Studio Reorganization Update

The latest addition to the studio reorganization is a trail of bittersweet over the window. Originally, I planned to use some long-stashed hand-painted fabrics for a valence, but friends convinced me that branches were absolutely required to go with my bird theme. My original plan had been to get a nice branch for a corner, but this brings it out front and center. 

Isn't that sun glowing first thing in the morning just amazing? I love that fall light. 

The fall season is only slowly creeping into Texas, with cooler temperatures and golden light urging me to plant mums in my front porch pots and pose pumpkins beneath. When I stopped at the florist today to look for branches, thinking they might have something that would work over the window, I briefly perused the curly willow, but then I swallowed hard and committed to the expensive bittersweet. I remembered looking at it last fall and thinking it too pricey, but this year I know life's short and I should enjoy it while I may. So my window has a festoon of luscious seedpods to accompany the curling branches. Precariously perched on a few nails hammered above the window, it needs a bit of wire to make it more secure. I love it!

The color perfectly coordinates with much of the artwork gracing the walls, like this stuffed crow from Kelli Nina Perkins and a page from my bird journal. At this time of the year, the orange and black give it a holiday feel, even though none of the decorations are specifically Halloween oriented. The rest of the year, the other colors seem to balance better.

As always, orange is the zing that makes every other color pop, like the pea green of this antique bird cage I picked up on e-bay.

I love the new additions I've been collecting, like this hand-painted jewelry box to hold my special pieces that I'm keeping for myself.  Rescue a thrift store recycled box of your own from Secret Garden on Etsy.

And I'm pleased to dig some favorite quilts out of oblivion and actually hang them on the wall to wink at every time I walk by. This is Soul Searching, which was juried into Craft National, Materials: Hard & Soft, and Craft Forms. I consider it the best wall quilt I ever made.

Read about the earlier stages of the studio reorganization here , here, here, here , and here . Peek into the glass studio here. The quilting studio is still chaos.

The timing on my studio redo is good in that Cloth Paper Scissors is having a Virtual Studios Tour. I added my link to the collection. Need some ideas for your own studio? Grab a cup of tea and settle in for a bit of inspiration.

Silver Glass How-To, Part 1

Silver glass is the latest rage in expensive supplies for lampworkers. At $50-100 per pound, it's something you want to use wisely. Unfortunately, unless you know the tricks, it can look like scrap glass.

I have invested in a variety of such silver glass, mostly from Double Helix Glassworks and Precision 104, made by Northstar, although there are other choices as well. After having some success and more failure with working the silver glasses in my stash, I finally decided to become a bit more systematic in my study. Five months off the torch will do that to you. Did I really believe that I would remember what I used for certain beads??? Or exactly how I handled the glass to get that cool effect instead of mud? Alas, I stand corrected.

Here's my first pass at preparing samples. I made three small spacer beads of each glass, one left plain, one reduced, one reduced then encased.




Top to bottom: Psyche, Michelangelo/Sasha's Silver, Ekho, Kronos2, Aion and Nyx

Of course, now I've been reading up a lot more on silver glass, so I know that I need to do even more experiments. I also need to make samples for other colors in my stash. Stay tuned.

Glass Mojo

I claimed a few hours on the torch from a busy weekend, to try to recover a bit more glass mojo. My stringer control is getting better. I just played around with wrapping the ends of beads, laying down branches (one direction is much easier than the other) and shaping leaves and birds.

Who could believe that I'm out of opal yellow glass??? I have drawers full of glass, but only one solitary rod of the beloved opal yellow when I went searching yesterday. Four beads it is, with opal yellow cased on a clear core. All the time I had anyway. I guess I need to return to organizing the glass stash. I did a whole drawer of pinks and one of silver glass last weekend, but none this time.

Sunday was spent experimenting with ceramic clay. I haven't played with that in many, many years, so it was interesting to try again. It did give me some ideas for new things to try with metal clay. It's useful to have an inexpensive alternate for testing purposes. I brought home a slab of clay to make a bunch of stamps and molds. It's good to have a friend who teaches high school art, with a specialty in ceramics. I forgot to get a photo of the small wish-keeper I constructed. Think of a small box with lid, with holes for stringing together. At the end I constructed a small hollow bird. I didn't have time to carve that one as I wished, but I'll make another at home now that I have the process down.

