There be DRAGONS!

 Dragons are not a North American species of Owl.

Yet when Beth Dewey approached me in 2014 and asked for dragons, I said, "What the hey. I'll give it a try."

Requests can be inspiring, educational, or a drag. There are animals I just can't relate to, creatures whose energies I have no interest in connecting to. Slugs.
 There are artists who make slugs, and love them, and even I love them when they make them. But making slug energy in my life, Ehhh.... not so much.
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For others, this may be crocodiles. I love crocodiles, snakes, eagles, big horn rams, bison, bears,... Well, the list goes on.
Dragons I wasn't so sure about.

This year, Beth Dewey returned to my booth at The Best Bead Show in Tucson, and gave me a special brooch, a dragon eye. It was her thanks for the dragons I'd made for her. And she had a new challenge, a contest she is entering, which she would like some new dragons for.

I.Love.This.Brooch! I think I tried really hard not to cry. I wore it for the rest of the show. My sister, the indomitable Kit, was amazed that it went with everything I wore, and every piece of jewelry I put on.
I returned from the land of sun to the land of snow and single digit temperatures, to face the long night of the studio.

As a creative, you know what I'm talking about. Somehow some stinker let a gremlin into the studio while you were gone, and the twerp is sitting on your workstation, glowering down, thrilled to see a victim walking in. He has claws and teeth and they are all sharpened to sink into the weak, tired flesh of a creative idea, new and startled and hatching. This gremlin is ready to devour in doubt all your new fresh ideas, before they have a chance to grow into something groovy.

Well I had a Dragon Eye Brooch, to stare down that gremlin! I showed him the door, and he left without a goody bag or an invite back. In his absence? Inspiration stampeding like a classroom of schoolkids who have heard the tinkle of the ice cream truck!

and so, pictures of dragons. While I have been thrilled and gushing dragons, I by no means feel like these are the finished thing. There is something more, whether bodies or a definitive creature bent (birdlike, lizardlike, etc) but I am happy to say the dream goes on!

Have you discovered Val Cox frits – OMG!

I went to a show in Massachusetts in November. My booth was set up next to Wes Fleming, and I showed him some iris opal dark brown frit, which used to be made by Arrow Springs. “Do you know where I can get more? I am at the bottom of my jar.” Wes suggested go talk to Val Cox.  I stood there like a lump. “I dare you to go talk to Val Cox,” Wes said.

So, I tiptoed across the show floor, and peered at her orderly rows of jars. She and I started talking. I showed Val what I was making, and what I was reaching for in imitating stone with glass, to give my tortoises earthy and fine jewelry qualities. She started grabbing jars, and baggies, and making suggestions. I went home with four or five jars and as many sample baggies.

There were no test paddles on her table of these frits. So I had no idea what I had.

O  M  G!!!!!

The following Monday, I opened my jars, and spilled the lovely confetti into frit dishes, and started making just test paddles. Holy guacamole, they were the most beautiful, luscious undefinable mosaics.

Now I know why she doesn’t have any test paddles – because every color I put these on looked completely different!  I felt like I was Dorothy down the rabbit hole!

Day one I made turtles and tortoises . And they were so rich and satisfying!

Day two I made visionary fish – and wow! Did they pop with colors and textures I’d never seen before!

So – if you’re looking for a new experience in lampworking – go to Valcoxfrit.com and start ordering samples. You’ll be ready to buy jars in a day or two- I certainly am!

Bikini-Clad Amazon Goddess of Surfing

There’s a reason the musical “Annie” has run almost constantly for about sixty years. The reason is, optimism is a timeless message. Another reason is, art based on optimism can do nothing but rise to the surface, in any environment.

Today, I am wearing my optimism necklace. It is a bit funny looking, bold and silly, with a bikini clad blonde goddess who says, “Hey, let’s surf!”

I wear necklaces to remind myself to get out of the rut. I have a whole collection and each has a relevant message, to help me remember how to escape the quagmire of depression. Hey, not only is the surf up when the weather’s bad, lemons make lemonade, and flying by the seat of your pants is still flying!

So today, I say to you and me, open the window, not on what you know, but on what you don’t. Open to uncounted possibilities.

Every time I have done this, I am shocked at the sudden fire-hose flood of good turned on me by the laughing spirits. And if I don’t stay open to it, I will shed that gushing goodness like water over an umbrella. So today, I turn my umbrella upside down in the rain, and smile, and open my arms to the downpour. 

Joyce Scott - Glass Artist? Artist in Glass

Joyce Scott does not consider herself a glass artist. She is an artist who works with glass.

Joyce works in glass thru another artist – a flame worker. She sits by, says, “I want a woman , well endowed, just the torso, I’ll add the other parts in beadwork later.” Then she directs the creation with comments like, “Don’t do that. What if you just kind of let go?”  And memorably, “I am an African American Woman – that butt is not big enough.”

During her lectures and presentations, these are the quotes that made it to my notebook.

“There are no mistakes, only opportunity.”

“This is your opportunity to do what YOU want.”

“Be fearless in the studio.”

“I know that’s stupid, but I’m doing it.” I nod in agreement – so much of creativity is a journey with some really really incredibly stupid first steps. Yet there is no journey at all without daring to be ridiculous, uncool, and unwise.

 “For your collectors to walk the journey with you, you have to make new work.”

“If you don’t know how to do it, learn how to do it.”

“You should be attracted to your weaknesses, usually we run from weaknesses.”

