5/19/09
I'm so excited and nervous about the trunk show I'm doing this weekend! I'll be there with the full-line bead store Bello Modo Beads, fellow lampwork bead artists Mia Courchaine from Skyisland Design and Breezy Riggs from Harvest Beads, and ceramic bead artists Joan and Lana from Off Center Productions. We'll be at Hotel DeLuxe in downtown Portland on Saturday May 23 from 10-6, and Sunday May 24 from 10-4. Please come if you're in town! I normally only do one show every year, and I've skipped the last two years for family reasons, so this may be your only chance to buy my beads in person for a while. I hope to see you... bring your friends! :D
9/17/08
I'm up to speed after my rather lengthy (and lovely!) vacation, and just put up a bunch of beads from last week's studio time. My lovely and talented assistant Tom has returned to school, and I decided to bite the bullet and hire a new studio manager. Now, I realize that it will be a challenge to fill the power-shoes of the Mighty Breezy, but my new studio manager looks like he'll be able to crack the whip and keep me in line... so look forward to dramatically increased production in the upcoming weeks, and more variety each week as Scott, my new manager, makes sure I stay out of ruts and in front of the torch! Scott is a talented artist and woodworker as well as a full-time dad with two small children, so he knows what it takes to keep things organized and on track around my house of mayhem. Plus, my kids like his kids. :)
8/21/08
I will be out of the office on vacation from Friday, August 22nd through Wednesday, September 3rd. ALL ORDERS PLACED ON OR AFTER AUGUST 22nd WILL BE SHIPPED UPON MY RETURN. Thank you! :)
6/22/08
Introducing Tom! Although I had no plans to bring on an assistant after the lovely, talented, and indispensable Breezy embarked on her independent journey in glass and I gratefully embraced the life of a part-timer, life marches on and change is the only thing that's eternal... so I am happy to introduce to you my new apprentice and shop assistant, Tom. He approached me with an interest in learning the ins and outs of beadmaking, and between his winning smile and the fact that he plays balloon volleyball with Ophelia, I couldn't say no.
Tom is a graphic design student, and although he's a rank beginner in glass, he's catching on very quickly and I expect to be making a "For Sale" category for him by the end of summer. In exchange for training and studio time, he'll be doing much of my shipping and office work... yay!
3/21/08
Happy Easter Weekend! I'll be traveling for the holiday, so any orders placed over the weekend will be shipped Wednesday, March 26th.
We have lots of changes for the coming year; the biggest one is that Moxley has taken a contract job for the next four months working onsite, so I will only have a couple of hours each morning to make beads... hopefully you won't notice much change in my output, but I'll certainly be working hard to reorganize my workflow! I'm not sure, yet, how it will all work during the summer when the kids are home - I might have to get really creative about finding torch time. :) This fall, Ophelia will be in all-day kindergarten, and my schedule will return to some semblance of normalcy!
10/30/07
Ah, fall is here, and changes are afoot. Ophelia has started preschool. Sam and Juliet have started attending the school in our neighborhood, and are making friends close to home. Breezy has left me to launch her own business as a full-time beadmaker, and with her talent and remarkable business acuity I have no doubt that she will be a blazing (Haha! Pun!) success. Meanwhile, with my husband's considerable help, I am re-learning how to do everything myself, from supply orders to shipping, and am also taking a class... just one, it's all I have time for... at the local community college. Wish me luck! :)
8/27/06
I'm going to be gone until eveningtime tomorrow, and tomorrow is Monday, so I thought I'd better let you know that beads won't go up until Tuesday! Thanks!
5/23/06
Today I was making a marble and Zach asked me if that's what my Muse told me to make. I said yes, and then he asked what my Muse looks like. The first thing that popped into my head was a 6'6" loincloth-wearing black fairy named Jackson, so I guess that's who my Muse is.
After a moment in the studio, my Muse has informed me that actually Jackson is his last name. His first name is Dave. Also, his wings look like aquamarine dichroic glass.
5/3/06
Things are starting to settle in without Breezy here... we have sort of a routine, albeit a bit of a frenzied one. My torch time will be EXTREMELY limited until my helpers are up to speed... and then only moderately limited until Zach arrives on the 22nd as Breezy's full-time fill in. In the meantime, you will be seeing fewer beads from me for a while! I think we will be able to keep up with shipping OK. I removed my Designer's Grab Bag until I can be certain I'll have enough torch time. Otherwise, all is well... Breezy and baby are thriving, as is my little family, and the weather is warming up to give us a really delightful spring.
