Morning

One step forward two steps back. no strike that reverse that!

(which reminds me, Its time for Wonka! and OZ and Nightmare before Christmas! Petewy for football, :) bring on the Technicolor puppets and munchkins and oompa loompas!

What is your favorite holiday movie?

Yesterday I watched Arsenic and Old Lace, I have loved that silly movie since I was knee high to a grass hopper! " I'm not a Brewster! I'm the son of a Sea Cook!! chargeeeeeeeeeee!"

Lets talk glass :)

I recently ordered a big pallet of Bullseye glass, which is made here in the USA, and I have to say, OMG!! I love it!!!

Its is tad bit slower to melt, perfect for sculptural, and stringer work.The colors are to die for, pinks purples, the black is nice and BLACK, not purply like in the 104 series of black, There is this color called Neo Shift lavender, it comes in a opaque and a translucent, It is such a trip in my studio lighting and sunlight its a lovely shade of lavender, in my Kitchen and bathroom lighting, its a soft shade of blue! outside its actually different colors in the full sun or shade,

I put them into the kiln to anneal and it was a pretty lavender, I carried it to the kitchen to clean and suddenly it was blue, I was like! dude! OH no! this is not the color I wanted! turns out it was even better!!!

These pictures are not adjusted in photo shop it really is the colors they picked up in different lighting..LOVEEEEEEEEEEE <3

I mentioned Stringer work?

Some new designs I'm working on and stocking up on, for the Nov 5th Art hop at WMGS, These are made on the Pandora size mandrels, so they fit perfectly on a cord ribbon or pandora type necklace, I make them using kickstand type leaves so they hang perfectly and dont flip over. Now If I could find my neck to take pictures of how great they lay :)

But Laurie? what about your pansies? violets etc? are the bullseye colors vibrant enough for that? you ask??? OMGGGGGGGGGGG!

Enough showing off, for today :) I want to spend a minute or three, thanking all my very good friends, be it cyber world friends to real friends, for the sentiments they shared with me going through the loss of my brother, I'm not better yet, I'm still completely heart broken, day by day, tear by tear, but your words and sharing your feelings with me have kept me from totally breaking down. I know life is a gift, a challenge, a trial. With friends and family we get by :)

Thank you so very much!

xo Laurie

Sad

So, I opened this blog with the total intent to update on a regular basis,.. Life Happens, This month I can honestly say has been the ultimate saddest month of my life, My little brother passed away Sept 8th.
I tend to be a fairly private person in my internet groups, I avoid religion, politics depressing type thoughts etc, and try to just focus on the beauty of the glass art and the gifts life has blessed us with.
I also tend to be a hermit, I really love private time, I love Mondays! because Steve goes to work, and its just me my dogs, and my thoughts.
I try really hard to keep a positive attitude, and totally believe in positive affirmation, I update my Facebook with lots of fun jokes and quips, and to be entirely honest its not just to spread the fun to others, it helps me stay positive to laugh.
This month has been the biggest challenge to me,
I know its part of life to lose our loved ones, My family is nearly extinct. This one has really hit me hard.
Mikey, was born when I was 10, and I can remember the day Mom and Dad brought him home, what an amazing little package! way better than any doll. Minnie mom in me took over, I taught him how to walk,I taught him how to talk, I babysat him and my other brother Jimmy during the summers, and after school.
My family was not big on displays of affection, we never felt unloved, but there wasn't hugging, kissing and the sort. With Mikey he was always snuggling, hugging, kissing. (here is one for the shrinks out there) I was scared to sleep alone, I would sneak into my parents bed after they had fallen asleep, then when Mikey was born I would let him sleep with me, of course telling him I was protecting him (Ha)
I had two other brothers, one five years older than me, one five years younger than me, of course the older one thought I was a pain in the ass, trying to tag along, the younger one I thought was a pain in the ass :) (love you Jimmy) but Mikey, thought I was cool,
Being the only girl with three brothers, it was really hard to feel cool, I generally felt like an alien.We all joked and teased each other for sure, You have to be pretty tough, witty and sarcastic to make it in my family :)
I sit here writing this, thinking there is no way I'm going to post it,
I am such a self analyzer, I'm going to analyze myself into a padded room someday. :)
I don't have what ifs, or should have thoughts about this, I know it cant be changed, I'm not angry, I'm not seeking any kind of justice, I am simply heart broken, I am going to miss him for the rest of my life.
As maternal as I felt over him, I hurt for our mother, what an amazing person, Yet I know she appears a lot stronger than she is. I Love you ma.
I had a friend ask this weekend what happened she had picked up pieces off my Facebook posts, but said I was cryptic, (surprise) I was trying so hard to not let this bring me down, or effect my friends and business.
That is totally not how I want to word that. I think sharing our personal life with our professional artistic lives helps paint a picture of who we are, what our art means to us, etc. but I still have walls, and self imposed rules, in the world of "Networking".
For those that I confided in, I want to send a huge thanks, for all the kind words, and support,
Its weird how when tragedy strikes your family, you feel like you're the only one in the entire world suffering.
Then life smacks you upside the head.
Life is truly a gift, and I have to move forward, and I have to cherish it.
Mike, I Love you.

