This Is It - Studio Clean-Up SALE

Well, the time has come for me to sell some of my lampwork tools and supplies, beads and other beady things...

Please see my website.
www.airwynnglass.com/studiosale.html

Cheers.

Some surprising news (unfortunately).

I was planning on just skipping over the fact that I haven't posted in a month and a half, on my next post... but instead I shall address the obvious...  I've been completely immersed in other things non-beady lately, entirely absorbed in my upcoming move (in less than 3 weeks! eeek!) We're sooo excited but so overwhelmed with all that there is to do when buying a first home!

I spent a long time away from the torch and concentrated on other things, and only recently was able to get back on it a bit... in desperate need of creating stock for the upcoming Canadian Bead Oasis show March 12 - 14 in Toronto. 

I am also sad to say that this may be my last show for quite some time.... as I've mentioned, other aspects of my life are going to be getting in my way with no studio in my new home for the time being as well as time-frame issues that will come up regarding time away from my "real" job.  :(  I HOPE that I will be able to continue at least a few shows a year, perhaps only one Oasis per year instead of the two, one TBS show instead of two, etc...  who knows, we'll have to wait and see I guess.  BUT let's hope I'm wrong.

I will still try my best to do custom orders, however the completion time frame will have to be extended on most orders as it's not going to be as easy as walking downstairs to my studio now. 

Sorry to leave you with what some of you may see as shocking news, but I just want to be honest. 

Wish me luck!  Hope to see you all soon!  Come on out to the Oasis (details on my website) for your last chance to buy some of my beads in person (until further notice hopefully).

Take care.
Erin

Return to Routine

Well the holidays are over now and it's back to the 'ol grind I guess.  I'm hoping 2010 will bring me some new routines as well... new routines I've been postponing for quite some time but now realize, it's definitely time for some changes.  I'm not going to necessarily call them "new years resolutions" but instead "positive permanent changes".  I'm spending the day taking down the Christmas tree and putting away all of the decorations... a task that always seems to take longer than anticipated.  But first, I'm going to enjoy a nice hot bowl of wonton soup, hoping it makes my sore throat feel better.  I've been struggling with a bad cough/cold for the last week or so and I'm hoping to feel better real soon. 

Cheers to new beginnings for 2010!

Be back soon.

Lovin' the Lights

After a few electrical glitches and a wasted strand of lights, we're up and running with our Christmas lights outside (and a fuse hasn't blown yet!)  Living in a 75+ year old home, the electrical panel and fuse box isn't the greatest.  For years, every time we used the hair dryer in the bathroom, the Christmas lights would blow!  I think we solved that little issue by hooking the lights up to our pool pump outlet!

Mail out time!

Just thought I'd chime in here to display a little 'ol teaser for the holiday greeting I'm sending out! I have them all packaged up and ready to go in the mail tomorrow. So for those of you on my snail-mail list, look out for it in your mailboxes in the next week or so.

I'm anxious for Christmas early this year (only 22 days left!) and I'm going to head out shopping again tomorrow... always trying to find the perfect gifts for everyone!

Nothing else new these days... I have a few custom orders I have to make in the next week and then I think I'm going to take a break from the torch for a little while before the holidays, and start fresh in the new year prepping for the March Oasis show!

Be back soon though, no worries.

Holiday Gift!

Today, I'm starting to put together special little gift packages for all of my customers! Email me if you want to be added to my mailing list to receive this holiday gift!


Nothing else too terribly new and exciting going on here. Just making beads for the beadFX Lampworker's Trunk Show on November 28th! (See my website for details).

Hope the weather isn't too chilly where you are... although do I dare mention that there is only 38 days until Christmas?! I guess I better start my shopping!

Bye for now, be back soon.

To the Capital

I'm just packing up, getting ready to head off to the country's capital for the Ottawa Glass Bead Artist's Show! There's an astounding amount of talent that will be there so if you're in the area, you won't want to miss it! It's amazing that we all use the same medium, the same tools, etc and all of our work is so unique and entirely different from one another! It's all in the imagination of the artist!

