Playtime

Most often when I sit down at the torch I have a plan in mind, sometimes even on paper. But the best things happen when I begin without a preconceived "to do" list. I've found this go-with-the-flow style works best when my work surface of gigantic clay tiles is covered in a drift of glass rods. I just start with a playful attitude of "what if" and the only rule is to try colors and styles together that I've never done before. The new beads I invent aren't always keepers but I have some favorites I love that I'll share a few pictures of. Click to enlarge.

Color Experiments

Dyeing always brings out the mad chef in me- a dab of this a bit more of that! No following recipes- it's way more fun and this time brought happy surprises. I had a gift of a sock blank to use as my canvas. If youhaven't tried one before,(I hadn't) they are ingenious. It's a machine stranded double knit long rectangle. There's enough yarn for a large pair of socks. So when it's unraveled it will make two perfectly matching socks. The smart thing to do is to get enormously long circular needles and knit the 2 socks at once. The directions boggled me, I'll have to get someone to actually show me how that's done, so my husband helped me unravel it into 2 balls. I am knitting one at a time and finding that it's creating a sort of blurred faux fair isle look. I used Jacquard acid dyes set with vinegar, rolled the blank in plastic and steamed it for 30 min. As I squirted on the dyes I had No Idea how it would turn out- just random fun! Can't wait to try this again. Because you're dyeing a knitted fabric it takes the color in soft uneven depths of shade- very pretty.

Garden Tour

I've gotten behind on beadmaking, spinning, knitting, and weaving. So, what have I been doing with my"spare" time? Our garden will be on the spring garden tour that benefits the local Children's Hospital. I go on this garden tour every spring and am inspired by the beautiful ,( and perfect) gardens. Now I'm having this feeling of panic about cleaning everything up, ( how to camoflage the compost pile?) trying to guess what will be in bloom in two weeks, (will those roses bloom? will the iris be all finished?) and the long to-do list to be crossed off before The Day. This garden walk has become more popular every year, last year 800 tickets were sold!! Here are some garden pictures if you can't come to visit!

So... what do you have on your loom now?

The question asked by a fellow weaver, " What do you have on your loom now?" is really a loaded question. There is a very guilty feeling I get looking at my empty loom. Beadmaking sucks up all my extra time now so it seems. But looking at my forlornly vacant loom yesterday the answer came to me, "My cat is on my loom right now." This is the time of year the warmth of a sunbeam moves over the loom and she slowly shifts with it. Whisper is a Ragdoll breed and is as much like a dog as I've ever met. She follows me from room to room, and chair to couch,napping on the bed with me, tucked against my spinning wheel, or under the loom. She can't follow me to the studio and sits curled up by the back door waiting until I come back in, hours later.

Icy Cold Blues

These are size 0 needles which I like for long wearing socks. I had fun dyeing the yarn by laying it on plastic wrap and using small squirt bottles. Then I rolled it up and steamed it to set the dye.

Is it just coincidence that the icy shades of blue in my newest bead set are reflected in my hand dyed sock yarn? So many times a color preference shifts from one art to another without me being aware of it ... until I see it in my Photoshop file .

As I wrap packages for mailing from sales at my Etsy shop I enjoy thinking about the buyers. The most exciting are the international sales. I savor the thought of my beads traveling where I'll never go - Russia, Singapore, New Zealand, Finland , and many more destinations I'll never get to. But people will design and wear jewelry there made from my glass. When I started selling on Etsy I never dreamed I'd sell all over the world! I have a world map on the wall of my studio and mark with a pushpin each new country I've shipped to.

Dessert with NO Calories!!

What is better than whipped cream?? whiter, fluffier, creamier, AND lo-cal?? It's my Cormo wool! I got a full fleece from a covered Cormo that is a spinner's dream come true. These locks are washed once in bags in my top loading washing machine. This fleece is so clean I don't need to pick it and there are no short cuts at all. Now I'm totally spoiled, any fleece I buy after this one can't compare.