Art Insomnia

Thank you Feliway!

2011-11-12T21:27:00.005-05:00

I had the strangest cat incident this past week. Harley, my fluffy guy, was zooming around the edge of our pool and fell in. Thank goodness his head didn't go under and he was able to pull himself out right away. Clearly he was terrified and he must have released some SERIOUS fear pheromones! This triggered a very disturbing aggressive reaction in Puck. Puck has been his best friend for 3 years now. They play, eat and sleep together. Now, all of a sudden Puck starts attacking him. Swatting, growling, hissing and lunging at him. I had to quarantine Puck the first night for fear that he would seriously hurt Harley. And not just Harley, but he was aggressive towards me and hubby too. He even bit me twice while I was trying to calm him down. And poor Harley didn't know what to think. It's bad enough that he was traumatized by falling in the pool. He would just look at Puck with those big eyes as if to say, "Dude, what's your effing problem? It's me! Harley!"

I hoped after a good night sleep he would remember that Harley was his friend, but no dice! I was really starting to get scared when I remembered reading on my favorite forum about the benefits of using Feliway Spray by Comfort Zone. (It's a calming, synthetic facial pheromone that prevents unwanted behavior in cats.) So off to PetsMart I went yesterday and got a bottle of the spray. I spritzed all the places they like to hang out and by yesterday evening I could see Puck was starting to calm down. He was still a little bit hissy, but at least not acting like a crazed mad-cat.

I just snapped these photos of my boys, Puck (top) and Harley (the fluffy one) today. They're best friends again!!! So thanks Feliway for an awesome product!

My Sweet Jamaica

2011-09-01T16:48:00.004-04:00

I’m writing with sad news today. We had to have our sweet little Jamaica put to sleep yesterday. I knew something was wrong when she wasn’t up yelling for her breakfast. She was laying in behind her little tent in the studio and when I got her to come out I realized that she couldn’t walk. I thought it may have been a stroke so Brian came home and we took her to the vet. The vet said it was more likely a blood clot and there was little they could do for her so we made the difficult decision to let her go. My heart is absolutely broken.

I do take comfort in the fact that she had really good days right up till the end. At 19-1/2 years old, she caught her very first lizard on the patio last week. She was so excited about it and managed to break it’s tail off before Daddy Cat (Brian) took it away from her and let it go outside. I’m going to miss her so much. Rest in peace sweet girl.

Treasured Again

2011-07-29T22:54:00.009-04:00

As of this month, I have been making glass beads for 7 years. My, how time flies when you're melting glass! In all that time, I have made jewelry only for myself and for family. Recently I bought two spoon bracelets to take apart and use the spoon elements in some of my own bracelets. I liked the way it came out so well that I've decided to make a few to sell.

The bracelets include an antique silver plated spoon handle, Bali silver beads and clasp, my own lampwork beads and a sterling silver extender chain.

The first pieces I made were from those bracelets I bought to take apart, but I've recently started making my own spoon elements for my jewelry.

It wasn't until after I had the first batch of spoons on the way that I started researching what would be involved. The first thing I found out was that the metal needs to be annealed. In other words, it has to be heated with a torch to a dull glow and quenched in water to change the molecular structure of the metal making it easier to bend. No problem. I have a torch.

Then the handles need to be cut. I'm sure I may eventually use some kind of power tool for this, but for now, the hack saw is working splendidly. The cut edge needs to be ground and polished and that's where hubby's bench grinder and my Dremel came in. Then holes need to be drilled in each end for stringing into jewelry, so we got to dust off the old drill press.

I have to polish off the fire scale from the annealing process and bend the handles in a nifty bending fixture that my hubby made for me. When the metal was annealed, it removed the lovely patina that shows off the pretty patterns in the spoons, so now I have to put it back. I use liver of sulfur to patina the silver. Amazing how a hundred years of patina can be achieved in just seconds! The only problem with the liver of sulfur is that it made my whole house smell like an egg fart for a few hours. I think I'll be doing the next batch in the garage with the doors open! After the patina is applied I get to give the piece one last polish with a silver polishing cloth and at last, the piece is finally ready to be used in jewelry!

So far I've managed to get metal filings in my fingers, filed part of my fingernail off on the grinder, burned myself on a hot drill bit and I have silver polish embedded in my fingerprints. I'm just flying by the seat of my pants here and learning as I go along. It's fun and rewarding, but there was one point where I stood in my garage, shirt soaked in sweat and everything that flew off the grinder stuck to my face and neck and me wondering why I didn't just buy more already made spoon bracelets! Good thing I don't give up that easy.

I love the idea of using this beautiful vintage flatware in my jewelry designs. The spoons and forks I've been collecting for my new project date as far back as 1881 and most of them are from the very early 1900's. I think about the original owner and how they must have treasured their silverware. Did they only use it for special occasions or did they use it every day like my Grandmother did, just because it was beautiful. By giving this flatware new life in my jewelry designs, now it can be treasured all over again.

The bracelets I have pictured in this post are now up for sale in my Etsy Shop.

An old dirt road and the man I call my Dad

2011-06-18T14:14:00.001-04:00

I never knew my biological father. My parents were divorced before I was born.

About 15 years ago my Mom married a wonderful man. He's a kind and caring man and I sometimes think of what it would have been like to have him as my Dad all along. He calls me Sissy and I like that a lot. I couldn't ask for a better father if I had hand picked him myself.

When I was about 8 years old we lived on an old dirt road. The kids in the neighborhood would swim in the lake next to my house. This was back before computers and video games and we would play outside all day. We would drink from the hose outside when it got hot and not come home until we heard our parents calling us for dinner. We played in the street a lot, but the highlight of our week was when the road grader would come by. It was a huge tractor with blades that would smooth out our old washboard dirt road. We would follow behind the grader and ride our bikes in the fresh piles of dirt it would leave on the edge of the road. And I remember the grader operator too. He would watch us in his rear view mirror to make sure we didn't get too close. He never fussed at us. He would just smile and shake his head.

