Fusing Glass class 1& 2

I just took my second glass fusing class last weekend and slowly I might be learning a thing or two. I can really appreciate Betty and Susan's work so much more. I knew they were both really talented but never really understood the process, I have a long way to go before I can even get close to what they do.

Isn't she sweet?

Check out my beautiful new doll all handcrafted by my good friend June. Her work is just so incredible, for a closer look at the detail, click on the photos. Thanks so much June I just love her!

My first fusing class

Check it out!! I took my very first fusing class a few weeks ago and just picked up my finished pieces today. I made a few fused pendants and look at these .... I made a set of 4 fused dishes. I love them ... I know they are not perfect but I had a great day learning something so totally out of my "box". Can't wait to take my next class in November.

Look what we've been making in class

Just wanted to show off some of the work done by students.
The necklace was designed and created by Margaret Bell. She made the
Silver Art Clay Heart and charm as well as a few of the components.
Margaret is a glass artist ... but everything she makes is beautiful.

Check it out!! How cute is this Ring made by Jerry Buckler. The ring was made in the Silver Art Clay class given last week.
Jerry did an outstanding job on this ring. She pick the perfect bold bead for this spinner Ring and it really reflects the person she is ... fun fun fun!! Great job Jerry.

A'Kasha Jewerly - Portland Oregon

Each time I go to Portland to visit my family I take a class from Steve Smith at A'Kasha Jewelry.
Steve is the owner of the store as well as a Gemologist and Jeweler. This visit he taught me how
to electroplate metals. If you are ever in the Portland area stop in and say "hi" and check out what
classes he is teaching.

A'Kasha Jewelry
12602 SW Farmington Rd
Beaverton, Or 97005
503-643-5101

Art & Soul Las Vegas 2010

Exciting LAS VEGAS!!

February 21-24,2010
at Bally's/Paris

Registration is now open!

Art & Soul is a paper, fabric, jewelry and fiber arts art retreat taught by internationally recognized instructors. We are thrilled to bring such a wide variety of skills and artistic talent together for a 6th year!

Choose from dozens of mixed media workshops taught by internationally recognized instructors—designed to energize your creative spirit and reveal the secrets of your soul.

Work and play with a multitude of media—from thrift store finds to
tempered glass, vintage photos to polymer clay, beeswax to horsehair, fabrics to water colors and more….

Crackle, quilt, bead, chart, fold, mold, carve, paint, collage, weave, sew and more….

Create a tiara, a shrine, a journal, a vision, a necklace, a masterpiece, a pillow, a shadow box, a memory, a quest and more….

Check it out:
http://www.artandsoulretreat.com

Bullet Ring

Thought I would share a photo of the ring I made my husband as a gift for our anniversary this year. I made him this new ring; this is an actual bullet casing from his 357 gun. I guess you could say "I made his day".
If you would like to see what the woman's style bullet ring looks like; go check it out on my classes blog.

Hope

This is for all my new found friends on Wild Earth, Zap Live and Hornby Island. I knew not one thing about eagles before I started watching the Hornby nest, through all of you all I have learned so much about these amazing birds. The other day the camera was down and I went to my studio and made this necklace to remember these past few months watching our little Hope. Thank you for all the information and laughs while lurking or participating in the chats. She will be fledging in the next few days and then what will we do?

2nd Year In a Row

Do you want all the best patterns out of Bead & Button magazine but don't want to buy all the issues?? Each year Bead & Button picks the best projects of the year and puts them into one really nice hard back book and guess who made it in for the 2nd year?? It's really a great way to have all the best projects at your fingertips ... get a copy of your own; it's on sale now at all the bookstores.

Taa-Dah!!!

All the pages of my blog are now open. That doesn't mean they are finished in any way; I will be adding to them weekly.
I hope the new format will help you find whatever you are looking for faster.
This first page, is my main blog & it will keep you updated on general Beadmetaler stuff.
The classes page will be dedicated to all past and present classes. I had a request to put the supply lists with the class schedule and I think the new format is really great. If you click on the button at the bottom of the slide show while it is in motion you will bring the project photos to full view, I think this will be most helpful when trying to figure out where I am using certain beads.
My jewelry page will be a big undertaking, I am going to try to put as many photos of jewelry as I can .... think of it as your inspiration page.
Currently on the shopping page I have my Esty site and Art Fire site listed and will be adding to them as soon as I can get around to it.
Cool Stuff page is where I will share all the "cool stuff" I have found or stuff we have used in class. I will also have the vendors and the links to them on the right hand side of this page.
Last but not least is my personal blog: La-dee-dah- day - keep in touch with what I am doing when I am not creating jewelry.