Make A Wish Pass it on :)

I'm not sure why I decided I had to do this, But I will tell you I had an incredible day! and cant wait to get back out and do it again, I made a handfull of large big holed beads with starry millis in them, and attached a little tag that reads~If this finds you...Make A Wish...and pass it on.

My intentions were to just lay them out randomly in a part of town, and snap a picture or two as people picked them up, I did this with a couple, but for the most part I walked up introduced myself, gave them their WISH :) it went better than I had hoped and I met some really interesting people I never would have!

The beads/wishes

Leaving home, boy they make you feel guilty :) We went out to St Jo, for our first adventure,beautiful old lakeside town on lake Michigan

First recipient, what a doll! Her wish is to go back to Dublin, :)

Second recipients, we left it right where the little girl is looking down , I did go up and explain it to her mom.

3rd peeps :) at first I think they thought I was going to try and sell them something, :) after they learned there were no strings attached, and I made sure they werent under the witness protection plan they smiled for the picture. as soon as we walked away two girls went running up to them to check it out, (wonder what they wished for :) )

Our waitress number 4, I wish I was that photogenic! she asked if she had to wish for something "reasonable" I said no way!

5 We left this on on the bench and sat a couple benches away, almost gave up when this little boy scoped it out, he ran right up to his mommy showing her :) smile

6. and maybe one of my favorites, I approached his mother at a table by herself, looking like she needed a wish, when I started my spiel, she just looked at me strange, she didnt speak eglinsh! ta da saved by two young ones that showed up, I explained it to them and this young mans face lit up, he asked If i wanted him to pass it around to all 75 customers in the chocolate shop :) I said pass it on to whoever you think needs a wish :) The girl got shy about getting her picture taken, so I went out side and got a group shot, and they were all smiling with mom holding the bead in her hands.

I cant wait to do it again! What a perfect beautiful mondo cool day!

Im looking at this like the more people that send their wishes out the more positive things can happen, I handed out 6 wish beads today:) Im hoping it has a ripple effect.

I feel like a Toyota!

I totally feel like a Toyota, I cant stop. I apologize way too frequently about updating my blog.

Do you ever have too many ideas? too many things going on at once? Too many obligations, that instead of getting anything done, you DO NOTHING? or you do half of everything. I totally hate being such a flake, and I really really try so very hard to make everyone happy, meet my deadlines, etc. I think I need a vacation, not a three day camping trip like we usually take, the problem with those are, sensory overload of inspiration! The whole time I'm out there I'm shaping glass in the flame, in my head, taking notes, antsy to get back to the studio.

I may be Ill, My father he was a workaholic, I thought, never me, I don't even like to work!

Then I find glass, lord have mercy! I can't tell you how many people have said, how fortunate I am to be able to work in my underwear, work at home, be my own boss etc, ( I am)

But I work harder longer hours than I have ever worked in my life, including the machinist job at a lawn mower factory in the northeast of Hades, with the 500 lb man pushing a boiling hot vat of molten steel past our line every 30 minutes. (stinky)

It is next to impossible for me to turn it off. I'm actually thinking a three day medically induced coma would be great, unfortunately, I would probably dream of glass, and wake up three days behind in shipping , listing, plus my dogs would be very hungry.

