The theme for Canada was ‘True North’. At first I groaned and thought ‘True North’?? But then I started [...]]]> I recently entered a call for entries for ‘Venture’ with the ISGB (International Society of Glass Beadmakers). Bead makers from around the globe were welcomed to create designs based on the theme for their area.

The theme for Canada was ‘True North’. At first I groaned and thought ‘True North’?? But then I started thinking. I tried to forget all of my preconceived ideas of what True North might be and wondered what my True North was. Immediately I was taken back to our Newfoundland trip and the northernmost tip of the Western Peninsula where we saw icebergs, whales, Newfoundland berries and so much more. All of a sudden True North was exciting and full of promise!

Goose Bay Summer

Goose Bay Summer

I tried to capture the memories in this bead — in the bay a big iceberg is grounded, gulls are flying overhead and a whale is playing in the waves.  On the rocky headland grows a pitcher plant (Newfoundland’s flower) and the bake apples (low growing berries) are beginning to ripen.

This bead taught me some things, it took about an hour to create and I had to keep every part of it hot during that process otherwise  it would crack.  Hot, but not too hot or the shape would distort and the details in the design would be lost.  I realise now that the shape of the bead makes it very hard to photograph – the elements of the design tell a story but that is lost in the photos because of the shape.  I couldn’t get a picture of the whole of the iceberg for example.

Goose Bay, Newfoundland

I am very excited to say that my bead was picked as one of only five from Canada that will be displayed in an exhibit at The Gathering this summer (2012) in Bellevue, Washington, USA).  The Gathering is an annual conference held by the ISGB and is THE place to visit if you are a glass bead maker or have any interest at all in glass and beads.  It’s quite an honour to be part of this event.

If you’d like to learn more about the ISGB click here to visit their site.

This post is catch up of important things I didn’t blog about (or started to and didn’t finish!).

My highlight of last year was our trip to Newfoundland, David and I went for two weeks in August to visit my daughter Beka and her boyfriend [...]]]> I admit it, I was terrible at keeping my blog up last year.

This post is catch up of important things I didn’t blog about (or started to and didn’t finish!).

My highlight of last year was our trip to Newfoundland, David and I went for two weeks in August to visit my daughter Beka and her boyfriend James – and to travel.

Usually August is not the best month for spotting icebergs, but 2011 was an exception – we saw hundreds!! They were breaking off from a huge ice island that had broken away from the Peterman glacier the year before.  It was very exciting to see so many, we even got to collect iceberg ice from the shore and made tea with it!  Our trip also included fiords, beaches, vikings, moose, mist, soaring cliffs, soft bogs full of amazing plants, wonderful company and delicious food.

Back tracking a bit, earlier in the year I took a class with Holly Cooper, now Holly’s beads are out of this world.  It can take Holly 3 hours to complete one bead, working on a hothead torch she paints intricate designs, with fine strands of (stringer) glass.  To say the class was a challenge doesn’t explain much at all.  I will say that after two days of watching Holly create my mind was filled with possibilities I had never even considered before.

Holly Cooper bead

During Holly’s class I met my soul sister!  We had emailed before this, but she came to stay with us as she was taking the class as well.  It was one of those life things, where all of a sudden there is this person in your life that you share so much in common with.  Right down to things like our mum’s sharing the same birthday, or we’ll find we were doing something very connected without knowing.

Louise beads from the class - Holly has no worries, I have a LONG way to go!!

Throughout the year I’ve been progressing with my beads – looking more at Viking period designs, evolving my Goddess beads and also trying pandora style beads for the first time. I recently entered a bead into an ISGB (International Society of Glass Beadmakers), competition and am waiting to hear i my design will be one of those selected.

Unembellished Goddess bead - sometimes simplicity can really work

Zentangles seemed to be the new big thing this year, we were zentangling on paper and on beads – seems like everyone has their own style for this kind of doodling.  It’s fun and inspiring, if you don’t know anything about it a quick search on Google is sure to turn up all kinds of info.

Last but not least late last year we decided to try a gluten free diet.  David, my husband has very bad allergies so we have cut gluten (mostly) out of of diets to see if there is any improvement.  I thought it would be harder than it has been as bread was a staple for me.  Fortunately I have discovered other options, coconut flour being one of them, and I think we are both eating healthier and feeling better.

Hmmm... coconuts, monkeys, am I beginning to see some kind of pattern here?

In December David brought home Angela who I’ve already blogged about – very brave  of him to bring another cat into the house since he’s allergic to them!

Words that come to mind when I  think of 2011 are -

Icebergs, Vikings, ‘the Maple kind?’, Soul Sister, Zentangles, chocolate coconut flour cake, Munky, NEWFOUNDLAND!

