Monkee Business

Some days are better than others!  Today I found out one of my favourite web blogs is back!  Monkeemaker is back, bigger and better than ever, she has a whole new website and I can't wait to find out what kind of summer 007 has been having!

I was so inspired, I thought I'd have a go at monkee beads for a hollows exchange I'm in, they are in flux at the minute, I'm trying to figure out which is the best (and cutest) way to do them.



This is my first attempt, I was pleased as he's pretty cute, I made his smile with a black dot of glass covered with another the same colour as his face.



This one I decided I'd try painting on the mouth, I don't like the look as much as the first one.



Painted mouth again on number 3, it's not working the way I want - I think thinner stringer is in order.  BUT!  I do like the blue eyes!



Now even if you don't like Monkees you have to admit this one is pretty darn cute!  I had a revelation with his mouth and I love the way he turned out.  Too bad the hollow blew a hole just above his face so I put a blob of brown there hoping to patch it up, it looked a lot like a cow-lick so I decided to keep it just the way it was! --That's one of those 'happy accidents'!



This one looks even cheekier than the previous one - I'm liking this mouth sculpting thing and wondering how else I can use it!



This one is just silly, I tried to put a banana on his head, it didn't  quite work and I notice it's got a small crack in it - back to the drawing board.

....I have MORE cooling!!

Just for FUN

Ever wanted to see your name in lights? Well, maybe your beads on a building?

Here are the Moos Brothers brightening the side of this construction site! All of a sudden I feel larger than life!

First Annual Juried Show at the Marianne Van Silfhout Gallery - Brockville

And I'm in!! Yay!

I submitted a necklace and some loose beads, my necklace and six of my beads were accepted and I'm thrilled!

I finally finished my Warring States necklace that I'd had on the go for ages, I had strung some of the beads on a cord but finally made more so that I had enough to make a complete necklace - here it is -



It's bright eh? :o)

Let me see if I can find pictures of some of the loose beads that are in the show -













Here's a link to the gallery page http://www.sl.on.ca , the show runs from the 5th August through to the 12th September, and the Show opening is this coming Friday the 8th - I'm looking forward to that, there are some wonderful pieces of art in the show, lots of paintings as well as wood carvings/turnings/assemblages, jewellery, pottery and more!  I think my beads are the only glass in the show, which makes me especially excited and proud.

The Gallery is just inside the main entrance of St. Lawrence College in Brockville, there are maps available on the Gallery page of the website.

Flash, Bang, Wallop!

Well, it might not have been quite as spectacular as that, but it certainly sounded like it!

This summer seems to have been a never ending round of thunderstorms and rain, and Friday 18th, was no different.

I'd had a busy work day and was trying to process my photographs when storms started. In the end I shut everything down because I was getting nervous, ...and it was supper time! After supper it seemed like the last of the storm was trailing off into the distance and since I still had a lot of work to do I headed back to the computer. I don't think I'd been there five minutes when there was an ear shattering explosion of thunder and almost as big a bang from the computer. I screamed and I'm sure jumped out of my chair.

The internet had been down since I got in from work, but now the computer was down as well. Ugh! Husband David was nearly down as well, he'd been putting out the compost when that lightning struck - we're beginning to think he's some kind of magnet as that was his second close call in as many weeks.

What did we loose? A motherboard, power supply, speakers, telephone answering machine, internet and part of our satellite tv signal.

One week later - well, almost - internet was finally restored the following Thursday. I was on an imposed vacation from work, which would have been nice except I seemed to be spending hours on the phone trying to get things sorted out, it's so comforting to know I can talk to people in India for the cost of a local call to my phone company :oS

I could write a long story about my horrors of dealing with service departments and technicians, but I won't. There were some stunning moments, like when the satellite installer - a military man by all accounts, told me he'd probably be able to get my 20 year old tv to work with the satellite remote, even though it did not even have a sensor for any kind of remote. I thought he might be GOD. Then there was the instance of the internet cable installer (I thought -by his screams- he'd stapled his eyeball to the house or something much worse), who got stung by a wasp, I've never heard a grown man scream like that before - I'm so relieved that he'll never have to experience childbirth firsthand.

Please note, this is not the internet cable installer, but you get the idea!

All in all, it was an exhausting week, but we now have a computer and internet again, even if I can only use it for the five minutes a day that the thunder is not rolling through!

I missed showing these!

Somehow I missed showing these beads, I like the look of the ivory and silver with the transparent glass.

This one is called Flight



And here are some more using the same idea,

The Moos Brothers

I couldn't resist....



More to come - you know there is something quite comedic about cows...

Oh and the good news of the day is I just placed first in Artistry in Glass' beginner's category for this month!!  Yay!  I can buy MORE glass :o)

I'm still here!

Work and a busy schedule has meant I haven't had a chance to post the previous beads in my Etsy shop yet.  I've got another batch sitting in the kiln ready to be photographed, I just need some free and quiet time!!

The Marianne van Silfhout Gallery at St. Lawrence College in Brockville has an upcoming Art Show, the date for submissions is July 29th.  I have a few ideas floating round in my head and have also decided it's high time I finished my Warring States necklace as that would be worth submitting.  This isn't the best picture of it, but all I can find at the minute.