Support Tickets…

I found out something else neat about Wordpress, you can download the free software and set it up though your own hosting plan. It sounds like this option gives you more templates to chose from and lots more options. Being a template junkie I decided to give it a try, but of course I can't get the install file to run on my hosts server. I keep getting the same message and I've tried and tried every possible configuration of the info that needs to be submitted - nada, nothing .. baaaaah! Filled out a support ticket yesterday in desperation and so far have heard nothing back. I assume they are either overloaded with support tickets or have taken off for an early Thanksgiving break. I emailed them again this morning and will see what happens.

When we first signed up with this company their service was good, problems were fixed and they took time to explain how they had fixed them. Then it got taken over, and service was outsourced to another company and I'm not a happy camper. Sometimes they reply to tickets, sometimes they dont'. When they do fix something all I get is an email saying that the problem has been fixed, not what caused it and how it was remedied. A lot of the problems seem to be on their end too which makes me more annoyed. When this years hosting is used up I think we're going to be moving on!

That leads me to a whole other gripe about business' in general that feel like they have to reach astronomical proportions to make as much profit as possible, with no regard to the fact that their customer service is terrible or non-existent and that the business they first set out to run is nowhere near as good as it was when it was smaller.

Hmmm... I didn't think I woke up in a bad mood this morning....

Here's a picture of Jane and I at the Women's Fair in Carleton Place! I hope I haven't wrecked Jane's mouth.. she was caught in mid sentence with it wide open so I tried to close it a little for her with Photoshop ;o) ..next I'm going to work on my non existent chin!

Posting this picture for Beka to see

This Goddess has a cubic zircona between her hands, I'm posting it for my daughter Beka in NL to see!

Word Press

So, I think I'm liking this new blog setup - it still needs some tinkering with - let me know what you think! Leave a comment, especially if you have any suggestions for ways I can improve what I have here. My only concern is all my old pictures link back to Blogger. I'd like to do something better with the Gallery page and I'm open to ideas!

December Craft Sale

If you notice a difference in the blog I am trying out wordpress, it allows me to have multiple pages and seems to have more options than Blogger - we'll see!

I have registered for a Craft Sale in Smiths Falls on December 1st. It's being held in the Rideau Canal Museum on the main street there and starts at 9am. It's a bake sale too, and hopefully they will get a good turn out!

Women’s Fair and CL’s Necklace

With the Women's Fair coming up I thought I should make some Christmassy themed beads so here's a preview of some I'll have available that day -



I've wanted to make some Goddess beads as well, but can't bring myself to try the torso type so decided to take another track. There are some beautiful torso's out there, but I don't think I could bring myself to wear a naked body round my neck (it's the prudish side of me coming out I guess!!), so here's what I did instead. I've got some ideas to progress with these which might be fun to try. Don't pay too much attention to the trees, they will require YEARS of practise!



And here at last is CL's necklace, I am really pleased with how this project turned out, there are so many colours in it I think it would go with anything. I took the beads into the local bead store to see how best to string them and got such a positive response from the owner and other lady that works there that I came away on cloud nine.

Just when I think I've found the most amazing thing about the glass I'm using, I do something else and get blown away by what happens!!

These are the latest, the base beads are wrapped in silver foil, which is then burned off in the flame resulting in that wonderful colour and texture!!
 
I've put dots on top, and also used glass that will reduce in the right kind of flame giving a metallic shine to them.  

The reducing part is a bit tricky, I seem to get the effect but end up with one part of the bead where it burns off again, I guess it's another case of PPP -- I have to make more of these beads....
** A word of caution - silver fumes are toxic, so if you are going to use any glass with silver make sure your ventilation is VERY good!**

These beads remind me of the colours in butterfly wings

And the blues really pop if you put iris blue over top of opal yellow!! The picture doesn't do the colours justice.