Design Journal

Got an official looking email today from UPS stating yes indeed the package was missing in action. I am now to fill out a form so that they can process the paperwork so I can get compensation. In the mean time I have no kiln to use. Can they compensate me for income lost?

I just got Robert Dancik’s new book and I LOVE IT! . I’m so glad Robert has come out with a book. The book shows us his artistic voice. But, the projects allow us to bring our own personal meaning to the jewelry, making it our own. The techniques in his book are great as

This weekend I spent at The Beading Place in Tustin, CA. Orange County. We had a great group of people there. We learn about BronzClay and CopprClay. However, I shipped a kiln via UPS to the store and they lost it! UGH!   Luckily The Beading Place had one kiln for us to use. So we

I called UPS today and got a standard line of “We need to file a report” blah blah blah. But I need MY KILN! “ It will take a week to be sure that it really is lost because it just might show up. We’ll issue a  tracer” hmm it’s not like it wandered off 

When I’m traveling to different locations to teach I usually don’t have to bring my own kiln. But lately since I’ve been teaching a lot of BronzClay CopprClay workshops we often times need 2 kilns due to the shear volume of things that can be created with 100 grams! I decided to ship my kiln

One of my interests is book binding, box making and letterpress printing. Not that I have ever made any hand-bound books, but I love looking at them. I appreciate the hand made quality that these items have. The Center for the Book in San Francisco’s Design Center District offers such classes. Tonight I took a

I gave a presentation to our local guild. The topic was “Revisiting the Lentil with Copper Clay” I showed 5 ways to deconstruct the basic lentil shape and rework it to get some interesting designs. Kevin Whitmore at Rio was kind enough to supply everyone with samples of the CopprClay. Everyone was thrilled to get

Sun City – Kilaga Springs Lodge http://www.55places.com/california/communities/sun_city_lincoln_hills http://www.lincolnsuncity.org/index.html My camera battery died so no photos! However, the Kilaga Springs Lodge at Sun City in Lincoln is a great venue! It’s suppose to be a “retirement community”  meaning 55 and over.  ( I now hear the clock ticking louder, tick tock, tick, tock) I didn’t really

Katerina’s Treasures www.katerinastreasures.com Traveling to teaching is always fun and exciting, but having a workshop close to home is nice as well. Especially nice not to have to get on a plane! Fair Oaks is right outside of Sacramento. The workshop was held at Katerina’s Treasures (Katerina is in the pink!) Kevin and Rosie are

Today was my friend Pauette’s birthday. She is a Gemini too! For our special birthday treat we went on a behind the scenes tour of the new Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. We were suppose to be a part of a larger tour, but when we got there we were the only ones

Tustin gets certified! Held another 3 day certification workshop at The Beading Place in Tustin, CA. We all had a great time. I met some amazing artist! If you are near Tustin, Orange County area check out The Beading Place. There are lots of great beads and PMC supplies, plus great classes. Visit www.thebeadingplace.com  

Lovely San Diego! Held a 2 day workshop for the San Diego County PMC Guild. We learned about PPP’s and I showed everyone how to make their owe version of my Botanical Bracelet that won the 2007 Saul Bell Award. We explored PPP’s, clasp making, making tendrils and vines and even had an impromptu ring

I love these photos that I took from my hotel room. It’s a view from the very unglamorous Holiday Inn in Everett Washington 7th floor. I love it because it reminds me that sometimes in life we need to remember to focus on the right thing. A lot of times in life we get distracted

Back home for a couple weeks and Spring is here! A surprise in my garden. After 5 years of waiting for my peony bush to bloom it FINALLY produced 2 flowers! I got these from a vendor on Ebay who was from Lithawania!

My first certification class at Rio!  The students come from Texas, Arizona, and Missouri! Plus a bonus of the having some Rio associates in the class too! The students seems to learn a lot and it showed. We had an added treat of having Terry Kovalcik in the class. His experience added greatly and I

Spent the all day Thursday at Rio Grande with Virginia. I got a chance to tour the facility and see how things are done. I also had a chance to meet some people that I have only heard about. I got a chance to meet the people on the creative team who do the ads

Spent the morning flying from the Bay Area to New Mexico. It’s been over 12 years since I’ve been there so I thought I would take the opportunity to explore. Ended up in Old Town and wandered thru shops and galleries. Saw a TON of turquoise jewelry. Stopped by the Museum but didn’t go in.

Spent part of the doing experiments using Linda Kaye-Moses doming tool . I usually don’t use tools like this in my designs but I thought I would give it a try. I’m glad I did!!! At first I tried the usual cone shapes, then progressed to a bi-cone bead shape. The tool was really easy

I’m so very excited to announce that I’m now a  PMC Senior Instructor for Rio Grande’s Rio Rewards. I’ve been working with the team at Rio for a couple of months on this and it’s finally been made official. In one of my posts from Tucson I mentioned that I was helping Chris Darway with

Back teaching an BronzClay workshop at Art at the Ranch. It was a very talented group and everyone, including me learn a lot. We had a great time. I hope to see more great work from everyone there! Ronna also dropped by for a brief polymer clay demo. Thanks Ronna!