5/1/06
Breezy had a ten-pound baby girl today!!!! :D :D
2/13/06
So today, I got up early and made beads all morning so I could free up the afternoon for something VERY exciting... tree planting! My friend Lisa picked me up and we drove out to Teufel's nursery to pick out a pair if flowering crabapples for my planting strip in front of the house. I was planning on getting some maybe five or six foot trees... but to my surprise and mild dismay, they only had ABSOLUTELY ENORMOUS ones! Lisa is a professional gardener though, so I was getting her discount - that means cost was really not as much of an issue as it would otherwise have been, and the trees were beautiful - absolutely gorgeous, with glowing bronze bark and a perfectly-pruned spreading canopy. We looked at each other, and the silent communication was sent; "We can do this!" We paid for the trees and an extra shovel, the nursery guys got the forklift and loaded the trees into Lisa's truck, and we headed home for planting! Now, imagine this; I am 5'3" and while I'm not a fragile thing, each of these trees, with its rootball, weighs more than me. They are probably about 200 lbs each! Lisa is maybe an inch taller, with more muscle. We had to figure out how to get them from truck to hole with no forklift, so after we dug two GINORMOUS holes and lined them with compost, she backed her truck up to the curb and we heaved and dragged and wrestled my precious new babies to the edge of her tailgate, tried hard to line them up, and then WHAM! Let them drop into the hole. O glories! O success! Yes, at one point I did get slightly injured, but I don't seem to have a concussion and the big pile of dirt broke my fall nicely. The lump on my head doesn't even hurt! Now I have two beautiful "Golden Raindrops" crabapples in front of my house, ready to burst into blossom this spring, and that is the story of what I did before I listed beads this afternoon, which I have just finished doing and I'm still muddy from my adventure so I'd better go take a bath.
11/23/05
All is calm on the western front; I am finally getting over a bout with bronchitis, and looking forward to Thanksgiving tomorrow! I went a little crazy and bought roller skates as soon as I started feeling better... I've already rolled around the block and fallen down about 6,000 times. It was great! I got my oldest daughter a skateboard and my son has a razor scooter, so we are looking forward to roller sports at the park this summer.
Last night Moxley and I went to the best concert of our lives; it was Fiona Apple's debut concert after five years of not performing! She is incredible: her performance was amazing and she has tremendous stage presence. The show wasn't advertised at all, we just sort of lucked into it because a friend was stalking the Tickets West website for good shows and called us as soon as she found out Fiona was playing. Incredible!
I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I know that if you're in Canada you already had yours, and I hope it was great! Breezy and I are taking the rest of the week off to be with our families; Moxley and the kids and I have a longstanding tradition of having Thanksgiving with my son's godmother Lisa, and this year we are planning to bake pies, pack an Unturkey, bring cider and wine and mulling spices, and head over early for a day of relaxed nibbling and laughter. I love Thanksgiving! It's my favorite holiday. Well, maybe Easter gives it a good run for the money, but it's pretty close!
Love you guys, take care,
-Kalera
10/30/05
Nothin' much is happening.
I'm sitting around getting over a cold that came on the heels of the flu, despite which I went to a concert with two of my favorite bands, Stars of Track and Field, and Harvey Danger. Seeing Harvey Danger reminded me of my friend Julie van Arcken, who I love dearly and haven't seen for over a year. Julie, dammit, if you happen to read this, send me an email or something; my hard drive went corrupt early this year and I lost everything on it, including your email and home address. All I have is an envelope from a card you sent me last year, and I think you've moved since then? Anyway.
Things are still hectic here. I'm not maintaining much of a "web presence" these days, in fact I'm barely keeping up with my emails! (if that). Some contractors are looking at my old house and if all goes well, soon that sucka will be sold and we'll be having my new studio built, plus dormers added to the upstairs so we'll have more room. Wish me luck! In the meantime I'll try to keep on making beads. :)
9/10/05
Breezy is out of town for the weekend - she'll be back on Wednesday but I wanted to let you know because it means nothing will get shipped out until Thursday this week.
I am vaguely hung-over, but mostly sleep deprived right now, because I went to the Tori Amos concert with my friend Paulette (from SPIglass Studio) last night (FUN!) and then, even though we didn't get back to my house until 11pm, I HAD to take Moxley to my friend Chris' birthday party. He's the sweetest guy ever and has been there for me whenever I needed a friend to lean on, so I couldn't really miss his birthday party! We ended up staying until two am and I drank a third of a bottle of wine, and then this morning the kids got me up at six, so I'm a little logy. Tonight, we have TWO more birthday parties to attend! What's up with all these September babies, anyway?
8/31/05
I didn't realize there were 31 days in August, and it threw me off for a minute there! August has been one heck of a month... I came home from the Gathering on the 2nd, my sister and her kids arrived from Colorado (permanently, yay!) on the 4th, we've been working on finishing the basement all month, and now I'm off to Glass Stock... wow, I can't wait! I'll be gone for a few days but Breezy will still be here to mind the shop, as always. (Breezy@beadwife.com, if you need anything.)