Enameled Copper Discs

Another bit of progress over the weekend: enameled copper discs. These are three of the hand-drawn discs I showed several weeks ago, which were etched and then sat around oxidizing. It really didn't take too long to pickle them to remove the oxide, dust a coating of enamel over them, and then quickly torch fire. The long part was the removal of the top layer of rock-hard glass with a diamond hand pad. It's a laborious project, done under running water, to remove just enough glass to reveal the raised copper design, but without removing desired glass around the edges.

In the upper left corner, you can see a leaf that appears pink, indicating that the copper is still protected beneath a very thin layer of glass. More sanding required.

I have a couple more to do before I decide which one to set into the silver mounting I made, from this drawing.

Meadowlark Earrings

It feels great to have a bit of time this weekend to catch up. I've made a few glass beads (eek! still can't do what I want to do!), torched some enamel on copper, and even put together some jewelry.

These darling Meadowlark Earrings are now available in my Etsy shop. Hand-formed birds and branches suspended across open windows, with the sun shining in the background. They might be my new favorites! I tried a new ear wire style, with a catch on the back. Pretty easy to do, and much more secure. I'm tired of losing one of a pair!

Anastasia Workshop, Day 2

I collected my beads today from the second day of the workshop. We started off the day making a floral with enamel stringer watercolor background and flower center murini. I chose different colors from the class sample, as I hate it when all the beads come out looking the same.

Then we moved on to a creativity exercise, adding glass to a base bead until we "saw" something in the glass to work with. I added amber glass to the side of my bead until it started to look like a huge hitchhiking thumb. So I added a fist and then decided it would be more interesting with a forefinger up. The fingernails are pressed in with a tool. When Anja came by, she suggested a few drops of blood, so those are on the extended finger. Finally, I added a cuff and silver glass button.

The wave bead was an exercise in moving glass, sculpting small points without loosing the large mass of the bead. It also has a latticcino cane. The last bead, the coral bead, was the opposite exercise -- working tiny with controlled heat to build up small coral fingers and then add tiny dots and barnacles all over.

Workshop with Anastasia

For my birthday, I spent two days making beads with Anja Basan of Anastasia Beads. This was an incredible piece of luck, as she was only teaching in the US at Arrow Springs and here at Blue Moon Glassworks. I originally signed up more than a year ago for the workshop to be held in April. After my accident, I had to cancel my seat. Then the volcano forced the class to be rescheduled, and I was sad that I had given up my place. Recently, when I took my oxygen concentrator in for repair, I found out that there was one opening available, for the class now to be held on my birthday. Providence!

My father sent me money for my birthday, which I used to purchase one of Ana's bird beads, this incredible swan feeding a chick. Thanks, Dad!

During the first day of class, we did numerous small practice beads to learn the trick of working with hair fine stringers and enamels. Considering that I've been off the torch for five months, except for a few practice beads in the last couple of weeks, those fine stringers were a challenge. I'm happy to say that muscle memory is a wonderful thing. I wasn't great, but I wasn't as bad as I feared. These are the practice beads, with different line, dot and enamel techniques.

The big project of the day was learning to make Anja's trademark tree beads. Here are the two I made, along with a spiral/helix bead.

I need to go pick up my beads from day 2, so that I can show them.

New Birds in the Studio

A little birthday shopping added a couple of new birds to the studio:

A "crazy bird" of painted sheet metal, artist unknown, collected at Positive Images. Why do artists fail to sign their work??? And why do art/craft galleries in this day and age fail to have web pages???

A clay "create" bird for my collection wall by Amy Meya, found at Haven Gallery.

A Recovery Asymptote

In math, an asymptote is a value that is approached infinitely closely, but never quite reached. Think of a curve that approaches a straight line, but eventually runs almost parallel to it, getting closer but never touching even out at infinity.  That's what recovery from my accident feels like.

I'm still making progress, but the increments are getting smaller as I get closer to normal.

On cursory inspection, strangers probably don't notice my limp, although I still feel that my stride is a bit constricted. I'm starting to feel a bit sheepish about using my handicap parking placard. I do still need it, because I get tired quickly and the limp increases. I'm ever so grateful to come out of a store and find my car right there. The permit expires at the end of October, which will probably be just about right.

