The Gathering

Since Wed. night I have been attending the ISGB(International Society of Glass Beadmaker's) convention here in Louisville.  It is held yearly in different regions of the US.  This year there were about 300 beadmaker's, men and women, in attendance.  As I explained in an earlier blog, this is the chance to see all the new glass, tools, books, jewelry making products, etc. available.  It's also a great opportunity to make your billfold very, very thin.  I was exceptionally good at that.  My justification was, how many times could I actually reach out and touch all these products before I bought them?  In the past, I've had to look at a picture on the Internet.  This was REAL.  So I did my duty and spent.  Now I have to follow that up with making some money with all those new products I bought, and that is always the hardest part.  There was lots of inspiration there among the beadmakers though, so after a good night's sleep...I'm thinking at least 12 hours, I'm hoping to get on my torch and make some pretty things...we'll see.

Simple Lessons

When I went to bed tonight there was a annoying fly buzzing around the room.  I tried chasing him for awhile, but let's face it, my aim is lousy.  When I was young my parents signed me up for a girl's baseball team.  It was the 50's, there weren't many sports for girls back then.  My dad was a runner, and a good one at that.  Actually I could run too, but that wasn't noticed or appreciated in girls in those days.  There were no girl's track teams.  So on this baseball team, one night I made all three outs in one inning.  It was disheartening.  I just had no eye hand coordination. I couldn't play ball then, nor apparently now kill flies. So anyhow, after chasing this fly around the bedroom for 15 min or so I decided to trap him in the bathroom.  Now our bathroom is little.  Our house was built in the 60's and although hubby and I had the bathrooms redone last year there in no way to add extra room where there isn't any.  So the fly and I played hide and seek for another 15 minutes or so.  I think I finally got him because he made me really mad when I knocked one of my glass beaded bracelets off the counter.  Two beads broke, but they weren't the glass ones, they were the ceramic ones that were used as spacers.  That made me kind of happy actually, well what really made me happy was finally disposing of said fly.  Then I was happy because MY handmade beads didn't break, and then I was even happier because I realized I did have good eye hand coordination after all, but it was just used more efficiently close up, like at bead making, not swinging heavy clubs of lumber at big white things that are being hurled at you, or trying to chase flies around a slippery bathroom with a rolled up piece of newspaper.  See you can learn something new about yourself every day, even when you're old.

The Picture I Left Out.....and a few More

Here's a couple more pictures of beads that I like.  I think florals are my favorite beads to make.

I was going to post a pic of my sister's birthday necklace, but I couldn't figure out how to do it...trying again.  I'm also going to post some pics of some of my other favorite beads.

Catching Up

Well bronchitis is still winning.  I hate being sick.  I just sit around watching my house get "dirtified" (made up word) and the clothes pile up in the laundry bag, and I whine a lot.  I guess I'm not horribly sick since Starbucks still taste good, and I haven't whined so much that my hubby is no longer interested in going to get them for me.  Although I might be getting close to that fine line that separates sympathy from annoyance.  I can tell when I'm getting there because he always finds something to do outside, like clean up the dog poop in the yard.  Choosing dog poop is always a good indicator that I have crossed the line. Speaking of crossing the line, why can't men clean kitchens?  I've been married 42 years and I have cleaned many, many, many, kitchens.  I've showed that man what a clean kitchen looks like .  I've taken him through the process, you know, made him watch me.  So why, oh why, can't he repeat the process just every once in awhile.  Oh I'm not dumb, I know he doesn't want to be good at it, and if I'm being honest here, I don't want to be good at taking out the garbage either, so I'm not :)

Beginnings

Although I've been a beadmaker since 1999 I've never really had a blog.  I tried once or twice, but I was a failure.  I'm going to try harder this time.  In two weeks the International Society of Glass Beadmakers meets in Louisville for it's annual convention.  Beadmakers come from all over the world. On Saturday July 30th there is a Bead Bazaar at the Convention Center and some of the beadmakers sell their beads.  It's phenom !!  I love meeting people I've been talking on the forums with for years.  Lots of vendors come to sell us all kinds of bead goodies, new glass, tools, and gadgets.  We're all kind of like little kids with new toys.  If you are anywhere close to Louisville, and love beads, you should come down for the Bead Bazaar.  It runs from 10am until 5pm and admission is only $5.00.  Okay, I'm signing off my first blog now.  I'm fighting bronchitis and it is winning.  Here's a picture of a necklace I made my sister for her birthday.  The beads are hollow.  Oh never mind.  I can't figure it out.  I'll try again tomorrow.