I'm definitely not bitching about my job, I cant even find the words to explain how excited every time I realize what I do for a living , is my dream come true. There is absolutely nothing better than glass, fire, and pretty things! Even just spewing this rant is cathartic on so many levels. It also helps that the coffee is kicking in :)

Wake up every morning with the idea that something awesome is about to happen.

I Love mornings, I get out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off, I am not a doze button junkie.

I jump up, let the dogs out, pee, make a pot of coffee, and open my emails, I have had to learn not to answer any emails until after my first cup, If you have ever received any of my morning emails, you will understand why, cryptic chaos, its kind of like a morning word jumble :) Hey maybe I can market this...

Cliff notes to My life this past month,

not in chronological order :0)

1. Glass camp at west Michigan Glass Art Center for kids 10-18, 5 sessions, amazing fantastic time!

2. Beads of Courage day also at WMGAC, we had a great handful of bead artists there making buckets of beads to donate to the Beads of Courage program, Then a potluck lunch, and for a few hours we brought in a large group of Big Brothers and Big Sisters, taught them how to make beads, and let them make some to donate too! was a double whammy of insanely good karma , if you believe in that :)

3. August Art Hop, Dawn, Dana, Michael and myself demoed bead making, and made some more to send in to Beads Of Courage.

4. Taught a two day bead making 101 class, last weekend, very aggressive class, so it was a great time, being able to step away from round beads, and create twisties, sculptural etc!

5. Wrote and published a new tutorial on my butterfly design :)

Available here :) http://www.etsy.com/shop/everafterartistry

Today I have several mondo cool listings to put up, a gift I have to finish making,

a volunteer appreciation dinner to go to tonight at WMGAC.

and of course, 1458745 ideas to burn up in the flame, anddddddddd even more to tell you about.

I have a secret project to work on and deploy this weekend :)

Right now I have to get back to Facebook :) (see, no time management)

xo L

Good Morning :) sitting here with my scrumdiddlyumptious coffee, in my magic red coffee cup, peering through the glass galleries of http://www.beadartists.org/ and http://www.glassartists.org/ no better way to start the day! Do you post there? do you ever go look? If not I highly suggest you spend a few minutes poking around, absolutely fantastic art! I admit I have been neglecting it a bit, so many forums, blogs, facebook etc, but every time I go back, I'm inspired!

I have a few listings up and getting ready to put some more fun ones up today, so of course I wanted to share :)

http://shop.ebay.com/everafterartistry/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340

There has been mentions few times recently about feeling uncomfortable about "pimping" our work out via the net, examples, facebook, twitter, blogs, websites etc. WHYYYYYYYYYYYY?

I don't know about you, but I'm guessing a lot of you do this to make some money, I sell 90 percent of my work via the internet, of course I'm going to use networking sites to advertise it, either that or I am simply wasting my time, and I'm hungry. Ha

I love all the networking sites, and I have a gazillion facebook friends, again a good 90 percent of them are artists many many glass and jewelry artists, Is it spam? to advertise there? ack I hope not. I'm just learning how to use twitter but you can bet Once I get the hang of it, Bam!! I'm going to be all over that place!

The only way to get out there n be seen is through marketing, and I can definitely tell when I am slacking, or caught up in other things, I post in show n tell galleries, on facebook, on ebay forums, the beadartist.org site, my blog, twitter, and If I don't, it definitely shows in my sales

I Love looking at other peoples work, they post in said galleries etc. Thats why I made them my friends! Well and also so I could throw the occasional bad joke at them. I have great friends!

I have to get to work! so I have more stuff to pimp!

Show me what you got!

By the way, some day I'm going to be famous :) are you?

Egg'sactly!

So much to ramble on about, Firstly I promised that I would share a copper/silver Patina technique that simply uses boiled eggs and no caustic chemicals :) Its very easy, and you could google egg patina technique and get all the "science" about it.

I made this copper bracelet, and learned two lessons during the process.

