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Wow, last day of July. I hate to see the summer zooming by like this. Ah well, it’s all good. I posted two necklaces last night (click on the pix to go to the auctions)…
I also put some new things into the store here…
I’m working on a kind of a weird necklace at the moment. *I* like it, but I’m not sure if anyone else will like it. Anyway, I had to swipe two beads from Gabe’s stash, which then entailed me going to eBay and revising the count available in the auction… and that’s when I discovered I was locked out of my eBay account. No biggie now, but it was freaky at the time. Turns out eBay Security thought my account might have had some unauthorized person trying to get in so they temporarily froze it. Mike and Monica went to Barnes and Noble today to get a couple new books. Gabe’s still finishing the new Harry Potter book. Don’t forget, it’s Shark Week. We’ve been having fun watching. Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) The 19th-century German philosopher is renowned for his pessimistic view of life as defined by needless suffering and the primacy of human desire over the intellect. But he saw the possibility for salvation from this miserable existence through ascetic living, an appreciation of art, and charity for fellow man ("loving kindness", in his words). The two enemies of human happiness are "pain and boredom", he wrote. The symptom of unhappiness is the pursuit of wealth, he believed.
Darn! I forgot to blog yesterday. Sorry. I did make some jewelry and worked on improving my photography, but I forgot to photograph the copper bead that I dipped in liver of sulphur so I could show you the effect. Anyway, went to the gem faire early Saturday with Patrice and Alex. It was rather a subdued affair, but I still managed to spend some money (not NEARLY as much as I usually spend, though). BTW, Alex and Patrice… did you notice that the one thing I really wanted (those strands of Hessonite Garnet), I forgot to go back for? D'oh! Ah well, I'm soaking a couple of things right now just to make sure the dye is permanent. So anyway, I got some jewelry made and photographed and will list them shortly. Dinner's sort of on hold at the moment 'cause Mike's team didn't kill the last boss so they have to start over. I want to take this opportunity to mention a few people from Etsy who've been really nice to me. First, there's a super nice lady in Another shop I'd like to mention is Lampwork Diva, featuring glass beads by Cindy Gimbrone. At the moment, I'm particularly fond of her "Niagara Skies" series. Last (for now), but certainly not least, is Sonita's Treasures. Unfortunately (for you), I just bought one of the coolest items in her store, but there's plenty more where that came from… she has pages of wonderful handcrafted items… and she does all this with two little ones underfoot. Eek! How does she do that?! Well, I know I'll be back for more when I have time to shop because I already saw some more things I want to get. Yay! Okay, it's
Alright, I'll sign out now… I'm too tired to maintain a train of thought. TTYL! And may I start off with: TGIF! Added this bracelet to the website:
Oh, I don’t think I ever showed
you any of Blackie’s babies! Here’s
Smudge:
And here are three pictures I found on the internet that I think are hilarious…
Well, it looks like no hockey this weekend. Bummer! Simpsons movie comes out today. I wonder how crowded it will be. I’m sure Mike wants to go, but I think we both hate crowds. Well, supposed to go to the Santa Clara Gem Faire with Patrice and Alex. It’s always fun seeing beads. Okay, I’m out of time… TTYL! I’m pretty busy today (yeah, comparatively speaking), and in a minute I’m going to go meet Mike for his 2nd surgery consult. So I’m merely going to leave you with something I think is sadly hilarious… it was forwarded to me by my good buddy “other Laura B” (but of course, to HER, *I* am “other Laura B”). Recently, I was diagnosed with
A.A.A.D.D. - Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder. This is how it manifests: I decide I better put them back on my
desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers. Then, I head down the hall trying to
remember what I was planning to do. Wow, I absolutely LOATHE doing court paperwork for custody change of the children. Wwwwwaaaa! But I have to, so I need to just buck up and do it. Eek! This Okay, rant over… now onto normal stuff. So, what was this I heard about regarding the current Tour de France? To improve stamina, the latest thing is to have a blood transfusion of someone else’s red blood cells so you have more oxygen in your system. Holy cow! Oops… whole day gone. Sorry! Will try to come up with something more enlightening tomorrow…
My good buddy (Scary Terri) turned me on to this most amazing artist. You HAVE to check out his work. Hm… not really sure how to make anything follow that one. Those of us who scratch the surface of the art world can be really humbled on a daily basis. The kids are home… yay! When Monica found out how much her hockey is going to cost this year (and she doesn’t even know the worst of it yet), she offered to help raise more money. I’ll try to teach her this week how to list other things on eBay so we can get a steady flow of money for the AAA fees… little bits here and there will help. Mike was excited today ‘cause I told him about another Great White attack off the beaches near Half Moon Bay. Shark week is coming up! July 29-Aug 4 I am NOT doing my part to keep the retail industry alive. My post office box has been empty for weeks! Wwwwwwwwwaaaa! I miss buying the gorgeous Lampwork and pc beads I see on eBay. My experiments today (first time
ever) with Liver of Sulphur were less than
stellar. They weren't HORRID... just sorta mediocre.
