Tuesday 30 September 2008

The last day of September

Wow...this year is absolutely flying by. Tomorrow is October already. Christmas is beginning to figure in conversations and Tesco has already got it's decorations and advent calendars etc out already, they had stuff in their "seasonal" aisle before the kids went back to school after summer! Good grief (in the words of Charlie Brown).
Anyway I finally got a nice head again after a very dodgy week. I have actually made beads today and lots of them. Not sure how many are sellable cos I have been trying to play with different techniques and with very little success I might add! I soooo need to go for more lessons to refine and learn some techniques! Goodness there is so much I want to do! Main problem with this is money!!! or rather complete lack of it! I know good things come to those who wait and all that but I am so impatient I want to do it now! What first: glass or art clay / PMC mmmmm...got some thinking to do. The other big problem is that I am fairly alone in my neck of the woods. There are a few lampworkers that I am aware of but I am not sure if they do lessons and there are certain things I want help with and I ought to research prospective teachers so I tap into those who are good at certain things. Does that make sense?

I want to learn how to encase. I have read up on it and tried a few different techniques but quite frankly my encasing sucks. Encasing gets used in so many different things and as much as I try to avoid it I think it would be useful for me to practise it. I need someone to watch me muck it up and then guide me!

I want to learn how to use my dichroic strips that I have bought. Every time I use them they devit (I think that is the technical term!) They go scummy!!! (my term!)

I want to learn how to use murrini without burning the hell out of it.

I want to be able to control stringers so I can make nice neat wavy lines and swirls with it!

Some of this is heat and flame control and honestly there are times when I think God Sam you have been doing this for a year now you should at least have sorted out flame control. Well I have for dots!! but there are only so many dots a gal can do! On top of that although I started beading in July 2007 I only average about 8 hours a week on the torch and that is generally in 3 0r 4 stints so I am not getting continuity! That is approx 500 hours torch time since July 2007. Sounds a lot but compare that to 2250 hours if I was doing this full time, no wonder I am still struggling to get things sorted! I need more time on the torch but I also need someone to sit with me occasionally to help guide me!

Enough of that now I had better be off, I have a busy day tomorrow, there are quite a few people bugging me to go to see my GP cos I am struggling a bit so I gotta sort that out. Tomorrow is also pay day so I get to do the monthly shop yipee!!! and it is my day off so I am with my youngest as well, not sure what the weather forecast is maybe I can push her on the swings again for ages!!! :-)

TTFNx

2 comments:

  1. Hi Sam

    I know what your saying, cant remember where you live (is it Devon way?) but Beverley Hicklin is in West Sussex I was hoping to have a lesson with her next year. Her skills are vast. There is also a tutorial on floral encasing by Sally Carver in the current Beads & Beyond Mag. if thats any help, dont know if you buy it. She's an excellent teacher I learnt alot from her. And I still remember some of it!! Hehe. Good Luck!

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  2. Hi Elaine, Kent so south still but east not west! Beverley Hicklin is bout 2 hours away as is Sarah Downton where i first went and learnt what to do. You know what it is like I want to see everyone!!!! I have beads and beyond and tried Sal's tut but little success only tried once tho, practice practice practice i guess but it is quite disheartening! :-)

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