I'm starting to get excited because the next phase of studio-building is in the works; the garage. Ever since we moved into this house, the garage has been earmarked as my "someday" studio, and the time has nearly arrived; we're going to get a quote on re-roofing it, and then, as soon as we're done with the basement, construction will start on the garage! I'm pretty stoked. There will be room for up to eight torch stations, plus a fusing kiln, and a seperate street-level entry. The garage walks into the basement, which we're finishing for office space, and the long-term plan includes putting in a second bathroom down there as well.
6/25/05 (later that day...)
OK, it didn't take very long at all to set up a category for reserved beads! It's all done; if you have reservations, that's where your beads have been moved to. :)
6/25/05
I just wanted to let everyone know that reserved items are now being shuffled to the last page when Breezy updaes the site on Wednesdays... so if you don't see your beads, don't worry, check the last couple of pages & it'll be there! I will be working on a "reservations" page to make your stuff easier to find. If you're reading this and thinking, "hey, what's up with reservations?", just check out my FAQ page, it explains everything. :)
5/21/05
Exciting news! Today I was accepted into Guardino Gallery, which is an awesome place in the nearby Alberta Arts District. I'm very pleased to be able to display my work with them, as it's my favorite gallery in the district. Hooray! Here's a link: Guardino Gallery
5/18/05
Hey, today's the 25th anniversary of Mt. St. Helen's big eruption! Hmmm. In honor of that, I am changing my picture. I also vow to use "LOL" far less frequently. Breezy will be back tomorrow! Oh, blessed be! Oh joy! Oh relief! Unfortunately I have been quite lazy while she was gone and haven't strung even one single set I've made so she has a lot of work ahead of her, unless I (hahahaha!) stay up late and do some tonight. No way, man!
5/11/05
Wow, so much is going on and I never seem to update my blog, LOL! I've recently lowered the prices on my Bullseye and Uroboros rods, and made the Uroboros available singly rather than in 1/4 lb increments, and business is brisk. I have to do what I can to stay competetive with the "big guys"!
**An important note: Breezy is going on a much-needed vacation, and my mom is visiting so I'm taking a few days off, so all orders placed between now and next Thursday will ship on FRIDAY, MAY 20. I hope that won't inconvenience anyone!**
11/21/04
I have been soo soooo busy! My shed is nearing the final stages, eeeeeeeee! I put the door hardware on yesterday so now it actually locks! The ventilation system and torches are on their way. I still haven't picked out a kiln, eeek. Thanksgiving is this week, so I probably won't do a WHOLE lot, but I am hoping to be done by December 15th. Well, I should hope so, since I have a student coming on the 18th! LOL!
After the shed is done, I'm going to be building a rec room in our basement for the kids. One corner of the basement has my permanent torch setup, and the other will house a TV, couch, and toys, which will make it possible for me to torch after school while they're playing and snacking. Hooray! You may ask why my husband doesn't do the construction work... basically, I'm a handy kind of girl and I enjoy that kind of thing, while he's a musician/programmer type who doesn't. We're a good match!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
10/21/04
Whew! I just got back from my workshop (it's MIDNIGHT!) and I am exhausted, exhilerated, and a day later than I thought I would be... sorry about that! I'll post my new beads tomorrow... I'm going to BED! Goodnight! :)
10/11/04
I'll be off to Port Townsend next weekend for my dream class, (with Michael Barley and Andrea Guarino!) but I'll be back on Tuesday night, (the 19th) refreshed, recharged, and full of new ideas! I'll post my week's beads when I get home, and in the meantime, Breezy will still be here keeping an eye on orders and shipping, so if you have any questions you can get in touch with her at breezy@beadwife.com. As usual, my website will probably crash the second I get in the car to leave, in which case, please let my sweet husband/webmaster know: moxley@moxleydata.com.
Have a great week!
9/26/04
I have a fun new project! I have recently discovered that banks don't like us because we're self-employed, so my major studio remodel will have to wait until next year. However, as much as I love the corner of the basement we call the Bead Hole, I am yearning for a lighter, brighter, less centipede-y work area. With extra torches so I can teach. My dear friend Gwyn suggested that I could build a little shed studio in my back yard (I'm handy) and I thought that sounded great, so I was out back measuring and planning away, when Breezy said (in that polite way that avoids implying that I'm a doofus) "Is that shed not big enough?", pointing at the roomy, mostly unused shed that's already *in* my back yard. The girl is a genius... I think I killed off too many brain cells during all those years of using a Hot Head without adequate ventilation, so it's a good thing she has enough brains for both of us.
I'll be posting pictures of the shed soon, and giving periodic progress reports. It's 8x8" and will fit three torch stations, hooray! I've already removed the toilet, lawn mower, spare door, and fishtanks, and need only to figure out what to do with the storm windows and the wood cookstove... it was original to the house but there's no place for it in the kitchen now. I have a double-paned glass door that will fit nicely and allow lots of light in, and an electrician to come wire a couple of dedicated circuits in. I'm going to get fireproof flooring tomorrow morning. Hooray!