I'm thinking that MY opinion is that I'm going to have to be very
careful how I use this because I'm not overly fond of the tarnished
look. A little patina is fine, but I
don't want things to look tarnished. Ick. I did a small strand of sterling
chain and it looks gold. How did THAT
happen?! Then I took one of my copper
beads... the ones that look dark (that Gabe sells). Anyway, I did
one of those and then brushed it with a steel brush and now it actually looks
like copper. Weird. I'll try to remember to take a pic next time I'm doin' pix. The kids come home tomorrow
night. Yay! I'm glad they had a good time, but I also
miss them. I'm still trying to tweak the
site. It's frustrating not being able
to do certain things... like get empty spaces moved. Wow, I just went in there and
played around and actually got what I wanted for once. Still needs lots of tweaking, but I like
when I can actually DO something with html and templates and such. Anyway, I added some gemstone
bracelets. These ones...
And blah! I spoke too soon. Yeah, I got my thumbnails to go three across (in the website) and I got rid of the empty space between the menu and the thumbnails… but I have no text! My title descriptions on the category pages are black font on black background. Wwwwwwwwaaaa! I'm tired… I'll try to deal with this again tomorrow. 'Night all! Okay, so just noticed that I'd
referred to every date this month as 2006 (don't look; I've already corrected
it... hmph). Had lunch with Alex and Patrice
today. Whoohoo! Nice food, great company, outstanding beads
and jewelry. I need to make something
magnificent with some of Alex's beads.
Tomorrow, maybe I'll experiment
with Liver of Sulfur. I've had it for
over a year... you think maybe it's time?
Besides, I bought THAT before I bought the Next week, I'll add the section
to the website for the re-instatement of the contests and I'll also put
keywords on my old blog entries so I (or anyone
else) can find things I might be looking for. Guess who sat in my lap today...
of her own volition! Little Miss
Calico. Ha! The cat who wouldn't DREAM of me coming
within arm's length for the past 8 months.
Only one more day, though, then we release
her back to the wilds of east This entry isn't for information
purposes. I'm tired. Long day.
After lunch with Alex and Patrice, Mike and I went out and bought me a
new CPU (I can't do anything with a dying one now, can I?) then grabbed
something to eat, got cat and dog food, and stopped at Michael's for some
jewelry boxes. I got home, listed four
bracelets and now it's after Here, btw, are the listings I
put up tonight... (you can click on any photo to be taken to the eBay
listings)
Okay, in case you didn’t notice,
I changed my website around. The way it is with ProStores, it’s too difficult to change the homepage
constantly so I’m just leaving it sort of ’as is’ for the most part and then
just updating my blog on my BLOG pages. J Hope you don’t mind! Not too much new news... Put three new listings up:
I also made a mini tutorial on
some photo-editing techniques... here was the disclaimer first: A) NEVER NEVER NEVER over-sharpen. ick! The only thing worse is
fake sparklies (with over-saturation running a
close second)
Oh, I also (took me two days to figure out how to do it
properly) made my first YOUTUBE video.