I was discharged from physical and occupational therapy at the end of August. It was a strange feeling to say goodbye to people I had worked with thrice-weekly for almost five months and have them tell me they hoped to never see me again, at least at their workplace. Although technically I was functional, being able to walk a short distance without assistance, I still felt far from normal. The burden of returning to my former state, however, shifted from the insurance company's pocketbook to mine.

I followed instructions to explore gym memberships and finally decided that I would hire a personal trainer for a period of time to help me approach those intimidating machines. After three weeks of work, I'm certain that was the best choice. My teenage son may find the image of Mom lying on a bench pressing 12-pound dumbbells funny, but he didn't have the broken arm. Now I have a clue how to use all those machines, and how much weight I can use. My trainer has a master's degree in sports medicine, so I'm confident that he knows what I should and shouldn't do, and how to get me better in the most efficient manner possible. Having a knowledgeable person there to coach and plan the program is a good investment. I wish I could keep him indefinitely, but he is expensive, as he spends that full hour right at my side, making sure my form is proper and safe and even counting repetitions.

I can tell I'm making progress as I'm able to do more without so much pain. Balancing on the bad leg is a pretty good indicator, since that was the most wicked thing to do after going to full weight bearing. I can now do warrior III (without the arms) all the way horizontal, holding for five breaths. That's huge! Only three months ago, I struggled to just lift the good leg off the ground for a quick step.

Now I'm mentally working at regaining a normal routine, homeschooling, grocery shopping, cooking, and (very occasionally) cleaning. Everything takes longer than normal. I get tired by evening, especially after workouts or long walks of any type. Since that's my productive art time, I feel I'm not getting anything much done. But slowly, ever so slowly, I am inching back. I'm just trying to view this as time to reevaluate what I'm doing, to think about new ideas, to let the creativity percolate before it comes whooshing back.

It's hard to make people understand the magnitude of this injury. 99% of broken legs are different, with casts and crutches for 6 to 8 weeks and then back to life. Tibial plateau fractures are life changing. Sometimes people get totally back to normal, like the Olympic slalom skier who earned a silver medal eighteen months after one (was it normal, or should that have been the gold?). Sometimes people begin a long sequence of surgeries to repair problem after problem. It looks like I'm one of the luckier ones, even if I never quite reach that asymptote.

Calendar Publication

Jury results are in for Holly Gage's 2011 jewelry calendar, The Art and Design of Metal Clay Jewelry. I'm so thrilled that one of my brooches, Nightbird, will be featured (for the month of August, if the order is as shown).

Check out all the amazing metal clay jewelry of 41 artists from around the world, selected by Holly Gage, Lisa Cain, Robert Dancik, and Julia Rai, and pre-order yourself a copy, here. To be released at the end of October, they would make a lovely gift for the art or jewelry lover.

Here's a larger photo of my piece, a stilt brooch of silver clay with carved faux bone:

Master Muse Project -- Concrete & Pearl Earrings

My latest Master Muse project is up this morning on Tonya Davidson's blog. The challenge this round was to use concrete, specifically Whole Lotta Whimsy's version, WhimsyCrete. Because concrete is such a surprise material for jewelry, I juxtaposed it with refined mabe pearls in a pair of earrings. Yes, they are light weight!

See a synopsis of the tutorial for creating the earrings here. The full tutorial, when it is available, will have detailed instructions and show how to:

• make an open bezel with slab construction
• texture metal clay 
• add on components to a bezel
• use WhimsyCrete™
• change the shape of a pearl
• patina and finish a fired piece of metal clay
• make custom ear wires

Here's a simpler variation with white pearls and colored concrete:

Copper Enamel Settings

It was a busy weekend, so I didn't make much progress on the copper enameling. I did think on my silver settings at least. I'm debating brooch vs. pendant, bail styles, and how ornate to let these little rascals get.

This one is sitting on my worktable, without its top, while I debate the bail construction.

New Copper Enamel Attempts

I've been sketching new ideas for setting enameled copper. That induced me to get out the copper discs and start drawing and etching.

Here's what they look like, with hand-drawn bird scenes, ready to etch.

And others after the etch bath, ready to dome and enamel.

