My Studio..now indoors!

With.... PINK walls! hehe!

The Glass Wall

The Glass Stash

The Lil Dragon

The Oven

The Barren Jewelry Table

Still working on organizing a little bit more but the majority is done. Hope you enjoyed your peek into my workspace.

Revamping the Blog

In case you see something out of place or misaligned, I just thought I'd share that I'm in the process of revamping the blog. I wanted something more springy and vibrant...like sunshine. :) I also wanted to get rid of a lot of nonsense things I have on here that probably isn't necessary and make it look more stream-lined. Ease of blog-a-bility.

I'm still working on pickling and organizing my glass as well as unpacking the studio. It's taking me a little bit longer than it should because of the pregnancy and not being able to move easily or stand for long periods. Chiropractor says my sacr0-iliacs are misaligned which is causing a lot of pelvic and groin pain. It's ok, though, just 13 more weeks to go!

Pickling and Labeling Glass

I'm taking on a big venture and I'm not even halfway done. My studio is just about set up. The walls are painted (thanks to my mom). Everything is in it's place (thanks to my hubby and boys). I'm working on pickling (cleaning) and labeling EVERY glass rod I have. Yes, it's going to be a huge project but after trialing the pickling of the clear rods and seeing them sparkle, I just have to do them all. Not to mention, I get very frustrated that I have rods here and there that aren't labeled. It seems they never get used because I'm "afraid" of them. Also, it will make it easier to order glass when I know which ones I'm actually low on. I read about pickling glass on the Frantz newsletter and read more about it on LE (a lampworking forum) and I'm so glad I found out about it. Scummy clear is always a problem. Well, hopefully, not any more. I'll take pictures of some clear encased beads after I'm all done with this venture to show you the details of pickling. To read more about pickling, hop on over to the Frantz newsletter blog and it should be in the December 2010 archives if its not on the first page.
As for labeling my rods, I'm making excel spreadsheets with the color, maker or brand of the glass and the ID number and taping it on each glass rod. I may make a little tip section on how to do this in case other lampworkers are interested. I'm on a mac so this is the easiest way I have found to do this. There is another way using a program that another LE member came up with but it's only compatible with Windows. Also, if you want my spreadsheets that I've done so far, you an email me and I'll send them on over for you. My email is karen dot e dot colaneri at gmail dot com.