Oops it's THursday...

NO beady  pictures for Wordless Wednesday or Bead Table Whatever...  I spent the weekend .... trying to deTrojan my computer...  Did it work sort of... One of the things I've lost is my automatic spell Checker.. I can not spell or type so  BE PREPARED FOR ERRORS!!!!  Most of my .exe files are also missing so loading programs is a creative experience... and I've lost 2 years of glassrod emails...  that would be 2009 - 2011... why would I loose 2007 & 9 when I can loose the current stuff!

Yesterday when I should have been posting pictures I was on the mainland going to the dentist... I cracked a tooth months ago ... but was waiting for the weather to improve before I booked an apointment....  Well I went ... the fillling glue... whatever you want to call it lasted less than 4 hours... actually it's worse now than it was as there is now a sharp corner gashing at my cheek!  Am trying to book another apointment.. today or tomorrow before my cheek turns into hamburger... but I want to talk to a person not an answering machine... I don't want to give them a chance to ignore me!

 However here's a couple of spring melt progress pictures... I took the first one last wednesday... becuase the grass looked like a giant green heart... What's more appropriate for St Paddy's Day than a giant green heart?

And this one is today.... I actually think we might have spring this year! Happy St. Paddy's Day and enjoy your green beer!

Bead Table Wednesday

This is more or less what my 'Bead Tray'  looked like last night when I finished the bracelet!  This was a 3 day project and inspite of cutting off over an inch of the spiral core .. I think it is still too long!  I really like the toggle though and can see lots of uses for it in other projects!

(The pink you see showing through the 'spikey beads' is part of the spiral weave base.

Pink

I've joined an international blog group called From All Corners... Once a month they come up with a one word theme and we send them a picture... March is Pink....  I do still have that hibiscus.. It doesn't have very many leaves anymore but it still flowers once or twice a year!  I keep moving it around the house trying to find it a happy spot...  I actually think it's the erratic watering that is doing in the leaves not the location!

Tired of Bead Soup?

I took a class from Stephanie Sersich in Rhode Island a couple of weeks ago...  I've been practicing my off mandrel Star Fish ... This one came out of the kiln yesterday... I think he looks like he's dancing!

Starving Jewelry Artist Carnival Blog.... "Tell us the story behind your business name"

I've been a full time artist since 1988... so, I've gone through a few names... the first name that got registered was "Black Hole Glass"...  Not sure what year that was first registered, but it lasted until I left Saskatchewan in 2001... why Black Hole... actually my husband came up with that name, he claimed that my studio was a big black hole in the community that sucked in all his tools...  there was a lot of glass sucked in too... but you've already seen pictures of that!

In 2000 I decided that making glass wasn't enough I wanted to sell it too!  So I bought an old building on the beach at a local inland salt water lake (where we already had a cabin) Once we got rid of the pink and green ice cream parlor paint... I opened a seasonal gallery which was suppose to be called the Beach Hut Gallery... however any time the business showed up in print or reviews it somehow got changed to Beach Nut...

Spending summers at the beach was a wonderful way to spend  5 summers ... but 18 months after I opened the store we moved 2500 miles East... I actually commuted back to the Beach for 3 years... I would go west in June and my husband would drive out and pick me up in September....  But in 2004 I sold the building ... (it's now a cute little cafe called  The Village Perk and moved my stock home to New Brunswick and combined the glass studio and the gallery into one business called Fireball Gallery And Studio... I think my beads look like little fireballs... so the name was a no brainer!

Why am I Islandgirl on Etsy.... who knows.. I was a buyer who started to sell.... but I DO live on an island (10 miles long and 3 miles wide... 20 minute ferry ride ... no bridge!)

Check out the Starving Artists Blog  to see what other members are doing and learn interesting facts about  Jewellery and Gemstones!  and here's the links to other members participating this month!

O'Refined 
Sophi
Galadryl
Family Jewels
Bead Sophisticate
Paintinbyfaith
J3Jewelry
Northern Girl Jewelry
BeadSire

Almost Wordless Wednesday

This was my soldering exercise this month ... I wanted to see if I could solder all the tiny loops (23 gauge silver) at the top of the hearts without melting the hearts into blobs!

Hearts are all my lampwork/flamework.

Come check out this piece and the other entries for The Starving jewelry Artists Feb Challenge....
February's challenge is to make something that you love, that represents love, for Valentine's Day.

Bead Table Monday

Attempting to knit a scarf using seed beads... I get to knit 2 or 3  rows then I get to move beads... I started with 220 inches of beads and I use about an inch of beads every 4  rows.  Think this project may last quite awhile!
The triangular 'seed bead'  beaded beads will be earrings and a pendant... Not yet how I'll work the pendant!