Now flash forward to about a year ago. We were having one of our family get-togethers when I told the story about the dirt road and the grader. Come to find out, my step-father, who has worked for the county all his life, was the grader operator that graded our road! He knew me back when I was just a little brat on a bright pink bicycle and had no idea at the time that 40 years later he would be my father! It's funny how fate has a way of bringing people together. Now I feel like we're the family that always should have been.

I love you very much, Papa, and I'm proud to call you my dad.

Happy Father's Day!

Our New Pool

2010-10-29T13:12:00.036-04:00

Well hello happy readers! Guess what we're getting! I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count. That's right....a swimming pool! And not just any swimming pool, it's a Pools by Greg pool!

I wanted to do a blog post about our pool construction as a "What to expect when you're expecting a pool" kind of thing. This is our first pool and I found the whole construction process to be quite fascinating. But before I get to the how-to, I'd like to say a few things about the company we chose to build our pool.

Pools by Greg has a long established presence on Florida's Treasure Coast and has been building pools since 1980. With well over 7,000 residential and commercial pools built, they have plenty of experience under their belt. Our pool building experience began with our Salesman, who was the key to helping us iron out all the details like size, shape and location. He was very helpful in answering all of our questions and helped us come up with a pool plan that met all of our needs. Over the last month we have had quite a few guys working in our back yard and most of them we have come to know by name. These guys work together like a well oiled machine and every one of them have been so friendly and courteous. A real pleasure to work with. And as with any construction company, a good project manager is the key to making sure things move along smoothly. Most of the work is completed by the Pools by Greg crews, with the exceptions being the gunite crew, the Gemcoat crew and the screened enclosure company. We've been very pleased with the work of everyone involved in this construction.

You can see a larger view of any of the photos in this post just by clicking on the photo. Just hit the back button on your browser to return to the blog. So without further ado, let's get to the how to.....

This is our back yard, and the site where the new pool will be built. We had to remove a large tree, but we were able to leave the stump to be dug out by PBG.

After the big stump was removed, they carefully laid out the pool shape and location.

And then let the digging begin! Nothing quite as exciting as breaking ground, well, except for the finished pool, but we'll get to that soon enough.

After the rough pool shape is done, they erect wooden supports to attach the backer boards to.

Once the backer boards are in place you can really start to see the shape and size of the pool. After the boards are in place they also add steel rebar to strengthen the pool structure.

Next came the Gunite crew and they masked off the whole area. The gunite is applied pneumatically, meaning it's blasted onto the walls of the pool with something that looks like a fire hose.

It takes several loads of gunite to cover the pool. This is truck number two, waiting out front for his turn.

In this photo you can see the guy up front, yes, the one in the concrete hat, applying the gunite to the walls. The two guys in the background are scraping and shaping the walls and floor of the pool before the gunite sets up.

And this is what I got to see when they took down the plastic walls! It's starting to really look like a pool now!

Here you can see the steps, and at the far end of the pool you can see the "swim out" which is like a cool little bench seat.

After the gunite cures, they do the tile work and form around the pool for the patio / pool deck.

Next comes the big cement trucks to pour the deck. The guys work fast to get everything level and insert expansion joints and the deck drain before the cement hardens.

Throughout the whole construction process the county inspectors stop by to monitor the progress, but it always helps to have a furry little on-site inspector looking on to make sure everything is going as planned....well, at least until he gets distracted by a butterfly ouside the window.

Here you can see the finished deck with the expansion joints and drain in place.

Next comes the deck finish. We chose to go with Kool Deck brand concrete deck and patio topping. It makes for a comfortably cool surface to walk on and has a non-skid textured surface that reduces the risk of accidents when it's wet. This was fun to watch as they sling it onto the deck with a dash brush that has a short handle and really long bristles. Once it starts to cure, they trowel the top of it nice and smooth.

Here's what the finished deck looks like.

Next comes the screened enclosure. We also decided to have a patio roof put on so they start on the roof first.

Large parts of the enclosure are pre-assembled at their shop. They look like huge versions of the erector sets we used to play with as kids.

Now it's starting to look like a patio.

Here the enclosure is complete. Nice to have an outdoor area safe from the ravaging of the Florida state bird, also known as the mosquito!

After the enclosure is up, the final finish is put on the interior of the pool. We chose Florida Gemcoat because it has the look and feel of natural stone and depending on what color you choose, can influence the overall color of the pool water. Then it's time to fill'er up! The city water has a greenish cast to it but that will all be fixed once the chemicals are added.

And here we are, all filled up and sparkling clear! Isn't that inviting? Got Margaritas?

Here we are after final grade and sod replacement. We're just waiting for the final inspection and then we can bring our furniture out and decorate the patio. I'll be updating this post just as soon as we finish our irrigation and landscaping, so stay tuned for some finished project photos!

What Can Brown Do For You?

2010-06-26T18:53:00.003-04:00

Wait a second….did you hear that? That sound! My heart racing and palms sweating as I race to peer through the blinds in the front window. Nothing evokes a Pavlovian response quite like the familiar rumble of the big brown truck gearing down to make a stop in front of my house. Whether it’s Ed, or Dillon or Lisa, (and yes, I know them all by name,) I just know they’re bringing me a box of shiny new glass rods for the melting. They never bring me bad news, or bills, only happy, sparkling things. UPS, you rock my world!

Decisions....

2010-06-21T12:37:00.009-04:00

I wonder if there’s a specific moon phase that causes one to be indecisive. I say that because I went into my studio today and I can’t for the life of me decide which glass to use today. Shortly after, I realized that Puck is having the same problem, only his dilemma is which toy to play with.

Sometimes when I’m faced with this problem, I just have to walk away from it for a while.

If that doesn’t work, then sometimes it helps to look at things from a completely different perspective.

In the end, after all that digging in the toy basket, this was Puck’s choice.

Perhaps I should make something pink and green and blue and sparkly!