If you didn’t catch the ‘Maple Kind?’ video, check it out here, it really is hilarious.  The person who made it hails from the Maritimes I believe.  I heard that he opened up a Cafe Press or Zazzle store to sell merchandise because the video was so popular. ALL of his proceeds are going to help animals.  Wouldn’t the world be a wonderful place if everyone were like him.

While it’s not quite as noteworthy as the moon landing, [...]]]> Feeling excited about the beginning of a new year full of possibilities I’ve made some updates to my site.  My techy nerd side took over when I decided I wanted to add my blog to the front page and I’m pleased to say ta-daaa! I managed it!

While it’s not quite as noteworthy as the moon landing, I was pretty impressed with my achievement!

I used a Joomla extension called WordPress Posts which does just what I needed once I figured out the parameters it was asking for.

I’ve also switched things around a little and added some more pictures to my slideshow – 2012, off to a good start!

I’m not going to dwell on that, and I’m not going to dwell on [...]]]> Well, here we are, not only the first day of a new year but The first day of 2012 – the year that is the subject of much intrigue. Time will tell if the Maya, and others knew something that we do not.

I’m not going to dwell on that, and I’m not going to dwell on the subject of New Years resolutions – I’ve always thought they just seem to be a way to set yourself up to fail. Instead I’ll mention an idea a very good friend of mine mentioned, she is going to make a list of things she’d like to do this year – maybe 52 things, maybe not. A bucket list of sorts, but one for this year, not for the rest of her life.

Initially I thought it was rather like making many resolutions, but then got to think what would I put on my list if I had one? I realised my list would contain things that I would LIKE to do, not things I thought I SHOULD do, in that respect it is very different from resolutions. Even that word makes me shudder – Resolutions require you to be Resolute!

A list however big or small would be a reminder, a gentle nundge not to forget the things that may make your spirit soar, or give you the sense of finally taking time to do something you’ve always wanted to.

What would be on your list?

Mine would contain making time for creativity, I’d like to take out my Dad’s watercolours and spend time exploring possibilities with them. I’d learn some new things (I just registered for a beginners Animal Communication Course as a start) and definitely want to travel east, or west.

Last year my Blog got neglected, I’d really like to use it more as a tool to track and share my progress with dfferent things throughout the year.  To help I’ve just downloaded an ap I can use on my tablet to make updating easier — fingers crossed we are off to a good start.

Happy New Year to you, may it bring the things you desire whether you make a list or not!

This however won’t wait!

November 11 & 12th!  Ottawa Hellenic Centre at 1315 Prince of Wales Drive — that’s where it’s all happening — our fourth annual show of handmade glass beads [...]]]> I’ve been horribly slack at writing blog posts — I have a huge Newfoundland Saga to tell and just haven’t got down to getting it done.

This however won’t wait!

November 11 & 12th!  Ottawa Hellenic Centre at 1315 Prince of Wales Drive — that’s where it’s all happening — our fourth annual show of handmade glass beads and jewellery.

This year there are some new faces as well as lots of familiar ones, I’m looking forward to seeing what all the different bead makers and jewellery artists have been up to over the last year.

For all the information on who’s going to be there skip over to http://www.ottawaglassbeadartists.com and check things out.

What am I bringing?  Now that’s a good question!  I’ve got a lot of ideas crashing round inside my mind, I’d just like them to settle down a bit so I can figure out what is what.  I think for the first time this year I will have some Pandora/Biagi/Troll style beads – that’s something new for me.  Who knows there may even be a Goddess on one or two of them!  Hope to see you there!

Pandora/Biagi/Troll style beads

The weather was perfect for a good walk and I commented to David that it almost felt like Spring was in the air.  Not quite — but for sure the End of Winter was in the [...]]]> Today I heard Canada geese.
Today I saw a big V of Canada geese flying over.
Today I’m celebrating the End of Winter!

The weather was perfect for a good walk and I commented to David that it almost felt like Spring was in the air.  Not quite — but for sure the End of Winter was in the air!

We have a favourite walk we take that follows a spit of land that climbs up a hill between the Rideau River and Rideau Canal.  There’s usually something interesting to see along the way.

I took my camera along as I’ve been reading about apertures, speeds and all manner of things technical and was pleased to find that something had registered.

Notice the soft background in this image (using a large aperture) -

and the sharp background in this one (smaller aperture) – Yay!   that was enough for one day!!

Signs of life were everywhere, from the tell-tale tracks of a racoon in the snow -

To the culmination of a pileated woodpecker’s busy search for food -

I think he/she got a bit carried away with this tree – see the hole near the top!

