Melting in California & New Beads...

Can you say hot hot hot??? did I mention is was hot here in Northern California...? well it is, we need RAIN, where is the rain?...even with the heat I did make it to the torch one day this week, the rest of the time I was not going to sit in front of a torch when the kiln controller was reading 98 degrees inside the kiln before I even turned it on, that's with the lid down, doors of the kiln closed & it was turned off...OK enough whining, I did make some yummy beads that I am listing later today...towards 5pm California time...you can check them out here in my shop...

Last week I spent some time with my mom, my sister & her 2 sweet kids at the beach having lunch & ice cream...I had so much fun with them...

Last week's abstract fish creature bead goes to Brenda H. Enter to win this week's large yummy focal bead make a comment on this post...lets keep talking about colors and shapes of beads if you like, or you can tell me all about the cool weather where you live...wishing for a the summer in Oxford England now that I am in the middle of 108 degree weather here in California...

As you can see there is a link above this post to my next class in Turkey at the Glass Furnace in Istanbul, the best school of glass anywhere...I loved teaching there last year & I am looking forward to my next class, the school is a not for profit organization, so the cost you see for the two week, 6 days a week class goes mostly to the school. This cost covers your room & board & the fun activities for the two weeks that you are in Istanbul for, you have to pay for your own way there...please let me know if you have any questions about this very cool class & trip...from the pool side to the great rooms, to the infinity pool & sitting areas, to the library, the galleries, the shop & the class rooms, to the meals by the river & the very awesome people who run the place, oh my gosh did I mention the food, this is one of the best places to visit & take a glass class of any kind at, mine included...

here is a link to a very large collection of photos & stories from my last class there...I recommend that if you do decide to take this class, take a little bit longer time to spend in Istanbul & other parts of Turkey, this is one part of the world that you must see to believe...I have been 3 times in 2 years & I can not get enough...

Life is good...thanks for stopping by...

Jelveh

Peace...

Montana & New Beads...

Hi all, hope you had a great 4th of July holiday, ours was great we ran away to Montana for a few days to visit with hubby's family, it was Grandma's 88th birthday, she is so cool, she even wore one of my landscape beads I had gifted her before...we ate a ton of great food, mostly MEAT & saw great fireworks & played on the Wii...we needed a bit of a break & had a really fun time with the whole family...Here we are at the big dinner for Grandma...

I do have some very yummy beads for you today, I had a great time making them, the colors remind me of yummy creme brulee, so that is what I named the 3 sets & the one key bead in these colors, I will also have 2 large focal beads & 2 petite round focal beads, I should have them all listed by 2pm California time...click here to see them in my etsy shop along with 12 other bead goodie...

As for the weekly bead giveaway, Mel P. wins the bead for last week, her name was picked Random Picker on line...this week's bead giveaway is a very cool bead, one of my favs, its a fish, its a creature, its lovely blues & encased with silver glass details...enter to win it by making a comment on this post on what colors in beads you are looking for these days, you can make a comment to win it even if you dont have a color choice to talk about...

The photo above I took from the plane over the Rocky Mountains right before we landed in Denver on our way back from Montana...I love Mountains, specially the ones in Montana & Colorado...they inspire me to make more landscape beads...

Thanks for stopping by...Life is GOOD...

Jelveh

Peace

Happy 4th of July & The Escape Artist...

Happy July & hope you have a safe & great 4th of July weekend...I am taking some time off this week, I will have new beads for you next week. The Red White and Blue beads above I made years ago, I thought they would be a good one to show off for this week, wow I used make such small beads with so much detail, do you like smaller beads or larger beads...? I like them both, but lately I have been making a lot of focal beads...