Pet Careers

2010-04-20T12:33:00.007-04:00

Oftentimes I joke about getting my cats a paper route to help pay for their kibble. But I was thinking, if they were people, what careers they might actually have.

Puck would surely be a bathroom attendant at a swanky night club. Nobody, I mean nobody can go to the bathroom in this house without his assistance. He’s very interested in the whole process and does everything but hand you a towel and offer you cologne.

Harley, on the other hand, would either be an artist or a writer. He has an unnatural obsession with ink pens. He likes rolling them off the desk and carrying them around the house. I can show him a pen and he comes running like I have a toy in my hand. Countless dollars spent on cat toys and he likes ink pens!

So what careers would your pets have?

Remembering Ben

2010-02-25T22:56:00.006-05:00

We got the phone call early in the morning on New Year’s Day. Something had happened to my father-in-law Ben, and it didn’t look good. We rushed to the hospital and before we could even get inside we were told that he didn’t make it. The tears flowed and the rain fell on our faces.

It rained the day my grandfather passed away. My Nana told me it was tears from heaven because the angels were crying. So it came as no surprise when years later, my Nana passed away and we had a terrible storm. As silly as it may seem, every time I have lost someone close to me it has rained. The falling rain has always been strangely comforting as I remember what my Nana told me so long ago.

I love this photo of Ben. A lot of what you would want to know about him you can see right here in this one photo. He was a big fellow with a kind heart and a warm smile. He loved to laugh and always had a story to tell. And without a doubt, he loved to fish! But what the photo doesn’t show is that he was also a wonderful husband, step-father, grandfather, brother, father-in-law, friend and a fishing buddy. On the first day of this new year, he left us behind to travel on ahead. We miss you terribly Ben, and we will carry you in our hearts forever.

A Bead of a Different Breed

2009-11-24T00:29:00.010-05:00

My journey into making beads actually began ten years before I ever picked up my first glass rod. My medium then was Polymer Clay. My style evolved over the years and I eventually began creating sketched beads. My favorite subject matter, of course, was cats.

I shaped and baked the bead and then hand sketched very detailed portraits of kitties. The bead was then sealed under a layer of liquid polymer, baked again and finished with a protective coating. I did the sketching under extreme magnification using an opti-visor. Sadly, after several years, I had to give this art form up due to terrible headaches and rapidly failing vision. I enjoyed it while it lasted, and while I do miss making kitty beads, I have all the photos to look back on and smile. I did manage to keep a few for myself, but the following photos are beads that I sold.

Color Study

2009-11-23T23:35:00.002-05:00

I am completely in the zone when I make these beads. These are my comfort beads. I could make them all day long, every day, and never tire of making them. They are created with black and crystal clear, along with a variety of color shifting glass. In this set I used Original Terra, Raku, Multicolor Dark and Chalcedony. Each glass has it's own color range that's just a little bit different from the next, and when used all together in a set guarantee maximum color punch. Oh, how I love color shifting glass...let me count the ways. (You can click the photo for a closer view.)

Reincarnation

2009-11-23T22:58:00.005-05:00

In my next life, I want to come back as a cat,

because I long to be comfortable

in any old awkward position.

Silly Things

2009-08-20T00:06:00.003-04:00

Sometimes it's the silliest little things that make me laugh. Tonight I'm paying bills and it's time to renew my termite protection policy. After I put the stamp on the envelope I realized how appropriate the look on Homer's face was considering who I'm mailing this to. I'm so tempted to add one of those little talking balloons with "Yikes! A bug!" written in it.

What Cats Dream About

2009-04-29T17:22:00.003-04:00

With Insomnia, and a bedtime somewhere around 4am, I usually have plenty of time to relax at my computer for a little Internet surfing every night. Harley usually keeps me company by plopping down on the desk right in front of me. He likes watching the cursor for a while but eventually gets bored and falls asleep, and not long after, begins to dream.

He has two different kinds of dreams that I like to refer to as the "Feast" or the "Flight".

In the "Feast" dream he is eating. I'm sure it's something very nummy by the way he smacks his little lips.

In the "Flight" dream he is running. Not with his legs, but with his toes. ALL of his toes...on all four feet...twinkling as fast as they can go. I don't know if he's running after something, or running from something, but he's going as fast as his little toes will carry him.

He's a dreamer of dreams

Of sweet kitty things

Of feasts and flight

As he dreams through the night

-Harley's Mom

"Cat-Scanned"

2009-03-25T18:57:00.008-04:00

The sunniest spot in my studio is the window on the west wall. That's also the place I was instructed by my fabulous felines to place the kitty bench so they could enjoy a nice sunbath in the afternoon. On occasion, I have to borrow their bench. I photograph my beads under studio lighting for the most part, but once in a while I have a set of beads that just beg for natural sunlight. What I hoped was a natural admiration for my beady creations turns out to be them wondering what the heck mommy is doing on their cat bench. You can just about bet that any beads I photograph in the sunlight have been properly "cat-scanned". Below are some photos of cat-scans in progress.....

Into Every Life......

2009-03-03T23:32:00.007-05:00

...... A Little Cat Hair Must Fall.

Try as I might to keep the cat hair out of my packaging, sometimes a stray hair is just unavoidable. You see, the problem is that my shipping supply storage shelf also doubles as a "Feline shipping assistant bunk bed". The little slackers think anything resembling a box (or a laundry basket full of clean underwear and socks) must be a bed, so in effort to keep them off of my shipping boxes I had to give them boxes of their own. So if you ever receive a box of beads from me and notice that single cat hair prominently displayed under the shipping tape, please take pitty on me. I'm the one wearing the angora underwear!...Oh meow! >^..^<

Location, Location, Location

2009-02-15T01:18:00.004-05:00

When we first decided to adopt Puck, we had to set him up in the studio away from my other two cats until he got a clean bill of health. Later on when he was granted access to the whole house, my first order of business was to get rid of the litter box that sat right next to my workbench. (It's a little hard to be creative when someone is 5 feet away from you, pinching a loaf.) He also had a little feeding spot in the studio, but I noticed Harley and Jamaica eating out there quite a bit so I decided to leave it out there. Now Harley will go sit by the bowl and chirp at me to come fill it for him. It's the exact same food that's in the kitchen. The bowl in the kitchen is always full, but each day, between Harley, Puck and Jamaica, they will eat all the kibble I put in the bowl in the studio. I guess there's just something about "Studio Kibble". Go figure.

