Thank you Honolulu!

Kimmie here:

I didn't get any pictures taken in Honolulu, so here's a nice kitty we saw hanging out by the canal in Kapaa.




We had a great time at the show in Honolulu last weekend, and especially visiting with friends Daniel and Karen Howell, of Dee Howl Beads. Karen grew up there, and they drove me and Morgan around a bit. We went up on top of Tantalus mountain and caught the view of the city just after sunset, before hitting a classic local burger spot. I was especially excited to go up Tantalus, since Karen told me she and her friends used to skateboard down that road back in the day. YIKES! She said they would grab the vines to slow down going around the turns. YIKES! Back when skateboards had metal wheels and if you hit a rock you are toast. YIKES!





Sounds fun.





I also got to meet Sara Sally LaGrand, whose work, face, and name were all familiar to me from past shows, but we had never actually talked. She is so talented and interesting. Her work is wonderfully expressive!





The show was great, so now I am pretty officially cleaned out of beads. At the show while visiting with other beadmakers it was hard not to get excited and start making plans for other shows, especially the next Softflex show in Honolulu. I kept having to remind myself that I don't have a torch here, much less someplace to put it and work. We are, of course, looking for an apartment, and working outside in this environment will be a pleasure. After we find a place, we will have to make a trip to San Diego for a major garage sale/packing/shipping vacation. Whee.





This Friday is the deadline to apply for a scholarship to the Gathering, the annual conference held by the International Society of Glass Beadmakers. I am planning to apply, if only for the practice at writing an artist's statement and putting down some goals on paper. I have never really done that before, and it seems like there are a lot of opportunities out there for artists who know how to do stuff like writing grants and proposals. Also, I am self-taught and would really value the opportunity to take a class there. I think I would take a class that seems totally contrary to the kind of work I do myself. I'd also like to pick the teachers' brains about how to get started teaching. I have done lots of demos and enjoy that; teaching seems like a natural extension of demonstrating.





If any readers have some experience with writing statements, teaching, or the Gathering, I would love to hear about it!

Yes--I said FIERCE!

Kimmie here:





Feltzilla is looking much more ferocious these days!









Way sharper armor plates, angry brows, and yes flames, if you can dig it! I think they look pretty good, and not too much like he's puking at all. Next up some trimming and tidying up, a couple of pupils in those eyes and we are in business. I'm so tempted to try and make the eyes bloodshot. He's a little bigger than he was in the last post, but probably not big enough to make that actually viable. Oh well. I'm just so much happier with this result, can't wait to get him done and show off the finished piece! Maybe tomorrow.



I have lots to do right now. I didn't finish the 'update' post, so, long story short: we moved to Mammoth Lakes, CA for the ski season, and two days later Morgan got an offer of a full-time job in Hawaii. Guess where I live now! There I was, a badass snowbunny tearing up the slopes, and suddenly it's time to practice my paddling again. I hope I can remember how to surf! We have been on Kauai for almost six weeks, we're in a temporary apartment right now and without a car. Here's my mode of transportation:

I take my cart to the grocery, to the beach, even to Costco! We upgraded it with baby buggy wheels--does anyone else remember those Bill Cosby albums?--and it rolls like a charm. Morgan also made a really great surfboard trailer out of some bamboo and a golf bag cart. Don't have those photos uploaded yet, but will share next time.

Although I didn't bring my torch, I did bring my beads, so I signed up for the Softflex Glass Art and Bead Festival. It's March 4-6 in Honolulu, so if you are in town or want an excuse to visit the islands, check it out.

I'm looking forward to the show, but scrambling a bit for inventory and display. My table is bound to be pretty creative, to say the least. I'll post photos, for sure.

We Have a Winner!

Kimmie here:

A Big Thank You to Susan B., winner of the Magpie for Andrew.

I hope y'all will visit his blog and bid on some of the wonderful things being auctioned there.

I'm working at a big quilt market this weekend, one more day to go then home to Encinitas and then we are moving up to Mammoth Lakes on Tuesday! We're hoping to squeeze in one more surf before we take off. After unloading we will head up to Montana for a visit with my parents until I return for training as a lift operator on Mammoth Mountain for the season. I am SO excited, can't wait to snowboard myself silly this winter!

Sadly, I won't be able to take my torch with me, but I have a good inventory and will update my website with loose beads and finished jewelry, including some great new button pendants. We will return to the coast in June; I'm sure I'll be bursting with inspiration. Of course, I expect to be knitting and felting up a storm while in the mountains, so it won't all be stuff from my stash here in the blog and on the site.

