New glass toys

I ordered a few new molds from Delphi Glass several weeks ago and the melt pot kit was on backorder, so it held up delivery for a while.  The order finally came in last week just before I had to run out for a meeting.  So, I had to wait to unpack my toys until the next day.  One of the things that intrigued me greatly (so of course I just HAD to buy it), was a melt pot kit.

What is that, I hear you ask?  The kit consists of 4 x 3" posts, a support for the pot, and a set of 4 pots with different combinations of single or multiple round or rectangular holes in the bottom of each pot.  The photo shows the loaded setup in my kiln before I shut the door and started the firing cycle.  (Double click to enlarge it.)

The idea is that once the glass gets to the melting point, the molten glass will run out of the holes in the bottom of the melt pot and create a round blank centered below the pot.  The size of the finished blank is determined by the amount of glass that is loaded into the pot.  The instructions gave a sample of 2.6 pounds to create a 9 inch round blank after firing.

The pot I chose for my first experiment was the 3 rectangular holed pot.  (Shucks, I just realized that I didn't take a picture of the pot itself before firing.  Ah, well, I'll show you the pot after the firing is over.)  So, I loaded up the melt pot with three pounds of glass scraps, which according to my calculations should yield about a 10.5 inch round glass blank when it gets done firing.  There was also an 11" wavy bowl mold in the order, which I plan to use with the blank that I'm creating in this process, assuming that it turns out well.

One of the most fun parts of this is that there is very little control of what happens as the glass melts and runs out of the pot onto the kiln shelf below.  You can control how you load the scraps into the pot and how you orient each color above the holes, but that's about it.  So, for this process, it's a matter of experiment, record what you do, and then wait to see how that turns out.  Then, if you don't like the result, vary your loading and the amount of glass and try again.  I promise to let you know how this one turns out - good or bad...

Changing profile pictures

Many social media sites have the capacity to display a photo of you so that people can see who you are.  My photo for all of the social media sites that I'm on (Facebook, Ning, Betterfly, etc.) hasn't changed since I started the whole social media thing, even though many people I know change their photo on a regular basis.

Lately, I decided I wanted a change, so I uploaded an image that I've had on my computer for a long while.  It has a story behind it (doesn't everything?) and when someone asked about it, I decided to write a blog post about it.  So here's the story:

Around the Millennium (end of 2000, beginning of 2001) four powerful women met with an indigenous Hawai'ian elder, named Hale Makua, at the Volcano House near the Kilauea Volcano in Hawai'i.  I was one of the four women who participated in a very powerful meditation at the edge of the Kilauea crater (yep, literally right at the edge, with a thousand foot drop right before us - gave me a serious case of the heebie geebies, for sure!) with the elder as he chanted in his native language.  During the meditation, all five of us had the same vision, with some variations.  Each of us told their version of the vision with our interpretation of it.  The story of the vision below is the combined story of everyone's vision put together.

In the vision, the Sun cracked open like an egg and a lizard climbed out and descended to the Earth.  The lizard turned into a mountain covered in lush greenery.  The power of the feminine was reignited by this descent of the lizard to Earth and many souls who were waiting for this event began to descend and take form as powerful women who healed the Earth.  Places on Earth that had suffered from fire, drought, famine, or other disasters began to bloom and be productive again.

Each one of us felt it to be a very powerful calling and we worked together for a while trying to figure out ways to make the vision become reality.  While we were working together, I commissioned a graphic artist to create a painting of our vision.  The image below is the result of his efforts.  There is only so much that you can do to turn a whole vision into a single image that represents it, but I think that he did a very good job of it.  I actually made up T-shirts for all 5 of us with the image on it, and still have 2 of mine which I wear now and then.

So, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

I'm Baaack!

Yep, I know that it's been a while.  I've needed an attitude adjustment and I got it!  In spades!  Given the recent kick in the butt - gentle though it was - I'm recommitting to being here on a regular basis again.  Warts and all.

Back to Writing

This month, I plan to revise, renew, and revamp this website.  It needs a lot of work because it doesn't really reflect me.  (No wonder I don't want to be here!)  The look doesn't reflect me, the platform doesn't work as well as I'd like, and the content is more of a brochure than useful information for people looking for either my products and services or help with the issues coming up in their lives.

The first thing that I'm considering is changing my platform from SquareSpace (my current hosting company) to WordPress, which many folks tells me will make my life much easier.  I did love my blog more when I was on WordPress, so that part doesn't surprise me.  I didn't think that WordPress would have all of the features that I wanted down the road, but it turns out that the few things that it doesn't have standard in the platform come as easy add-ons these days.  Of course, the painful part will be the transition back, but if it's better for the long haul, it should be worth the momentary pain.

Back to Glass Artistry

In good news, I was back in my glass studio on Sunday!  Yes, I know that it's my garage, but it's where I create my fused glass, so I still get to call it my studio.  I did a little prep work to get things ready for a few large tiles (6" by 6") that I want to experiment with next time I'm in the studio.