9/17/04
I am heading out of town this weekend (up to revisit my childhood haunts with my friend Gwyn!) and so of course I'm guessing the website will go on the fritz the second I'm out of eyeshot. When this happens, you can email my darling, most wonderful, bestest husband in the world (aka "Stays-Home-With-Kids") Moxley; his email is moxley@moxleydata.com. (Make sure you write that down before my website crashes.) He is actually going to be moving the website to a new server while I'm gone (it's so much better when he does it while I'm gone, it avoids all the hysterical shrieking about my website being down) so it will *definitely* be down for a while on Saturday, but if it does anything freaky like send you nine payment notifications, please do let him know! Have a great weekend!
9/1/04
I have a new toy! Wheeeeee! Well, not a toy exactly; what I have is a new notification system and an online forum, which should be fun! The way this works, you go to the forum and find the "New Beads" topic. Click on "Watch this Topic" and you will get an email the next time I post to it... which will be the next time I have new beads up! How cool is that? There is also a Q&A section, a gallery for posting your work, and an area for general chitchat. I am going to put a clickable link in the menu, but for now you can copy and paste: http://www.beadwife.com/forums/ ... have fun!
8/22/04
OK, so my mailing list isn't done yet... :P ! The plan is to have it be almost totally automated, because I don't trust myself to find time to update and maintain a list manually... but when we installed it, it took my whole website out of commission for some reason that I am failing to completely comprehend. Oops! Back to the drawing board, honey.
In the meantime, I have been a busy busy little bee, and there are a pile of sets and focals, including my latest obsession with hollows, sitting on my kitchen counter. I'm wiring the sets together all day today, (running out of spacers, EEK!) and Breezy will take pictures and put listings together tomorrow afternoon. I'll have them posted to the website tomorrow evening! I'm hungry now... off to make veggie burgers.
8/18/04
I'm back! Wheeeeeee... six days in a car with three kids, a dog, and a very handsome guy, driving to Lake Tahoe and back again... wow! What an experience! We saw deer, toads, lizards, trout, volcanoes, giant trees, hippies, an ocean, and more stunning landscape than you could shake a stick at. Well, I guess you could shake a stick at it, but I can't imagine why you'd want to! Also, there are bears. One of them ate my sister-in-law's leftover chicken dinner and apple pie, so I wouldn't advise any stick-shaking.
The volcano part was amazing. Mt. Lassen in California is a giant cinder-cone that erupted in 1915, spraying lava and ash and rocks for miles, and it is just... WOW. I can't believe they just let people drive up there! It has big, steaming sulphurous vents that burble and blort and hiss, and you can walk RIGHT UP to them. You would think, having been right here during the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, that I would be sort of jaded on active volcanos, but I thought it was one of the coolest things I have ever seen!
OK, back to business. I'm starting to see why this "blog" business has so much appeal... I intended this to be the place where I impart necessary information such as "hey, I'm out of town for a week" but instead I'm babbling about my vacation and volcanoes. What I really meant to say was hi, I'm back! I got in last night and have spent all day today making beads... Breezy (who is ever more indispensable from day to day)took pictures of last week's beads for me, so I could spend the day torching as much as possible. I'm really fixated on simple, pure color, texture, and form right now, so expect to see a lot of layering, surface treatments, and etching as I play with ways to maximize the intensity the glass holds in potential. I have already found some combinations that give me the WOW color I'm craving!
8/10/04
I have been getting lots and lots of requests for special orders recently, and I thought it might be nice if I could explain why it is I no longer take special and/or custom orders. Basically, the deal is, I don't have to, so I don't! You, as fellow artists, probably know exactly what I mean by that... my creativity, flow, and satisfaction with my work tends to be at a much higher level when I am doing my own thing, following my Muse. I am very fortunate to be able to have my time at the torch free, to experiment, to *play*, so... I do!
8/9/04
(Yes, that's a picture of me!) So, I am noticing that with the stiff competition for my latest work, the beads I put up are pretty much gone within a couple of hours of making them available. That's GREAT for me, but not so fabulous for people who don't happen to check my site at the right moment! What that means is that I really, really need a mailing list, so I'm working on one and hope to have it up next week sometime. As many of you know, I normally stay up late on Sunday night to get my beads up and at 'em by Monday morning, but my schedule has been a bit off because of the Gathering of the International Society of Glass Beadmakers (what a blast!) and now because of an upcoming family reunion! I do have new beads in the works, but they won't be listed until next Wednesday afternoon. In the future, I think Breezy will be taking over the job of listings, which means you can look for new work on Monday afternoons. Whew... thank heaven for Breezy!
