Sue Beads

I love these beads - the cobalt filigrana hollow bead and disc bead set that you can find in my etsy store. They take lots of practice! At least for me. I am actually taking a summer intensive in August at the Pittsburgh Glass Center with Barbara Becker-Simon, for the sole purpose of getting better at hollows! But I have to say I am so proud of these ones, they are the first I believe are fit for sale! Hopefully my intensive will help me a lot, because I have to say that hollows and discs are my favorite beads to look at! I want them to be my favorite beads to make. The queen of hollows has to be Andree Kosack. I have one of hers and I love it! Me and the son just took a walk, in the sprinkling rain. It was nice, getting time with him. The girl is at the glass center, finishing up her Photographic Imagery in Glass class. She loved it. She's going to be an arty girl!

Check out the most beautiful work by Lilibulle in France!

Check out this giveaway by Arlene, Altered by Me , for "International Charm Day" - isn't that fun?

Pretty Photo for you, Diamond Waterfall in St. Lucia For Mother's Day, I am offering free shipping in the SueBeads etsy store, until May 9th, my birthday! I was actually born on Mother's Day!!! What a gift! :} The only thing is, I don't feel like changing over 60 listings, so just wait for a revised invoice to pay! OR I will be happy to refund shipping if you forget! Today has been pretty much like yesterday - bank, BB&B, make beads, eat lunch, use de-piller on the karate dobok (sp?) that I got at BB&B, move buttons on my daughter's uniform kilt, plant some plants, dishes, get dinner in the crockpot, etc. While I'm not done yet - I have to make some earrings with my beads for the Pittsburgh Glass Center Sale on May 9th, I did sit outside to move the buttons and boy, is it nice!!! I love this weather, and getting some alone time before the craziness starts again at 4pm. Oh yeah, I wanted to mention, my daughter has been taking a class at the Glass Ce...

Here's how I spent my day yesterday - get kids off to school, walk, workout, make beads, eat lunch, go to post office and grocery store, have iced tea with my friend Jill, empty dishwasher, clean up some messes, kids get home and leave for karate dojo, wine store and sporting goods store, make dinner, clean beads, etch beads, pack up some beads, clean up kitchen, homework with son (although the engineer did the bulk of that, I stuck around to check the attitude), get things ready for tomorrow, watch funny shows on tv, go to bed. Today I have to go to the bank, the BB&B, and make beads. I'm sure there's other stuff, but I can't remember right now. I am participating in a sale at the Pittsburgh Glass Center on May 9th, so I need to get a bunch more things ready. I have no idea how those sales go, so I guess it will be a learning experience. It's from 10-4, I'll put out a reminder later! So in the meantime, here's a photo of some beads I made a while a...

Gail, of jewelsoftheearth on etsy, is trying to break into the business. Here's something she made with my Walking on Sunshine beads and she is right, they are an eye-opener!

Yay! Easy Beading #5 by BeadStyle Magazine is out, and I'm IN it! My Chinese Lantern earrings are in the book on page 156! There are so many great projects in this issue! You can buy it here !

This is what I found in my in-box this morning: "Save time and money when you check in online. Beginning July 9, 2009, you'll be able to pay for checked bags when you check in online – $15 for your first checked bag and $25 for your second. For customers who choose to pay for checked bags at the airport, there will be an additional $5 service fee, so save a few when you check in online" After I let out a huge laugh, I became a bit angry.

My daughter seems to have the bizarre talent of being able to fashion animals, in this case a dinosaur, out of the foil you get your food in at Moe's. Moe's here is now closed, but I kept the dinosaur - it lives on my kitchen windowsill and will hopefully survive until she goes to college and can take it with her. Or, I may keep it forever!

My recycled, slumped wine bottle cheese tray with beaded canape set was finally auctioned yesterday, as I mentioned, for my son's school. It sat at a $17 bid for a while - I was getting nervous. I had put an estimated value on it at $50 because I don't know what the market is for these things. I made it all in the theme of the Great Event, Under The Sea, so I thought maybe I should have valued it higher, since it was specifically made for the auction. Yesterday was the last day, and YAHOO, it went for $110! I was so happy! I'm glad my donation to the school reached that amount of money, but I'm also glad for personal reasons! Sometimes, as an "artist", it's hard to put yourself out there!

Today's Earth Day , so I thought this photo would be appropriate. If you want to purchase one, let me know!

Check out Jen's profile of me on 10oneworld today, and you can have a chance to win these earrings!

I'll have more copper pendants later, if I can get the engineer to take a couple more photos. In the meantime, these are available in the SueBeads etsy store.

