fireandglass

latest pendant

May 14, 2011 § 2 Comments

available on Etsy~

tapping your muse

May 14, 2011 § 3 Comments

Creativity… such an elusive phenomenon..

What do you do to stir up those colorful energies in your mind?

I do know that one of the surest ways to block the creative process is to expect perfection..therefore~

Yes, you know it’s true all of you perfectionist souls out there afraid to put that first mark on the very white paper.. We must Strive for imperfection.

“The primary cholesterol clogging your creative arteries is fear. Fear of imperfection, fear of failure, fear of the pain involved in making progress..” so says Brad Bollenbach

Musical notes of any sort inspire me ~can actually cause me to see more clearly a path that I want to go with a particular project.

“Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents.”

~according to the man with true original thought–Ludwig van Beethoven

You might try Kobialka or this.. Bond Allegreto. Both are new to me.. maybe some Apocolyptica..[ loved in small doses~]

The goal is to create an atmosphere of different notes in your environment. Something that will stir your juices and have you seeing your world a bit differently.

In the end sometimes its simply a matter of riding the flow..waiting it out.

Creativity has its own unique rhythm and if we’re listening and paying attention ~we can learn the Dance.

for my son..

May 13, 2011 § 2 Comments

I miss my boy..as I miss them all.

I was searching through boxes today and came across sketches. Pencil drawings. Studies of hands and feet and awkward poses of a boy growing into his adolescent body..
and I remember the day.

How is it possible that it was years ago and not Moments!?

The creamy paper yields images of a day with my son. I can see that slow half smile as he glances from me. As if afraid to meet me head on.

I see the arch of his young foot memorialized in graphite. His mother drawing his foot..how Silly. Yet we both enjoy the presence of the other.

I finish the sketch and make a little squiggle on the tip of his big toe and show him, just to see his grin.

I miss my child.

Torched glass Jewelry

May 9, 2011 § 2 Comments

I’ve been busy.

Listing and re-listing work, photographing some work that was done while in California, re-photographing a bracelet that goes with a pair of earrings made.. ~thus a ‘set’.

wow. ..I made a set ~almost unheard of. 🙂

Here’s a preview of what’s in the shop:

and a couple more that aren’t here..go have a look see.

Enjoy your week!

Setting up..

May 5, 2011 § 2 Comments

Our things have finally arrived from the States here to Israel…so glad to have my stuff finally!

I have a spare room that I can use as a studio space but have to share with that little red bed. It belong to the owners and it must stay, so I have to work around it.

I will look for movable drawers to shove under that work table and maybe pegboard if I can attach it securely..the walls are cement..yes they are. We are on the 3rd floor apartment and the walls are some sort of cement. Its great..no neighbor noise.

I’m hoping that I can somehow use that little room off the side there for the torch but of course working with a torch requires a very good ventilation system so that’s not a go yet..it would be an amazing little work space though, don’t you think?

I have to find some glass storage room..my glass rods are in those 3 tupperware containers tucked beside the work table.

On a side note..the glass, kiln and all of our things..tools clothes..some dishes…all travelled 3000 miles from British Columbia, Canada to California, USA, another 3000 from CA to Alabama, then flew 10,000 miles to Beer Sheva, Israel ~and all we lost was a small bowl.

How incredible is that??

__________________

Finding Abraham’s Well..

May 2, 2011 § 2 Comments

We visited the site of Abraham’s well today..it’s a sacred site to the Jewish people and unlike Canada or the United States where something like this might be given a national monument and historical park recognition, the site that marks Be’er Sheva’s origin is found with great difficulty [it’s located behind a wall] sitting unassumingly beside the local Dominos Pizza joint [ yes! Domino’s. We were surprised too~]

The site of an ancient well that has been preserved for hundreds of years. It’s said to be the well that was dug by Abraham.

Above you can see a replica of a water wheel that would have been used to pump the water.

Be’er Sheva was built on the bank of a wadi which was flooded by rain water in the winter. In the summer the water lay shallow under the ground level. According to archeologists, the site was occupied from the 4th millennium BCE. In 3000 BCE its first peoples moved away and it was only seasonally inhabited by nomads, among these were presumably the Biblical patriarchs – but no archeological traces have been found of them.

Some main stories in the Bible are about Be’er Sheva, beginning with Abraham. He was allowed to settle on the lands of king Avimelek, who ruled the land of Gerar. But they entered a dispute about a well which Abraham used but which had been taken by Avimelek’s servants. Abraham dug a new well at Be’er Sheva and gave Avimelek seven lambs to enforce the oath to be peaceful towards each other. The well was dubbed Be’er Sheva (be’er means ‘well’ and sheva can be interpreted as ‘seven’ or ‘oath.’ – see Genesis 21:22-34).

~excerpt fr the Jewish Magazine

[So it seems that because of this ancient pact, the word for the number ‘seven’ and ‘oath’ mean one and the same in Israel..I love it.]

Inside we watched a small film that detailed some of Be’er Shevas history. You could purchase maps and small artifacts as well as Jewish kippahs, the skullcap traditionally worn by Jewish men and boys to show their acknowledgment that God watches over us all.

Most amazing..hope you all enjoyed your weekend too!

wordless wednesday

April 27, 2011 § 1 Comment

Visit here for more ‘Wordless Wednesday’ participants

Happy Easter or Passover weekend..

April 23, 2011 § Leave a comment

~however you choose to celebrate..
enjoy your families!

on Creating

April 22, 2011 § Leave a comment

“Creativity belongs to the artist in each of us. 

To create means to  relate. 

The root meaning of the word art is “to fit together”

 and we all do this every day. 

Not all of us are painters 

but we are all artists. 

 Each time we fit things together we are creating 
– whether it is to make a loaf of bread,

a child,
a day.” 
                                                                                                                                                                                               {Corita Kent}

What the locals do on Thursday

April 21, 2011 § Leave a comment

I got a phone call this morning from the wife of one of my husbands work mates..

“Do you want to see what a Bedouin flea market is like?’ she asked….

oh yes ma’am I do.

The Bedouins set up their tents and sell their wares every Thursday on the outskirts of Beer Sheva.

I was surprised first at the relative civility..I assumed there would be more bedlam.

I was wrong. With the exception of a few exuberant young men yelling something as they stood beside their wares..[we could only imagine what they were saying…maybe the best price of a highlighted item or ‘check this out’ or ..’get your rice bowls here!’ who knows…my knowledge of the Hebrew language has not extended beyond a few niceties, like thank you [todah] and peace be unto you [shalom]..oh, and yamina [go right] and shmola [go left]. I haven’t found a good reason to use those last two yet.]..most sellers were not pushing their merchandise aggressively at all.
I was also surprised that these are new items they are selling..lol. I guess I assumed it would be like a giant yard sale of some sort…anyway. No, these are brand new, tagged and lovely items..at knock out prices.

I also had expected to see more haggling. Maybe there isn’t because the prices are so reasonable ..I never felt anything I picked up was out of line, in fact I was shocked at some of the prices…or it could be I just missed seeing the haggling. My head was on a 360 spin but I’m sure I never saw everything.

There is anything you can imagine to be bought here in this Israeli open market..from nail polish and toilet bowl plungers to drapes and fabric by the bolt..dishes and pots, herbs and propane outdoor grills that looked very ‘bedoin-ish’