From Start to Finish

Occasionally when I'm busy in the studio, someone will wander in and watch me work for a while. It might be one of the neighbors who has come to ask a question or a favor. Sometimes the visitor is a friend of my parents and is hanging out in the studio while waiting for them. I've even had repairmen, mail carriers and the occasional Jehovah's Witness stand behind me and observe quietly for a while. One thing I've noticed is that the silence never lasts long. Invariably, the first question that pops out of an observer's mouth is: "How long does it take for you to make beads?" Not "How long have you been doing this?" or "How did you learn how to make beads?" or even "Why doesn't the flame melt the metal stick-thingie you're holding?". Nope - just "how long does it take?". Unless, of course, someone is looking at finished beads. Then the first question is always: "But how'd you get the flower in there?" But I digress...

When I first started making beads, my answers were long and complicated. I'd explain the process of deciding what I was going to make, checking my mandrels, getting the glass ready, pulling stringer and making complex and vine canes to use before I ever talked about making the first bead. I got tired of seeing people's eyes glaze over as I rattled off my spiel, so I kept shortening my answers until I arrived at my current response to the question of how long: a quick shrug of the shoulders, a sheepish grin and an honest "It depends."

If someone really is curious and keeps asking questions, I will carefully go into more detail, but only in response to a direct question. I've learned that if people feel like it's some big secret, then they're eager to know more. BUT - if you get diarrhea of the mouth and spill your guts or start talking technical too fast, they can't excuse themselves quickly enough.

The point of all this is that I'd like to know, for my own edification, exactly how long it takes me to make a bead. And because I make so many different kinds of beads, I figured that the best way to find the answer is to time myself as I make what I consider to be one of my standard bead sets. (Don't worry, it's for an order, so I'm not goofing off and wasting time.) I'm using a standard kitchen timer with a stopwatch feature.

And this is the bead set I'll be making:

Midori Eclectics

I'm timing all the components involved in making the bead set (assuming the kiln is already up to temperature, of course): dipping the mandrels, selecting and cleaning the glass, pulling the necessary stringers and cane, the creation of each individual bead and then the final cleaning and stringing of the bead set before packing.

dipping mandrels: 13:48
readying glass: 7:02
stringers & cane: 21:08

making each bead -
spacers: 3:07 & 1:35
whitehearts: 5:37 & 6:36
dotted lentil: 4:06
green disks: 5:27 & 6:22
floral lentil: 13:02
striped disk: 15:38
ringed Saturn: 8:14
rectangle: 15:58
dotted disk: 15:09
triangle disk: 13:38
encased floral: 19:08

cleaning beads: 17:19
stringing beads: 3:47

Final time from start to finish: 3 hours, 16 minutes and 47 seconds

Taa Daah! Here's the set I just completed:


So... can you think of any more questions I can answer?? *wink*

In the Homestretch

Wow, y'all - thank you for all the wonderful e-mails about the "Hula Bear". And yes, I will be making them for sale in the very near future (read: when I'm caught up with orders), both as individual bears and in sets with coordinating beads.

I know I don't usually post in the afternoon, but today's been a little different. We were at tennis (lesson for Davis, match for Tilly), when the bottom fell out and we were caught in one heckuva summer thunderstorm. You know the kind where it's sunny one minute, cloudy the next and in the same 30 seconds you hear the first grumble of thunder - you're soaked to the bone? Yeah, one of those. I'm not whining, mind you, because we really need the rain. I just always prefer a little advance notice before I ruin a pair of shoes!

I think I'm gonna go play with the food blog now. Maybe get the blueberry muffin pictures edited and get the recipe posted...

Not Quite There...

Okaaaay... So if I really had been a damsel in distress, the train would've cut me in half already. That's what I'm saying.

Yeah, not quite finished with orders yet. After spending all weekend working like a fiend, I'm still not done. But I'm ----> thisclose <----- to being done. Another day or 2 and I'll be able to start making new stuff - wahoo!!

