Finally, New Beads...

November already? what happened to August, September & October? Oh yeah, I remember I was busy running around the globe...well after being gone pretty much from September 15th until the first of November, I am back...I have had such a fun past few weeks, as you may know I was teaching a two week class in Turkey that was awesome & I met so many new friends & had fun with my old friends, but I also was teaching class an average of 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, for two weeks...then I came back, made some beads, helped Grace put the finishing touches on the Graceful Studios...a couple of days later Corina Tettinger arrived for her class, we had two awesome, 2 day classes full of great students in a span of 6 days...see Photos of students in a previous post below...

I played the role of assistant to Corina, from getting her coffee to certain size stringer to making beads for her to make some awesome design on, I did it all & I was happy to be able to do it...Corina was/is a very talented glass artist & an amazing teacher, queen of all glass beads in my mind, she was also fun to hang out with, very generous & nice...Grace & Frank worked their tales off as well, Frank ran around & made tools & adjustments to all equipment & of course without Grace & her loving nurturing ways, there would be no Graceful Studios, she did so much work to get the place going & made sure we all ate & had fun the whole time...

The class was so successful that most of the students are already signed up for Corina's next class in our studio on Feb 19, 20 & 21st, 2010, where she will be teaching a 3 day class called "Let it Bloom" everything & anything to do with flowers of all kinds, from surface to encased & a few she has never shown before...

And now back to our regularly scheduled program, first off if you have won beads on my site in the past two months and don't have your bead yet, please please send me your address via email & remind me which bead was yours, I have a few sitting here waiting to go to their new homes...

As you may recall a few posts down, I had two beads to giveaway last week, well one of them, the aquamarine rivers bead, the one on the right, I gave to Corina as a gift never remembering that I had offered it here in the drawing, so I will make another one for the lucky winner of that bead which is Stephanie, the other bead the swirly lentil goes to Ginny of Florida...thank you all for playing along...the lovely focal lentil above about 30mm round I made in Turkey in Class while I was teaching, love the way it came out, this one is this week's bead giveaway...enter to win it by making comment on this post, possibly about your last class or workshop experience...

Oh yeah almost forgot I made a ton of beads, photo above shows them together as a group, I am happy to report after years of not making too many Dichroic beads since I was not always getting good results & the glass is expensive to waste, I finally learned from Corina what was the problem, the glass was not the right stuff, Corina brought some with her for the class, I ordered more from Frantz and made a set of my garden beads, inspired by Corina & her Dichroic beads...I listed them & others yummy beads in my shop on Etsy ...some made in Turkey, some made here before & after we hosted Corina at our studio, so you can imagine my mind is full of new ideas & designs, there will be a ton of new beads coming your way as soon as I get some much needed rest...

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

Jelveh

Peace

Picking up Corina....

Well I had hoped I would have some time to list some beads by today, but I ran out of time sometime a month ago & have not been able to catch up with it since...today I am off to the airport in about an hour to pick up Corina Tettinger for her teaching visit to our studio & town. Graceful Customs Studios is happy & lucky to be having her teach here & I am so excited that after many years of talking to Corina on the phone & email we finally get to meet...The first two day class Corina is teaching on Sat & Sun 24th & 25th is full, the second class she is teaching on Wed & Thurs the 28th & 29th of this month has 2 spaces left...let me know if you want to join this class...

The beads above are both for giveaway this week, two people will win, one each, I pick who gets what, but you can try & let me know why you should get the one you want, enter to win them by making a comment on my blog...I made them while teaching class in Turkey at the awesome Glass Furnace.

The Photos below are of the studio all polished & ready to go, Grace & her hubby did such an awesome job getting the place together & have gone all the way with the new torches, glass & venting systems, not to mention all the yummy foods & goodies Grace has placed in the studio...if you are in area & would like to visit send me an email, we are located at 10730 Center Ave, in Gilroy.

I will try & list some yummy beads I have made both in Turkey & here since I have back in the next few days when I get a chance, but it will be late in the night when I have a chance so we shall see if sleep is more important...lol

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

Jelveh

Peace

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

Day Before....

So its finally here...the new Graceful Customs Glass & Jewelry Studio opens on Sunday the 20th of September...I am teaching my first class at the studio from 8am to 1pm and then the grand opening party is from 2:30 to 6:30pm....address is 10730 Center Ave. Gilroy CA...