It’s the bracelets I sold in 2007 set to music. So make sure
your volume is on when you click here… I need to go back and find one
my sister did... it’s a laserium (ha!) show set to
a NoBoy song (one of my old bands). The kids are still in All the ferals
have been released except New eBay listings and Wow, what a day. Got the four cats to the clinic… just got
them back home. We have to keep two of
them until tomorrow night, one of them for three days, and the last one for a
week. Joy joy. I made some bracelets (that I
really like). Will try to photo them
if I have time tonight (after getting orders out). Got some new listings up on
eBay… Two bracelets I REALLY LIKE… And then I also made a fairly
feminine (for me) necklace of Citrine and Aquamarine… Then I also got new
listings into the store here. Now, regarding this week's
contest… we had a WHOOPING turnout for last week's contest, but so far, if I
get one entry for this week, they'll be the winner. Yup!
Not one entry yet. C'mon
people… get those cat-oriented items in here.
What else? Oh, here's today's bead/jewelry
news… CONTESTS (besides mine, of course). There's one I really wanted to
enter but only two weeks left… on the Bead & Button Forum (which is going
through a change this week… eek!)… Due Date: How to Enter: Between now and July
31st create a piece of wearable art with your interpretation of the theme
Cool Waters. Please not that this piece MUST be created during this time
period, so please do not submit older work. More details on the
forums! Bead–A–Day
Call for Submissions Lark Books Entries must be postmarked by
Okay, now, back to work… photos
waiting to be taken. See you tomorrow! Oh, sorry sorry
sorry… but I have a great excuse! This weekend was for trapping the ferals and getting them in for fixing. Yay! Will update tomorrow, I
promise!!! Contest #1 Winner Announced,
Contest #2 Theme Announced and Time-Management/Scheduling So, here's the big news… I'm
going to announce the winner of my first Bracken Designs Weekly Contest…yay! Remember, the theme was Summer…
and the judging is totally subjective… it's ONLY based on what MY impression
of summer is compared with the entries.
First, I'd like to really thank
all of you from the bottom of my heart.
It was SO sweet of you to send me SEVENTEEN!!! Entries in such a short
amount of time. And I loved reading
the explanations you provided… so did others (they emailed me and told me). Selecting If you need a refresher
on the entries… And, I'm setting up a catalog in
here so you will be able to go back and check out past contests any time you
like. And now, without further ado,
the winner of SUMMER is: #9, Bonnie!!!
Fresh lemons and limes
squeezed into a pitcher of sugary chilled water and stirred with lots of
ice cubes for a refreshing summery drink to quench a thirsty soul. These vibrant leaf
beads would look smashing in a necklace to compliment a breezy crisp white
cotton tank top against a smooth bronze tan. Bonnie, please email your shipping address to: WeeklyContest@BrackenDesigns.com and I will ship out
your prize… Please join me in congratulating Bonnie and hey… let's start
Weekly Contest #2!!! There is currently a great thread in Lampwork Etc with photos of
beaders' cats… mostly (NOT) helping the technical
side of the creative process. Ha! Let's say the theme for Week #2 is cats…
big cats, small cats, house cats, wild cats… doesn't matter… show me
something that screams Here's the prize: As before, by By entering the contest, you are giving me permission to post
your photo and your explanation on my website. You may remain anonymous merely by
requesting that, otherwise I will credit you and your website (if you include
it). I will announce the winner next Thursday! And then we’ll start Contest #3. TTYL! Lampwork Technique Tutorials Whoohoo! The first weekly
contest ends tonight! You've got until
I forgot that I started a
necklace last night… should finish it tonight. Also have some custom work to do. Guess I won't be using my art
clay silver until this weekend. (Ha!... chicken!) Tonight's bead/jewelry
"thing" is going to be short, but useful (if you're a beginning lampworker). These
are some links with different lampworking tutorials. But what I really wanna
know (use my guestbook to respond!) is: how many of you out there move the
