Interesting glass combo. I love Reichenbach chocolate, it has infinite possibilities depending on how it is heated, temp of flame etc. The other day I was working with it and had a rod of red nearby and decided to see how they would go together. It was magic, such an unexpected pop of blue came out on the edges. They recently sold on Ebay, but I plan to take this combination further as soon as we get back from California.

New beads

I need to spend more time in bookstores, I've lately become an avid user of the public library and have neglected hanging out in Barnes & Noble reading magazines. There is a new Stampington publication (new to me, it has published several issues) called artful blogging. It is full of interesting blogs.

Here are a few sets of new beads I just finished, don't have them listed anywhere yet, but they will go on Ebay this week.

Dungeness Spit

We spent the weekend camping at the Dungeness Spit with our daughter and her family. It is such a beautiful place, the campground sits up above the Strait of Juan de Fuca with a trail overlook all the way down to the spit. We spent yesterday just hanging around down by the water in the sun.

A couple of photos from my garden.

I haven't been near the torch for over a month. It was so hot for a long time and then we spent a wonderful week at Flathead Lake in Montana. Since coming home I just haven't been motivated, but maybe will get something done next week.

I went to the Intergem bead show last weekend and got a few things. I've been making bracelets and listing things on Etsy, trying to get my inventory up to 100 which will take awhile. I love making things but am the world's worst procrastinator when it comes to taking and editing photos and getting listings done.

Riding light rail

What an exciting weekend, the light rail finally opened in Seattle. The train runs from downtown to the last stop near the airport, to be expanded to SeaTac in Dec. The opening weekend was free so we waited until today to avoid the crowd. There were still a lot of people riding and the ticket line was long, but that shouldn't be a problem once the novelty wears off. It is a fast way to get downtown and avoid the traffic and parking problems that always involves. My granddaughter was dissappointed that it didn't travel at the speed of sound since it is called "sound transit".

There is a stop at Columbia City and I thought about taking a ride there and a stopping to look at the galleries and book shop.

HEAT WAVE

It was in the 90's yesterday which is a total shock to your system living in this cool grey climate. We spent the entire day at the pool until they closed at 7pm. Both of the grandkids are getting to be good swimmers so they don't require constant hands on. I woke up early this morning and went for a walk, it was so beautiful.

Too hot for torching but I have a bunch of ideas going around in my head that I can't wait to explore. Last week I did a couple of focals with Chalcedony and goldstone with clear encasing that turned out great.

The hummingbirds are keeping us entertained right out the front window. I put a water bath in the back for them, but the only one using it so far is the neighbor's cat.

Organics

This set of organics I just finished.

More Chalcedony

More Chalcedony, I am having such fun with this glass. Surprising how fast I used up a 1/2 kilo !!!

New Chalcedony beads

I experimented with Gaffer chalcedony and lots of other colors. They are all interesting, but I think the best color comes out when the Chalcedony is used all by itself.

Chalcedony again

I tried some Chalcedony combined with Jade Green and black. I like the effect, but it wasn't at all what I expected. The black sort of bled over the other colors. There is a little frit on top.

Chalcedony G109

I just took these out of the kiln and I am thrilled with this glass. It is Gaffer Chalcedony G109 and reacts in a similar way to R108, but is much easier to work and the colors seem to pop with not a lot of effort. These are both all Chalcedony, the flat tab was pressed with a brass tool and the tube was marvered on a graphite torch marver which was fairly hot since it was warm in the garaqe last night. I really like the broken surface pattern on the tab bead.

Gaffer glass is in my neighborhood and they are so helpful and friendly.

Spring at last

I always have the best on intentions and then things go down from there, can't believe that I haven't posted since Novemeber. We started Spanish lessons this month, a delightful young woman who lives in the neighborhood comes to the house once a week. It would have made sense to learn before we went to Spain and Mexico, but it is never too late. I have become obsessed with reading about Spain, right not I am into Frances Mayes' book "A year in the World" and just finished the chapter on Spain. They are now in Portugal which is right up there on my list. Several years ago I found "Spanish Recognitions" in a bookstore in NYC and have been re reading parts of it. My goal is to read Frederico Garcia Lorca's poetry in Spanish... right now I read as well as a slow 6 year old, so I'd better speed up the process to get to high school.

Some new beads just came out of the kiln today, and I am pleased with them. They are a rainbow of colors rolled in Champagne pixie dust and encased in clear. I'll get photos done tomorrow.