Today's selection from Bruce Mau's Incomplete Manifesto of Growth:

21. Repeat yourself.

If you like it, do it again. If you don’t like it, do it again.

New Studio Plants

Five months ago, or BA (before the accident), I purchased two flats of tiny succulents. It was a case of being dazzled by a greenhouse full of gorgeous plants for sale. The flats were works of art in themselves, each consisting of 8 rows with 8 plants of various types, from bronze rozettes to pink edged ears to green spikes. Some went into the new garden beds, tucked among the rocks. Some went into pots for gifts. Many were left to languish outside with morning sun, untended through the hot summer, rootbound in their 2" pots.

With the return of mobility, my biggest job has been cleanup work. The downstairs infirmary, the neglected and ravaged studios, the garden all need attention. I can't turn around without seeing something begging for help. Those beautiful little plants tugged at my heart until I came to their rescue.

I decided to pot them up to bring into the eastern window of my studio. They were dry as a bone, but making last gasp efforts to reproduce. Considering the heat we've had this summer, they lived up to their water cagy reputation to make it through. With a little potting soil and a drip of water, now I have the lovely orange stars and grey green rosettes of these echeverias, commonly known as "hens and chicks,"  gracing my studio.

Now I just need a few more pots.

In a Fog

Why does it always seem that no matter how many supplies I have, there's always something missing?

I purchased these lovely moss aquamarines at Von's in Lafayette after the PMC Guild Conference. Few of the holes are big enough for my 22 gauge wire. I have 28 gauge, which seems too fine, but not 24 or 26. I made do by cutting up a head pin to get a bit of 24 gauge wire, then wrapped with the 28 gauge wire. So I need to order new supplies, for I fear these aren't as secure as I would like. I can't sell something I'm uncertain about. I guess I'll have to wear them myself until new wire arrives.

Then there's the question of missing pieces. I hurried to load a bunch of silver into the kiln before we went out the other evening. While dapping these flowers to dome them (it's easier than shaping them wet), I realized that I'm missing some things. Of course -- there was a whole other pile of parts on a different table that were left out.

Sigh. It does strike me that the aquamarines are blue-green-grey and misty like fog. How appropriate.

Keep Moving -- The Glass Studio Cleanup

Today the temperature in Austin has receded to the mid-80s, so I've attacked the glass studio, which is in my enclosed back porch, which we call the sun room  from the days when it was used differently. Although I did have to ship the oxygen concentrator off for repairs, a kind friend away for the weekend lent me hers so that I can play. First I decided to clean the dust, cobwebs and grime of five months off the bench and tools. Of course, I won't show you the other areas yet, as they are inundated, but at least this is clean enough for torching.

In the foreground are the Bexley narrow files, scavenged from my husband's office, which hold 104 COE glass rods, drawers as yet unlabeled. Then there's my Chilipepper kiln, didymium shield, Creation Station, and mini-CC torch. I have one of Al Janelle's great magnetic tool racks to organize my glass shaping tools, except for the marvers, which I keep on the left side of the torch, because I taught myself when I was beginning and didn't know I wasn't supposed to change hands. The bench is made from off-the-shelf kitchen cabinets from Lowe's with a long formica top to bridge them. The nearest bank of drawers holds mandrels, frit, enamel, foil, etc. The bank on the far side of the torch holds less frequently used tools, such as presses, and has a drawer to dump shorts into when I'm cleaning up.

Beyond the flameworking area is an enamel and soldering station, with a tray of pumice and tripod/wire rack. I have quick connects so that I can change from my glass torch to the Little Torch. There's a tiny brick kiln (4"x4" inside), also scavenged from discards at my DH's business lab, that I use for kiln enameling. The oxy con is at the far end of the bench, and the propane tank is at the near end where there are double doors out to the patio.

Today's choice from Bruce Mau's Incomplete Manifesto of Growth:

12. Keep moving.
The market and its operations have a tendency to reinforce success. Resist it. Allow failure and migration to be part of your practice.

Featured on Crafthaus

Are you familiar with Crafthaus? It's like Facebook specifically for craft artists, with displays of work, online exhibits, and networking opportunities.