Oh, Happy Day!

2009-02-15T00:16:00.007-05:00

I get a cool new soldering station and THEY get the paper it was packed in. A nice wad of paper like this will usually keep them entertained for three or four days before they have it shredded all over my studio floor. I shutter to think of the money I've spent on cat toys over the years, but sometimes, simple pleasures are just the best!

On Bead Porn and Inspiration

2009-02-05T14:14:00.003-05:00

Looking at beads on the Internet is my porn. I could waste away the hours just soaking in all the colors and shapes and sparkle. I get inspiration for my own bead making from lots of things like nature, fabric, paintings, bold graphics and other non-bead-related-art just to name a few. But the most fun way to get inspired is to look at beads made by other artists. I don't want to "look" to closely at the beads, because after all, I'm not out to copy them....I just want to be inspired by them. This is where my failing eyesight has it's advantages. What I do is browse the eBay listings for lampwork beads and I just scroll down the pages looking at all the little thumbnail pictures all in a row. I can see the beads just well enough to get a whisper of the color combinations, a hint of the shapes and a brief feel for the design. I do this without ever clicking on the auction for a larger view. After a few pages of browsing this way I can head off to my torch with all kinds of ideas swirling in my head, and at the same time, not really remember what any one bead actually looked like. It's like a fast inspiration drive by. You should try it sometime!

The Grim Fish Reaper

2009-02-02T17:04:00.007-05:00

This is my husband Brian, wearing his new face mask I bought him for Christmas. Brian enjoys bass fishing and does catch and release for the most part. It’s pretty funny when you think about it. Just imagine the tales the fish have to tell their buddies after something like that. It would go something like this…

“Dude….dude! You’ll never guess what just happened to me! I think I just had one of them there near death experiences! Check this out….There I was, just swimming along, minding my own business, and YANK! All of a sudden I’m being pulled towards the light! Next thing I know, I am in the clutches of the Grim Reaper himself. So the Reaper takes the hook out of my mouth and then holds me up so I can get a good look at this other dude wearing a black ski mask, a funny floppy hat and camouflaged crocs. The Grim Reaper says "Hey Beer Dawg, get a shot of this" and then this Beer Dawg guy points something at me. I hear a clicking sound.…. and just when I think it all over for me and I'm goin' to the big fish pond in the sky, the Grim Reaper calls me Sugar Booger, kisses me and then puts me BACK in the water. I’m tellin’ ya dude, I just don’t know what this neighborhood is coming to. I told Angel and the Guppies we just have to find another canal!”

Above Photo Courtesy of "Beer Dawg"

Does He Remember?

2009-02-01T00:52:00.004-05:00

Do you think he remembers that it was not so long ago, he was on the other side of that window looking in? Do you think he recalls the hot summer day when he crept into my yard and gobbled up hard corn I had put out for the squirrels? Could he still have any memories of how he nearly starved to death when his people moved away and left him behind? Does he have any recollection of the hurricane he weathered under the neighbors gazebo, and how he was chased by a big yellow dog once the storm passed? Do you think he remembers the horrible things that someone did to him to make him loose his trust in humans? Does he remember being alone and frightened and homeless?

It's cold outside today, and as I watch Puck nap on the kitty bench in my studio, I wonder if he considers how lucky he was that it was our yard he wandered into back in June. I think the rumble of his purrs tell me yes. But if you were to ask me, I would have to say that we were the lucky ones. >^..^<

Terra -vs- Raku

2009-02-01T00:18:00.005-05:00

The flowers in this set were created by using drops of Terra over Intense Black, giving the petals a more opaque appearance than if the Terra had been used alone. Then the beads are encased in a thick layer of crystal clear.

Terra by Double Helix Glassworks has got to be in my top 3 favorite glass colors to work with. In fact, I would probably say it's my number one favorite, but the people who know me as the "Queen of Raku" would probably tar and feather me. That and the fact that I really do believe that Raku is just a bit more versatile, for me anyway.

Terra and Raku are alike in that they both shift colors when exposed to a high heat in the flame and then allowed to cool before striking, but that's where I think the similarities end.

Raku is a more opaque glass than Terra. The colors can range from earthy browns, to rusty reds, with greens, blues and purples in between. I have found that once struck, it will remain the same color during annealing without any special "lower" annealing schedule. I love Raku for the fact that I can choose to do encased beads or leave them un-encased for even more vivid colors. Either way, I can get the colors to pop and stay that way.

Now with Terra, I find that it's almost translucent when used in thin layers. This can be wonderful for achieving gorgeous boro effects when encased. You can do some really cool wispy encased flowers with it too. But for me, and this is only because my kiln tends to over strike the glass no matter how low I set the temperature, I have not been able to keep the colors through an annealing cycle without encasing the bead. I know this is not the fault of the glass, but rather the kiln that I use, but I still love the glass for all the things I can do with it when encasing it. The color range of Terra is much like Raku except, when encased, it trades the earthy browns for fabulous magenta and golden yellows that I just can't get with Raku.

So I guess when it comes down to it, I would have to say that Raku and Terra tie for first place in my heart.

Loosing Face

2009-01-31T23:38:00.004-05:00

So I was going through some of my old photos the other day and noticing how I've changed over the years. The photo above of Brian and I was taken 18 years ago. One of the first things I noticed was that I had a really great smile back then. Albeit a crooked smile, it was still nice and big and toothy. Then I started looking at some of my more recent photos and my first thought was that it looked like my mouth was starting to shrink. That was until I came to the sad but true realization that my mouth was in fact the same size it's always been. The problem now is that it's just surrounded by a lot more FACE!

