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.

Beadmaking on Hold... Once Again.

I was all gun-ho with those colors and now everything is on hold for at least a week. My mother and father-in-law are moving back to their house with nursing help from the ALS clinic. We got my mother-in-law confident in caring for him and she's dieing to sleep in her own bed again. I don't blame her! My studio was set up over in her spare bedroom but now that they are moving back, they want to set up the spare bedroom for out of town family and I can have my den back for my bead studio. I'm very happy. We all are. The drag of moving stuff ensues...

I'm heading to the bookstore today to buy a few vampire hunter novels and maybe a ceramic beadmaking book. That's if I can find it. It's Jennifer Heynen's book, Ceramic Bead Jewelry. I won't be starting to make them until after the baby is born and I'm back to work but I need to study! :D I can never find beadmaking books when I want them. Here's to hoping.

Studio Cleaning & Organizing Spree!

I was out making beads when I kept getting all my blacks mixed up. I ended up having spiderwebs in my bead designs, which are a good thing when that is the design intended, or my spots that I wanted black were purple. I also have colors that my friend Linda would give me or colors that I bought at a local glass place that are all mislabeled or not labeled at all. That lead me into the biggest organizing spree ever. I decided I am going label each and every rod if it kills me. I mean, we are going to be moving in a few months so they would all end in a big jumbled mess anyways. This way, the virgo inside me will be happy. Nice, clean, organized work area with LABELED glass. What a shocker.

I got my shipment in the mail yesterday with blacks and a batch of Precision Diamond Clear, my new favorite clear. As long as it doesn't crack my beads like the last rod did. I'm still at a loss on where I got that rod from to determine if the rest I have here is from the bad batch as well. That was a total bummer that I made all those pretty encased beads, made them into earrings and crack, crack, crack. Wasted beads and wasted silver. Not a good mix at all. Oh well... onto more beadmaking. It's not like I ever tire of it.

Just a final note... I made over my etsy shop to match my blog and added google analytics. YAY me! I love when I get things accomplished!