This week I'm lucky enough to be one of the featured artists on the front page, with my above glass and silver box featured. I encourage you to go browse around, join up and get connected with other artists, some whose work you'll know from magazines and shows, and others new and amazing.

New Storage for the Studio

I can't go into an art and craft supply store without getting into trouble. I ventured into Hobby Lobby for a pen; I came out with a new storage chest. Actually it was a bit more involved than that. I bribed my son to go back with me to manhandle this thing through the checkout and home (the bribe involved me bringing all his chemistry supplies that he should have taken himself to class, but forgot). He literally picked the thing up in the back of the store and carried it the whole way. I knew there was a reason my refrigerator and pantry are always bare!

The chest just seemed so perfect, with a load of drawers midsize between the tiny drawers in the tabletop organizers and the large baskets in the Elfa stacks. One dozen drawers -- twelve! The perfect size for storing silver sheet and wire, as well as tools. Plus a small cabinet. And on sale, of course, which is why I had to go back today and get it after dreaming about it for two nights.

It also seemed made for displaying the vintage birdcage I bought on e-bay. Now I'm dreaming of a bird to go inside. Fiber or polymer? I haven't decided yet, but I'm definitely in love with the new acquisitions.

Studio Reorganization Continues

Over the weekend, I got the new table together and more display shelves mounted on the wall. Rather, my wonderful Keenan did those things under my supervision. I'm slowly organizing the beads and wire that have lived piled on my sewing table for ages now into those new drawers. I might even be able to sew again, which would be nice, since I want to finally hang a curtain on the window in this room.

I decided I would follow my friend Lorena Angulo's lead, and put some of my favorite jewelry pieces out on display when I'm not wearing them. I'll do that, just as soon as I find them! See her amazing studio here and here.

You can see I'm bringing in more and more stuff, if you compare this newer photo of the clay area with the earlier version here.

What you can't really see is the clutter on my desk near my computer, which is buried under chemistry prep for tomorrow's class, or the folding table still laden with supplies in the near left foreground, along with four dining chairs awaiting some able-bodied (not me) person to spirit them back downstairs.

Stay tuned for closeups and details about some of the treasures finally on display.

Forget about Perfect

Today's choice from Bruce Mau's Incomplete Manifesto of Growth:

2. Forget about good.
Good is a known quantity. Good is what we all agree on. Growth is not necessarily good. Growth is an exploration of unlit recesses that may or may not yield to our research. As long as you stick to good you'll never have real growth.

I'm coupling that with #8 from Bob Parsons' 16 Rules to Live By: Be quick to decide.

I have this perfectionism streak. I get stuck because I can't do things exactly the way I want them. Sometimes I procrastinate because I can't figure out an acceptable solution. When something breaks it can shut me down until it's fixed. I hate that!

Since my oxygen source is out of commission, I need to make do with what I have available. I can't do double-beaded connections, so I'll just have to wire wrap, which is certainly easier. I don't like the look as much, but this is about getting started again, not about being perfect.

It seems like the opportune time to use up old supplies, such as fancy headpins for the flower centers. It took a few minutes of fussing to figure out how to make things hang right, but now I can think about variations on this simple flower earring idea.

It feels so much better to have it finished, rather than still waiting on the equipment repair, which sounds like it will involve shipping to the manufacturer, unless I decide to play scientist and look at it myself. Wonder where I can buy a can of molecular sieve???

P.S. Funny echo in the calculus lecture this morning (we're using Thinkwell for our homeschool calculus, because Ed Berger is an incredibly gifted teacher): If you can't do something, DON'T! Do something easier. See how many parallels there are between science and art?

Begin Anywhere

Today's choice from Bruce Mau's Incomplete Manifesto of Growth:


9. Begin anywhere.
John Cage tells us that not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis. His advice: begin anywhere.


As I work on reorganizing the studio, handling my supplies and tools, I feel the creative mood rising. How can I label drawers for semiprecious gemstones, handling those gorgeous drops of color, and not feel the urge to make something? "But what?" the inner critic asks. Something simple, I think. One thing leads to another. Just begin with the easiest things. 