So I'm going to officially declare 2009 as the year I'm going to work on loosing the face! Well, some of it anyway.

Relaxing.....

2009-01-29T02:34:00.001-05:00

Reflecting.....

2009-01-29T02:32:00.002-05:00

How About Some Beads?

2009-01-17T13:55:00.002-05:00

When I first started this blog I thought I would be writing about beads. But so far not one beady post! My cats do silly things and therefore are much easier to blog about. But in the interest of beads, I think I'll share a little slide show of some of my creations....

2009-01-17T13:51:00.001-05:00

Puck Update

2009-01-17T03:09:00.006-05:00

I'm so happy to say that Puck has been the purrrrfect addition to our family. He and Harley tussle and play together every day and he respects Jamaica's space. He's such a little clown and quite the busy one. Harley is about a year and a half older than Puck and tuckers out before Puck is ready for his nap, so it's a good thing we have a toy box filled to the brim with play toys to keep Puck occupied until nap time.

I knew it wouldn't be long before we started calling Puck by nicknames instead of his given name. I'm not sure how it happened, but one day he became Puckleberry Pie. It just seems so fitting for his purrrrsonality. The shorter version is now P-Berry.

Here's a cute picture of him that I'm using as a graphic for some of my Cafe Press items. Pretty cool, huh?

It's kind of funny to watch Puck and Harley play together. Puck really abuses the play toys and a few I've already had to repair to keep the stuffing from falling out. But the funniest thing is to watch the horror on Harley's face when Puck pulls one of Harley's favorite toys from the box. It's almost as if Harley knows there's a good chance Puck will ruin it. So now Harley has taken to hiding his toys when he's done playing with them so Puck won't find them. I've found his favorite sparkly mouse in my shoes at least three times this week.

Here's one of my favorite Harley graphics that I recently finished. I'm hoping to have enough to do a calendar real soon.

Happy 2009!

2009-01-02T12:03:00.009-05:00

Happy 2009 everyone! I decided to kick off the new year by doing something I've been putting off for a long time.

I just opened My Cafe Press Shop where you can find lots of great items related to glass beads and kitty cats! I've used images of my own beads that I made to create two really cool calendars.

Bead Dreams 2009 is more of a collection of colorful, abstract photos created by multi-exposing several bead photos into one.

The other bead calendar, simply titled Art Insomnia Beads was created with actual close up photos of some of my favorite beads.

And besides the calendars, I have some really cool goodies for the cat lover. Note cards, mouse pads, tile coasters, tote bags and more, all created with artsy graphics of my kitty cats. This design featuring Harley is one of my favorites!

So use the link above and have a look around. I hope you find something that makes you smile!

Studio Cat in Training

2008-11-20T01:35:00.010-05:00

For the past week and a half Puck has been a Studio Cat in training and I'm happy to report that he's coming along nicely. Considering that he's been on his own for a while, I would have to say he's a very well behaved cat for the most part. The things he must learn in the studio is where he's allowed to go, and where he's not. The workbenches and the top of the kiln are off limits, but anywhere else is fine. The first day I brought him into the studio I caught him up on the far end of my workbench tickling his whiskers on some glass stringers I have in a vase, but he hopped down as soon as I scolded him. He was able to get settled in for a few days before his first day of real work. This is pretty much how this week has gone.....

Day 1

Off to a very rocky start. He didn't appreciate the sound of my vent fan and concentrator. He meowed for two hours straight and paced from one end of the studio to the other. It's not that the noise is horribly loud, because Harley and Jamaica usually nap on the cat bench right next to my concentrator. At one point he thought he could escape the madness through the window. I was in the middle of a bead when I looked up to see him standing spread eagle on the window ledge. He looked like one of those little stuffed cats that people stick to the inside of their car windows with suction cups. I tried to console him but to no avail. Finally after meowing himself into exhaustion, he retreated under the chair for a nap. Or at least I think that's what he was doing under there. Perhaps he was plotting his revenge. I worked for about 4 hours and shut down early due to a "meow induced" splitting headache. Because of Puck's pacing and going behind me where I couldn't see him, I decided to set up a visual barrier for the "No Puck Zone" with a little fence made from masking tape.

This is the "Puck Zone"

This is the "No Puck Zone"

Day 2

Started off with a few meows and then he spent the day under the chair.

Day 3

Now that his fear of the noise is gone, he's developed a real interest in the whole bead making process. Several times he would sit at the corner of my workbench, looking up at the edge like he wanted to jump up. I would tell him "NO" and he would just scowl at me like I hurt his feelings and not go away, so I had to enlist the help of my little "No Puck Zone Enforcer". A little Gothic dude, that when squeezed, makes a blood curdling scream scary enough to send a curious cat packing. I've only had to squeeze him twice so far. Now I just keep him on the edge of the bench as a subtle reminder.

The "No Puck Zone" Enforcer

Days 4 through 10

Now we're getting somewhere! No more meowing or hiding under the chair or threatening to jump on my workbench. Puck's a happy little camper just snoozing on the couch all day while I work. He's a very smart cat and I knew it would only be a matter of time before he caught on. Last night I took down the barrier and invited him over to the cat bench on my side of the room. Now he knows if he crosses over to my side of the studio he better get on that cat bench or he'll get chased back to his side of the room. Yay Puck! You're a Studio Cat Graduate now....good boy!

Oh, and don't tell him I told you this, but Puck has an appointment at the vet for "snip-snip" on December 2nd. After a few days of recovery he will be allowed supervised access to the rest of the house. As soon as I'm sure there aren't any problems between Puck and the two resident felines, Harley and Jamaica, he will have full-time home access and won't have to stay confined to the studio anymore. He's going to make a fine addition to our family and I think Harley is even looking forward to having a playmate that's closer to his own age.

In Your Face!

2008-11-13T21:53:00.006-05:00

You know I've always said that photographing my beads for auction is my least favorite part of the business. After today's photograph session with Puck, I have to say I now have the utmost respect for Pet Photographers. They must be among the most patient people on earth.

