Welcome to 2011!

2010 ended on a high note. We spent the last week in lovely Corinthia by minus 15 degrees but sunny! It was a fantastic week!

Sadly on the first day 2011 - after taking some fantastic photos - our camera disappeared.

Like a cold wet facecloth in your face - waking you up into reality!

The last I remember using it was on the ski lift whilst taking snapshots of my sporty second half - who was skiing down the peak as I was comfortable sitting in the gondel:-)). Then we took the skiing equipment back, had something to eat and returned to the village to pack - ready to leave the next day. I have spent the last 3 days calling every possible place I could think of that I might have "lost" or "misplaced" it at, but now have to accept that it was probably stolen - right out of my pocket! I know I should not have kept it there but I wanted it ready at all times just in case!
The camera itself is relatively new but not in my opinion "worth much" as its just a compact standard digital type thingy. So not really a catch for a thief! What bugs me most is all the GBs of pics we have on there.

I know - I really should have downloaded them more often but be honest do you? I freak out at the idea of some stranger with all our holiday pics, family photos including christmas photos and videos, and some work pics. I have been having sleepless nights too - neurotic perhaps but then I tend to be when it comes to personal info. Now there is someone out there with 100s of photos of me and my family who can willingly do with them as they please. Lets just hope whoever took the camera just wipes the card clean and thats it! Why would anyone be so cruel as to steal a small family camera on holiday on the 1st of January. It is actually quite painful.
I suppose many of you out there will say : oh its just a camera you can replace it.
True, but I cant replace the pictures, neither can I replace the memories some already lost - it must be an age thing - grins. Also all the pictures of my beads I was meaning to download and never did. All gone!

So what have I learnt:
lesson one - download regularly
lesson two - dont trust anyone especially on holiday
lesson three - put camera in a safe place after using
lesson four - dont take it personally (I am sorry I have not learnt this yet! I am taking it personally coz its my photos!)

So guess who needs to save up for a new camera now - unless of course some miracle happens and either it pops up somewhere (already reported to the police) or one of our insurances pay (doubtful!)

Lets hope just gets better! it better!

A long update!

Finally a breather and some time to sit down and write. I just realised its been jonks since I actually wrote anything on this blog! Considering its the only one I have its pretty embarrassing. Life doesnt seem to get very boring on my side. So I suppose I do have a bit of an excuse, I hope.

Well for those who are interested......

I am still messing around on my torch, although not as often as I would like to. This year has been crazy. We are still busy building, - a lifetime projekt now I think. And well then there are the day to day things that just never seem to get finished.

Finally just when I thought I was to have a breather, and a bit more time to torch - I landed at the bottom of the stairs spraining both my right foot, knee and right wrist amongst other things:-), no thanks to my dog who seems to eagerly want to be first when I now literally crawl down the stairs...in tortoise mode! I need to add that this was only a few weeks after I had gotten a bit overdressed and actually wore high heels again and slipped on something slippery whilst shopping with dh and landed with my whole weight on my knee breaking a few fingernails in the process....dont laugh .......well you may - serves me right for wanting to put my weight on those far too dainty shoes I was wearing! The doc couldnt help grinning when I returned once again to have my foot x-rayed. Wonders what he will think if I showed him all my glassy burns...Yes I still seem to have the knack of touching hot stringers and putting my arm onto hot tools...then there is always the risk of shocky glass......too!

As for playing with glass:

I have still not managed a complete set of beads that match! Seems I will end up doing focals for a long time. The biggest problem I seem to have is boredom and size. Either I get bored making the same bead over and over or if I am using a technique I enjoy I never seem to get those beads the same size!

I have decided to set myself weekly or monthly projects....

either practising with a specific colour, technique, shape or idea.

It does help to keep me focused a little so that hopefully something will turn out that I can actually turn into something wearable/usable.

