And the winner is....

Carol!
E-mail me your address and I'll ship the bead out. I guess I'll have to wait for you to send me your address before I can ship, huh?! Didn't think about that when I said I would ship the bead out on Friday.

Thanks for reading, and I'll do this again soon. I have lots and lots of cool beads that haven't found their place into jewelry. This is a fun thing to do with them, so I'll give some more out very soon.

I'm off to Smith and Hawken for a little Friday afternoon relaxation. I love looking at all of their plants and plant-related things. I've been looking for a new addition for my terrarium, so hopefully I'll find something exciting.

Have a good weekend,
Carter

Bead Give-Away!

It's been a busy, busy few days. But life is great, and I am having so much fun!
Tony and Lisa are here and getting settled. They've started moving the casting equipment into our warehouse space, and we are really getting excited about getting the Urban Relics Components started. Of course there's lots of electrical wiring and other things that we have to do before we can really get started. But as soon as they get settled and unpacked, Lisa and I will start working on the designs of the first pieces to be cast.

I've been working on some new styles of beads and pendants that are really fun, and I've been enjoying the new colors that I picked up at the Bead & Button show. Here are some of my new rods, and one of my new beads:
I want to try something new on my blog that a lot of other artist's do. It'll be fun for you and me. I don't have a clue how the response will be, but I'm curious to know how many people read my ramblings.

So I'm going to give away a bead this week. Here's what you have to do: if you want to be entered into the drawing for this cool bead, simply post a response to this blog entry. I'll put all of the names in a hat and draw the name of the winner on Friday. I'll ship the bead out on Friday afternoon via UPS Ground. Sound like a good idea? It's a great chance to get one of my loose beads. Usually I don't let any of them go without putting them into jewelry first. But there's a first time for everything, right?! So here's the bead. Put your name in the hat!

Back from Bead & Button

I'm back from Milwaukee and getting back to the torch. We had a lot of fun, giggled a lot, and sold a lot of beads. The Bead and Button show is one of my favorite bead shows. I have lots of fun new colors of glass from Frantz that I'm eager to try. And of course lots of ideas running through my head of things that I want to do with PMC.

Exciting news on the home front and the creativity front: Tony and Lisa (pictured below) of Zoa Art are moving here this wekeend! I am soooooo excited! We are starting a new company called Urban Relics Components, which will be a line of components for jewelry artists and other creative people. We'll have clasps, charms, and other fun little pieces that will be cast in various metals. We are all so excited about the energy that we have going, that we're truly going to have a hard time sleeping. They get here on Sunday, and as soon as they get unpacked and settled, we'll start doing some design work and then get started on the casting. We'll get a blog going on the Urban Relics Components website soon to keep everybody updated with what's going on.

While I was walking through the lobby at the B&B show one day, I whizzed through the ISGB (International Society of Glasss Beadmakers) booth, and was blown away when I saw this gorgeous display with a larger-than-life photo of one of my beads. It was one of the beads in the Trajectories collection. I honored and excited. Here's a picture of the bead and the display:

Happy June!

How did it get to be June already! I was always told as a little girl that the older you get, the faster time flies, but for some reason I never believed it. (Probably because I thought I knew everything then!) But boy, do I believe it now. (And I've also realized that there are lots of things that I don't know....LOTS!)

I've been busy filling orders this week, and working on my skirt and PMC at night. It's been a very creatively-productive and fulfilling week, and I'm really looking forward to a weekend where I can just create wildly for two days straight!

I made something really cool at the torch yesterday that I wanted to share with you. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it yet, but I'm going to make some more today because I really like it. This thing is about the size of a golfball, hollow, and has holes poked all around it. I thought it was going to crack several times while I was making it, and was so pleased when I opened the kiln door this morning to see this wild thing. Stay tuned to see what I make with this!

And on the "other creative endeavors" side, I am obsessed with altering my clothes now. Here's the skirt that I've been working on very diligently for a few days. Hoping to finish it this weekend.

Tata-
Carter