I've also come to realize the following about photographing glass beads......

They don't wiggle and squirm so I end up with 100 blurry "action" shots.
They don't sit with their back to me.
They don't hide under the chair.
They don't lay their ears back if I make a strange sound.
They don't swat at the strap on the camera.
They don't pass gas that smells like rotten fish when I try to reposition them.
They don't whip their head around without warning to watch a bird fly by the window.
They don't wait until I'm focused and then decided to lick their privates.
They don't follow me when I back up and then sit on my feet.
They don't get IN MY FACE!!!

You can call me Puck!

2008-11-10T11:29:00.005-05:00

Great news for Straycat! His tests were neg. and he's now officially a member of the family! When we came home from the vets, I had the studio all ready for him and he came walking out of the cat carrier purring and rubbed all over me to say thank you.

Straycat is "stray" no more! His new name is Puck! I know it's kind of an odd name, but you know we usually don't call our pets by their given names anyway. I came up with Puck because he's silly, and clumsy and makes me laugh when he acts like a little clown.....but I think clowns are kind of creepy, so I opted to name him after a Jester instead. Puck is the Jester from Shakespare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream. For seven months this little cat would sit on the plant bench looking in through my studio window, and it really warms my heart to see him now in my studio looking out.

My little sweetie is sleeping on the couch in my studio in the pineapple-upside-down-cat position! He had a big day today. I was out there sorting glass earlier and he would sit at my feet and lean against my leg. He just wants to be as close to me as he possibly can. Harley and Jamaica have watched him today through the sliding doors. They seem interested, but not all that concerned. I'm making sure to show them extra attention too so they don't get jealous.

Scarface, aka Baby Blue's scratches are healing nicely. I'm going to keep putting food out for him so he doesn't have to go home. Whitey isn't showing up here very much anymore. I think he's starting to get the picture.

My funny moment for the day was when Puck went to use the litterbox in the studio for the first time. Harley and Jamaica are at the sliding door watching him with REALLY big eyes and then they both looked at each other and I swear I could hear Jamaica gasp and Harley say, "Oh no he isn't taking a dump in Mom's studio!"

Whitey & Scarface

2008-11-08T00:52:00.004-05:00

So, I guess when someone puts cat food outside word gets around, and soon after I started feeding Straycat outside I had two huge white fluffy tomcats hanging out at my house and eating Straycat’s food. They live somewhere nearby, and I know they’re being fed because they both have good meat on their bones. I would love to have a talk with their humans about the dangers of letting two un-neutered Toms run loose in a heavily populated neighborhood but I’m sure they wouldn’t care much about anything I would have to say to them.

Whitey, (I know...not the most creative name) the larger alpha male fights with the other white cat and beats him up something terrible. Nothing upsets me more than to see two cats fighting, and Whitey clearly has the advantage over what I’m certain is his own sibling. This poor slightly smaller (but still a really big) white cat we started calling Scarface because of the horrible bloody scratches on his face inflicted by Whitey. Some come so close to his eye it makes me shutter to think that sooner or later he’s going to get his poor little crystal blue eyes ripped right out. It took a while before Scarface would even let me pet him. Once I realized what was going on, not only did I have to fill the food bowl several times a day, but I would chase Whitey off so poor Scarface would have a safe place to nap during the day without getting ripped to shreds by his own brother. He started camping out in the bushes under my office window and I can just about find him there day and night. He started to look so much better and I told Brian that we shouldn’t call him Scarface anymore, so we started calling him Baby Blue for his amazing blue eyes.

Well, I just about cried when I opened the door the other day and saw that this poor sweet kitty was back to being Scarface all over again. Just as his wounds were starting to heal, it seems that Whitey has ripped him up again. My first thought was to call animal control and have Scarface picked up so Whitey couldn’t beat him up anymore. But then I got to thinking about how sad it would be if he ended up being put down. Then I thought maybe I should have Whitey picked up. Honestly I just don’t know what to do. I can’t possibly adopt Scarface and it just makes me sick to think of the way he’s being neglected by his humans and ripped up by his brother. It’s as if he looks to me to protect him and I can’t do that with him belonging to someone else and living outdoors. I think the best thing for him would be for me to find a softhearted person who is willing to do a covert rescue and give him a loving home. The problem is, he would need to be an “only child” as I fear he has been tormented so much he wouldn’t be able to coexist with another cat. So he wanted me to ask if there’s anyone out there who could love and take care of a fluffy white cat with scars on his face. Just look past the scars and into these beautiful blue eyes....

Daddycat the Tent Maker

2008-11-08T00:40:00.004-05:00

I just thought this was too cute not to share.When Brian and I got together 18 years ago, he had never known the joys of being owned by a cat. I must say that he warmed up to the idea pretty fast. It all started with our Winston, which Brian fell hopelessly in love with. We don't have any kids, so when I'm talking to the cats about Brian, I refer to him as Daddycat. Well, not long after we adopted Winston, Daddycat started constructing kitty tents and kitty caves all over the house for Winston to play in. He would arrange all the pillows on our bed into a kitty shelter, or drape towels across a chair for a fun tent. Of course, when Jamaica came along, and more recently Harley, he had to introduce them to the finer points of indoor cave dwelling too. Once he even constructed an elaborate kitty complex by draping a sheet over our dining room table, with seperate little rooms inside consisting of towels over the chairs. He would actually crawl inside and play with them. I have a picture of Daddycat under a kitty tent with just his feet sticking out. He got under there to play and ended up falling asleep!

So you can just imagine how this warmed my heart when I went out to the garage this morning to check on Straycat and found this.....

"Straycat"

2008-11-08T00:12:00.006-05:00

One day back in June as I was making beads in my studio, I noticed a little brown tabby cat on my plant stand in the back yard. When I finished the bead I was working on I went to the window to get a better look. He was so thin and emaciated and was gobbling up hard corn scraps left behind by the squirrels I had been feeding. This just made me cry. That day I started putting a bowl of kibble out for this poor little stray cat.

