Design Journal

Getting ready for Halloween. My friend Paul was having a party and of course it was a fancy dress party. So I HAD to go as Medusa. Here is how I made my head piece from 5 larger rubber snakes and 150 little baby snakes!

I had a day to explore Iowa before I flew back home. With a few of Karens recommendations I found some great finds which I’ll share in my tips and tricks section. Check back for that. I also had time to visit the Amana Colonies. Similar to the Amish but more liberal? Hmmm check out

Dawn’s Bead and Hide Away is such a great place to teach and shop! Karen Kubby the proprietress was such a great host and a great business woman. This is hands down one the nicest bead shops I’ve taught at. Tons of space for shopping and teaching. The merchandising was also wonderful. Check out the

Did a 3 day Rio Certification class in Iowa City at Dawn’s Bead and Hide Away. The rain the first day was awful but the rest of the days were great. After the rain cleared the fall colors were spectacular. The student in this class were wonderful, creative and talented. What a pleasure. Now 9

Spent the day working on writing a metal clay project sheet for Aftosa. It was great to be back in the studio. In the future, I’ll be posting the projects here and on the Aftosa website. Check http://www.aftosa.com/meclprsh.html

For the past few weeks I’ve been working with Aftosa. Aftosa has been in the business of ceramic supplies and  has decided to sell PMC supplies and lamp working supplies as well.  We held out first classes this weekend. The nice thing about teaching at Aftosa is that all the materials are at our finger

I usually don’t get a chance to site see very much when I’m traveling. But this time a had a few minutes to window shop. These shots are of shop windows that are from the town of Snohomish, the antiques capital of the Pacific North West. Halloween is coming! Fabulous paper mache devil masks. Saw

Taught another certification class at The Ranch in Snohomish, WA about 40 minutes outside of Seattle. Also taught a PPP, CopperClay, BronzClay workshop. We had so much fun, it was great to make new friends and cath up with old ones. We made a lot of stuff! Visit www.artatheranch.com

From Wikipeida: In Hinduism and Buddhism, the third eye is a symbol of enlightenment (see mokshaand nirvana). In the Indian tradition, it is referred to as the gyananakashu, the eye of knowledge, which is the seat of the ‘teacher inside’ or antar-guru. The third eye is the ajna chakra (sixth chakra) also known as brow chakra or brow centre. This is commonly denoted

Carmel, henna caked, earrings

Finally made the Thors Hammer pendant from Trueblood. It looked great and seemed fine at first. But after I picked it up it seemed to feel not solid. So I gave it a bend to see how strong it really was. Oops! It snapped with very little force. It wasn’t sintered all the way. The

I helped organize a workshop that brought Barbara Becker Simon to our local guild and after weeks of planning it’s finally the big day. Finally I got chance to actually TAKE a workshop instead of give one. What a treat.  If you are not familiar with her work visit her website at www.bbsimon.com . In the workshop

After 5 years of teaching at the Nova Studio this weekend  was my last class. The Nova Studio has been a wonderful place to teach and a place that is full of creativity. If you are looking for a place to learn about soap making and other bath and beauty products check them out. Here

Spent a couple of days with Steven’s sister Angie and her husband John. Decided to go the Monterey and Carmel by the Sea. It’s been years since I’ve visited there. When I worked as an event co-ordinator  at Macy’s I used visit there at least twice a year so it was nice to be back.

TrueBlood on HBO.  at www.hbo.com/trueblood/season2.  Ok so I love the series. LOVE IT! But only a crazy jewelry people will cut thru all the vampires, blood sucking and sex to use Tivo to pause and rewind to see a piece of jewelry that vampire was wearing. Hmmm still 2 obsessions in one! I had to pause

Well fired a bunch of CopprClay in my kiln and it seems to work fine! Thank goodness I packed the kiln in two boxes plus used copious bubble wrap. Now I can get back to worrying about the Masters Registry, Art Jewelry Article and teaching.

7:45 PM. A knock on the door. I was just about to give up. I looked out the window and saw the package. My kiln was back home. The box looked like it fell off the truck and landed somewhere hard. Inside the box the kiln looked fine, a little tiny dent, but seems to

I assumed right away meant over night. No kiln in sight.

Surprise surprise surprise! UPS called me today and asked about my kiln. I assumed that it was in response to the claim I made. I gave the person on the other end of the line the description and she said thanks. I asked her how long it would take and she said that she didn’t

Filled out the forms today, listing everything about the lost item. I knew I should have saved the paper work. ….serial number! who would even think you’d need to save that…..ORIGINAL RECEIPT!! you gotta be kidding!! I’ll do my best, but “replacement value” seems like the best option. By the way if ever have to