Joyce maintained that anything we are terrible at we must learn to do. I talked to her for a long time about how to approach galleries, how to get the foot in the door. I believed there was a secret password, some shortcut to entry. She said, no, just call and do what they tell you .

I went home, picked up the phone and called the Metropolitan Museum of Art gift shop. I said I was an artist, I wanted to talk to someone about getting my work for sale in their stores. They asked me which of five phone numbers I would like, or would I like the address for product development? I dove for that address. It was like a lifeline, I would send them stuff, never hear back, and be safely a failure, deal over! Easy! Simple! And exactly what I expected. An escape!

I hung up with my address in hand and could see my entire past of gallery soliciting attempts. I was looking for a way to fail. I was hunting, desperate, for a way out of the pressure of being evaluated, treated like garbage, and essentially having the door hit me in the metaphorical butt with every rejection.

  And I found myself with a pile of barriers I had erected for myself.  I am terrible on the phone. I will not get anywhere doing this. I am a failure and here is the proof, one call and a gallery owner has sent me whimpering to the dog house.  I am not worth their time, these people sell Remington bronze originals, I am not in this league. I have orders, I don’t have time for this, I am too pressured to be creative, I have to feed my tortoises!

I learned from Joyce Scott that it may be hard, but I can still do it anyway. I may even suck at it, but I can do it anyway. My excuses are just that. They are only solid barriers if I believe in them.

MZ - New Glass and Wood Creations

More notes from The Best Bead Show, Tucson Feb 2014! Yes, enough stories to talk about for months.

Here is Margaret Zinser's booth. She has a whole new line of eco- friendly, US sourced wood jewelery. The designs are drawn by hand, then are laser cut into finished pendants and earrings. Exquisite designs continue her ongoing love and inspiration, insects.

Margaret Zinser's detailed enamel insect beads continue to grow in complexity and richness.  Holy wow, you won't believe the time that goes into these vitreous enamel painted pieces. Each piece is painted with one color, and then placed in the kiln for an entire heat, flame and annealing cycle. The next day, when cool, each piece is given the next layer of color. Often the colors are built up in layer upon layer.

 If you've ever painted on paper, just imagine working on a completely non absorbent material. Where does the moisture go? What does the paint adhere to? Yes, vitreous enamels are a labor of love, getting them to stick, stay where applied and not crawling, not running. Yet each application must be thick enough to not disappear during firing, which believe me, happens! These are her newest moths.

 And honeybees, honeycombs, and honeypots are new glass beads to make visitors mouths water!

 To see more of Margaret Zinser's work, checkout her website, www.mzglass.com

Chuck Burton

 Selling at bead shows means more than meeting new customers, and connecting with other businesses. Artists welcome each other as family, even when newly met.
Chuck Burton is a super great guy, and a fixture at many shows, large and small. This year at The Best Bead Show in Tucson, I was saddened that he wouldn't be my booth buddy. In past years we have been neighbors, and no artist could ask for a nicer guy next door than Chuck.
I once had a friend in a booth outside on a 14 degree Fahrenheit night. The wind was blowing, and she (idyllically thinking this is Tucson, we don't need no jacket!) didn't bring her winter coat. She had a leg in a cast, had the chills, and I walked thru the building asking if anyone would lend her their coat. She wore my husbands coat for a while, until he had to leave, and my coat would maybe cover a toothpick. No one would lend a coat. No one except Chuck. That is the kind of guy he is.

Thank goodness Chuck can't keep away, even when he isn't an exhibitor! Part of reconnecting with artists at shows is sharing the growth we've had in our separate worlds over the year. Chuck is taking a year off shows to work on his craft, and allow himself to play - as all artists must - to rediscover why he loves glass. He stopped by my booth at the Best Bead Show to share his recent discoveries.

These delightfully hilarious and morbid skull flowers, created using Karen Leonardo's skull stamp, represent Chuck's new artistic trail of discovery. Where has his creative trail led? To multi-media, and how rich are these little gems? He is making dioramas inside tiny little coffins, including his flowers, and creating a little world where beauty and decay laugh and dance a jig together.

Creative work requires a dialogue - the work itself can't speak to an audience without the feedback only an audience can provide. Every piece is one step in a journey, and each step is closer to the goal each artist aims for. But my steps are guided by my response to the feedback of other artists, and customers, and friendly passers by who I grab and prompt, "Hey, I need your opinion."

Shows, I find, are a great place to drink in the vital fuel, the second half of the dialogue, the response of viewers and artists.

Something NEW in Glass?

Yes, technically, nothing is new. But new to me are Shawn Tucker's awesomely cute and fascinating creatures on obsidian. He heats a piece of obsidian in the kiln, then sculpts a boro creature on the hot surface. Cool!

He also makes and sells tools for glass artists. Above is an example of a fish made with his fish pliers. Also above are the fish tools he makes and sells. Super nice, I got a pair of these and am currently exploring dragon heads by utilizing the adjustable jaws, which allow the masher to be opened and squeezed on larger items.

And the creme de la creme, the arrow marver! Shawn has built this out of graphite, and it is sweeeeet! with an adjustable mount, the tool can be left loose so the artist can spin it to where they need it or tightened to keep it sturdy. It allows for one-handed tube-opening, etc, use your imagination! Versatile and well made.

Checkout Shawn's work at his etsy site, where you can purchase his tools, or his glass work , Shawn Tucker Glass.