Getting My Act Together

Last week I was looking at my blog and thought to myself... hmmm, this has lost the look and continuity of what I wanted and what I wanted people to see when they logged into my blog.
I thought about how if I saw this format on someone else's blog I would think ...."what a mish-mash"; so I started brainstorming about how I could keep things more organized and share information about the classes and important jewelry stuff but also keep the personal touch of who I am as well ......after all; so many of you spend a lot of time in my home and I want you to feel comfortable and know who I am besides "The Beadmetaler". It will take me a bit of time to get it all together and I know you will all be very patient with me while I work to pull it together. So for now you will see just a small change in my blog. If you notice I now have 5 different links at the top of my screen. Classes, Jewelry, Shop, Cool Stuff and Blog. These will eventually be working links, I have these areas closed off while they are under construction and will let you know as I open each one of them.

How to use crimp beads and wire guardian's

Friday Night- Concert Night

Anybody who knows me would know that I LOVE music, anybody who knows me really well knows I love the old standards done by just about anyone. Friday night Greg and I went downtown to the Golden Nugget to see Steve Tyrell, he is playing for 3 nights only and is using Gordy Brown's show room, (another person I can't wait to see). I first learned about Steve Tyrell over 10 years ago. I was living in So. California and I was out antique shopping .... you know how they are always playing the old music in those stores? Well I was shopping and singing along having myself a "la-dee-dah-day" when the store owner saw me and said .... If you like this music you are going to love Steve Tyrell, the next day I went to the music store and bought his CD ... she was right I loved it from the first time I heard his voice. I play it so much in class, it's the perfect music to bead by. The first 2 songs on my blog will give you a little taste of his sound. Enyoy!!!

Live Eagle cam (takes time to load)

This is so cool .... This little eagle was born about a month ago, if you watch throughout the day you will be able to see the mother come home to the nest to feed him

Saturday Night -Concert Night

Last night we went down to the Hard Rock and saw Santana .... all I can say is "WOW" Great music, great show, great night! go see for yourself.

June Classes

You might be a redneck if you get one of these for Father's Day

There's no place like home

Today our Art Group had a charm exchange, the theme was "The Wizzard Of OZ". I can't believe how creative these ladies are.... I think this was our best exchange yet. Thanks everyone for my beautiful charms.
Click on the picture to see the details of these charms.

I took this picture at the Lake last weekend, for some reason there were hundreds of Lady Bugs there and my Granddaughter just loved them.

Mother's Day Surprise!!!

My doorbell rang at about 8:00 a.m. on Saturday Morning and I thought .... Yeah flowers from the Grandsons!!! I went to the door to answer and I didn't see anyone there so I was thinking .... hummmmm I guess the guy must have just left the flowers on the patio so I looked down out of the window and there they were ...... MY SON, MY DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AND MY GRANDDAUGHTER stooping down; hiding to surprise me when I finally opened the door. What a great surprise!!!! I would have never guessed they would have driven out to surprise me.
We had so much fun making jewelry, going to the lake and then of course we took Kaitlyn to Circus Circus. What a great weekend .... Thanks guys!!!

May Classes

Susan Boyle ... wished I could sing like her

I was watching the news last night and they were talking about a 47 year old woman by the name of Susan Boyle who
was on the British show, Britian's got talent. It is basically the same show we get here called America's got talent.
When this woman walked on stage and started talking to Simon everyone was laughing at her, the way she talked, the
things she said and yes ... the way she looked but ..... this woman can sing. Go to Utube and type in her name
Susan Boyle and watch her performance ..... she is an amazing singer. Utube has it set up so the clip can't be downloaded.

Check this out.

Turn off my juke box on the right hand side of my blog and watch this amazing video.

For all the crafty ones .... I dedicate this to you!