Hope to see you there! It's free admission too! :)

What do you do with the beads you buy?

Happy November!
Please take a second to vote in the poll on the right-hand side of the screen. Please feel free to post comments here as well, explaining your reasoning (or defending your habit of buying hundreds of beads and doing nothing with them!) I know we ALL do that, we have projects in mind and we never seem to get to them! :)

Live From The Show

Brought to you by my indigent camera feature on my blackberry, LIVE from the Toronto Bead Society Show on Halloween!


P.S. I'm quite annoyed that I didn't manage to get a photo of myself with the other "witch" lampworkers. Aw well, there's always next year. BUT, I did get quite a few compliments on my partial costume! :)

Thanks to all who came out for Day #1! Back again tomorrow!

I've been featured!

Just wanted to pop in here for a few minutes to let you all know that I've been featured on the OGBA (Ottawa Glass Bead Artists) blog in preparation for the 2nd annual OGBA Show and Sale coming up next weekend! Click here to read the feature.

You will also see my work included on the OGBA Show postcard advertisement, which will be available for you at this weekend's Toronto Bead Society Show. If you can't attend the TBS show this weekend, but you'd like a postcard with all of the OGBA Show info, please just email me your mailing address and I'd be happy to send you one.


Well, I better get back to packing up for this weekend's show. It's in the CNIB Building on Bayview in Toronto this year. The show runs tomorrow October 31st 10 - 5 (you can shop for beads all day and still have enough time to get the kids ready for trick-or-treating after the show) and Sunday 11 - 5. Hope you all can make it!

Be back soon.

Stuffed!

Two turkey dinners, two nights in a row... left over turkey sandwiches and still looking forward to homemade turkey soup ~ but I'm stuffed! It was a great family gathering of 39 people, although we were still missing a good bunch of people that couldn't make it from out of town or had other dinner commitments.

42 pounds of turkey, 36 pounds of mashed potatoes (and I'm not sure who peeled and cut them all up but one of the aunts deserves a ribbon!) 8 homemade pies; apple crumble and pumpkin of course, homemade carrot cake with whipped cream AND vanilla ice cream! Sheesh...
lots to be thankful for!






Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends! Back to business tomorrow, after a long lazy-dazy day today (because we all know that turkey makes you tired?) Click here... A Myth apparently?

Either way, it's definitely worth it! Yummmm!

Be back soon with more beady-type news.

Handmade Halloween Hits!

Just thought I'd share some of my favourite handmade
Halloween finds on Etsy!





Be back soon.

Ah Crap!

Just did a number on my diamond bit bead cleaner! Lucky I didn't lose a finger or an eyeball when the poor little bead went flying! Good news: the bead survived!


On a more cheerful note, a sneak peek at the Colour Contest bead ... nice colour palette Mary!

Another Success

Another show done... and it was another success! Thanks to all of you that came out to the show (even though it was pouring rain pretty much all day!) As expected, there were a lot of new faces and new contacts as well as familiar customers that attend all the bead shows in the Toronto area!

It was a nice venue with more than enough volunteers that did a wonderful job making sure the vendors' tummies were full of food and Tim Horton's coffee! :) They were all wonderful! I also donated one of my "Fairy Pod Pendants" to the silent auction, where the proceeds went to the Grand River Gallery. Congrats to the winner... if you're out there reading this! :)

I now have a couple of custom orders to make, so I'll get started on those first thing tomorrow! ...as well as Mary's bead, as winner of the Colour Contest! (see previous posts!)

Back at the torch tomorrow, right now I have to put all my show stuff away, until the end of the month for the Toronto Bead Society show!

Enjoy this crisp autumn air (if the rain holds up!)

Be back soon!

All Done

Now these babies are all cleaned and priced...
and ready for a home! :)
All packed up for the weekend too!
See you all at the show!

...And the WINNER is?