I listed some new copper pendants and some beads in the SueBeads etsy store . The engineer got home from the wedding he attended on the weekend, and about an hour later was taking photos for me. Isn't he so nice!?!?! Since my business seems to be run by photos, I need to get better. I think I'm making progress, though!

Ok, three pendants are available in my SueBeads etsy store right now! I have to go to a dinner for one of the engineer's students; she is defending her thesis tomorrow! Wish her luck! I'll have more probably tomorrow - I have a feeling it's going to be a late night!

In between driving to the zoo for Kid Science, laundry, yardwork and everything else yesterday, I spent some time making these new things! Copper pendants with washi paper and filled with resin. Three of them have some bling - flatback swarovski crystals. I really like them - I'm going to do some more soon! Here's my question to you - which store should I put them in? The SueBeads etsy store is dedicated to beads, and the BellaHannahJane etsy store is dedicated to jewelry and pendants. But the BellaHannahJane store gets basically no business or traffic. I'd like people to be able to see these pendants and buy them. Do you have any suggestions for either which store, or what to do with the BellaHannahJane store? Thanks!

Do you get the Sundance Jewelry catalog? I do, and I love it! I save it for later, then when I have a minute, I sit down and go through it to see what they have that I covet! I don't buy a lot of jewelry, because I can make it, but I never make anything for myself except earrings. I just love this bracelet. It's called Heartbeat Bracelet ; I love the coral, and I love the (what I'm guessing is) Hill Tribes heart that's off center. I may just buy this for myself, for my birthday!

I love this new beaded bead I made! I was out last weekend, running the multitude of errands that always pile up, and I stopped at Michaels for the charms I put on the wine bottle cheese tray I made for my son's school. While I was there, I picked up this vial of cool czech seed beads. I love the colors - perfect for fall, but also perfect for almost any metal you are using in your jewelry designs. The brass, copper, and silvery colors are really nice, and there's the occasional purpley colored bead for interest! Fun! In my etsy store now !

Just wanted to show you what Kristin made with the beaded beads I made her in a trade! Really nice - I love the color combination!

I finally put some new things in the etsy store, after about a week! I have been busy making the wine bottle cheese tray and life in general! Mango sliders and a violet beaded bead are just two of the offerings today!

Here's the photo that they took at my son's school - pretty cool, huh?

Here's the photo of my recycled, slumped, wine bottle cheese tray donation to my son's school. I think it turned out great! This pale blue is so very hard to photograph. I made a dangly charm to go with it with my lampwork beads, seed beads, and silver. I think it turned out great! I hope they get a lot of bids for it! It goes with the canape set I blogged about earlier!

We had a very nice weekend, Friday we went out with friends to Kaya, a really great restaurant in the Strip District. On Saturday, we had dinner at a friends house, very good fish tacos! Sunday we went to my brothers house. We always get each other flowers! This year, it was like a flower exchange; everyone bought different flowers so it ended up being really cool! I brought hyacinth for everyone, and received the beautiful begonias, pretty mini daffodils and jumpy pansies!

Click on the photo to see it larger! Two years ago, my family went to Scotland for the engineer's professional society meetings. What a wonderful trip, considering my family is Scottish! We were driving along the road one day, looking for a gas station, when what did we see but a field FULL of bunnies! My mom and my daughter ran over while gas was being pumped to take the photo! I've never seen anything like it! Happy Easter!

The Thinker, Rodin No beads or bottles to show today, it's one of those days, and I think The Thinker is appropriate.

No beads today, kids were home from school because of Good Friday. I took them to the Carnegie Science Center , to see Under The Sea, the IMAX movie. It was pretty good; it was about 45 minutes long and narrated by Jim Carrey. I have to do some laundry before I can slump another bottle or make any more beads, so hopefully tomorrow afternoon I'll start a new bottle. The reason is I can't use the clothes washer and the kiln at the same time, or I'll blow the electricity! I have a bit of a reprieve since school is also closed on Monday, so I can give them the bottle cheese tray on Tuesday! I think after the next test fire, I'll be ready to go with the real bottle. My dad had given me an almost empty bottle of Harvey's Bristol Cream (I don't even know what that is!!!) and it's a beautiful cobalt color, with a FLAT bottom, so I might use that one! I'll let you know! Have a great weekend! We're going out tonight to KAYA for my friend Jill's ...

This one came out better - fewer bubbles, so it's a slow rampup that it needs. I'll try another before I use the bottle I want to use for the school. I'm going to go with no copper hanger. I think I'll like that better, too. Sorry if the photo is bad, there are just too many things on my list right now! When I do the final version, I'll post a pretty picture!

Need I say more?