I Took the Morning Off!

I've been working so hard at making beads that I decided to give myself the morning off and work on my first post for our new food blog, Radish Roses. And truth be told, my back is hurting soooo badly today. The idea of sitting at the torch for hours and hours made me want to bawl my eyes out!

So instead, I used one of my very favorite recipes for blueberry muffins and photographed the entire process. I've got tons of pictures to edit before I can actually write the blog post, so it'll probably be tomorrow before I get it finished. But here's what I got to eat before dragging myself reluctantly back to the torch:

Want one? They're delicious!!

Too Much and Not Enough

With as much as I've been working in my studio and as many beads as I've made, you can bet I've handled a lot of glass recently. And I've noticed a funny thing; I have a lot of it. No really, A LOT. And the sad part is I need to order more and soon!

You see the thing is, every time a new color is released, I feel compelled to purchase at least 1/4 lb but I usually buy a 1 pound, sometimes more. Call it what you will: wanting to expand my glass palette, hoping to discover the next "big" thing or most likely, very poor impulse control. Hey folks, I'm just doing my part to help stimulate the economy!

The only problem is that now I've got oodles of glass that I never plan to use. Colors like: V949 lemon meringue, V949 banana cream, M440 red roof tile, Lauscha copper green (like, 5 pounds!!), M262 powder pink, CiM khaki, and the original batch of Double Helix's Terra. What I actually need is: pea green opaque, med grass green, sage and avocado opaque, white and dark lavender. But most of all? I need CLEAR!!! That's the glass I use 10 times more than any of the others I have and I'm nearly panicked at how low my stash has become.

But seriously, what the heck am I gonna do with all this glass I don't want?

Call Me Snidely

Sorry for the lack of an update yesterday, but I've been really busy making beads. I've given myself the goal of the end of this weekend to finish making any and all outstanding orders so I can start making new stuff again. Practically chained myself to the torch, taking time out to eat and take care of the kids. With a deadline looming, I feel a lot like Nell in the old Dudley Do-Right cartoons, tied to the tracks with a steaming locomotive barreling down on her. Of course, having set the deadline myself, that makes me both the Snidely Whiplash and the Nell characters, right?

I've got a recipe I want to post on our food blog and I need to finish editing the banner for the creative challenge blog, but I have the sneaking suspicion that I won't get around to either until next week.

Go Speed Racer Go!

The weekend before last, my parents took the girls to Isle of Palms, SC for a long weekend getaway. Sort of a mini vacation and early celebration of my dad's birthday (which was Wednesday the 16th - Happy Birthday, Dad!!) They had wanted to take Davis too, but we decided to keep him at home with us and spend some quality "boy time" with him. Poor Davis! He really does get the short end of the stick sometimes as far as doing the things that he would like to do. The vast majority of our time revolves around who has to be at the tennis courts and when. Tilly is playing 4 days a week now, Elinor plays twice a week and Davis only plays the one day. And it's only going to get more hectic once ALTA starts back up and the girls have matches on Saturday mornings again.

One of the things we did was take him to one of the "family fun" centers that has an arcade, several putt putt courses, bumper boats and a go-kart track. He did everything but the bumper boats (but we're planning to go back soon and check that off our list too!), but his favorite thing was definitely the go-karts. He wasn't tall enough to drive his own kart, but the 2 person vehicles have steering wheels on both sides so he never even noticed he wasn't the one doing the driving.

Of course, I opted to take pictures of my racing men as they cruised around the track. They weren't going terribly fast, the engine sound of the karts reminded me very much of a riding lawn mower engine, but I could only get 1 halfway decent picture of my guys in motion. (A digital SLR camera is definitely on my list of things I'd like for Christmas. It'd be nice to be able to manually adjust my shutter speed and exposure, ya know?)


Look at Davis as he checks out the other drivers to see if they're catching up - too cute!!

