Catching Up

The lack of sleep and the long plane ride finally caught up with me. I crashed about 8:30 last night and slept through until 10 this morning. And then took a 45 minute nap when Dick fell asleep reading the paper. Oh, the life of leisure!

Yesterday's guild speaker, Dr. Robert Liu of Ornament magazine, was very good. He showed the work of various contemporary glass bead artists from around the world. O.M.G. Amazingly gorgeous stuff. The afternoon workshop was making glass beads at my favorite art glass store. Rave reviews from all the participants. I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped - the working distance turned out to be a visual never-never land for me; I couldn't get my eyes to focus on the bead. It was too close to wear my glasses and too far away to see without them. And moving closer to the torch wasn't really an option. Getting a pair of glasses just for beadmaking might be though. I'm giving it some serious thought . . . . .

We got to bring home the copper mandrill beads we made, but the others - like this barrel bead - are being annealed in the store's kiln. Photos on Tuesday after I pick them up.And remember how I said Dick and I didn't like the glass fusion class? That was before we picked up the finished kiln-baked pieces. A kiln is back on our wish-list. Photos tomorrow after I break into Marie's room to get the piece she's already wearing as a necklace.