Well you can not really call him an Escape Artist, as there is no art in leaving from the door of your cage that Jelveh left open & did not know she had for over 12 hours...I came downstairs Sunday morning all happy saying hello to Sammy while getting ready to leave for the De Young Museum in San Francisco to see the new King Tut exhibit, when I realized Sammy was not in his 3 story house. From the open door he had jumped about 17 inches on to the side board that his house sits on & another 33 inches down to the living room hardwood floors & then he went on an adventure I guess. We looked everywhere for him while I kept crying & hubby kept saying we will find him & he did find Sammy inside some hole he had found in a cabinet next to the the dishwasher, he had to remove the bottom part of the dishwasher & just when he was about to put a hole in the back of this dead space area to get him out, here comes Sammy, safe & sound, but very upset & screaming that he was stuck there for some time...

After some food & water & an inspection he went to sleep all happy to be back home...scared me half to death...the exhibit was fun, although I wish they had actually brought Tut with them, hubby has seen him in Egypt...

Sandy R. of TX wins the bead for last week...Some of you may know this already and you can read more about in the comments of this post, go check it out, the story is I had another bead here for giveaway this week, but I forgot to take it off of etsy to give it away & Ginny went & bought it (thanks for the purchase girl) so this is a different bead, I was going to list this next week for sale on etsy so I already had photos of it (this matters since we are in Montana & I have my lap top but no beads), its very cool, lots of silver glass & shine a sort of metallic organic nature tones of greens & gold a bit of blue, a landscape if you will, loves this bead...enter to win it by making a comment on this post, winner will be picked by the random picker on next Wednesday...

Thanks for stopping by...life is good...

Jelveh

Peace

Friends in high places...

I have a friend that I met through beads, in that I met her while working at my studio several years ago, my work place was in a Hobby store at the time & folks would come by & watch me work...anyway she started buying beads from me, little did I know that she was an amazing person & a very talented jewelry designer in her own right...over time we became friends as it the case with me & beady people...I missed her lots while we were in England & just recently we have started to hang out again...we went to the movies the other night (the proposal) & out to dinner at Ricatoni's, we had a ton of fun...I love girls night out...here is a link to her shop on etsy & a few photos of her yummy work with my beads...oh yeah her name is Samantha...I also love her work so much that got all my mother's day gifts from her this year...if you need a great piece of one of kind jewelry, she is your girl...she finds & uses the coolest handmade silver findings & rare stones too in all her yummy art... Thanks for stopping by...

Jelveh

Peace

Wednesday Beads & Update...

Hi all, lets see last you heard from me I was telling you about Iran & the people's up-rising against their barbarian regime, you have seen the news, what has happened can not be put back, so the people of Iran, in some way or another will get their justice & will get rid of their oppressive government...my family is doing well & they have lots of hope for the future& the good changes that will come...

As for beads I made some yummy ones this week, at least I think so, you can check them out in my etsy shop...also changed photos of last week beads, since obviously they were not good...

This past weekend on Saturday I went to the ISGB NorCal big meeting & bead Bazaar that was held at Arrow Springs...I went with my friend & glass bead maker artist Cindy Allen, who although drives way too fast, is always one of the most fun people to go to these events with...if I had driven we would still be on the way back...

For the first time in 15 months I got to mingle with my buddies, lovely people & glass artists such as Craig, Sharon Peters, Toni Lutman , Lisa Fletcher & Nanettet Marie , just to name a few...the most exciting part for me, besides the $600.00 in glass that I purchased & the fun I had catching up with every one's stories & telling mine, was seeing Kim Osibin & her beads, I am not kidding you when I tell you she is the mother of all silver glass beads, long before nice boutique companies made us Silver laden glass to make yummy beads with, this glass artist was doing it on her own...if you ever get a chance to own a Kim Osibin bead go for it, you will not be disappointed...below is a picture of my friend Cindy on the left & Kim on the right both wearing necklaces of Kim's beads...

you can get a hold of Kim at kimosibin@gmail.com Now to the winner of last week's bead, I kid you not it goes to Ginny from Fl. The girl is just that lucky I tell you...for this week I have the yummy bead I made with 2 new glass colors and some goldstone, it is about 30x25x8mm...enter to win by making a comment on this post...

thanks for stopping by...life is good for many of us...

Jelveh

Peace