As my torch time is limited it seems I end up mostly with bead poop and one or two usable items. At least I have gone from wasting glass to using glass - grins.

Although admittedly I still feel very much a newbie. The addiction is still strong and I just never seem to run out of ideas to try out. There are so many wonderful glass colours I havent even got to order or try out yet, then there are those itty bitty frits that I adore and twisties and shards..... I have even managed to make some shards myself and something that can really be called a twisty!

I love stringer work! my absolute passion atm - although I hate hate hate pulling them.

Now what I really need to do is attempt to make decent pics and put some up here......watch this space...

have a nice day

xxx

I

sleeping, snow and sniffles

ok, so it has been a loooong time since I posted
Sorry!

First of all I finally had a holiday and spent the festive season with my family. It was fantastic!

Returning its been snowing snowing and snowing again.



The weather really gets me down, when all I want are a few rays of sun!



Here a picture taken this morning!










I have been making beads again, and quite frankly still cant make beads that match! So I have a whole stack off odds. It seems I tend to focals, and especially enjoy making figures...


My latest as some of you might have seen already on FH, is this my fairies, which are cute and rather fun and easy to make
























I made a few goddesses too which can be viewed on FH S&T

Now its time for a hot cup of something and a warm blanket!

enjoy the day
xxx

Mahoosiv! What to do with leftovers"

I am now the proud owner of a massive lentil press. Thanks to someone wonderful on the great FH forum who sold it to me! And after ripping open the box as it arrived today I was forced by the glass melting monsters to try it out, even though I am also almost empty on gas and it was the middle of the day! (I usually only torch at night when all other monsters are in bed sleeping)

I decided to use left over pieces of rod in order not to waste! lets call it recycling -

it was either that or turn them into frit!- I was afraid it would crack before I even finished. But look! And it survived and I am so proud...cant wait to get more gas now to make some more "leftover" mahoosiv beads! I especially love the red with the turquiose, as well as the reaction of the ivory on the turquiose.

Its not perfect :-)but a perfect start to a wonderful relationship with my new press!

Autumn Sunshine

Autumn has shown its loveliest side the last few days. Although I am sitting at home with some sniffles, it has been lovely to sit on the balcony and enjoy the sunrays. The dog is happy too because he doesnt have to wipe his paws off before coming in. Yesterday I tried making some of Jamie Olivers "easy peasy ginger beer" and it was rather delicious even though its not quite the same as the real thing.

I have also been spending some time on the weedkiller - (my torch!) and have been practising some stringer control and trying hard to get some beads to actually match! I have also been trying harder to make floral type beads and rolling some barrels.

My lil one asked me to make him a turtle/tortoise and I had so much fun making it that I had to make some more. He chose the first one I made though, probably felt how much love went into it.

My beads arent perfect but they are made with passion (I love making them, each and everyone!). Anyway I do feel that lampwork beads shouldnt be "perfect" as they end up looking like mass produced products. Its not an excuse for imperfection, just a point I feel needs to be made. Naturally I hope my skills will improve with practise and time yet if I wanted 10 beads to be exactly the same size shape and colour then I am probably better off buying them elsewhere...

Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder

Bead Blogs and Talent

So this is me, hidden from most of the world in a rather small village deep! well it feels like it somedays... in the forest, close to the Alps in Austria.
I am a mom, a wife, pet owner and a thinker (most will say a worrier!) and probably most exciting of all since the end of April, a hobby glass bead maker!
Whats this blog going to be about......not sure really but one word does come to mind...talent...
I believe each person is talented....in some way or another... so I will probably ramble on about that a bit in future. Maybe also bits and pieces about me and my family although I do admit I am quite a private person...and the internet is a vast rather scary place to be for a newbie, so I will take baby steps as far as that goes. But mostly it will be about beads, beadmaking, and all that...I suppose.....
I have finally made a few beads, well something that looks like they could be called that anyway.... and I will hope to update my flickr regularly so you can see the pics...