1. Do not tumble your jump rings before assembling the piece. of course it hardens them! duh

I really Love the egg Patina technique for a couple of reasons, I love the color it turns the copper, just kind of aged and worn, not too dark and black. Also that I do not have to mess with any nasty chemicals, I use a lot of re-purposed copper etc so even better to use a natural patina technique, at least in my lil worlds thoughts.

How to : After assembling your piece and tumbling it, I assemble everything but where I am going to add beads then cut a couple pieces of wire that I will use to wrap those and finish the project too.

Boil a couple eggs a little extra long, this is the one time we like the yolks to turn green on the edges, I put them in the pan bring to a boil and boil for 20 minutes, Peel them as soon as you can, the warmer the better, You really only need the yolks for this process. So If you have some lucky dogs, :) give them the whites.

In a Ziplock baggy Or glass jar, give the yolks a lil squoosh, and place them inside, lay your copper piece, and extra lengths inside and seal up tight, I leave them in over night, the darker you want them the longer you leave them. They do advise the copper doesn't touch the egg itself, I haven't found an issue with that, but in a jar you could hang your piece above the egg in the bottom from the lid.

When you are done, THROW THE EGG OUT! (from experience :) dont set the baggy full of egg aside on your desk and forget about it for three days, ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww! not pretty! and not enough febreeze in the world, when the egg decides to go bad, it goes really really bad!

So... make your peice, tumble, boil eggs, patina, then, throwwwwww the eggs out! :)

and thats that!

xo LPublish Post

A Good Day :)

Good morning, I have fresh hot coffee with real cream and fake sugar :) trying to get my act together, an hopefully be productive today :)

I wanted to share some pictures my friends have sent in..

This first Bracelet was made using my Pansies and buds, by my friend Ann, aka koolkitty :)

She hasn't went public yet with her designs, But I think she will do great when she does!

This next picture is from my new friend Sally, she ordered my tutorial on making sculpted pansies and bam the same day she sat down and made these, and this necklace as a gift to her mother! another make my heart smile moment!

I would love to share your creations on my blog! so throw those pictures at me!

I have been full-time making beads for over 7 years now, prior to that I managed a bead store and designed jewelery for the catalog and taught classes , however since I lit my torch I probably I have made three complete pieces of jewelry, I just keep sending my beads out into the world and rarely get to see what is made with them.

Ok I have to get some mandrels dipped and get some work done :) today is Pandora day I do believe :)

Oh!!! and did I tell you??

The fireflies are coming out now!!! yay! its a good day :)

A HA!! Take that Schizophrenic Muse!!!

I would apologize for not updating for a while, but it is not my fault its my muses! No I didn't have the dreaded artist block, no, I didn't lose my muse, quite frankly my muse had a nervous breakdown of sorts, I had so many unfinished projects so many ideas swimming , and in dire need to create something NEW. So many directions and so much chaos, I simply had no place to start.

I would wake up each morning determined to be productive, and simply got tired of thinking of the things I have to do, want to do, think I should do, etc etc etc. I have really taken only one vacation in the 7+ years I have been my own boss, so I took some highly unproductive down time, and didn't even go anywhere cool :(

But...........OK lets talk about this, I have been struggling at the torch for a few weeks, I am not a production worker, simply, I expect a lot out of myself, I could make flowers and pansies and critters all day, and they would more than likely sell, I could write a new tutorial. I just have had this need to come up with new ideas, a new MY design, something that makes my heart smile.

A couple of months ago I designed the butterfly beads, that I do adore making, and are very well received, That felt so good, I know how much of me I put into them, and it was time for something new. This re-purposing bottles is going to be a great thing also I think :) Glass camp is coming up, beads of courage day is this summer, seeeeeeeeeee so many things so many ideas, not enough Ritalin!! You get there too right? to places where you just have no starting point , so instead of getting anything done, you pull your hair out thinking about it? and just wind up with a bad hair day and nothing to show for it?