He would usually come around in the afternoon and eat his kibble then sit on the plant stand, looking in through the window of my studio. On many occasions I would go out and try to talk to him but he would always run away. I even tried approaching him with food in hand, but he wanted nothing to do with me. My neighbor told me he had been living under the gazebo she had in her yard. I told her that he must have been born in the wild because I’m usually very good at being able to make friends with even the most timid of cats.Every day when Straycat would show up, I could see him gradually gaining weight and looking better. Every day he would eat my offerings of kibble and then watch me through the window of my studio as if to say thank you, but I still could not get within 20 yards of him. Then one day my neighbor told me her granddaughter’s friend told her the people that owned the cat had moved out of town months before, leaving this poor kitty to fend for him self. This broke my heart even more. Just what kind of person could do something like that? Domestic cats can live in the wild if they are forced to, but it’s never pleasant for them to be undernourished, infested with parasites, exposed to the weather and at risk of being hit by a car.

Now for the last few weeks I’ve noticed that Straycat has been living in the culvert pipe than runs under my neighbor’s driveway. This way he can see me when I come to fill his bowl and he’s there every morning and afternoon, meowing a pitiful little soft meow at me from a distance. But he would never come to eat until I had gone back in the house and all was quiet.

Well a few days ago Straycat and I had an amazing breakthrough. He was crying for his breakfast and watched as I filled his bowl and then I put it on the ground. I took a few steps back from it and just stood there very still, talking to him in a sweet voice. Finally he came slinking over and very cautiously began to eat. Every time he would turn his head away I would quietly inch closer until I got to where I could squat down and stroke his fur. With the first touch, he flinched as if I had zapped him with a tazer gun. But he didn’t run. So I continued talking to him sweetly and stroking his fur. Before he was finished with his lunch, he was rubbing all over me, doing pushy pushy with his front feet and purring up a storm! Not wanting to overdo things with our first real encounter, I turned to go back in the garage and much to my surprise, he pranced in right behind me, meowing and purring and rubbing me just begging for some more loving! The power of touch is truly amazing!

For the last few days he’s been camping out in my garage. During the day I have the door lifted about 8 inches just in case he wants to go out and stretch his legs, but he’s content to lounge in the patio chair that I put an old towel on for him. He also prefers to use the litter box I’ve provided, rather than to do his business outdoors, so I’m certain he was once an indoor cat.

Brian and I have decided to try and give this sweet little Straycat the life he deserves and we’re taking steps to make him part of our family. Saturday he has an appointment at the vet’s office where he will be tested for Feline Leukemia, Feline Aids and checked for worms. If he gets a clean bill of health I will take care of his fleas and treat him for ear mites and move him indoors to my studio. My studio is attached to my house and closed off with two sets of sliding glass doors where he and my two indoor cats can get used to seeing each other. After a while I will crack the door open just enough for them to smell each other. Then, if everything is going well and it looks like this will work, he will go back to the vet’s to get neutered and have all his shots and then we can introduce him as a permanent member of the family and come up with a better name than Straycat. Meanwhile he’s more than happy to live in the garage and soak up every bit of kindness we have to offer. So here are a few pictures of what will hopefully be our new baby.

Hair on Fire!

2008-11-07T23:57:00.004-05:00

Well, not really, I just wanted it to look that way. Brian has been after me for years to do some really wild color in my hair. I figured the typical pinks, blues and purples would clash with my naturally red highlights, so I decided to try something "flamey". After all, I work at a torch every day, so why not? So what do you think? Does this say "Artsy Flameworker" or "Aged Punkrocker"? :o)

Toothbrush Tail

2007-06-16T03:06:00.000-04:00

This picture is related to the story I told yesterday about the Mystery Hair. I told a dear friend of mine the story and she thought it was hilarious. She has quite a few cats herself and started to wonder about the safety of her own toothbrush.

A few months later I received a surprise package in the mail from my friend Anna. There were two precious little ceramic cats, one of which I'm sure was made especially for me. The look on this cat's face is priceless!

The Mystery Hair

2007-06-15T01:18:00.000-04:00

As I prepared to brush my teeth one morning, I raised the toothbrush up to my mouth and noticed a hair in my toothbrush! Not just on the surface, but wedged right down to the bottom of the bristles. I have to admit that things like that don't really gross me out all that much, and besides, Brian and I are the only ones that use that bathroom. So I wash the toothpaste off and pull the offending hair out and reload the brush with toothpaste.

As I'm standing there brushing my teeth, now I notice little hair trimmings around the sink and I think, ah ha! It was Brian! He likes to trim the hair near his ears when it gets too long and always does it on MY side of the bathroom counter where he can look closely in the mirror on the medicine cabinet. (And why it is that little hair trimmings on the counter are invisible to men?) So feeling very proud of myself for figuring out the case of the mystery hair, I couldn't wait for Brian to get home from work to tease him about.

When he came home, I casually mentioned with a smirk, "Oh, and by the way, you have a moustache brush in the medicine cabinet, so stop using my toothbrush for your grooming." I totally expected him to burst into laughter at the idea of being busted, but instead he gave me one of his "what the hell are you talking about" looks. When I told him the story about the hair, of course he denied ever touching my toothbrush. (So now this is the part where I have to tell you that my husband comes equipped with a built-in lie detector. When he's about to fib or try and pull my leg about something he raises his eyebrows real high in an attempt to muster up the most convincing look possible. This make several rows of cute little wrinkles raise up across his forehead and it's just about as foolproof as a buzzer sounding and a red light flashing.) But this time there was no raised eyebrows and no wrinkles. Hmmmm. But then how did that hair get so firmly wedged into the bristles of my toothbrush? Over the next few weeks I had fun teasing him about the hair incident every chance I got. So much so that I think he started to become a tad bit aggravated, so I decided to let it go.