I decided I'd try to make a lampwork bead. The simplest things, just spacers, or plain bicones for electroforming. For the first time in five months, I turned on my torch. Wouldn't you know it? It seems there's something wrong with my oxygen concentrator. I had that feeling a few weeks ago when I tried to use the Little Torch to do a quick enamel firing, and I couldn't get it to work. After letting the oxycon run for hours, I concede that it probably needs a little help. Tomorrow I'll call about it and see if there's something obvious that I'm missing or if it needs a refurbishment.

After moping around the house for a bit, I decided I'd better make something out of silver clay. That's easy, right? So I whipped out a few small flowers and leaves, similar but smaller (and silver) to the bronze bracelet I made here. The flowers will stack with the leaf hanging below. I'm debating enameling them, but first I'll stay with the easy things and just get them fired.


Can't get much simpler. It's a start. 

Drifting

Today's choice from Bruce Mau's Incomplete Manifesto of Growth:


8. Drift.
Allow yourself to wander aimlessly. Explore adjacencies. Lack judgment. Postpone criticism.


Since returning from the PMC Guild Conference, I have a bit of ennui. I'm distracted. I want to redo the studio. I have to plan homeschool chemistry and calculus courses. I need to turn on the glass torch and begin the practicing that will get me back to making beads. I must go finish my physical therapy, and find a gym to replace it.  I get sidetracked into restarting old projects, such as the carved wooden mirror that I'm repainting, or the lampshades I keep intending to paint with my bird scenes. 

Ah, it must be that fallow time when new work is percolating deep down beneath the surface, unseen. What will come when it bursts through to the surface? More waiting to see.

Organizing the Work Table

I'm going out of order on listing items from Bruce Mau's Incomplete Manifesto of Growth. I decided I'd read down until I found one that fit my day and then use it. Since I'm still working on the studio, organization seemed to be the theme.

30. Organization = Liberty.

As I reorganize, I've been thinking about issues with my work space that I'd like to correct. One annoying thing that happens regularly to me is that I lose critical tools on my work table. The needle tool that was just there isn't. The correct playing card set is missing from the stack. I've been trying to place things back in a specific place so that I'll be able to find them again, but still I have trouble. Tonight I wandered through Pier 1 in search of dishes, baskets or boxes to help me delineate homes for all my regular tools.

I came home with a collection of kitchenware to repurpose for the studio.



Small white trays to corral the cards and most often used tools.
Tiny square plates to catch the drips from my olive oil and water bottles.
A collection of square bowls for sorting the small greenware components that have been filling the upper left corner of my glass worktop.
And flared glasses to hold tools, somehow more alluring than the metal pencil containers I used before.

Will it work? Only time will tell. Looks almost ready to go. I only wish it would stay nice and neat forever.

Incomplete Manifesto for Growth

The latest addition to my studio inspiration is this clever wire bird sculpture by Nakisha of Blue Dog Rose Studios. I've been wanting one for ages, and this week I treated myself to "hope" as a reward for perseverance.

And from the studio debris, another treasure surfaced: Bruce Mau's Incomplete Manifesto for Growth. This was an old print out,  from years ago when I still worked in fiber regularly. I think I'm going to post the list slowly, one by one, with my thoughts on how they manifest for me.

First off:

1. Allow events to change you.
You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.


Well, if this year doesn't change me, I don't know what will. I certainly view my mother's death and my own serious injury within a month of one another as life-changing events.  That's what happened. But how do I grow from it? 


I am changed, unquestionably. Some changes are good. Good things I've learned: I'm stronger than I expected. My pain threshold is higher than I thought. Sheer will, hard work, and good surgeons can do amazing things. Some changes are not so good: I now know I'm not invincible (like I really ever thought that!). Life can change forever in a second. Some things are not fixable. Some hurts are so big they never heal. 


How will this change my art? I think it's too soon to tell. Until my body is at least healed enough to feel almost normal, I don't think my mind is capable of integrating the changes. I'm told that six months is almost magical for my type of injury, that it's possible I'll wake up one morning and not immediately feel the "wrongness" in my leg. I'm also told I might need to take the hardware out, which would extend the recovery. The surgeon says that approaching normal may take a year, and that the bone is not completely healed for even longer. It's a long time to hang in limbo. It will be interesting to see what comes of it. 

16 Rules to Live By

While half my office/metal clay/beading studio is looking pretty good, I've managed that by moving all the debris I need to sort onto and under a side table, and leaving half of the rest behind downstairs. Where am I going to put all this?

