Back from Turkey...

Hi all, I am back from Turkey, I had the most fun in one of the best classes I have had in a long time...the Glass Furnace & all of its staff were as nice as ever. Although the weather was colder than the last few times I was there, the grounds & the river were still very lovely to visit...in my two week class I had 4 great students, Aybuke, Elif, Nasrine & Gozde, my class assistant & translator Gunay was with us the whole time too (thanks for all the work girl). In the first 3 day class we also had my new boy friend Alten & his assistant in real life Gulsan in the class as well, then on the last 3 days we had a total of 14 students in class with me & Gunay (16 of us in total) which made for a fun busy room full of glass bead makers...we had so much fun, the picture above was taken on the second day of the advanced class...

This past Saturday was graduation, many of the students got their certificates the day before after class ended, only the original four & Meneske were able to stay for the ceremony & exhibition day.

I will never forget the amount of fun we all had in the past two weeks...we made so many beads & had a great adventure...I so miss everyone & wish to see them again very soon. my next class at the Glass Furnace is scheduled for May 30th to June 12th of 2010. As usual I will have the two week class, plus two 4 or 5 day advanced classes as well...

Below you will find some random photos of our time at the Glass Furnace...

some of the beads I made while in class... Here we all had fun trying on my sun hat, sadly not too much sun for me to wear it...Gozde had the best hat attitude... After everyone got their certificates, our class photo...we had all cried a bit at this point... Aybuke's Exhibit... Nasrine's exhibit... Gunay's Exhibit... Menekse's Exhibit... Elif's Exhibit... Gozde's Exhibit... Gunay, Fulya (last year students, life time friends) & me... The Bee Kingdom doing their magic...awesome that we got to see them... Need I say more...I mean Really??? Nasrine plays pool, rather well...my student who came from Iran for the class... My new friend Gaye, whom I met through my old friend Pinar Hakim, Gaye was the reason we had 10 students for the advanced part of the class, thanks a bunch girl, see you next year... Student from last year & this year & friend forever Mari-Liis who came from Estonia to have some fun with us... another shot from Istanbul, this one from the ramp while waiting for the next train to come, watching the big cruise ships on the Bosphorus sea...Turkey is so lovely & did I mention I love the people & the food...

Thanks for stopping by...life is good...will have beads for you next week...

Jelveh

Peace

Greetings from Turkey....

Tonight at the Persian Dinner Nasrine & I made, OK Nasrine made dinner, I made Salad & Yogurt Dip with the help of Gunay who cut vegies...it was a great meal...thank you Nasrine... Hi all, I am in Turkey, have been here for about 5 days now & yes Ginny I am having a blast...everyone is awesome & they are all now addicted to glass beads...my student Elif said to me today that she no longer wants to be a Ceramics students at the Mimar Sinan University, she is here with her friends Aybuke & Gozde on scholarship as a part of their degree in Ceramics & Glass Design taking my Glass Bead making class...I also have a student from Iran named Nasrine (makes the best beads) who saw my beads on line last year & waited to take my class this year...also I had two other students for the first 3 day class, my new boyfriend Altan & his assistant in real life Gulsen...

Last but not least my assistant & favorite bead maker friend Gunay has been doing the very hard job of translating from English to Turkish...I teach in English to Gunay, she translates to Turkish, then I teach in Persian to Nasrine, at first it was odd, but now we all speak English, Turkish & Persian, sort of...its kind of a mad house, but a good one...we have discovered that Persian & Turkish have many words in common, so we have started a list on the board in class...We laugh so much that the office people & hot shop people walk by our class wondering what kind of party is going on inside...Next week I will have 15 people total in class including Gunay & myself, most everyone will be speaking Turkish, it will be an interesting 3 day class I am sure of it....

First night here, out to dinner with my friends Pinar Hakim & Gunay & my new friend (red head)Gaye. A photo of our lovely dinner... Nice day for a drive to Istanbul...

Brenda wins the bead set from last week, as she was correct I was just leaving the house & saying goodbye to Sammy...so pick your colors girl...

Thanks for stopping by...Life is good...Turkey is Awesome...

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