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5/19/09
I'm so excited and nervous about the trunk show I'm doing this weekend! I'll be there with the full-line bead store Bello Modo Beads, fellow lampwork bead artists Mia Courchaine from Skyisland Design and Breezy Riggs from Harvest Beads, and ceramic bead artists Joan and Lana from Off Center Productions. We'll be at Hotel DeLuxe in downtown Portland on Saturday May 23 from 10-6, and Sunday May 24 from 10-4. Please come if you're in town! I normally only do one show every year, and I've skipped the last two years for family reasons, so this may be your only chance to buy my beads in person for a while. I hope to see you... bring your friends! :D
9/17/08
I'm up to speed after my rather lengthy (and lovely!) vacation, and just put up a bunch of beads from last week's studio time. My lovely and talented assistant Tom has returned to school, and I decided to bite the bullet and hire a new studio manager. Now, I realize that it will be a challenge to fill the power-shoes of the Mighty Breezy, but my new studio manager looks like he'll be able to crack the whip and keep me in line... so look forward to dramatically increased production in the upcoming weeks, and more variety each week as Scott, my new manager, makes sure I stay out of ruts and in front of the torch! Scott is a talented artist and woodworker as well as a full-time dad with two small children, so he knows what it takes to keep things organized and on track around my house of mayhem. Plus, my kids like his kids. :)
8/21/08
I will be out of the office on vacation from Friday, August 22nd through Wednesday, September 3rd. ALL ORDERS PLACED ON OR AFTER AUGUST 22nd WILL BE SHIPPED UPON MY RETURN. Thank you! :)
6/22/08
Introducing Tom! Although I had no plans to bring on an assistant after the lovely, talented, and indispensable Breezy embarked on her independent journey in glass and I gratefully embraced the life of a part-timer, life marches on and change is the only thing that's eternal... so I am happy to introduce to you my new apprentice and shop assistant, Tom. He approached me with an interest in learning the ins and outs of beadmaking, and between his winning smile and the fact that he plays balloon volleyball with Ophelia, I couldn't say no.
Tom is a graphic design student, and although he's a rank beginner in glass, he's catching on very quickly and I expect to be making a "For Sale" category for him by the end of summer. In exchange for training and studio time, he'll be doing much of my shipping and office work... yay!
3/21/08
Happy Easter Weekend! I'll be traveling for the holiday, so any orders placed over the weekend will be shipped Wednesday, March 26th.
We have lots of changes for the coming year; the biggest one is that Moxley has taken a contract job for the next four months working onsite, so I will only have a couple of hours each morning to make beads... hopefully you won't notice much change in my output, but I'll certainly be working hard to reorganize my workflow! I'm not sure, yet, how it will all work during the summer when the kids are home - I might have to get really creative about finding torch time. :) This fall, Ophelia will be in all-day kindergarten, and my schedule will return to some semblance of normalcy!
10/30/07
Ah, fall is here, and changes are afoot. Ophelia has started preschool. Sam and Juliet have started attending the school in our neighborhood, and are making friends close to home. Breezy has left me to launch her own business as a full-time beadmaker, and with her talent and remarkable business acuity I have no doubt that she will be a blazing (Haha! Pun!) success. Meanwhile, with my husband's considerable help, I am re-learning how to do everything myself, from supply orders to shipping, and am also taking a class... just one, it's all I have time for... at the local community college. Wish me luck! :)
8/27/06
I'm going to be gone until eveningtime tomorrow, and tomorrow is Monday, so I thought I'd better let you know that beads won't go up until Tuesday! Thanks!
5/23/06
Today I was making a marble and Zach asked me if that's what my Muse told me to make. I said yes, and then he asked what my Muse looks like. The first thing that popped into my head was a 6'6" loincloth-wearing black fairy named Jackson, so I guess that's who my Muse is.
After a moment in the studio, my Muse has informed me that actually Jackson is his last name. His first name is Dave. Also, his wings look like aquamarine dichroic glass.
5/3/06
Things are starting to settle in without Breezy here... we have sort of a routine, albeit a bit of a frenzied one. My torch time will be EXTREMELY limited until my helpers are up to speed... and then only moderately limited until Zach arrives on the 22nd as Breezy's full-time fill in. In the meantime, you will be seeing fewer beads from me for a while! I think we will be able to keep up with shipping OK. I removed my Designer's Grab Bag until I can be certain I'll have enough torch time. Otherwise, all is well... Breezy and baby are thriving, as is my little family, and the weather is warming up to give us a really delightful spring.