We have booked Corina Tettinger of Corina Beads on October 24th and 26th, that class is full now, so we have decided to add a second 2 day class possibly on the following Wednesday & Thursday 28th & 29th of October...

Cute picture of Sammy enjoying the yummy flowers that hubby got me for our anniversary...we heard a noise, looked up and there he was eating roses...he is too funny...

Winner of last week's fish bead is Lee from HI, it will be the last item I am shipping before I go to Turkey for my class next week...the shop is closed for now, so no more beads from me until I come back...although I have been making beads at the new studio, testing all the torches (10 of them)and did make some pumpkins the other day...so make comments and I will enter you in 3 random weekly giveaways for the next 3 weeks...you never know what you will get, but I promise it will be yummy...

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

Jelveh...

Peace...

Chocolate Turquoise Cream...

This past week was another busy one, full of fun & work...for the past couple of weeks we have been going to a new yoga studio called Silver Creek Yoga, it is perhaps the best thing I have done for myself in years...the place is awesome, from the amazing rooms to the great teachers, it is well worth a try, check it out if you get a chance. On Sat after a very relaxing two hours at yoga, we drove to Sausalito, this very pretty little town next to the Golden Gate Bridge, the views are amazing, the funny thing was when we were at the Bridge (photo below) half the bridge was buried in fog, but Sausalito is closer to the water so no fog & packed with people...we had a ton of fun. The stuffed Dog is Huston, a friend I gave to hubby a while back for his car.

I also worked on the new studio with Grace, in progress photo below...grand opening is Sunday Sept 20th, from 2:30pm to 4:30pm right after my first class there from 8am to 1pm...come join us for some food & beadmaking demos.

Changes have been made to my class schedule in Turkey as well, click here for the 3 day classes. Oh yes the title of this post, I made some Chocolate Turquoise Cream beads along with some other yummies which will be listed in my etsy shop by Noon on Thursday...

Last week's drum bead goes to Cynthia Lee, please send your address. For this week I have a yummy organic pink Marble like focal bead with sparkling details & bubble eyes, its a great bead measuring 31mm along the hole x 21mm wide...enter to win this yummy bead by making a comment on this post about fall colors or anything you like to chat about...

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

Jelveh

Peace...

New Beads & New Classes...

Hi all...I have new beads to share & some news about my next classes...first off we saw 2 great movies this week, which does not happen often so I am sharing..Julie & Julia, it was a fun movie & well done, the other one is District which was awesome & well worth a see...& Over the weekend one of my other moms, who is actually my mom's best friend, had a birthday party for her first grandchild...in the photo you may also see my purple hair...I got it done last week, the pink was all gone...

I made lots of new beads, I will be listing them on etsy, the last of which should be up by about 6:30pm California time Thursday Aug 20th...

Now about the classes...I have been helping my friend Grace open Graceful Customs, here new Glass studio & jewelry workshop in Gilroy California. We will have a big grand opening party soon. I will be teaching & making my beads at the studio on a regular basis. We will also bring other teachers to the studio to teach classes in glass bead making, jewelry design, silver & stone work, just to name a few... my first class at the school will be on September 20th, it will be my 5 hour beginner lampworking class.

I will be teaching a 2 week class in Istanbul Turkey at the Glass Furnace from September 27th to October 10. many perspective students have said that they can not take two weeks off of their life to take this class...so the school & I have discussed it & added 3 classes for 3 days each inside the same two week period...so if you have signed up for the two week class you will get the full course, the 3 day students will get specific sections of it...

I know it sounds a bit complicated, but trust me it will be great, my friend Gunay will be my assistant & we will have a ton of fun...as a side note, I did not pick the schedule for my class at the Glass Furnace, it is part of the philosophy of the school, total immersion in glass & it works, the two week class we had last year was a great fun experience for me and I believe for the 12 students as well...Send me an email if you have any questions about these classes...

Last week's yummy bead goes to Ginny from FL. this week's yummy bead is an apple core drum bead with bubble eyes...its very yummy...enter to win it by making comment about a fun class you took once...or anything you want to talk about...

Thanks for stopping by...Life is busy but good...

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...