One of the best things about cleaning and reorganizing the studio is the great stuff you find that was lost in the mess. Sometimes it's just what you need for where you are right now.

One such thing that surfaced in the pile today was Bob Parsons' 16 Rules to Live By. Bob Parsons is the CEO of GoDaddy, the leader in web domain name registrations. He wrote up his 16 rules for a breakfast meeting as advice for new business owners. Evidently the response to his 16 rules was overwhelming, and I see why. They're pretty basic to life in general. Good things to review occasionally.

You can read the details at the link above, but here are the highlights:

1. Get and stay out of your comfort zone.
   
2. Never give up.
   
3. When you're ready to quit, you're closer than you think.
   
4. With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing could be.
   
5. Focus on what you want to have happen.
   
6. Take things a day at a time.
   
7. Always be moving forward.
   
8. Be quick to decide.
   
9. Measure everything of significance.
   
10. Anything that is not managed will deteriorate.
    
11. Pay attention to your competitors, but pay more attention to what you're doing.
    
12. Never let anybody push you around.
    
13. Never expect life to be fair.
    
14. Solve your own problems.
    
15. Don't take yourself too seriously.
    
16. There's always a reason to smile.
    

It's interesting how many of them seem so particularly relevant to where I am right now. Number 3 is particularly resonating. Just reading that gives me renewed energy to keep going. I'm almost there?

I find myself wanting to make my own set of rules to create art by, but first I'll just be happy to get the studio back to a point where I can work again and the dining room back to the point where I could actually dine there again.

The above rules for survival are included with the permission of Bob Parsons (http://www.bobparsons.com) and are Copyright © 2004-2006 by Bob Parsons. All rights reserved.

Birds on a Wire

I wish my home owner's association didn't ban hanging out laundry, so I could have a whole collection of these fabulous bird clothes pins for my lines. Maybe it's better to have them holding up drawings on my shelves, though.

I brought home a set of ten bird clips from the Victoria and Albert Museum shop in London. You can order them here.

Studio Reorganization Progress

I'm officially moved upstairs, even though not finished. The computer and large work items moved today, so that determines where I view my presence to be. You'll notice I'm only showing part of the room, as it's a work in progress, and the other side of the room consists of piles of stuff waiting for a home. Hey, it's progress!

The narrow black shelves and display boxes for beads have been waiting for months for installation. I'm slowly adding more and more goodies to the display. Now I want a few more for the other side of the room. I expect lots of changes yet, but I'm getting clearer on what I want. I went shopping on Etsy tonight for a few things to add. It feels better already.

You know it's not functional yet though, because that front work surface is entirely too clean!!!

Studio Reorganization Begins

As the beginning of school nears (two days!), I'm immersed in preparing to teach calculus and AP chemistry. Meanwhile, I'm trying to move my studio off the dining room table and back upstairs. That would erase the last vestige of the downstairs infirmary and return my public rooms back to normal status. Of course, the fact that the upstairs studio is basically stripped bare in spots makes it just too tempting to do a thorough clean out and reorganization. It's better to start fresh than try to work any more in this crazy mess!

Even the floor under the dining table is littered with stuff, boxes of class supplies from Bead & Button that still haven't returned to a proper home.

I'm taking the approach of removing every item from a shelf or surface and really thinking about what I want or need there.

Magazines were occupying far too much space and spilling over everywhere, so I've been madly ripping out images, articles and tutorials. How many times does anybody really sit down and browse through old issues??? The images will fill my Books of Attractions, which I've found I actually use a lot.

It's very energizing to flip through a book filled with work that I love. Whenever I need a kick in the behind to get moving, I work on these. If you need to thin your paper, I previously blogged about my method here and here. The artist profiles and tutorials will be organized into binders, which I unfortunately don't really utilize often, meaning that I don't have this scheme refined well yet.  Three grocery bags full of magazine carcasses have gone out to the recycling so far, reduced to a stack of loose pages a few inches high. Some quiet evening, I'll sit and cut out the pertinent images and glue them in with annotations.

Rather than the haphazardly stored beads and artwork that I've been consciously collecting, I have serious notions of displaying the work on walls and tabletops. It's a shame to have beads tucked away in boxes and bags, when they would be so lovely catching the light. It was actually a shock to photograph the stack of goodies piled on a table and see all the birds. Hmmm, do I have a theme here? 

