I'll Take One of Every Color!

So what happens when you have a great customer who orders "one of every color" in Thompson Enamels?  Well, after you jump up and down a few times, you recruit a willing volunteer ... which is usually someone you have some influence over.  In my case, it was my son, David.  

                      

He was really getting into it ... and tonight during the intermission of the Caps game, he went over to the studio to finish things up.  

Here's a picture of me wearing my "Jerk" glasses!  You remember the Steve Martin movie where he becomes a millionaire and then loses it all after he develops these wacky glasses. Well, I'm sorry the picture doesn't show it that well, but these magnifiers clip onto your regular glasses and you can lower and raise them as needed.  I like them so much better than the magnivisor I have.  Personal preference! 

I want to thank everyone for being so supportive of Painting with Fire!  I try to show my appreciation by including freebies with every order and by shipping things quickly.  Of course, if you're a member of the Painting with Fire ning, you get 2 extra beads with your order of 10.  If there is something I should be doing that I'm not or some other service or product you want, just let me know.  I'm exploring purchasing larger quantities of beads so that I can sell them to "torch bearing" ning members at greatly reduced prices.  So long for now ... my feet hurt!  

My Trip to the Webster Flea Market

What is this?

Great goodies from my favorite flea market ... Webster, in the town of, you guessed it, Webster, FL!

I get the greatest stuff, especially from the old German couple (who it turns out are Polish!).  I apologize, Renate!  I have no idea what this is (above), but I liked the color and the aged quality.  I wonder if it turns thin sheet metal into wire ... or maybe it does something to paper.  If anyone knows what this is, please tell us!

Couldn't leave without the African powder glass beads and chunks of coral ... and how does it get any better than blue and orange lying right next to each other.  But this lady also had some great tins with the objects still in them!

Oh, and then there was this lid that might have been from a sewing basket, but look at the detail in the tassel, which was made of woven or crocheted metallic threads.  It has Chinese knots and streaming silk threads.  I have to think up something special for this!  And, the turquoise bracelet, which is attached to the tassel, is made of glass!  

 

Commemorative copper and brass spoons look like they're waiting to become bracelets ... possibly with some beads for color.

What if I were to saw out the strainer part and use the opening for some resin work ... wouldn't that be cool? A frame, in essence!

In another life, I think I remember getting "lightheaded" from this cleaner ... but that's not why I bought it, I promise, because there was a note on the box saying that the bottle was empty!  Truth in advertising at its finest!  

The picture doesn't do justice to this steel tape measure.  The numbers are raised and not stamped on in ink and it has a beautiful patina ... like gunmetal.  I have some ideas for this, too. 

Some sterling silver intarsia earrings for $5 will be separated and become charms, a center punch will be useful in the studio, and the steel 6" ruler will be used as a ruler ... how original!  

And finally, a powder puff holder!  As you can see it was a great day.  I could have kept going, but everyone has a limit, which is usually established by the checking account!

Hurray! I've Finally Got My Blog List!

I've missed visiting a lot of my friends.  When I set up this new blog, there was something broken with Blogger that prevented moving the widgets around.  I couldn't set up my blog list without it appearing within the first couple of widgets on the sidebar ... or it was coming in at the center of the blog before the blog posts.  So, just now I tried it again and it's working!  It wasn't me, I swear!  I found others through a google search who were complaining.  I feel at peace!

Art in the Park in Historic Kenwood

My Craft Booth at Art in the Park, Kenwood, St. Pete

Did this Motley Crew scare away customers, do you think?

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day, but very blustery.  Our booth underwent changes all afternoon to the point that the mirror (right hand corner on the table) was laying down to prevent 7 years of bad luck!  Fortunately, everything was staked down well, but I still couldn't help myself from jumping up to hold down the tent when a big gust came.

It was our annual Art in the Park in Kenwood, our neighborhood in St. Pete.  Kenwood is a very neat area, I've written about it here before, so if I'm boring you, I apologize.  It's 2 miles from dead center  downtown St. Pete and 12 minutes from some of the most beautiful beaches in Florida.  Our house is 2 blocks off of Central Avenue, which is the main drag that goes from downtown St. Pete to the beaches.  

