditioner Is Not A Hairbrush.

Just in case you wondered, conditioner is not a hairbrush. In my zeal to get a load of work done I've been cutting corners. And as you probably guessed from the post title I'm not cutting corers on things like dessert, jewelry design, or chocolate (if you are wondering, chocolate is not necessarily dessert, but dessert can be chocolate, but that's a whole other blog post.) So I've discovered that some things should not be short cutted (yes I made that word up) like actually running a brush or your fingers at the very least, through your hair. I've got a massive knot at the back of my head which is largely possible because I've not cut my hair in a year and it's gotten to the point where I can walk out side complete naked and still only need to use two hands to cover things up. A pony tail is not a hair cut. It's time to take care of me. What have I been so distracted with? A little of this and a whole lot of that....

Cottage Garden bracelet (ceramic beads)

Fade to Black earrings (ceramic earring charms, palest citrine, labradorite and dark pyrite)

Forest earrings (ceramic earring charms, smoky quartz and dark pyrite)

Play Time.

I finally did it. I got the chance to play. We'll, I kind of had to. My friend Jennifer took a shine to the shabby chic beads and wanted me to make a few gifts for some girls she knows. First was this necklace designed for an 8 year old. I hope she loves it!

The other is for a thirteen year old. She told me I could be a bit more funky with this design. It's hard to dig back to my thirteen year old self and what would have flipped my fancy at that age. I hope she thinks it's "the bomb".

Copy Me.

In reading Jewelry designer Lorelei Eurto's post on copying designs, got me thinking. Copying can be a good and positive thing so long as we are aware and are acknowledging the original designer.  Another artists work can be a great jumping off place or a great source of inspiration but it truly should not be called ones own or profit be gained from another's designs. Children learn from copying so it stands to reason that when we are learning something new we "copy" to learn. I have put my designs out there for others to appreciate and learn from. So, I was thinking about it yesterday and wondered if gathering a few designers together and "copying" a design. Not copying exactly but showing how it can be deconstructed, reinterpreted, or completely redesigned. I think 5 people would be a good number to participate. So if any of you designers out there would care to join in and spread the word about "making it your own" and sharing it on your blog, post a comment and let me know. I will provide 5 of the same elements and provide a design for the jumping off point. We could set a date and share what we copied! I will choose 5 names at random by next Thursday!

Jean Wells

HELP! I'm seeing spots!

Today is the day!~ I will play with these! Designs will be made! Fun will be had!

Oh! The Dotty Dreaminess Of It All!

I just added a few of the new dotty, shabby chic, dreamy, pastel, creamy beads to the etsy. I had so much fun putting these little bundles together but I am having a hard time parting with them. You are probably saying to yourself "Gaea! You can make more!" and you are right! I can and will. I'll just put them out there into the universe for someone else to love and play with...

Janet's Fairy Door Giveaway!

Lamp work artist and jewelry designer Janet is hosting a giveaway on her blog! Check out her post about fairy doors (seriously cute!) and enter to win Green Girl Studios pewter beads, Helen Simon lamp work bead, and a few ceramic beads from me thrown in the mix!