Thanks to those of you that commented here on my blog and on facebook... the overwhelming consensus is that this season's hottest colour is PURPLE with accents of teal and gray! Sounds really nice!

However, the winner of the Colour Contest is.....



~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~


MARY MEREDITH of Georgetown, ON. and her fave colours are a mix of carnelian orange, pale turquoise and accents of bronze/brown ... perfect for autumn! Congrats Mary! Please email me your address and I will send you your bead! (I'll make it this weekend and post pics early next week so you all can see what I came up with!)


Furthermore, I cleaned about half of the beads I made yesterday... the others will have to wait until tomorrow! But these babies are strung and ready for their price tags!



I'll be busy the next few days with last minute stuff to do for my show this weekend in Guelph! If you're in the area, I hope you'll come check it out! Click here for more info on the show!

Be back next week!

To clean or not to clean?

Of course I have to clean them! All 204 of them! I'll get started on that tomorrow, right now my wrist is so sore from some of them being stubborn while taking them off the mandrels! Sheesh...

Made lots of spacer beads in purples, teals and some gray too! Apparently this season's hottest shades!

Be back again tomorrow with the winner of the Colour Contest! Keep the comments coming people!
(See previous post).

Ciao.

Colour Contest!

Ok, so I'm trying to broaden my colour palette while working on new beads in the studio today and I am struggling with what this season's hottest colours are! Some years the teals, blues and greens are my best sellers, other times it's yellows and golds, and sometimes it's classic black and white!


Let's play a little game, shall we?
Comment on this blog post or on my facebook fan page of what your current favourite colour is (what colours you'd like in a bead right now!) ... and on Tuesday September 29th I will gather all of the people's names/comments and one lucky winner will be randomly drawn to win a free lampwork bead (handmade by myself of course!) in their particular favourite colour(s)!

Spark my colour creativity! ;)

Good luck to all!

Grand River = Grand Beads

Just wanted to chime here for a few minutes to spread the word about my next show coming up (really soon actually!)...

I'll be selling at the Grand River Bead Society Show and Sale on October 3rd, in Guelph, Ontario. Check out my show page on my website for more info here, or my facebook fan page! It's my first time doing this particular show (but it's no new show, that's for sure) so I'm excited about it! I'm anxious to meet even more fun beady people out in that way of the province! (But I still love my Toronto bead pals too!)



Furthermore, that little birdie I mentioned in my last post flew back around here and told me that the next Lampworker's Trunk Show at beadFX will be November 28th, 10-5. I have a few more shows in the meantime to prep for, so I should get my butt back in the studio (after dinner!) hee hee

Talk soon.

A Fresh Start... Again!

Thanks to all who came out to the Canadian Bead Oasis Show on the weekend! Always nice to see many of the same faces with new inspirations, and to meet new people and inspire!
As usual, coming home from a three day show (four days including set up time) always takes a toll on me, poops me out! It doesn't end after tear-down either... my studio always looks as if it was hit by a hurricane after a show. The mess from last minute projects before the show and then the boxes of "stuff" everywhere from the show, leaving a mere pathway from the door to the torch.

Well, I spent literally ALL day yesterday, not only cleaning... but actually organizing too! I'm proud of myself, a studio clean-up was a long time coming and it's completely done and ready for me to start fresh again, (with the exception of a good vacuum job, I'll get to that later today!)




Notice the time on the clock?
It was indeed a full day and night of cleaning!



Cleaned and re-dipped a good amount of mandrels...
ready to start at the torch again!



Ready to experiment with some new glass colours!



Do you think maybe I put too many books on the shelf?
It appears to be struggling :)



...still have to do a few "book work" things from the show (and I wanna get in that episode of Survivor on my DVR before Thursday night comes around again and I get behind!)

Be back soon.
Thanks for chiming in.

Ciao.

P.S. A little birdie told me that there is another beadFX Lampwork Trunk show in the planning, so look out for news about that coming up!