In Maryland we leave in a rural area.  It is very beautiful, on the water, with an "unofficial" bird sanctuary on the opposite shore that provides tons of entertainment.  But it is friggin' far from every convenience in the world.  It takes me 30 minutes to go to any department store, by that I mean a Target or Walmart, which really aren't department stores!

After our trips to Europe in 2005 and 2007 I told Jim that I really wanted to have a more urban setting for our next home.  I wanted to walk to places.  Here I walk to my hair salon, walk to the art supply store, to the Goodyear Plant where they have neat rubber things for jewelry, to some wonderful restaurants, to Haslems (the oldest book seller in the U.S.).  We're 2 miles from Bay Walk, which has a Muvico with stadium seating and an IMAX theatre where I hope to see Alice in Wonderland this trip.

Kenwood also has the largest concentration of Bungalows in the state.  When downtown St. Pete was being developed in the 1930's, the City moved the Bungalows to our neighborhood.  It is very quaint, but still in a state of renovation.  Howeve, Cottage Living voted Kenwood one of the best cottage communities in the country in 2005.  It has a great sense of community because when Kenwood started it's redevelopment in the early 1990's, it was spurred on by a series of "porch parties," a tradition that still exists.  

Kenwood has been voted many times as a community having the greatest sense of "community" in St. Petersburg and with the most active citizens association.  I can't wait until we're permanent residents.   As you can tell, I love it here!  

If you're looking for a home (secondary or primary) in a warmer contact, get in touch with me ... I know a great real estate agent!  Actually, I sound like I should work for the Chamber of Commerce or something!

Enjoy your Sunday ... it's sunny outside!

38 years of wedded bliss!

No this isn't me, but it may as well have been. Yes, today's my wedding anniversary.  I searched this morning to find a wedding picture, but I guess the album is in Maryland.  But, it won't take much imagination to envision what I looked like on my wedding day!  I wore a double-knit, polyester, mini skirt with matching top that I had made myself ... and wedge heels.  My hair was mid-way down the middle of my back, blonde, and kind of wavy.  Jim wore some kind of sports jacket ... which I know was also polyester.

You youngsters won't understand when I tell you that polyester was a blessing ... it was like wearing upholstery fabric, though ... but it didn't need ironing!  One of my jobs at home growing up was to iron the dress shirts my dad wore to work.  You just don't know ... ignorance is definitely bliss in this case!

This was before that fabulous fabric, Quiana!  Or, maybe Quiana was out and I just couldn't afford it!  Now I'm doing your research for you!

I'm sure my polyester mini skirt still exists in some dump somewhere since the fibers never break down.  I think it must have been a byproduct of the space program ... along with teflon, freeze-dried foods and Tang!

A Book ... When a Dream Becomes a Reality!

When I saw Tonia Davenport's email with a subject line of "Happy Friday!" I knew it had happened ... that North Light had accepted my book proposal.  Tonia, an Editor for North Light Books, and I had been communicating since mid-December on a proposal for a book on torch-fired enamel.  There are nods to torch-firing in outstanding enameling books, such as that by Linda Darty, but nothing comes close to exploring the technique as fully as it could be.

It started quite simply with a statement from Maire Dodd, who is definitely getting a t-shirt and matching cheerleading skirt, that went like this, "You should write a book."  The next statement, from me, was equally surprising, "You think so?"  And, then, I remembered a blog post from jewelry/mixed media artist, June Roman.  I am a follower of June's blog and I adore her work ... some of the finest out there.  She had written on her blog that her book proposal had been accepted.  In fact, June's book will be released in June.

June and I both had work featured in the Winter 2010 Issue of BAJ and we were breaking our arms patting ourselves on the back ... silly girls!  So, I told June that I wanted to write a book and was being encouraged by blogging friends to do it.  I said that any information she would care to share with me would be very much appreciated.  June was so forthcoming and the essence of the conversation went like this:  you should do it!   your work is great!  and not only should you do it, you need to get in touch with my editor, Tonia Davenport!  Tonia is great to work with!  When you're ready, let me know so I can put in a good word for you with Tonia."  

A week later I'm contacting June saying, "You remember when you said .....   Well, I'm ready."  There you have it in a nutshell.  There were many more emails between Tonia and me ... but now I'm ready to get started.  