Another Glass and Silver Box

I didn't post this one before I left for the PMC conference, because it was finished at the last minute. It's the second version of my glass and silver box. Unfortunately, I didn't quite place the inside rim of the lid properly, so it doesn't fit perfectly. Now I need to make another box for this lid and another lid for this box.

I love all the original drawings on each side, and that there is a favorite quote hidden inside.

It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds. --Aesop

You can see the Master Muse synopsis of the tutorial for this box here.

Recovery Update

The PMC conference was really good for my walking progress. You know how big a temptation it must be to have an incredible bead shop just blocks away from the hotel. Ignoring the bum leg is possible, if there are enough distractions around. I did make it to the bead shop, then further to lunch and back, with no assistance. Red coral, tanzanite, amethyst, chalcedony, green amethyst, moss aquamarines, freshwater pearls, aquamarines, and apatite were just too hard to resist.

I came home immediately and dumped the crutches for good. I don't plan to use them again, although I still limp some -- badly, even, when I'm tired. I've started walking down stairs in an alternating pattern, which is much harder than going upstairs, which I've been doing for several weeks now. For someone who lives with seventeen steps, being able to negotiate them multiple times per day is important. I just consider it part of my therapy, and go slowly, always holding the rail.

Finally, finally, finally, I think I've closed the unhealing wound on my calf. Everyone seems to think it was actually a very deep pocket open down inside that had to fill from the inside out. Going to the chiropractor three weeks ago was a turning point, as she has been treating me with cold laser therapy. The mechanism of that treatment is a bit of a mystery, but it seems to bump up cellular metabolism for faster healing. The scar that has bothered me a huge amount is also responding to the treatment, with lessening of the worst pain. 

Physical and occupational therapists are starting to hint that discharge is coming in a few weeks. I've graduated to the elliptical exerciser, which is quite difficult for me now, but I expect it to get easier as I work at it more. Balancing on the bad leg, even while standing on the small trampoline, is now doable, at least for a count of ten. I finally got one of the therapists to work with me on getting down to and then up from the floor. I thought it would be difficult, but it was actually quite easy. I'm thinking of going to a gentle or restorative yoga class to see how that would feel.

I did have to rest a lot this last week. Between visiting with my father, who arrived before I got home, and trying to get a few classes submitted for the Bead & Button Show next year, I just put my feet up a lot and tried to regain some energy.

PMC Guild Conference

I'm slowly recovering from my trip to the PMC Guild Conference at Purdue University. The best thing about the conference was meeting in person all the friends I've made over the internet, through this blog, forums or Facebook. The hardest thing about the conference was walking the long distances. For the first two days, I used my single crutch, which made me immediately recognizable to many. Everyone was incredibly supportive, slowing their pace to accompany my shortened gait. By two days into the conference, I chose to leave the crutch in my room, as it seemed always in the way. How do you pass through a buffet with a crutch, or eat what a kind friend might collect for you??

The good news is that my walking is much improved from the "conference therapy." This morning I actually took my father, who is visiting this week, out to one of my favorite walking loops. I made it about a quarter mile before I had to turn back (and took a short cut to the car), while he continued on.

My favorite presentations of the conference were those associated with retail sales. Bruce Baker gave two talks, one on trends and another on booth design and sales. Both were excellent, as he is very knowledgeable and extremely entertaining. I was reminded of a crafts workshop on business that I've wanted to take for a while, which he is part of. Now I'm more determined than ever to actually do it soon. I already own his three CDs on jurying, booth design and retail sales, but I need to go listen again. I actually attempted to load them onto my iPhone before I left, but somehow they didn't transfer, so I couldn't do my last minute prep before the Show & Sell.

Susan Dilger also gave an eye-opening presentation on pricing. I have to give some serious thought to pricing my work. It seems that I tend to make very labor intensive work, which makes it very expensive, especially if I followed the guidelines that Susan gave, which give higher prices than I usually choose. I either need to rethink my work so as to make some more inexpensive pieces, or find the appropriate clientèle that will appreciate my work enough to pay those high prices.

So, lots of food for thought.