bead and how many move the stringer? Australian Glass Beadmakers Guild: Tutorials & Helpful Info An Introduction to
LAMPWORKING by Ann Scherm Baldwin Lampwork
Etc. Tutorials Section Wet Canvas Lentil
Tutorial (by Ami from Zooziis) Lampwork
Etc. Seahorse Twisty Tutorial by Kimberly Affleck Sweet
Dreamy Purple (EDP) by Ingridh Art
Glass Forum: Ventilation 101 by Mike Aurelius Oops! Sorry, it's A ton of errands today… not much
time for anything else. eBay I'll come back tomorrow with
something… promise! Testing for Bakelite Wow, oh wow… the entries for the
contest are AMAZING! Now I feel
totally nervous… I'll feel badly selecting just one because there are so many
I want to pick for the prize. Well,
hopefully all the players will come back on a regular basis… I think next
week's prize is a jewelry book. Okay, the kids had their first
day of goalie camp today, and now they're at their dad's having dinner. I've got about 15 minutes of
"me" time (and here I am, spending it with you!), then I take Mike
to Kaiser so they can tell him what we already know (that he has a gall
bladder problem) and where he goes from here. There's a Food Mill store right
there… I'll pick up some Lecithin and Apple Cider Vinegar for him while we're
there. Even if they schedule surgery,
trying to prevent more attacks in the short range is still a good idea. I managed to get all of
Maybe later tonight I can list
the other two and then Monica's earrings. I've been having a GREAT time
with some really nice people on Etsy. The eGroups
(eBay's forums) are down until tomorrow some time… upgrades. Someone on Lampwork Etc
mentioned one of my pieces. Wow was
THAT flattering. Okay, what will today's
bead/jewelry subject be? Hm…. How about different tests we can
try for determining the content of certain items. We'll start with Bakelite. Disclaimer: These may or may not
work. I am merely posting the things
I've heard that seem to concur with other things I've heard. Bakelite Tests: A
plastic is more likely to be celluloid or Lucite (as opposed to Bakelite) if
it produces a non-Bakelite odor when warmed under hot water (more about that
odor in a minute) or if it does NOT react to 409 All Purpose (more on that,
too). I've
heard that some people test plastics with Simichrome
polish, but then I heard this can give false positives. Okay,
supposedly there is a distinct chemical odor (medicinal or like shellac) that
Bakelite produces when warmed (I've heard of warming in hot, running water for
at least 30 seconds The 409
test means that if you expose the piece to 409 (put some 409 on a q-tip and
rub a hidden area for a few seconds) and it leaves a yellow residue on the
cotton swab, that's supposed to mean it is genuine Bakelite (or Catalin). Don't
forget to wash your piece immediately afterward with mild soap and water. Side
note: I've heard that French Bakelite, a different substance, will not react
as above. Also, Bakelite with an over-finish
will not have these reactions. Many
say black Bakelite will fail the 409 test. Some
people can tell Bakelite by the distinct sound it makes when
"clanked" together with another piece of Bakelite. Clanking two already
known non-Bakelite other pieces of plastic together will give you a
comparison sound. Bakelite
is also heavier (weightier) than plastics because it is denser. Bakelite
is also opaque (for the most part), so holding it up to a very strong light
should still not produce any translucency. Okay, stay tuned for more ideas
on testing products for authenticity… but now, I must go (I'm always late
leaving feedback… eeeeee!). TTYL! Wwwwwwwwaaaa! Completely
missed posting in here on Well, lots going on… Got the kids from Mom's… and
came back in time for the kids to go to hockey. Got home from that with enough time to
watch a Jet Li movie (how can I work on jewelry if we watch subtitled
movies?!) and make a bracelet that Mon and I are in love with. Mike, of course, doesn't care for the color
combo. Phft! No sense of adventure. The second I put the final crimp
cover on the bracelet, we're off again to hockey. Got home around We were at a bookstore yesterday
and the kids each got books. I'm
starting Mon on the Lillian Jackson Braun "Cat Who" series. First up, The Cat Who Could Read