The book will focus exclusively on torch-fired enamel .... and all of its virtues.  Each chapter will introduce a new technique.  Jewelry will be made from the items that I enamel. 

I'll be busy, but I welcome it.  If you've never tried torch-firing, I hope to be able to do some hand-holding through this book.  If you've tried torch firing and have questions or want a little more, I hope you'll find it in the book.  And when all is said and done, I hope you'll find inspiration in Painting with Fire!

TOTAL IMMERSION!

trunk packed for Reston Workshop

All I can say is that I'm glad that no one rear-ended us on the way to the Reston Workshop or we would have been a ball of flames speeding down the highway!  But, we arrived safely to the welcoming arms of Jeanette and Cindy who had the workshop extremely well-planned.  Coffee was on, Cindy had made a coffee cake, the very famous product of the Girl Scouts ... their cookies ... was there.

And we had men to do the heavy lifting.  Jeanette's husband, Steve, was at the waiting to help unpack the car and I had Jim.  Between the 5 of us we made quick work of unpacking the car and setting up the workstations.  Cindy's husband was fortunately able to take the boys to their various sporting events, but stopped by later to say "hi," at which time the boys showered their mom with hugs and kisses!  

The workshop couldn't have gone any better. I really enjoyed meeting the ladies, and one fine gentleman.  People brought things to experiment with to see if they could withstand the flame and keep the enamel on it's surface. Mike brought keys that he enameled beautifully.  Sue of Sue Beads brought some beads that produced nice results.

We had a beautiful day and ate our lunch outside by Lake Anne.  Cindy and Jeanette had ordered yummy sandwiches and all the extras, which Steve picked up and delivered to the workshop at the appointed time.  We had a chance to relax, enjoy the weather and our lunch, and chat.  It was wonderful! 

And, at the end of the workshop, we had lots of helpers who were able to stay behind to clean up, for which I am so thankful! I would like to give a special thank you to Bead Soup Swap Lori and to Linda ... and to many others.  It is so appreciated because there is no expectation that students stay to clean up so when they give so willingly of their time after a full-day ... well, thank you!  

Just a good day to be had by all and I was successful in adding more recruits to the Ring of Fire!

Let the Weighing Begin!

Thompson Enamels

No, I'm not at Weight Watchers! but I am getting ready for my workshop in Reston.  I am so looking forward to meeting a lot of blogging buddies and to teaching others have to have fun playing with fire ... in a good way!

The whole business process has been so educational but what's been great about it is the students are pointing me in the right direction ... I'm just following their lead. Students said they wanted torches and equipment ... so I got equipment.  They wanted beads  ... I got beads.  You're getting the idea ... Point me in the right direction and I'll go.  Then they said, "You should really have enamels that we can buy after the workshop."  So that was my next step.  And that is where I was yesterday morning, weighing out these sherbet colors ... which will become much more intense with the addition of heat.

The workshop is very organized ... it needs to be because we enamel at least 60 objects during the 6 hours. It's filled with demos throughout the day ... a show 'n tell ... and let's not forget lunch!  So, I'm still packing and packing and packing ... but it's all worth it when the day arrives and there are so many bright faces!

Welcome, Doreen, to the Wonderful World of Etsy!

Many of us have long admired Doreen's beads ... and her blog, which is also a work of art, but we couldn't pry her beads from her tightly clenched fists.  Well, Doreen has just announced that she's going to allow us to buy her beauties.  Please check Doreen's blog ... and then her etsy shop ... and then take the next logical step of purchasing some of her works of art.  

Drum Roll, Please!

Okay, I couldn't stop at three, I had to add another winner because things just got to be too much fun.  Actually, you don't know how much I wish I could send everyone something ... but we'll just have to do this again in the future!  You've given me so many moments of entertainment reading your comments that I just wanted to give back.  We've got some incredibly funny people out there!  

So, the winners are:

Creative ArtyFacts

Zaftig Delights

Carol Bradley

Mel P.

I want to thank everyone for playing along and for joining my blog.   I hope you'll check in regularly to see what's going on in the Ring of Fire... !  Oh, and I decided that the winners should have their choice of color.  So please email me and tell me your color preference:   Dusty Rose, Dusty Blue, or Mandarin Orange!   Thanks for making this an incredibly wonderful 10 days!