5/1/06
Breezy had a ten-pound baby girl today!!!! :D :D
2/13/06
So today, I got up early and made beads all morning so I could free up the afternoon for something VERY exciting... tree planting! My friend Lisa picked me up and we drove out to Teufel's nursery to pick out a pair if flowering crabapples for my planting strip in front of the house. I was planning on getting some maybe five or six foot trees... but to my surprise and mild dismay, they only had ABSOLUTELY ENORMOUS ones! Lisa is a professional gardener though, so I was getting her discount - that means cost was really not as much of an issue as it would otherwise have been, and the trees were beautiful - absolutely gorgeous, with glowing bronze bark and a perfectly-pruned spreading canopy. We looked at each other, and the silent communication was sent; "We can do this!" We paid for the trees and an extra shovel, the nursery guys got the forklift and loaded the trees into Lisa's truck, and we headed home for planting! Now, imagine this; I am 5'3" and while I'm not a fragile thing, each of these trees, with its rootball, weighs more than me. They are probably about 200 lbs each! Lisa is maybe an inch taller, with more muscle. We had to figure out how to get them from truck to hole with no forklift, so after we dug two GINORMOUS holes and lined them with compost, she backed her truck up to the curb and we heaved and dragged and wrestled my precious new babies to the edge of her tailgate, tried hard to line them up, and then WHAM! Let them drop into the hole. O glories! O success! Yes, at one point I did get slightly injured, but I don't seem to have a concussion and the big pile of dirt broke my fall nicely. The lump on my head doesn't even hurt! Now I have two beautiful "Golden Raindrops" crabapples in front of my house, ready to burst into blossom this spring, and that is the story of what I did before I listed beads this afternoon, which I have just finished doing and I'm still muddy from my adventure so I'd better go take a bath.
11/23/05
All is calm on the western front; I am finally getting over a bout with bronchitis, and looking forward to Thanksgiving tomorrow! I went a little crazy and bought roller skates as soon as I started feeling better... I've already rolled around the block and fallen down about 6,000 times. It was great! I got my oldest daughter a skateboard and my son has a razor scooter, so we are looking forward to roller sports at the park this summer.
Last night Moxley and I went to the best concert of our lives; it was Fiona Apple's debut concert after five years of not performing! She is incredible: her performance was amazing and she has tremendous stage presence. The show wasn't advertised at all, we just sort of lucked into it because a friend was stalking the Tickets West website for good shows and called us as soon as she found out Fiona was playing. Incredible!
I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I know that if you're in Canada you already had yours, and I hope it was great! Breezy and I are taking the rest of the week off to be with our families; Moxley and the kids and I have a longstanding tradition of having Thanksgiving with my son's godmother Lisa, and this year we are planning to bake pies, pack an Unturkey, bring cider and wine and mulling spices, and head over early for a day of relaxed nibbling and laughter. I love Thanksgiving! It's my favorite holiday. Well, maybe Easter gives it a good run for the money, but it's pretty close!
Love you guys, take care,
-Kalera
10/30/05
Nothin' much is happening.
I'm sitting around getting over a cold that came on the heels of the flu, despite which I went to a concert with two of my favorite bands, Stars of Track and Field, and Harvey Danger. Seeing Harvey Danger reminded me of my friend Julie van Arcken, who I love dearly and haven't seen for over a year. Julie, dammit, if you happen to read this, send me an email or something; my hard drive went corrupt early this year and I lost everything on it, including your email and home address. All I have is an envelope from a card you sent me last year, and I think you've moved since then? Anyway.
Things are still hectic here. I'm not maintaining much of a "web presence" these days, in fact I'm barely keeping up with my emails! (if that). Some contractors are looking at my old house and if all goes well, soon that sucka will be sold and we'll be having my new studio built, plus dormers added to the upstairs so we'll have more room. Wish me luck! In the meantime I'll try to keep on making beads. :)
9/10/05
Breezy is out of town for the weekend - she'll be back on Wednesday but I wanted to let you know because it means nothing will get shipped out until Thursday this week.
I am vaguely hung-over, but mostly sleep deprived right now, because I went to the Tori Amos concert with my friend Paulette (from SPIglass Studio) last night (FUN!) and then, even though we didn't get back to my house until 11pm, I HAD to take Moxley to my friend Chris' birthday party. He's the sweetest guy ever and has been there for me whenever I needed a friend to lean on, so I couldn't really miss his birthday party! We ended up staying until two am and I drank a third of a bottle of wine, and then this morning the kids got me up at six, so I'm a little logy. Tonight, we have TWO more birthday parties to attend! What's up with all these September babies, anyway?
8/31/05
I didn't realize there were 31 days in August, and it threw me off for a minute there! August has been one heck of a month... I came home from the Gathering on the 2nd, my sister and her kids arrived from Colorado (permanently, yay!) on the 4th, we've been working on finishing the basement all month, and now I'm off to Glass Stock... wow, I can't wait! I'll be gone for a few days but Breezy will still be here to mind the shop, as always. (Breezy@beadwife.com, if you need anything.)