Backwards. She has to finish Cujo first, though… I think she's about halfway
through. Gabe picked up King's Oh, I'd like to thank those
who've added their creations to the summer-theme weekly contest. I guess I should start an official page in
this website for the contests… will try to organize that later too. BTW, I've been pleasantly surprised by
something I hadn't though of… see, I was thinking "summer-theme"
like yellow and orange items, etc… but a lot of the entrants are submitting
"summer-theme" like what type of jewelry would be perfect for
wearing in Summer… not just what PIECE looks like Summer. How very cool! I love it! Alright, what's our BEAD/JEWELRY
subject for today? Hm… Okay, in keeping with my
personal lazy theme today, I'm taking the easy road out and merely sharing
some of the cool links I've bookmarked over the years… If you like unusual and/or more
elaborate clasps, here's a neat place: Stars Clasps This guy has some lampwork beads
that really appeal to me: James Smircich TOTALLY in love with the work
of: Kate Fowle
Meleney And: Eric Rader Now, does this look like fun or
not… holy cow!: Wild Wire
Woman Retreats Very handy!: Swarovski
crystal bead color chart And: another one I love these: Juried Art
Shows by the Smithsonian Gallery of: Art Clay Silver work For inspiration: Virtual
Egyptian Museum Okay, so that's a little peek
into the head of Laura Bracken. Ha! TTYL! Sorry, no real updates
today. I'm driving to Mom's (2 hours),
then taking the kids to Dad's for lunch, then back
to Mom's, then will come back home tomorrow morning. We have hockey at I already have three great
entries for the contest, so if you don't know about it yet and are
interested, read yesterday's blog entry. I finally put up three
necklaces… they're at the top of the screen (and if you click on the little
pix, you will be taken to their auction page). Here's a bracelet I gave to a
very good friend…
Alright, TTYL! No time to write but we do have Contest #1 ready! A very rushed day today, so I
don’t really have time to get into too much personal or bead/jewelry news. I am, however, going to start
doing a contest each week. Yay! Some will be skills, some will
be creative, some will be random, etc. This week, the contest is this: Make a summer item… Show me a photo of an item you
have made (or make this week) that makes you think of summer. You can even include a little paragraph on
why or how your item reminds you of summer. The winner will be chosen based
on *my* reaction to your summer item and its explanation. So see… it’s not about a jury deciding if
an item is worthy… it’s merely an attempt to see if my creative mind connects
with your creative mind… and there is no right and no wrong in that… nothing
skilled or unskilled. Just cheap fun. Go it?
J Here’s
the prize:
It’s a couple of strands of
crystal pearls, five sets of annealed Lampwork beads by SRAs,
a pair of annealed Lampwork beads by an Anyway, before By entering the contest, you are
giving me permission to post your photo and your explanation on my
website. You may remain anonymous
merely by requesting that, otherwise I will credit you and your website (if
you include it). I will announce the winner Thursday
morning! And then we’ll start Contest
#2 Okay, gotta
jam! Tumbling and a Trip to the Country Happy 4th of July to
all who celebrate this holiday! I took the kids to Mom's last
night (2 hour drive). They're going to
spend a couple days in the country and probably mostly in the swimming
pool. So after the 2-hour drive, I
roll down Bear's window when we exit so he can stick his doggy nose out the
window and Monica says, "What's that smell?!" Gabe and I ask, "What
smell?" 'Cause we don't notice
anything. Mon explains, "It smells
like crap and dirt mixed together." "That's the country,"
I answer. What a city weirdo. Ha! Reminds
me of the time I showed my kids a picture of someone's lampwork sheep beads
and both kids said together, "Poodles!" Ugh! Ha ha ha! Oh, btw, on the way down, we had
a traffic slowdown… when we got up close and personal to the incident we saw
that it was a burning bush. Is that a
sign? I will say one thing, though… on
the drive back (just from the house to the freeway entrance, I mean… still in
the country), it was early morning but light out,
and there were several joggers and walkers.