Here's one last photo of my boys. It's pre-race and actually my favorite of the 3 I kept, but there is a major issue here. Check it out:


It'd be nice if I hadn't forever documented the guy behind them PICKING HIS NOSE!! Ewww... Let's just pretend he's counting his nostrils to make sure they're both there, ok?

Mail Call!

Look what came in the mail yesterday! My awesome friend, Kate, sent a package of goodies and this was in it. Look at those yummy colors - does she know well or what?! I greatly admire people who can knit and Kate's at the top of my list for obvious reasons. Did you know she created this pattern herself? Yep, it's true!

Do you wanna know what it is? Check out this picture and see if you can guess...

It's a coffee press cozy - see?! Isn't that the cutest thing? Now my coffee can stay all snuggly and warm until I can finish drinking it.

I'm gonna test drive it this morning. Uh...just as soon as I can find my coffee grinder in my recently cleaned and re-organized kitchen. Eek!!

If you're interested in making a cozy for yourself, Kate is going to be publishing the pattern sometime this week!

I'm a Busy Girl!

Here's a quick picture I took this morning of all the floral beads I did yesterday.  I actually made many more beads than this, but the colors were all over the place and it was NOT a pretty group shot.  I think the florals by themselves are much prettier.

I spent the better part of this morning with Tilly, straightening up the kitchen.  Really... it took hours!  *sigh*  Now it looks as though 5 semi-civilized people live here rather than the band of marauding Cossacks the state of my counter tops would have led the casual bystander to believe.  I love when everything is neat and tidy - I just don't love being the one responsible for doing the tidying!  

Now I've walked, been to the grocery store (and STILL forgot to exchange my empty propane tank - GRR!) and fed the children some lunch.  It's almost 2 p.m. and I'm finally ready to escape to the studio and make beads!

Peach Chai

You know I just can't stay focused for long. *sigh* I was busy working last night, filling orders when I noticed these colors laying next to each other on the work bench and thought "Yum!!". This is Czech dark smokey topaz, amber rose, sage green opaque and a wonderful batch of peachy pink coral that is about 6 years old. I don't usually work with warm colors (although I really like them and prefer them for my own jewelry), but I am definitely going to be making a series in these colors as soon as I'm caught up with orders! Hmmm...I wonder if I can encase coral with amber rose for a warm, peachy colored whiteheart? I know specials don't like to be encased as a general rule, but it might be worth trying...

Sorry, I'm back now! See what I mean about staying focused? My mind always wants to drift off in 6 different directions at once. I swear, it's like having adult ADD.

Oh yeah, I made 3 - count 'em - THREE - batches of blueberry sorbet yesterday. One for us, one for my parents and one for Dean to take to work and share. It is luscious stuff and I find myself tempted to sneak a spoonful every time I walk by the freezer. (But I don't! Do you hear me? I have restraint, darnit!) For some reason, our blueberry bushes kicked it into overdrive this year and I find myself filling a 2 gallon pitcher every couple days or so. Trust me, I'm not complaining! We've had several batches of sorbet and some delicious blueberry muffins with streusel topping, plus I've managed to freeze some in bags to use later. Imagine...blueberry pancakes this Fall or blueberry coffeecake in December - yummy!!

Right now, it's time to go feed the neighbor's dog. Then, I'm taking the kids out for our daily walk and then?? Torch time!!!

Trying Something New

After dragging my feet and putting it off for months and months, I came to the realization that I needed to get my act together and move my website journal over to an actual blog.  So... here I am!  I don't know why it has taken me so long to get with the program.  Seriously.  From what I can see so far, this is loads easier to use that all the copy/paste, drag, arrow up and down, work from 2 open browser windows, etc... business I had to do before.  Whew!  While it was good for what I needed at the time, it really was quite a pain in the neck and I...well...I guess I kinda avoided updating my site as often as I would've like to because of the time and headache involved.  So now?  No excuses!