I'm starting to get excited because the next phase of studio-building is in the works; the garage. Ever since we moved into this house, the garage has been earmarked as my "someday" studio, and the time has nearly arrived; we're going to get a quote on re-roofing it, and then, as soon as we're done with the basement, construction will start on the garage! I'm pretty stoked. There will be room for up to eight torch stations, plus a fusing kiln, and a seperate street-level entry. The garage walks into the basement, which we're finishing for office space, and the long-term plan includes putting in a second bathroom down there as well.
6/25/05 (later that day...)
OK, it didn't take very long at all to set up a category for reserved beads! It's all done; if you have reservations, that's where your beads have been moved to. :)
6/25/05
I just wanted to let everyone know that reserved items are now being shuffled to the last page when Breezy updaes the site on Wednesdays... so if you don't see your beads, don't worry, check the last couple of pages & it'll be there! I will be working on a "reservations" page to make your stuff easier to find. If you're reading this and thinking, "hey, what's up with reservations?", just check out my FAQ page, it explains everything. :)
5/21/05
Exciting news! Today I was accepted into Guardino Gallery, which is an awesome place in the nearby Alberta Arts District. I'm very pleased to be able to display my work with them, as it's my favorite gallery in the district. Hooray! Here's a link: Guardino Gallery
5/18/05
Hey, today's the 25th anniversary of Mt. St. Helen's big eruption! Hmmm. In honor of that, I am changing my picture. I also vow to use "LOL" far less frequently. Breezy will be back tomorrow! Oh, blessed be! Oh joy! Oh relief! Unfortunately I have been quite lazy while she was gone and haven't strung even one single set I've made so she has a lot of work ahead of her, unless I (hahahaha!) stay up late and do some tonight. No way, man!
5/11/05
Wow, so much is going on and I never seem to update my blog, LOL! I've recently lowered the prices on my Bullseye and Uroboros rods, and made the Uroboros available singly rather than in 1/4 lb increments, and business is brisk. I have to do what I can to stay competetive with the "big guys"!
**An important note: Breezy is going on a much-needed vacation, and my mom is visiting so I'm taking a few days off, so all orders placed between now and next Thursday will ship on FRIDAY, MAY 20. I hope that won't inconvenience anyone!**
11/21/04
I have been soo soooo busy! My shed is nearing the final stages, eeeeeeeee! I put the door hardware on yesterday so now it actually locks! The ventilation system and torches are on their way. I still haven't picked out a kiln, eeek. Thanksgiving is this week, so I probably won't do a WHOLE lot, but I am hoping to be done by December 15th. Well, I should hope so, since I have a student coming on the 18th! LOL!
After the shed is done, I'm going to be building a rec room in our basement for the kids. One corner of the basement has my permanent torch setup, and the other will house a TV, couch, and toys, which will make it possible for me to torch after school while they're playing and snacking. Hooray! You may ask why my husband doesn't do the construction work... basically, I'm a handy kind of girl and I enjoy that kind of thing, while he's a musician/programmer type who doesn't. We're a good match!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
10/21/04
Whew! I just got back from my workshop (it's MIDNIGHT!) and I am exhausted, exhilerated, and a day later than I thought I would be... sorry about that! I'll post my new beads tomorrow... I'm going to BED! Goodnight! :)
10/11/04
I'll be off to Port Townsend next weekend for my dream class, (with Michael Barley and Andrea Guarino!) but I'll be back on Tuesday night, (the 19th) refreshed, recharged, and full of new ideas! I'll post my week's beads when I get home, and in the meantime, Breezy will still be here keeping an eye on orders and shipping, so if you have any questions you can get in touch with her at breezy@beadwife.com. As usual, my website will probably crash the second I get in the car to leave, in which case, please let my sweet husband/webmaster know: moxley@moxleydata.com.
Have a great week!
9/26/04
I have a fun new project! I have recently discovered that banks don't like us because we're self-employed, so my major studio remodel will have to wait until next year. However, as much as I love the corner of the basement we call the Bead Hole, I am yearning for a lighter, brighter, less centipede-y work area. With extra torches so I can teach. My dear friend Gwyn suggested that I could build a little shed studio in my back yard (I'm handy) and I thought that sounded great, so I was out back measuring and planning away, when Breezy said (in that polite way that avoids implying that I'm a doofus) "Is that shed not big enough?", pointing at the roomy, mostly unused shed that's already *in* my back yard. The girl is a genius... I think I killed off too many brain cells during all those years of using a Hot Head without adequate ventilation, so it's a good thing she has enough brains for both of us.
I'll be posting pictures of the shed soon, and giving periodic progress reports. It's 8x8" and will fit three torch stations, hooray! I've already removed the toilet, lawn mower, spare door, and fishtanks, and need only to figure out what to do with the storm windows and the wood cookstove... it was original to the house but there's no place for it in the kitchen now. I have a double-paned glass door that will fit nicely and allow lots of light in, and an electrician to come wire a couple of dedicated circuits in. I'm going to get fireproof flooring tomorrow morning. Hooray!