Turn off the juke box on the right hand side before play this video and sit back and get ready to laugh!

Aloha

Last week our 12 year old Grandson Oliver was here visiting from Hawaii. Oliver and grandpa went Kayaking at Meade last week and worked hard the next few days planting a vegetable garden in the back yard.

April Classes

March Madness

I feel so lucky to have a job I absolutely love and to be able to provide a safe, fun place where people can come together, be themselves and to create beautiful jewelry. Yesterday was open bead day and we also celebrated 3 birthdays (they were feeling very ROYAL ... check out the headwear they brought with them). We had a total of 15 ladies show up to work on projects and to help these ladies celebrate the beginning of another great year...... happy birthday to Jackie, Pat & Colleen.

Empty Bowls

Today was the 9th annual Empty Bowls charity event held in Henderson. What a great idea this is ... art students/clay artists from Las Vegas work hard to throw thousands of ceramic bowls. This event is open to the public, this was my first year to go and I can tell you it won't be my last time. You first walk into the room where 6 foot tables are in a line with hundreds of beautiful hand made bowls. You can pick as many as you like, each bowl is $12.00 then you take your empty bowl to the soup line where you have your choice of homemade soup and bread. This event also had a silent auction and a live auction and all the money goes to the Catholic Charity for the soup kitchen to feed the homeless here in Las Vegas. Thanks Tanya for telling me about this event!!

Got A Wig Jig and don't know how to use it???

Girls night out

Last night some of the girls and I went out dancing and had a blast.
Peter Jung dropped in to help us out with this one. Thanks Peter

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Ireland

Greg and I had an opportunity to go to Dublin Ireland when we lived overseas and just fell in love with it. It is so green and everywhere you look you would think .... I have seen that postcard. The people are warm and friendly and it is a trip I will never forget. Eva Cassidy has a beautiful voice and in celebration of St. Patricks day this month I wanted to share it. Enjoy!!

GREAT FIND

Yesterday I went to Bass Pro shop to try to find an alternative to the 8lb Power Pro since it is almost impossible to find anywhere on line anymore. I ran across the Stealth Camo Braid .... a really great find. It is the same braided line as the Power Pro but the nice thing is it is a blend of green, brown and tan color. I bought it in the 8lb and 10lb and brought it home to test out. I used the 8lb on a project I am currently working on .... It's really nice. I found the 8lb to be a bit thinner than that of the 8lb Power Pro but thicker than the 6lb. I think it might become my new favorite beading thread.

March Classes

For Susan ..... Telluride

I love this song by Tim McGraw and always think of my friend Susan who has a place in Telluride.
Wonder if she hobb knobs with the Cruises???

Happy Valentines Day

Can YOU find the strength???

Valentine Charm Exchange

Last night was the group Valentine Charm Exchange and the theme was "Romance" The charms were just out of this world. Everyone one of them were done with so much thought and care. I love them all and all who made them. I made a special bracelet with Silver Art Clay with the word "CREATE" just for this charm exchange. A few of the charms were a little to big but I am in the process of making a charm necklace out of them. For a larger view; click on the picture.

Feb. Classes

Portland Trip

I am back from Portland and had a GREAT visit with my family. This is my niece, Peyton ... a beauty isn't she??
She has a little sister, Rylee ... what a doll!! and the family dog Rosco, I really wanted to bring Rosco home with me but Peyton wouldn't have it.
Peyton taught me how to play her dad's WII game ... what a hoot, I haven't laughed that hard for ever.
Peyton is so good at these games she put me to shame.

Off to Portalnd Oregon tomorrow to spend time with my niece Erin and her family and my sister Dennie. My sister and I are going to play with the new Bronze Clay and take a class in hot & cold enameling on copper .... too much fun.
Just hope the snow will hold off while I am there.

Laughlin Rock and Gem Show

Whew ..... where did the year go??? I just noticed that I have written anything since Christmas.
Well Greg's son Ben and his girlfriend were visiting from Hawaii and we took them to the Rock & Gem show in Laughlin.
It is the 5th year for the show and it is pretty good if you are into cutting and polishing your own rocks. The show is actually at the Avi Resort just about 10 min past the Laughlin strip.
If you get a chance get down there, the trip is an easy 1.5 hour drive.