Here's the first test fire of the wine bottle slumping exercise - turned out ok. There are some things that have been fixed so hopefully tomorrow I'll have another to show! I'm doing tests before I do the bottle I want to do, because it's the only one I have and I'd have to drink a bottle of wine to get another - oh, wait, how's that a problem???? The thing sticking out of the neck of the bottle is a piece of twisted copper wire I put in there for a hanger, in case you would want to hang it instead of having it lie flat on the counter or whatever. It's not an original idea - I don't remember who I saw that did it. But do you think it's a good idea? Or would you prefer to have one without the hanger thingy? Personally, after thinking about it, it seems to me that it would get in the way and just mis-shape itself with use, anyways.

Last night the engineer and I spent a good bit of time getting my kiln to slump a wine bottle. It is not done yet... So instead of showing you a picture of my first wine bottle cheese tray, I am showing you a photo of Philadelphia - the standard photo of Philadelphia. Why? Because I have a fun little story to go along with it! On our way to Philadelphia from Coopersburg, we stopped in Plymouth Meeting to eat dinner, because we were just tired and nauseated from a very long, hard, heavy day of class. After that, we asked the GPS to find us a "state" store, so I could have a mini bottle of wine for the hotel room. It took us all over the eastern part of the state. By the time we got to the main highway that goes into Philadelphia, I had to go so bad I was crying! The engineer spotted a Borders, and pulled over to the valet lane of the very expensive hotel that sits on the left of the photo ( not our hotel!), and waited while I RAN across the street and into the Borders...

It's been too long since I have done this! I have some very cool customer work to show you! The first photo shows a set of four colorful, happy bracelets made by Maria Joao, in Portugal. She has an etsy store, Cool Temptations , but you can't get these bracelets - they are for sale in a shop in Lisboa. I may have mentioned I am going to Portugal this summer, and may get to see Maria and/or her work! This next bracelet and necklace set was done by customer, Martha. She made the set for her friend, and I'm happy to say the friend loves it! These were made with my Copper Wave set of beads, available on my web site, SueBeads , and sometimes smaller sets of these beads are available in the etsy store ! This necklace was made by my friend Diane, and you can find her etsy store here . She has bought so many of my beads in the past, she must have bins and bins full of them. Actually, I believe she sells a great deal of her work made with my beads, and for that I am happy! ...

I just had to post these! If Kristin doesn't want them, they will be up for sale. If she does, just drool!

Just Beautiful!

I just have to take a minute and give my condolences to the families who lost their husbands, sons, brothers, in this weekend's massacre (that's really the only word that describes it) of three policemen here in Pittsburgh over the weekend. Nancy at Round Rabbit mentioned her heartfelt condolences for all the victims of the massacre in Binghampton New York earlier in the week.

I just can't help it, if I go to a city, I have to visit bead stores. It's a sickness. The engineer just goes along, not saying anything. Pretty nice of him! Here's two photos of my new stash. I got those fantastic colored seed beads, although they are Indian, so they won't be as perfect as Japanese. Oh well... I got three sets of buttons. Why? I don't know. I saw them in Pearl , and really liked them, so I just picked them up! Pearl is a really cool artist store, in the really cool trendy part of Philadelphia, the part that I am just too old for. I got a strand of botswana agate, which I love. The other strand is some kind of blue rutilated quartz, although I'm not sure if that's the name - it wasn't labeled. The strands I got in Beadworks. I have to say that I have never in my life walked into a small bead store and not been greeted. That's what happened here. No hello, no can I help you find something, no nothing. Not impressed. I...

We went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Saturday, to see the Cezanne exhibit. Of course, we looked at eveything else too, and I was thrilled to see one of my favorites hanging on the wall!

And you can get a scrabble tile pendant of the Birth of Venus in my BellaHannahJane etsy store!

Via Allentown, on business. I may be able to blog this weekend, I'm going to see a college friend and visit some bead stores and a Cezanne exhibit. If I don't blog, I will still be reading yours on my baby laptop! Have a great weekend everyone! BTW, the above photo shows my donation to my son's school fundraiser, The Great Event! I haven't slumped the wine bottle yet, but included will be a recycled slumped wine bottle cheese tray, in a very beautiful pale aqua color. The wine bottle was a Riesling!

Here's my messy workspace, Doreen ! I haven't cleaned it up in a very long while! I will need to at some point, as all the little glass shorts will take over soon enough!

Lorelei has been a jewelry making machine lately, and everything she makes is just amazing! So I am doing a small bit of shameless self promotion here when I show you her latest and give you a link to her shop ! She made these earrings and a bracelet out of beads I sent her made from a really cool glass from Moretti. It gives a peacock shimmer when you very gently reduce it. It's really striking and I think Lorelei did an amazing job of pairing the beads with the fringe chain! Thanks for making my beads look so fantastic, Lorelei!