9/17/04
I am heading out of town this weekend (up to revisit my childhood haunts with my friend Gwyn!) and so of course I'm guessing the website will go on the fritz the second I'm out of eyeshot. When this happens, you can email my darling, most wonderful, bestest husband in the world (aka "Stays-Home-With-Kids") Moxley; his email is moxley@moxleydata.com. (Make sure you write that down before my website crashes.) He is actually going to be moving the website to a new server while I'm gone (it's so much better when he does it while I'm gone, it avoids all the hysterical shrieking about my website being down) so it will *definitely* be down for a while on Saturday, but if it does anything freaky like send you nine payment notifications, please do let him know! Have a great weekend!
9/1/04
I have a new toy! Wheeeeee! Well, not a toy exactly; what I have is a new notification system and an online forum, which should be fun! The way this works, you go to the forum and find the "New Beads" topic. Click on "Watch this Topic" and you will get an email the next time I post to it... which will be the next time I have new beads up! How cool is that? There is also a Q&A section, a gallery for posting your work, and an area for general chitchat. I am going to put a clickable link in the menu, but for now you can copy and paste: http://www.beadwife.com/forums/ ... have fun!
8/22/04
OK, so my mailing list isn't done yet... :P ! The plan is to have it be almost totally automated, because I don't trust myself to find time to update and maintain a list manually... but when we installed it, it took my whole website out of commission for some reason that I am failing to completely comprehend. Oops! Back to the drawing board, honey.
In the meantime, I have been a busy busy little bee, and there are a pile of sets and focals, including my latest obsession with hollows, sitting on my kitchen counter. I'm wiring the sets together all day today, (running out of spacers, EEK!) and Breezy will take pictures and put listings together tomorrow afternoon. I'll have them posted to the website tomorrow evening! I'm hungry now... off to make veggie burgers.
8/18/04
I'm back! Wheeeeeee... six days in a car with three kids, a dog, and a very handsome guy, driving to Lake Tahoe and back again... wow! What an experience! We saw deer, toads, lizards, trout, volcanoes, giant trees, hippies, an ocean, and more stunning landscape than you could shake a stick at. Well, I guess you could shake a stick at it, but I can't imagine why you'd want to! Also, there are bears. One of them ate my sister-in-law's leftover chicken dinner and apple pie, so I wouldn't advise any stick-shaking.
The volcano part was amazing. Mt. Lassen in California is a giant cinder-cone that erupted in 1915, spraying lava and ash and rocks for miles, and it is just... WOW. I can't believe they just let people drive up there! It has big, steaming sulphurous vents that burble and blort and hiss, and you can walk RIGHT UP to them. You would think, having been right here during the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, that I would be sort of jaded on active volcanos, but I thought it was one of the coolest things I have ever seen!
OK, back to business. I'm starting to see why this "blog" business has so much appeal... I intended this to be the place where I impart necessary information such as "hey, I'm out of town for a week" but instead I'm babbling about my vacation and volcanoes. What I really meant to say was hi, I'm back! I got in last night and have spent all day today making beads... Breezy (who is ever more indispensable from day to day)took pictures of last week's beads for me, so I could spend the day torching as much as possible. I'm really fixated on simple, pure color, texture, and form right now, so expect to see a lot of layering, surface treatments, and etching as I play with ways to maximize the intensity the glass holds in potential. I have already found some combinations that give me the WOW color I'm craving!
8/10/04
I have been getting lots and lots of requests for special orders recently, and I thought it might be nice if I could explain why it is I no longer take special and/or custom orders. Basically, the deal is, I don't have to, so I don't! You, as fellow artists, probably know exactly what I mean by that... my creativity, flow, and satisfaction with my work tends to be at a much higher level when I am doing my own thing, following my Muse. I am very fortunate to be able to have my time at the torch free, to experiment, to *play*, so... I do!
8/9/04
(Yes, that's a picture of me!) So, I am noticing that with the stiff competition for my latest work, the beads I put up are pretty much gone within a couple of hours of making them available. That's GREAT for me, but not so fabulous for people who don't happen to check my site at the right moment! What that means is that I really, really need a mailing list, so I'm working on one and hope to have it up next week sometime. As many of you know, I normally stay up late on Sunday night to get my beads up and at 'em by Monday morning, but my schedule has been a bit off because of the Gathering of the International Society of Glass Beadmakers (what a blast!) and now because of an upcoming family reunion! I do have new beads in the works, but they won't be listed until next Wednesday afternoon. In the future, I think Breezy will be taking over the job of listings, which means you can look for new work on Monday afternoons. Whew... thank heaven for Breezy!
