Back To Beads

Halloween is over along with sports for the season, and now I can focus my energy at the torch.(That is until after Thanksgiving.) So the kids costumes turned out great. My daughter made her own costume this year, and everyone loved it.


Last weekend I went to Graceful Customs Studio and had a great time. It was one of the best weekend getaways I have had in a long time. It was fun to meet other lampwork artists. Grace and her husband Frank are the nicest people, they make you feel part of their family. Jelveh of Jelveh Designs was also there. She was my first lampwork teacher years ago in Santa Cruz. It was so nice to see her again, she is very encouraging.(And she makes awesome beads.) But the star of the weekend was Corina.(Or maybe her dog Bonzai.) Corina is a celebrity to me and others in the lampwork world. She is so amazing. I am excited to get to the torch , and I am already on the list for Corina's next class at Grace's studio. Here are some pictures of the wonderful people in the class, (Corina is the one holding Bonzai) and some of the basic beads I made in class.

The Calm After The Storm

Things have gone incredibly well. I really had my doubts about everything, only because I had so much planned. The croissants were quite an ordeal. I started on Friday and by Sunday morning we were eating yummy croissants. They weren't as good as Bouchon's but they were so much better than Starbucks. Mission accomplished.

Next on my to do list was my sons Halloween costume. I knew this was going to be a difficult costume, but I had no idea it was going to be this difficult. All it was going to be was a rectangle with 2 holes for arms and a hole for a neck, then came the hard part of the details. I was wrong the entire thing was hard. First I had to find stiff vinyl, found it put it was twenty something a yard. I ended up with a thin costume vinyl and use a stiff black backing on it. The Vinyl its self was a nightmare to work with, when using vinyl any needle hole can be seen permanently. So I had one chance to sew it right, and of coarse I didn't. Then I had poor planing on the arm and neck holes and ended up cutting them after I sewed the costume together. The apps I printed and laminated were the wrong size so that had to be done over again. The industrial strength glue had a mind of its own. The final touch was the lettering, and any mistakes on it and the costume was ruined. So last night, the night before his costume parade at school, I was in panic mode. Everything did turn out good in the end, and he had a pretty cool costume. Most importantly he was beyond happy with it. Oh, and my daughter decided to go trick or treating with her friend last minute and made her own costume which was a big hit. I am always so proud of her.


So, this weekend I will do some beads and tell you about them and the incredible class I took from Corina.

I Am Asking For Trouble

I am just starting to feel better after all of my ailments, and what do I do but put too much on my plate. This weekend I plan on making beads, make my son a Halloween costume, and make homemade croissants.(Get the straight jacket ready.)
My bead class is this next weekend so I need to get in more practice, which is actually ridiculous since I have been making beads for years now. I am really looking forward to this class and getting my creative juices flowing.
The Halloween costume is either going to be a piece of cake or a catastrophe. I have been making my kids Halloween costumes since they were born. When they were too little to really have an opinion I made them characters that went together, Cinderella and Gus the mouse, Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, etc. Sandy and Danny(Grease).When they got older they picked whatever it was they wanted to be and I would make it. Well this year being sick I didn't get to start the costumes in September like I usually do, so I was thinking we would just buy my son a costume, and my daughter is too old to dress up this year. That was the idea until my son came to me wanting me to make him a costume. I couldn't say no so I asked him what he wanted to be and he told me an iPhone. Great, that should be easy let me just whip that up right now. I do have a few ideas in my head on how I can do this, but I need to hurry with Halloween just 2 weeks away. Here are a few of the Halloween costumes I made the last couple of years.

Marie Antoinette

Lucario http://pokemon.wikia.com/wiki/Lucario

Mario

So I am starting the croissants tonight, and if all goes well they will be ready by Sunday or Monday. (I'm not Kidding) The first step takes a few minutes to get the dough together and get the butter ready then the dough rests for 30min. Then it has to be refrigerated overnight. The next day you roll it out and refrigerate again for 3 hours. Then roll again fold and refrigerate for another 3 hours. You do this one more time and then you make them into the croissant shape and let rise at room temperature for another 3 to 4 hours. So not including the time it takes to actually do the work the resting and rising time alone takes 12 hours, and that's also not including the first time of overnight. These things better be good.

And now for the necklace I mentioned yesterday. It just is missing something. I keep looking at it trying to figure out what it needs, because the way it is right now I would never wear it.