Watch Me Create...

My first post is up over at Watch Me Create. Stop by and check it out...

And I have listed the above bead on etsy for sale...

On a side note, just a reminder that people of Iran are still taking to the streets, asking for their rights, wanting their votes to count & needing their voices to be heard...the other day we went to an Iranian grocery store to buy some goodies like sour cherry jam which you can only get there...I was talking to the owner & we were trying to figure out why is it so important to help Iran & places like Iran to become free...I think many people do not like the idea of meddling in other countries business and some even ask why worry about Iran? when we are not doing much about Darfur? although they are worlds apart, at the end of the day the struggle is the same, fight for freedom, for religious rights & fight to live a good life like the rest of us do...we were lucky, my father had the means and the courage to take us out of Iran when everything went wrong...

Others do not have the same options, most Iranians have to stay where they are, just like most people in so many other places in the world that have issues have to stay where they are...maybe its lack of money, maybe its the guns in their faces & not to mention most western world countries including the US cannot & should not take them all in as refugees...we have to help these people where they are & help them live free lives like we do in their own countries...

More important than anything we have to realize if we do nothing, we too some day may be facing these kinds of ruthless leaders who want nothing but Power & Money...if the government of Iran really cared about its own people would they gas them at demonstrations? would they shoot them at peaceful rallies? would they arrest them, jail them? sometimes 200 to a jail cell, would they pull their finger nails out, beat them & kill them to make examples out of them? the answer is NO...

There are over 75 million people in Iran, over 70% of the women alone are college educated, many have masters degrees, we are talking about an advanced country here being pulled in to a dark pit of ignorance, hate & old barbaric, long passed ways of living...we have to pay attention, this could happen to us one day...

We can all do something to help, anything, talk to our friends & stay awake, send letters to our Representatives...we are a connected people, what happens to one of us, happens to all of us...it is fundamentally wrong to watch people struggle & die to be free & do nothing...

Don't know if you know, but Tehran the Capital of Iran is the largest metropolitan city in the Middle East with almost 20 million people living in it at the base of the Alborze Mountains which is 18000 feet above sea level...I am sharing this little bit of Iran with you, so you know although the Government of Iran is acting like they are in the Medieval Age, the people of Iran are not... Thanks for stopping by...

Jelveh

Peace

Lazy Bead Wednesday...

Hi all, hope you are doing well...life here is slow, lazy & hot...did I mention it was hot here...we saw the movie G Force over the weekend, it was fun, just a bit slow...I managed to make some yummy beads, it turns out where I broke my finger is not in the way of making beads too much & my finger is feeling a ton better that it did...the bruise on one side is mostly gone, while the bruise on the nail side is very purple & the nail will fall off sooner or later...but thankfully the pain is almost all gone...

I have just started to contribute blog posts to a very awesome blog called Watch Me Create, created by the very talented Lori Greenberg please check out this blog, if you are a lampworker you will find all kinds of great stories & tips, it's a great read no matter what your creative media... New Beads will be listed in my etsy shop by 5:30 California time...

Last week's Red Salmon Egg Andrea Guarino-Slemmons inspired focal bead goes to Jean of Los Vegas, please send me your address...for this week I made a yummy landscape bead in the shades of fall...enter to win it by making comment on this post...tell me about your favorite bead shapes & colors if you like or how your summer is going...

Thanks so much for stopping by...Life is good...

Jelveh

Peace

All Better Now...

Hi all, thanks for all the love & good wishes...finger is feeling great...I have just posted one of Glass Drawer Knobs on etsy, photo above...hope you like...here is the link to the listing... Have a Great fun weekend, life is good...

Jelveh

Peace

Excuses Excuses.....

As excuses go for not having any beads this week, I think this is a good one...on Sunday we took our bikes to West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz for a ride with my sister & her kids...a ton of fun was had by all, we then met my parents on the wharf for a late lunch & a visit to the art, wine & jazz festival that was on at the time...as we drove home in the evening I remember both of us remarking on how awesome this day has been...we got home & unloaded the bikes & put them in the garage, as I was bringing down the sectional door of the garage, I mistakenly for a split second, put my finger in between two of the sections as the door was coming down...

Hubby says my scream sounded like I was being killed & well the pain was that bad...I pulled the door back up with my left hand in that same second as it was crushing the tip of my middle finger on my right hand & pulled my finger out, the pain was amazing, I almost passed out from it...

This is the same hand by the way that I use to apply glass to the mandrel with & add details to beads with...The Doctor said I will be able to work again in about 10 days...dont even ask me how long it took to type this post...funny thing I never wear nail polish anymore since with lampworking there is not much use to it, by the time you wash the beads the polish is chipped off...but on Saturday I bought & painted my nails with this bluish purple color nail polish, the under side of my broken finger has this fat bruise that is the same color as the nail polish on the other side of it...I asked the DR. if we should remove the polish to see what it looked like under it...he laughed & said no reason, the nail will probably be the same color as your nail polish & it will fall off anyway so you can leave the polish if you want...

So there are no beads this week, sorry folks...the photo you see above is of a bead I am giving away this week from my private stash...last week's winner anonymous from Reno please tell me who you are & your address so I can send you your yummy bead...enter to win this week's bead by making a comment on this post...hope the photo of my crushed finger did not gross you out...it is in a finger tip splint thing now that is there to protect it from getting banged around, but there is not much they can do to fix it, just time, rest & meds...

You may not expect me to say it with a broken finger, but life is still good...thanks for stopping by...

Jelveh

peace

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