5 Questions Answered

It's been a long day - I made some changes in my life a couple of months ago, and I got word tonight that a couple of people aren't very happy with it. It's tough, because I heard this through a third person, and neither of the people who I suspect aren't very happy have discussed this with me. It's a volunteer thing, and although I have made a commitment to the volunteer group, I need to balance volunteer things with a full time job, a ton of extra stuff, and having a life. I'll fully admit I made the decision in the best interest of me, but since the volunteer gig is only really paid in personal satisfaction, I think I get the right to do that. So I'm here, with some great music and a glass of wine, trying to think about other things.

On to the other things.... The 5 questions were:

1) How did you get into beadmaking? In a round about way, it started with a trip to China a couple of years ago. There was a lady in our group who was really into hand-made beads, and spent a lot of time showing people her jewellery. After I got back, I decided I was taking a class at the local college of art. At the time, it was supposed to be a glass blowing class, but the glass beadmaking class and the glass bead making class were next to each other in the catalogue, so I took the beadmaking class. From moment one I was hooked - I knew that this was something that I would persue for a long time.

2) Post a picture of your most favourite bead? This is my all time favorite bead. I've tried this technique since, and it's never quite turned out the same since. (Kudos go to Larry Brickman for teaching me the technique)

3) What supplies do you need to make beads? The beads are glass, and the glass comes in pre-coloured rods, so you need the colours you're going to work with. You also need steel rods which have been dipped in a clay-like substance (called bead release), and a torch to melt glass. If you're getting fancy, there's all sorts of add ons - ground glass pre-mixed in different colours (frit), sparkly glass (goldstone or adventurine), small slices of cane (murini) and other bits to make the glass look good.

4)Dream project relating to beads? I'd love to be as good as any one of the people I admire - (Melanie Moertel, Anastasia, Leah Fairbanks, and a select couple of others).

5) If I could be anywhere right now, where would I be? I fell in love with the idea of owning a winery in New Zealand a couple of years ago - if the stars aligned, I'd own a bead studio/winery there.

Great questions - thanks for asking!