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

A whole new world....

I have hardly slept or eaten in the past two days! I've been completely engulfed in PMC and in an entirely new medium for me: fabric. Funny how I don't need sleep or really even food when I'm doing something I love!

I got my all of my things set up, and it took me forever to make two pendants and a charm. (And please excuse the poor photo quality; it's really cold and cloudy here today and I don't feel like fooling around with lighting, etc.) It's been about a month since I was working with Lisa, so it took me a while to get back into the swing of things....but I think I am finding my rhythm. I love the pendant that I made, and now I need to fill it with resin, and I always have the hardest time deciding what to put in the resin. It's like I've spent all of this time coming this far, and I don't want to mess up what I've done. So I'm stuck, but really want to do the resin pour today...so I'll come up with something.

And I have a ring idea that I want to work on later today too!

I am absolutely obsessed with image transfers and wearable art, and in making altered clothing. This has been coming on for a while now, and the snake has finally bitten. I am hooked. I went to JoAnn's on Friday and bought lots of fun things, and I swear I don't know why I have never stumbled into all of this before. As much as I love altered clothing and wearable art, it has just neer occurred to me that I could alter my own clothes! Probably because I have, in the past, been really bad at following patterns and sewing "properly." My Mom always tried to teach me to follow the directions. But I don't get along with directions....I just like to DO IT! And I can with all of this. I'm going to get a cheap little sewing machine today from Walmart so I can accent the appliqued pieces I've done....that kind of sewing I can handle. Just freeform and go.....no patterns shmatterns!

I started adorning my studio apron first, just so I could learn as I go. Here's what it looks like so far. And I think there's a skirt in the works today. Ooohhhhh, I love this stuff!

And no, I have not forgotten about beads! I actually made some really fun ring beads on Friday for an order for a new account. I was having a great time until a piece of hot glass got stuck between my watch band and my arm. Yes, it was the worst burn I've ever gotten from beadmaking. So I turned the torch off after that. I was tired anyway.

So don't worry....I am still going to make beads as my "day job". (Or one of them, anyway). I'll just do all of this at night and on the weekends!

Off to walk Finnigin!

Cheers,
Carter

A little philosophy....

I'm reading Wayne Dyer's book Real Magic, and really enjoying everything that he has to offer. This morning I read a section that summed up the beauty of being an artist for me, and living my dreams, and I wanted to share it with anyone who comes here, because I hope it will encourage someone else to live their dreams. For those of you who are doubtful of metaphysics, just bear with me!

Wayne Dyer explains that we are all "here" (ie. alive as human beings, here on planet Earth) for a purpose; and when we live in sync with that purpose, we will live a life of Real Magic. He suggests that we are all 99% spirit, and 1% physical; the physical part of us is what houses the soul. So if you are unhappy with your daily tasks (your job), you are spending a great deal of time doing something that you dislike, but you keep doing it because you have bills to pay, etc. Using the number equation, what this means is that 1% of you is going through the motions to make 99% of you unhappy. Pretty amazing when you stop and think about how true it is. Furthermore, you are unable to experience peace and happiness when you are trudging through something that you can't stand! Maybe physical needs are being met in abundance, but is the soul, the 99%, feeling abundant?

So what's the solution? Get on purpose with your life. Find what you are here to do, your purpose. Then do it. When we act in accordance with our purpose, we are leading a life of abundance, and prosperity will be abundant. All of our needs will be met when we are doing what we came here to do. It's really pretty simple. I truly feel that I am on purpose in my life. I am happy with the actions that I engage in every day, and I feel that I am doing the things that I came here to do. That, to me, is Real Magic!

Off to do the things I do best...
Carter

So much to do, so little time

It was a great weekend, full of stimulation and things to do. That's one of the great things about the Bay area: there's always something fun going on, and it's such a challenge to decide what to do. My inspiration just runs wild here.

I am in the midst of painting my home studio. It's like I'm inside a canteloupe! It's a very yummy orange color that I'm very excited about. But I feel like I've been painting all weekend, and it's the painting project that will never end.

I've been really interested lately in Artist's Journals, Altered Books, and Collaging. Tony and Lisa of Zoa Art peaked my interest when I visited them in Tucson last month, and it's been on my mind ever since. I bought a book by Traci Bautista on Friday called Collage Unleashed, and I have been learning to "doodle" again. It's been ages since I've doodled (I'm not one of those artists why typically uses a sketchbook for ideas, but I'm beginning to see why it's so helpful). I have been having so much fun learning to draw out the ideas in my mind. Traci seems like an awesome chica, and I did miss an opportunity to meet her in person this weekend at Maker Faire. But there was just too much to do!!

Went to a very cool event on Saturday night called in Alameda. It was a fundraiser to get a group to Burning Man. I am only scratching the surface of the whole Burning Man concept, but I am very excited to go. The time is quickly approaching, and lots of ideas are floating around in my head about costume ideas, and I'm getting really excited. For those of you who don't know about Burning Man, I am not even going to try to do justice to it by explaining it here. Just click on the link above and see for yourself.

Off to take the Number One dog on a walk. He's gotten a little overweight and lazy, so we're trying to get that metabolism going! No, he's not related to jewelry or being an artist, but he sure is a big part of my life....so for all of you who want to see this cute little guy, here's a picture of Finn with his summer haircut. Is that cute or what?!

More later,

Carter