Fun stuff sort of....

This bead made it into the ISGB Perspective Exhibit that will be in Corning, NY. I'll try to post a link to the slideshow of all of the other wonderful entries


The past few weeks have been needless to say....CRAZY! As most of you know I'm getting ready for the Bead & Button Show and trying to use every possible moment to build the inventory. There must be something in the universe because darn it... something bad usually happens. Makes me wonder if there's a little imaginary "Ooops or Oh Crap!" switch that gets tripped every time you're frantically working with a deadline.

So what happened is that I had some great ideas for new beads. I'm so jazzed that I go into the studio and turn on the music, get my glass ready then I reach over to flip the switch on the controller for the kiln and shazaam.....the controller is dead. It totally fizzed out on me! Sucks I know, but the good news is that I did have a back-up controller.

The dead controller gave me a really good excuse to take a time out. The next day, I decided to go kayaking in Kailua on the Windward end of the island, to an area where you can just float in the ocean and see all of the sea turtles. It was so relaxing and amazing! The people that have their beach houses there are so lucky to be able to see these wonderful creatures!

Some New Beads

Ahhh...Remember the spring flower necklace? It's finished. I finally had to make a decision this past week...I had to cancel a class. This is something that I've never done before and I really hated to do it, but class sign ups for the Bead & Button Show have been very slow. I can't say that I'm suprised with the low sign up because the two classes that the show promoters picked were classes that I have been teaching for the past 5 years and I had a gut feeling that it would be a hard sell. I was hoping that this year they would pick one of my newer projects, but it just wasn't meant to be. The sad part about this is that because I cancelled the classes, I've been told that it puts me at risk from being picked for next year. So much for loyalty (I've been teaching for them from the very beginning) and understanding. Anyhow, I still be at the show and finally had some free time to make some beads. This weekend I made a bunch of beads to be sandblasted, but I also decided to make some Sushi sets. Personally I think they are so Kawaii(cute in Japanese).

Spring Floral Necklace

Usually I'm not into the soft pastel pinks, but I decided to go out of my comfort zone and make a necklace that had a softer "spring" tone. When travelling I usually like to take a project with me to do on the airplane or even at night when I need to decompress. As you can see I didn't get to finish it, but hopefully I'll have this completed by the end of this week.

TIme Away Part 2

The second half of my trip was to Rochester, NY. For a girl from Hawaii....it was a little chilly, but nothing that I couldn't handle. The ISGB Gathering will be in Rochester for 2010 and the Rochester visitors bureau certainly went all out to show us all of the best that the city could offer. After spending an entire day visiting galleries and museums I'm very excited to have the conference here in Rochester.

My restaurant tip for Rochester is Tapas 177 Lounge. It's a cool restaurant. The bar is on the street level, while the restaurant is in the basement. Their menu changes weekly and their appetizer and entree portions are huge. Also,during this trip I was able to visit Milon Townsend's home and studio. In addition to being a magnificent glass artist he was a wonderful host and his wife makes the best desserts. I can honestly say that Rochester has a lot to offer the members of ISGB when they arrive in 2010.

So after being away for two weeks I am more than ready to return home to the islands.

Time away

Sorry that it's taken so long to post. As some of you may or may not know, I'm also on the Board for ISGB (International Society of Glass Beadmakers). I spent my spring break going to Miami and Rochester to visit those sites for our annual "Gathering". Below is part one of my trip.

I arrived in Miami at 1:30AM. It's about a 13 hour flight from Hawaii. First thing that I learned was to not take the Super Shuttle to my hotel. What I should have done was taken a taxi. Why do you ask.......well the driver had a hard time understanding where I wanted to go and I had a small moment of panic when he decided to get off of the freeway and zig zag through the side streets to get to my hotel. I later learned from the locals that this was one of those areas where you wanted to make sure that the car doors were locked. After a few meetings with the hotel and visiting many local galleries I can honestly say that I know how to get around in Miami. On one of my ventures I found a wonderful area located in downtown Miami. Mary Brickell Village is comprised of numerous cute shops and wonderful restaurants. Many of the locals recommended a place by the name of Lolita's so we specifically made an effort to visit that restaurant and what a lovely suprise. The actual name is Dolores but you can call me Lolita.


The food is AWESOME. For $23.00 you have a choice of appetizer and entree. The portions are huge and the atmosphere is so Miami. One thing you'll find out about me is that I will go anywhere for excellent food. Not only was the food awesome, but the price was unbelieveable. For two of us with a drink and dessert our final bill totaled $60.00.

In summary, I had a great time in Miami. Made some great contacts for the organization and will be back in July!

Hello

Well this is my first ever posting in a blog journal. I know it's been long over due. My first and probably only excuse on why I haven't done a blog before is.......hmmmm....time

A friend of mine, http://www.andrew-thornton.blogspot.com/ has brought the subject of blogging up to me a few times. So you may be asking, why now? I guess it's better to start sometime and why not now.

Hopefully through this journal you will get to know me as the glass artist, business owner, wife, mother and now grandmother and not necessarily in that order. So if you are reading this journal because you are interested in my work, I will begin by saying "Thank You".

I've got some new ideas for a bead design so my goal for this weekend is to get back on the torch.