It amazes me how some things that seem so delicate can survive the harsh Canadian winters -

Our walk ends at the ‘tip’ a point of land that looks down upon the river and canal – it still looks pretty barren and forlorn at the moment, but within a few weeks it will be bursting with the sights and sounds of  Spring.

Look!  This tree is so excited it’s waving it’s arms in anticipation!

I’ve decided to call this style ‘Ancient Muse’ beads because the fumed ivory and shape of the bead are reminiscent of something from a time gone by.  Each of these beads have three goddess’ around the circumference [...]]]> This is a new design for me which I sold for the very first time at our show last weekend.

I’ve decided to call this style ‘Ancient Muse’ beads because the fumed ivory and shape of the bead are reminiscent of something from a time gone by.  Each of these beads have three goddess’ around the circumference and a hole that runs vertically allowing them to be turned into pendants.  I’m pretty excited about them and want to experiment more with the silver tracery designs.

You can see from this image how the silver glass has fumed the ivory more at the top of the bead highlighting the design.

I’m anxious to get back to the torch and make more of these!

In the meantime I’ve added this one to my shop. Details are here.

Thank you for looking

I really feel blessed to be part of such a caring, kind community of people.

This was the best show yet!  I met new folks, visited with familiar [...]]]> I’m trying to think about everything that happened at this year’s Ottawa Glass Bead Artists show that was held this past weekend – and what a great time I had.

I really feel blessed to be part of such a caring, kind community of people.

This was the best show yet!  I met new folks, visited with familiar faces, learned new things and had a most wonderful time.  Thank you to everyone who turned out for the show, visitors, volunteers, vendors and artists, you all made it something very special!

Here is my good friend Jane and I at our table -

Of course, you know there is one thing you have to watch out for at Bead Shows —- Table Gremlins!!  We had one of those..

I think he had his eye on our tea biscuits, but we had them well  hidden!

For anyone who didn’t make it to the show I had some new designs there that I will soon be offering for sale online and hopefully in a few retail locations in the Ottawa area – more news on that to come.

Oh, and if you are wondering just who that cute little gremlin was — it is Alexandre Tougas who was at the table next to us with Muriel Duval and her beautiful creations.

I have just finished a class at The Glass Shoppe Studio in Ottawa with [...]]]> I started writing a post about Tom Holland’s wonderful presentation about Ancient Beads, but realised it was going to take me time and research to finish. I wanted to do a show and tell about his class as well so here goes -

I have just finished a class at The Glass Shoppe Studio in Ottawa with Tom Holland.  There were nine students including myself, once I get the group shot from Grace I’ll share that too.

Tom Holland creating a Triple Fold Islamic bead

Three days in class with Tom Holland is the most amazing thing I have experienced since I started making beads!

You may think that an important aspect of class time is getting to try techniques out yourself — I think we all agreed that one of the best things about this class was that fact that we spent 90% of the time watching and learning from Tom.

I’ve come away with a notebook full of tips and techniques that I can’t wait to try — my biggest problem at the moment is deciding where to start! Just a few of things we covered included – safety, raking and feathering, stringer, pulling latticino, making a star cane, bending beads, Islamic folded beads, layering dots, placing dots, pulling ribbon cane of different types .. ah the list goes on, the bead goes on, the beat goes on!!

Raking practise

Throughout all of this Tom eloquently added descriptions to what he was doing and also must have told at least a hundred stories most of which had us laughing or gasping in awe.

I think you could have heard a pin drop when Tom demo’d the Islamic folded beads, to see his skill with these is something else!

My bead left, Tom's bead right

The only thing that could possibly have made the class any better is if it had been longer!

Again, Tom's triple folded bead and one with applied Latticino cane.

– I’ve got more pics of Tom creating, but totally forgot to ask his permission to use them, so Tom or Sage, if you happen by this post please leave me a message and let me know if I can use the pictures or not! ;o)

Grove Goddess

As you can see, this was one of [...]]]> When I sat down to make this bead, it was going to be a Goddess standing in front of a tree. She was going to be obscuring the tree, which would be in the background behind her. Sometimes things don’t go as planned. . .

Grove Goddess

As you can see, this was one of those times. As I painted on the branches for the tree I realised there was a beautiful space and a little hill that was crying out for someone to stand upon. I decided to try and put a much smaller Goddess in the distance on the hill. I like the result! The question is – can I recreate it?? I had used a little left over stringer for the tree and I don’t know what the colours were. I’d like the branches just a little darker but not too dark – what colour to use?

I had also layered copper leaf over silver on the bead and some of the copper embers landed on the ivory glass – don’t want that! I have a vision in my mind of how this bead should look – it’s a glorious vision – I hope I can figure out how to turn it into reality!

FIRE UP THE TORCH!!