Well,,,,,,,, I'm Back! and I did it! and tomorrow I hope to knock your socks off! Today I forced myself to sketch, torch, study pictures, torch again, make dinner, (which by the way was homemade scrumdiddlyumptious tacos! ) I'm so excited about this new design, which is scary in itself because HELLO, isn't it always something you really love, just doesn't go well? and something you think is crap, the buyers gobble up? ha!

So check yourself into the ward, schizophrenic muse, I am back!

Salute! Cheers!

This week has kinda sucked, I have had an uber stiff neck since Sunday, which in turn brings this dull throbbing headache, I know its from the posture I have to sit at, at the glass center. Im going to have to buy my own chair for that place. Last night I took a shot of Nyquil, thinking it would relieve the ache and I could sleep, bad idea. don't do that for a pain in the neck, ha.. I did sleep fine, and was feeling no pain until I woke up and realized I had slept with my neck kinked all night. Back to square one.

So much down time, My head is swimming with Ideas...

Last weekend during class a former student Yvette came in to play at the torches, she is a doll and so much fun, anddddddd got me to thinking further about new glass artists! Ok so she comes in with a bunch of broken wine bottle glass and shows me what shes been experimenting with, shes been fusing chunks then wiring them into pendants etc. We brain storm and talk, and I show her how to punty up to the chunk and be able to use them to wind on to mandrels to make beads.

I have been collecting bottles in order to fill the mondo big kiln at the center up and make a bunch of the slumped cheese trays. ( also learned I loveeeeeee Pinot Noir, in the process).

So in one of my mini torch sessions this week I smashed up a bottle pulled some stringers out of it etc, and made some beads pandora sized, then cored them with reclaimed copper tubing. Keeping with the recycle theme. I love how they turned out, and If they dont sell I will be happy to wear them.

Which now brings me to two topics, doh!!!

1. Yvette a student that has only taken a two day beginner class, came in and Inspired me!

2. Pigeon holed by buyers in a style of bead making?

Im just going to talk about number 1 today but we will get to number 2 this weekend.

I do talk about in my classes about developing a personal style, especially to those that show interest in doing this as an income.

I am a firm believer in NOT to listening to people about what you can and cannot do with glass art.

I was very much self taught in this medium, and over the years reading the forums etc, if I had done this prior to starting I would have not tried a lot of the things I have and quite frankly might have not been as successful or given up entirely. I feel, and this is just a personal feeling , I know a lot of teachers /veterans don't feel the same way, but I do think we can be afraid of competition. From reading and watching I really get the feeling sometimes that veterans try and discourage new people into this medium. I am not trying to offend anyone!

After writing a few tutorials of some of my "signature beads", and teaching a few years, I have embraced the competition, I'm learning so much from it, learning to stretch, to develop new designs.( this took time to learn and let go)

I could ramble on n on even more, but in the end, Fresh ideas and new eyes are so much fun to be around, and they do make us keep learning, grasping and reaching for bigger and better.

I may have stared at those glass bottles for two years before I actually did something with them.

I do nottttt for one second believe there are only so may techniques, styles and design ideas in this medium. I refuse to think that it is anything but infinite in what we can do as artists.

Glass is Magic!

Which end is on fire?!

I started out this post today rambling about how students after one class think its time to sell.

as I got into this ramble about 14 paragraphs I answered my own questions, and created a few more alas, after back spacing, and covering my monitor in white out three or four times, it hit me.

It doesn't matter, who am I to judge who is ready to sell or not? who am I to judge if the work is good enough? The only thing I really have any control in is trying to teach the student to study, and let their imagination run rampant!

I am so blessed in having found my true passion and being able to work at it, and It would be absolutely blasphemous for me to dissuade someone else from trying, after all I want the whole world to respect and desire flame work glass art!

Some of my students favorite words, "I have a whole new respect for what goes into lampwork beads." One of my favorite times during class is the last couple hours, when demos are over and the room goes absolutely quiet because everyone is on their creative zone, intently working on their pieces.

When I'm hot and tired and my back aches from sitting in the wrong position for two days, and the students, have decided breaks are for sissies, is a great great feeling.

When I am cleaning up the studio after all the students have left, and I come across a work station that all their glass rods are an inch long, I have this strange happy feeling of satisfaction, that that student, "gets it".