Now flash forward to a few weeks later. I had some letters that needed to be mailed so I went to the closet for my shoes. My little black kitty, Jamaica, followed me into the bathroom and hopped up on the counter where she was patiently waiting for me to turn the faucet on so she could get a drink. Jamaica is the sweetest little cat and she's so well behaved. She never, ever gets into trouble for anything, so imagine my surprise when I turn around and see her grooming her face on MY TOOTHBRUSH!!!! Yep, there she was stoking the whole length of the side of her face on my toothbrush that stood there defenseless in the toothbrush stand.

Of course, I had to confess to the false accusations I had made earlier, and now I think I will never hear the end of it. He was definitely framed! Now I keep a "decoy toothbrush" at the front of the toothbrush stand just in case, and the one that I brush my teeth with is way in the back.

Why Art Insomnia?

2007-06-13T01:31:00.000-04:00

There I was, sitting on the floor, surrounded in a sea of buttons. I was sorting them out into little piles of colors and size, and creating pictures on the carpet. I was about four years old when I had that first creative experience.

My Grandmother, who I called Nana, was the most wonderful seamstress. I remember lying on a sheet of newspaper so she could trace the outline of my body. From this crude pattern, she would sew the most beautiful dresses, fit for a princess. She had two huge coffee cans full to the top with buttons, and she would always let me pick out the buttons to sew on my dresses. Nana introduced me to crafting at an early age. We would make things to sell at the bazaar to raise money for the Salvation Army Church she belonged to.

When I was a little girl, I wanted to marry Batman when I grew up. Then I got a little older and decided I wanted to be a Veterinarian or an Artist. A little older still, I realized that I was way too soft hearted to see animals in pain. After crafting with my Grandmother for most of my young life, and later becoming teacher's pet in all of my art classes in high school, it was apparent that I wanted to be an Artist. Being a Pisces didn't hurt either. It seemed that I had all the personality traits that were usually associated with an Artist. I was aloof and sensitive. I loved to pretend and explore. I especially recall the words “creative”, “imaginative” and “daydreamer” on my report cards all throughout school. My fifth grade art teacher told my mother that she should do everything she could to encourage me to continue with my art. Everything I made for her was proudly displayed in our home.

Later on as a teenager, I started to develop a real interest in drawing. My aunt Diane, who has been a constant source of encouragement over the years, took me to a real art supply store for the very first time. She bought a real artist’s sketch pad, a set of charcoal pencils and a big set of pastels for me. She also bought me a kneaded gum eraser because that’s what the “professionals” used. I felt so grown up that day. I felt as if I had crossed over from being the “refrigerator artist” to a level where I would be developing a talent that would help me fulfill my dream of becoming an artist. Diane saw something in me back then, which I had yet to see in myself. (I still use that very same eraser every time I sketch, and I think it has been my lucky charm.)

At the age of sixteen, I dropped out of high school, against my Mothers wishes, and got a job. It was a struggle for my Mom, raising two girls on her own and I thought I could help out financially. A gas station, a sub shop and a fast food chicken joint later, I still had no clue what I wanted to do. My Mom always said that to get anywhere, I had to find a job where there was room to advance, and stick with it. At the age of seventeen, I took a job with a manufacturing company that showed potential. It wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, but I stuck it out for ten long years before leaving. Out of work, and my marriage falling apart, I knew I wasn’t going anywhere without a dime in my pocket to call my own. I took a job with another manufacturing company, saved up a few dollars and was divorced soon after.

I stayed with this company for thirteen years. I worked my way up from an entry level position as an Assembler to a Management position as their Customer Service Supervisor. In those thirteen years, I married the love of my life, Brian. (Who’s a much better husband than Batman would have been.) We’ve built a beautiful new home together and raised two precious kitty cats that are the lights of our lives. We’ve made lots of money and bought lots of things, but in the last few years, I started to become depressed. Overworked and feeling under appreciated, the stress of my job was killing me. Faced with added responsibilities and an understaffed department, the stress started to manifest into physical symptoms. I was literally on the verge of a nervous breakdown. My poor, sweet husband, trying so hard to be supportive, told me, “Why don’t you go talk to your doctor? They could give you something for your depression”. Hearing those words made me realize that I had to do something. So I decided that I was going to fix what was wrong with my life. Then something very strange happened. In a brief moment of mental clarity, it occurred to me that at the age of 40, I was not what I wanted to be when I grew up! I had let my dreams slip away from me. I had turned them down so low that I couldn’t hear them anymore.

It took me forty-five minutes to write a letter of resignation that consisted of three sentences. Walking away from a good paying job would prove to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But the next morning when I gave the letter to my boss, I realized that I was doing the right thing. From the moment the letter left my fingertips, I could breathe again. My last day would be December 31, 2003. I was so excited about finally becoming a full time artist and the last day of the year couldn’t come soon enough.

So now it was a new year and I had a new life, and I also had my work cut out for me. My first order of business was to rearrange some rooms in my home to accommodate a combination of an office and a studio. Before I could start moving furniture I had to clean out my craft closet that was stacked floor to ceiling with things that I would probably never get the chance to work on. I went to the store and bought a bunch of large plastic, see through tubs to organize what I would be keeping. As I began the monumental task of straightening everything out, I told myself that if I couldn’t use it for bead making, I that I would toss it or donate it. It was really hard to go through things I hadn’t seen in years without stopping to fiddle around with it, but I was on a mission and stayed focused on the task at hand.

That was until I found the buttons. They were a precious piece of my childhood, given to me when my Nana passed away. And before I knew it, I found myself sitting on the floor, surrounded in a sea of buttons. I was sorting them out into little piles of colors and size, and creating pictures on the carpet. And at that moment I realized that I had found something that I had lost so long ago. I promised myself right then, that I would never let my dreams slip away again.

So now I dream with my eyes wide open, and the dreams play so loud in my head, that often I can’t sleep. But it’s not just the usual insomnia…..It’s creative adrenaline…..It’s the excitement of my next project…..It’s knowing that I’m finally doing something that I’m passionate about.

It’s Art Insomnia, because Art never sleeps.