I also had fun working with some small molds and my set of GlassLine pens.  I can use these pens to create spots or lines of color in the molds, so I can create veins in leaves or multicolored butterflies.  You can create similar effects with colored frit (ground glass), but it can be challenging when working small to confine the frit to a thin line in a mold.  Not impossible, just very challenging.  Why go for extra challenging, when you can do the same thing an easier way?  The small molds are now ready to go the next time I'm ready to fire up the kiln.

The last thing I did in the studio was to create a few more pendants.  For these, I was working with a set of four 2" teardrop-shaped pendant molds and a 3" diamond-shaped pendant mold.  I layered black frit in the bottom of the mold, added some dichroic glass shards over the black background then layered clear frit over the top.  I've done quite a few of these already and create a mosaic look in the finished pendant.  They are quick and easy to make, but the result is very stylish.

Back to Ease

Yes, I know it's the year of Kick-Ass this and Kick-Ass that.  I'm taking a little advice from Jen Louden, aka The Comfort Queen.  She wrote a great blog post here that speaks about how being yourself is good enough.  I wholeheartedly agree!  With all of the stuff happening to me right now, the last thing that I need is outrageously enormous goals.  Some days, just the ability to get out of bed and get one thing done seems like a major accomplishment - and it is, and that is enough.

So, I'm adjusting my attitude.  I am already good enough and I already do enough.  Every thing that I CAN tackle is a bonus.  I will take smaller steps more often, instead of trying to stride like a giant over and through every obstacle coming at me.  I will take care of myself first, so that I can in turn take care of others better.  I will remember these principles and use a little time and my discernment to look at what the next best step is and take it as soon as I am able.

Since there are several areas in my life that are a work in progress - cleaning up and clearing out my house, working on my glass artistry more often, working on my business (marketing plan, promotional materials, website, newsletter, etc.), and working on the legal issues - there are many choices at every moment I am active for where to take the next best action step.  Back to basics.  One small step at a time, at each moment I am able.  And that is good enough for me.

Sedona Fit

I am so grateful for my local gym!  I just got back from today's workout and it now feels good to be working out, gaining muscle, and losing weight.  My clothes are fitting better and I'm stronger than I've been in a while.  In addition, I'm starting to have fewer back problems and can go much longer between chiropractic adjustments.  I'm not so exhausted after my workouts any more and other things are less of a strain, as well.

For instance, on Friday, two guys were here to deliver and install my new washer and dryer.  My kiln had an accident a while back and has been sitting on the floor because it is way too heavy for me to move alone.  (I had contacted someone who was referred to me who could bring some guys over to help, but never heard back from him.)  Since the delivery guys were bragging about how strong they were, I asked them to put the back on its table.  One of the guys had no problem lifting his end, but the other guy looked like he was going to drop his side.  So, I rushed over, caught the bottom of the kiln and helped him to lift it onto the table where it belonged.  No stress, no strain, no back stress, no nothing.  And, I even got to tease the guy about needing a woman to help him...

To put this in perspective, the kiln is so heavy that when it originally arrived, the electrician called two of his buddys over to help him carry it from where it was delivered to the table where it was going, and they still almost dropped it while they were picking it up from carrying position to lift it up to table height.  Granted, this time I only had to come in for the last minute save to help lift it the last six inches or so.  Still, it felt pretty darn good to be able to do that with no stress or strain.  So, I give plenty of kudos to my stretch class teacher, Katherine, as well as to Wally, the owner of the gym and my trainer.

And the bonus is that I got the first load of glass into my kiln on Sunday and it is finished its fusing and annealing and is cooling down as I type.  I should be able to open the kiln to check out my new goodies in an hour or two.  So, I get to be playing with glass again after a long hiatus!  It feels good to want to be creating again, so I feel extra blessed by that extra strength that I now possess.

Visioning

Vision board background - click to enlargeI've been meaning to make a vision board for quite a while now.  I have quite a few images and words that I've collected to put on it.  Unfortunately, because I haven't been feeling too creative and I haven't made time to work on many projects since completing my ARTbundance certification, I really haven't done much to advance it.

Today I was finally feeling a creative urge and that was the first project that sprang to mind.  I've had this background in mind for a while now, but just hadn't gotten around to doing it.  In the spirit of this week's class from SARK's Dream Boogie teleclass series, I decided to "just do it," like the Nike commercial says.

I used a prepared canvas board that is 18" by 24" and sprayed it with various colors of Radiant Rain shimmering mists.  I don't know how well it shows up in the photograph, but it is very iridescent.  For those of you who have the mists and are curious, I used 8 colors: Copper, Jasper Red, Rosebud, Just Peachy, Sky Blue, Celadon, Key Lime, and Solar Gold.

Side note: The sad thing is that the company that makes these sprays and Twinkling H2O pots of iridescent watercolors went out of business a while back.  They were a great company to work with back when I was in the retail craft supply business.  They were very generous with volume discounts when a set of new colors came out and they did great demos at every CHA I attended.

Anyway, today I used SARK's micromovents to get the background done, so the next micromovement is to find all of the clippings that I had collected for my vision board collage.  Once I find them, I need to go through them to see whether I have everything I need and, if not, collect the rest of the images for the collage.  The last step is the easiest - lay them out on the board in a pleasing way and glue them down with matte medium.  Easy peasy!  We'll see how it turns out...