It is Stress Free Thursday!!!!!!!!

WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!! We are ONE day closer to the weekend and BOY I need the weekend to get here!!! (not that this weekend will be any more relaxing, but I LOVE getting to sleep even an HOUR later than normal!)

Today isn't a LOT calmer than the others this week... this week has been WAY too full of appointments. I have been running all over the place and have barely gotten anything done at work, in the studio OR at home. I hate that!!! It's been a combo of work-related year-end stuff, legal crap, sick kids and other appointments. I'm thinking next week will be a LITTLE better, but then I looked at the calendar and it's not MUCH better. :(

I hate that!!!!!!!! I want a few weeks where my franklin planner doesn't look all colored in! It's a pretty planner and I love it dearly. (I really do love my planner. I use it for doodling and bought pretty pages that make me happy to look at so that I'll use it) BUT I'm really tired of having stuff in the appointment sections. I'd rather draw there! ;)

(right now I have really cute doodles of Halloween princesses on some of the pages... now doodling valentines queens) and always squiggles and spirals filling the empty space.

I haven't checked the kiln to see the beads from night before last yet. I'm DYING to. I KNOW that there is something really interesting in there. Could be interesting GOOD or interesting BAD, but I'm dying to see it. It's one of many prototypes for the new project.

Speaking of the new project... I bought a magazine the other day and opened it up and there was something VERY similar to what I'm thinking about. I showed it to H with my sketches to see if he thought it was too similar and he said not at all. It's not even the same medium, so I really shouldn't worry, but I do. I came up with this wonderful thing in my head, all on my own and POOF someone else out there was having a similar idea in their head. I wanted to be the only clever girl out there I guess.... and this time (as most others) I wasn't.

I'm going to go ahead with it, even though I've now seen this other thing (that I wish I hadn't). My structure and engineering are different... it's just a similar theme. Wish I could talk more about it here, but alas, I can't.

I'm HOPING for a little beadmaking today, but we'll see. I have to get a kid to appointments today, so it all depends how scheduling works.... but I really would love to spend a few (which means more than 2) hours on the torch.

Wish me luck!!!

time for the tiny blah blah blah....

TODAY'S coffee is brought to me by Maggie!!!!!!!! Thank you SO very much Maggie!!!! She didn't send an annoucement or a shout-out for me to make on her behalf, so I'll just say...

MAGGIE, YOU ROCK!!!!! thank you SO much for my coffee! It's YUMMY!!! :)

coffee - Venti Cinnamon Dolce Latte WITH whipped cream

music - Sylvie's long mellow list - currently playing Jackson Browne's - "Stay". Next up, Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars"

It's Tuesday!

And I'm excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I started my online workshop yesterday. It's not really STARTED. I just formed the facebook group, invited the first round of people and got things structured and ready to go. (if you didn't get an invitation and you wanted in on this workshop, let me know as soon as possible because we're getting full. Go to facebook and look up the group "Finding Your Voice as a Glass Beadmaker" and request to join. If you would include a note saying you read about it here that would help.)

I was going through my photos to show how my own participation in the course caused such a big turn in my work and DID bring me to find my voice. It was very exciting to re-live that. AND very exciting to know that I might be the catalyst for other people to make those leaps as well. (I think I'm going to share the pictures here of my own journey later this week... if there's time)

Without starting a big argument... I was REALLY discouraged when I was on Lampworketc.com the other day. I had REALLY hoped (although I shouldn't have) that the whole "what's copying/what's not" discussion would have gone away by now. UGH!!! This is EXACTLY why I need to teach this workshop.

ENOUGH of people saying "well, if so-and-so posts a bead online isn't it free game??? Can't we all do our own interpretation of it without being in trouble??" OY!!!!!! (that just made me think of a funny Gilmore Girls line... "oy! with the poodles already" <--- I have no idea what it was about, but it made me laugh)

ANYWAYS... back to the subject... When I read the posting about what is public domain - I just wanted to post... BUT WHY DO YOU CARE???????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT would you want to do that for???? Sure, you can learn a technique by looking at someone else's work... figure out how they've done what they've done... what colors they've used.

But WHY would you want to spend your time making beads that someone else is already making????!!!!! (ok... I KNOW the answer to this. I just don't want to know it. They're doing it because that's what SELLS OR because they love those beads and don't really want to PAY the person who thought of them first so that they can have some.)

i KNOW I'm stepping on toes here, but it's really how I feel and this IS my blog after all. (and if you're not a beadmaker... just fast-forward through today because I'm on a roll...)

And this is EXACTLY why I am teaching this workshop. To STOP the insanity of beads inspired by beads. It's just plain BORING!!! I was looking through the galleries (postings on lampwork etc. NOT a real gallery) the other day and saw these beads and thought "OMG! I have NEVER seen beads like that before!!! Those are SO SO SO cool!!!!" But then started to page down and low and behold.... there were at LEAST 5 posts (if not more) of beads that looked just the same... only different colors. I was SO disappointed!!!! It was only because I've been out of it for 2 years that I didn't know that these beads were all the rage and that EVERYONE was making them. BORING!! It totally ruined those gorgeous beads for me. :( And maybe it shouldn't.... but it did. The beads that had been so special when I first looked at them became common-place because they ALL looked the same!!! Beads inspired by beads inspired by beads... blah blah blah.

SO it's time for me to shake things up!!!!! I'm REALLY hoping that the people who participate in this workshop will leave with the knowledge of how to take themselves to the next level. To be the beadmakers who inspire the boring beadmakers who have no source of inspiration other than other beadmakers (ouch!) I can't WAIT to see what happens!!!!!!!!

(I am back and adding this... My mom just read my post and e-mailed me to ask if I'm channeling Sarah Palin today. She was looking for me to add the word "maverick-y" and "you betcha" a few times in my "gonna shake things up" rant. Very funny.)

tiny blah blah blah

coffee - Cinnamon Dolce Latte (YUM! and I'm wondering if they put extra shots in there because I do admit that I am a bit wired... but I'm also excited, so hard to know if it's the caffine or the inspiration)

music - NO!!!!!!!! aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!! I keep leaving my ipod at home!