Most were in pairs, women together.
That was neat to see, but the best part is this… Tonight's gonna
be the usual uncomfortable evening in the ghetto warzone
that is known as 4th of July in East Oakland… sigh… we're just
staying in and trying to keep the animals calm… I hope the ferals do okay. I'm not trying to be a downer…
just stating facts… I am still wildly happy about so many other things…. But
I look forward to the day when I can remove myself from this
environment. Soon. Time passes so quickly… it'll be soon. Oh, did I mention that Blackie
had five babies last Sunday! Three
tuxedos and two calicos. That's a lotta kittens for such a tiny mom. We are very grateful to the lady who took
Blackie for this stint of foster care. The feral colony (or as many as
we can trap) are due for neutering and spaying on the 15th. I'm very excited that the day has finally
come. Okay, back to beads and jewelry
now… I made something out of silver wire today… then I tumbled them (necklace
components), and now I'll go make the necklace. I still have art clay silver and soldering
to experiment with, but I don't feel up to it yet. I did a wire-wrapped piece
earlier in the week… will photo it tonight (with everything else) and put it
out there. I like it, but it's not
perfection. So what should we make today's Please note,
the photos are hyperlinks to the products available online. At the last bead show I went to
I purchased a Lortone tumbler (model 3A).
I am using stainless steel shot
...
(which
seems to me a WAY better option than regular steel shot that I've have to
worry about keeping dry, etc). So, maybe I should back up in
case some of you are as aware of the use of tumblers in the jewelry world as
*I* was only a brief time ago… Putting certain jewelry pieces
and components into a tumbler (with shot, a squirt of Dawn dishwashing
liquid, and enough water to cover the items) and then running the tumbler for
1-3 hours (or so) produces polished and sparkling clean jewelry. Yay! Doesn't mean I'm throwing my Sunshine
cloths away just yet, but it IS exciting. Tumbling can also debur and/or smooth out your pieces. So far, one of the things I've
heard that might not be advisable to put in a tumbler is Swarovski crystals
with AB finish. Personally, I'm a little shy of
putting ANY Swark beads in, but hopefully I'll be
proven wrong in my fear that they'll chip way too easily. I'm also not certain about any
jewelry that's already been strung (y'know, like
onto Accuflex or Softflex,
etc). I understand these are supposed
to be stainless steel wires, but still… well, maybe I'll do some
experimenting. Notice that the shot I got is
not only stainless steel, it's three different
shapes. This helps reach into all the
nooks and crannies and cover as much ground as possible for the shapes we put
into the tumbler. Two pieces of advice: 1) For beads with large holes,
string 'em (or wire 'em)
first or you will find that the long, skinny shot pieces just LOVE finding
their way into your beads and you will NEVER get them out again. 2) For chain, wrap around
something so that it doesn't get all tangled up during the tumbling
process. I've heard that a plastic
birdcage ladder works well. You can
just use a small piece of wire to temporarily hold the ends together into
place on the ladder (or whatever you end up using). So far, I'm using just over a
pound of shot in there, but seeing as how the cats managed to knock the
container over the other day and I had to sweep shot up from the kitchen
floor, I'm probably a little short from what I started with. As far as liver of sulfur goes,
I think I'll do that AFTER tumbling. Also, I've heard a number of
people on message boards enquiring about black and/or black gunk they end up
with… so I'm guessing there are a lot of things that can be done incorrectly
when using a tumbler. Hopefully,
anything I do wrong can be undone too. BTW, this tumbler is REALLY
quiet compared with the kids' rock tumbler we were using before. Okay, I'm going to go back to
the living room now, finish the necklace I'm working on and then try to get
some pix taken. Yay! TTYL! |