I do feel the responsibility to tell these few that are intent on immediately jumping into the market how competitive it is, how much studying and work is involved, and that they would definitely get more satisfaction by taking some time and refining their skills and techniques before throwing their work out to be criticized.

By all means though do what makes you happy! thats what I'm doing!

Visual aid..

Here is a set of some of my first pansies...

and here are some more recent ones :)

Say You Want A Revolutionnnnnnnnn...

Totally Irrelevant title, but this song has been stuck in my head for three days. So I thought Id share my Earworm :)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrkwgTBrW78 .

Back to the Glass Center for day 2 of teaching the glass beadmaking 101 class.

Within the next couple weeks the West Michigan Glass Art Center is moving its studios, It will be in the same building but we got a great big new space where the Hotshop will be with all the other studios, we also will have our own gallery! yay! I will post pictures as soon as I can. Looks like its going to be an awesome space!

Hey my exclamation mark is working again!!! (that nacho crumb must have worked itself loose.)

Its going to be a great day!

I still need to discuss with y'all about the Beads of Courage day, but the caffeine has not broken through the blood brain barrier yet, so it will have to wait till either this evening or tomorrow.

OMG I love glass! You ever wake up sometimes in the morning, and it dawns on ya that hey! I actually work with glass and fire? and I love it so entirely much I cannot fathom doing anything else? I feel like sometimes I get caught up in the "job" part of it I forget that Im so fortunate that the Gods of glass smacked me upside the head with this opportunity!

I mean c'mon really? My canvas and my paint is glass! My paints, pencils and pastels all feel like orphans since I found this medium, I still pull them out once in a while so they don't feel like the discarded broom on the Swiffer commercials, But my devotion is to glass.

Im a lucky Lucky girl :)

Im also a habitually 5 minute late girl, I have to go get ready for class!!! see you soon!!!

xo Laurie

Good Morning:)

My new website officially launched via the wide world web today yay :)

( I have to keep putting smiley faces instead of exclamation marks, because my keyboard has mutinied my morning perkiness...)

The new website is, www.lauriedonnette.com, I haven't got the shop filled up but its really pretty none the less.

I will move all my old free tutorials etc there within the next few days.

This morning I'm fueling up on coffee because I have a two day beginner beadmaking class today and tomorrow to teach.

I had better make stronger coffee, I just walked into the kitchen for a refill without the cup. I hope this isn't a sign of what today is going to be like.

My last Beadmaking 101 two day work shop I started right off with shaking the huge container of bead release with the top ajar, oops.

I will try and get back here this evening or tomorrow morning to tell you all about the Beads of Courage day we have planned this summer :)

oh howwwwwww I love summer :) (damn exclamation marks)

oh yeah one more thing these two peices are up on ebay, ending tomorrow, lots of watchers no bids.

True Confessions

Lets chat :)

I have been blogging about my work etc on my website everafterartistry.com

however I have been setting up a new website that will be, LaurieDonnette.com, as soon as it launches in a few hours/days :)

So I will be blogging from here. (Blogging is a strange word?) I will think of a better one :)

I will redirect people to this page as soon as I get the green light on my new site.

Most of my readers, freinds etc, know and understand my passion with glass.

I spend most of my days melting glass in the flame creating art/lampwork beads. I also Teach beadmaking at West Michigan Glass Art Studios & write and publish tutorials on specific glass bead techniques. a little about me:

True confessions...

I am a caffiene addict.

I have a sprinkle of ADD

I think Fireflies are magical!

I could live on tacos!

I do what I love for a career and most days I get to do it in my underwear!

I tell really bad jokes on Facebook.

I need a manager or elves.

I would rather buy clean clothes, then do laundry! and I hardly own anything without a burn hole or two in it to wear.

I shoot archery and Im really good at it :)

I have two beautiful children who put up with their twisted mother.

I love flip flops!

I think my hair looks better messy.

I cannot eat eggs without tabasco.

Ive got to get my butt to work!!!

I cant leave this post without posting some pretty pictures :)

rock me amadeaus!!!

Good morning...

trying to get this puppy set up to link to my new website, so hang in there with me :)