fire and glass

This set began with a rod of Moretti glass called EDP..a glorious dense pink-y purple that needs special working in the flame in order to achieve that color...along with a selection of powdered glasses and a wad of pure copper leaf. (Please excuse my love of run on sentences. I've tried to stop using them but they just creep back in every so often..feel free to stop and take a breath whenever you feel the need.) The result is riotous colors ..a tsunami of greens and aquas and pinks that weren't there before. These are simple beads, rounds ~nothing special and most beginners start here...but this set is precisely the reason I love glass. Set of 6 encased (to magnify and hi-light the colors beneath) rounds available now on EBay . 'Perfect Storm'

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In my quest for a 3 column blog I seem to have lost my links..maybe you can help me find them. If you were linked to me please re-send me your info or simply comment here and I'll add you once again to my 'Noteworthy Blogs' in the side bar. Oh yes, this is just what I needed. *sigh* There is a moral..never try to do things the easy way. There is no easy way.

I stumbled across Audrey Layne Combs's work by accident. She is a multi- faceted artist who paints and draws and creates, but I was most fascinated by her 'Beauty of Age' series. These are people you would walk by daily, perhaps without a second glance. This artist has the unusual ability to show us the beauty we're missing in these time worn faces. I especially enjoy her use of pushed color that seem to draw attention to each joyous line and fold. It's such a beautiful positive statement about life and I'm glad I found this new member to Etsy. Thank you Audrey for agreeing to be part of my 'Artisans to Note' series! What medium do you work in primarily and why? I primarily work in oil in my paintings and pen and ink in my drawings. Oil paint is much more fluid than other paints, and I find it more suitable for the subject. Pen and ink is incredibly fine and precise, which allows me to get in all the detail and design in my drawings. I especially en...

A couple of years ago I heard of an older couple that were moving into a care home. The children were selling some of their belongings, one of which was a desk. I was in dire need of a work desk, so I went out to take a look. The address turned out to be a little mobile home upturned with boxes of belongings and worn furniture stacked so high you could barely turn around. I was struck by how sad it must be to have to pack your life up like that. On the other hand maybe they were quite satisfied with the arrangement and looked forward to their new home with eager anticipation. I do tend to fantasize. At any rate, I liked the desk..I especially liked the roll top feature. I could leave a mess behind and just pull the top down on it and have the room itself look neat and tidy. Very cool. They need to put this feature on more items. Beds and kitchen counter tops come to mind. I brought the desk home and as I was cleaning it out I noticed the tiniest slip of paper wedged into the seam o...

There was a man who lived by the side of the road and sold hot dogs. He was hard of hearing, so he had no radio. He had trouble with his eyes, so he read no newspaper. But he sold good hot dogs. He put signs up on the highway telling how good they were. He stood on the side of the road and cried “Buy a hot dog, mister?” And people bought. He increased his meat and bun orders. He bought a bigger stove to take care of his trade. He finally got his son home from college to help him out. But then something happened. His son said, “Father, haven’t you been listening to the radio?” “Haven’t you been reading the newspaper?” There’s a big depression.” “The European situation is terrible.” The domestic situation is worse.” Whereupon the father thought, “Well, my son has been to college: he reads the papers and listens to the radio, he ought to know.” So his father cut down on his meat and bun orders, took down his advertising signs, and no longer bothered to stand out on the highway to sell his...

My mother is a treasure collector. She’s had to give up many of her treasures as she’s gotten older and had to scale down, but there are still a few things from our collective history that adorn her home. Her old box purse from her dating days is one of them. It’s a beautiful little purse to be sure. I'm sure she was quite proud of that tucked under her arm at the dances in the 50’s. I’m assuming it was tucked under her arm...I’ve no idea what you did with a purse of that shape. Eventually of course, the box purse became dated. Ever resourceful, and not wanting something so beautiful to sit in the back of a closet, it became a button box for Mom in her Mother days. It has a creamy, satin finish decorated with raised florals and a gold button that snaps shut. The material is a sort of vinyl that intrigued me to no end as a small child. It's oddly comforting that she still has the box and in surprisingly good shape, with only a few of the flowers slightly deflated looking...

Every so often I run across something on the web that stops me in my tracks and settles in my gut for a while...this morning I followed a link, found this site and watched the trailer for a powerful documentary on women and art. I've always seen feminists as a group that sees all men as evil, so while I hesitate to recognize the feminist in me~ this touches some untapped part of me that wants to cry when I see it. I almost don't quite have words to express what this trailer evoked, but I know that I want to support this endeavor in any small way that I'm able. Go. Watch it for yourself...then you'll understand better what this inadequate string of words is failing to express.

From the talented artisans of Etsy...have a look at these.

Each bead has been created in the flame with a pencil thin rod of glass and further decorated with any one of several techniques. One of my favorite is shards...the shards are prepared in advance of the base bead, on a hollow mandrel. A small wind of glass is applied to the end of the mandrel and carefully sealed up in a sort of beehive of glass. Small breaths of air are blown into the opposite end until you've blown a wonderful bubble of glass on the end. This bubble is then broken..producing the shards, which are then applied in the flame to a base bead. Great fun.. I know, I've talked about this before haven't I? and still no pix. What sort of a blogger am I?! The next youtube should be the shards...I'll think about that. Blogged with the Flock Browser