And by the way,
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

We're still here!

Kimmie here:

Joan and I have both had a lot going on the past month; I am moving in a couple of weeks to Mammoth Lakes, California to work on the slopes for ski season! I won't be able to bring my torch to make beads, but I will be updating my website with beads and jewelry from my stash, and I hope to be felting up a storm :-). A snowstorm, that is!

Our friend Andrew Thornton, a wonderful artist, has some big medical bills coming at him, so I decided to offer up my magpie wearing a monocle and sterling top hat in a silent auction to raise some funds. If you want to place a bid, you can email me through my website, not the blog: kim at cuteglassbeads dot com. You can also bid via facebook message to the Kim Van Antwerp http://www.cuteglassbeads.com/ page or to me. You can check out Andrew's work and see some other great things to bid on at his blog: http://www.andrew-thornton.blogspot.com/

The high bidder as of Friday evening (central time, I will be in Houston) wins the bird. In a slight departure from usual procedure, if you are high bidder and get outbid, I will let you know!

Learnin this Internet stuff

King's Canyon National Park

Kimmie here:

Sounds like Beadfest was great! And those starfish beads of Joan's are beautiful.

I had a great time at the San Diego Bead Society's Bead Bazaar, thanks to everyone who came, and especially to Cindy Lohry, who made a beautiful necklace using my Precious Metal Clay fairy pods and let me display it in my booth! She's going to have it photographed and email me the pictures; I will share them as soon as I get them. I'll also update the blog when I get some more pods made and posted on the website.

After SDBS, Morgan and I drove up to the Bay Area and across for a week of camping at Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Parks. The weather and the scenery were just spectacular, there's no other word for it. We didn't have any bear encounters, but there was a racoon who stole, and promptly rejected, a bag of rice cakes!

That weekend, Klew hosted me at a trunk show in her Tehachapi store. What a treasure! (both the store and Klew)

Now I've been home for two weeks and summer has finally arrived in San Diego County. I have been filling orders and making beads for finished jewelry to show at the Ocean Beach Music and Art festival on September 11. Art Row is free, and there's a stage that's open too, so you don't have to buy a ticket to have a great day!

In the meantime, I have overhauled the look of my website and added both beads and finished jewelry, as well as an FAQ on the about me page. If you check it out and find any issues, please let me know!

San Diego Bead Society Bead Bazaar

Wow, Beadfest sounds awesome!
But if you're on the west coast this weekend, August 7-8, come see me (Kimmie) and Penny Michelle at the San Diego Bead Society's bead bazaar!

Saturday, 10-6
Sunday 10-5

At the Scottish Rite Center,
1895 Camino Del Rio South
San Diego, CA 92108

Click Here for a printable coupon worth $1.00 off admission! (regular admission is $3.00)

This show has lots to see, including some of our favorite friends and artists: Mingo and Asho of Glasscapes, Bindy Lambell (aka 'the mad beader'), Judy Carlson, and wonderful Wayne Robbins!

Come! Shop! Say hi!

Good Morning

I have a few pictures of new beads to share; after Bead and Button, my head is full of new ideas and things I want to do, but I've only had a couple of days at the torch to try some of them out.

Inspired by the few but precious treasures I brought home from the show, I am experimenting with new motifs and jewelry designs. I bought a button from Anne Choi, some koi from Bob Burkett, and a neat crab from Greg Ogden, of Green Girl Studios (some of Bob's things can be found at Green Girl too). As always, I lament my lack of shutterbuggery when I visit the blogs of friends who were at the show. Not only do they seem to have found all of the very latest and neatest things, they photograph them and everyone who crosses their paths! What a nice way to recap and share memories. I have vowed to do better in the past, and here I go again ;-).

Anyway, here's a picture of my first piece with the Anne Choi button:

It wears nicely, and I love how it hides the wire and jumpring. I like this idea so much, in fact, that I dove into my stash and dug out some of the cool buttons I have collected over the years to use in jewelry designs. More to come!
I also can't resist sharing this guy, ordered at the show and shipped out yesterday:

I was a little daunted at the thought of doing a Shar Pei when I started studying all those wrinkles, but it turned out great. From the side he looks like he ran into a brick wall, just like he's supposed to.

Countdown

Kimmie here, in the final days before the biggest consumer bead show IN THE WORLD!!!

LOL I love that tagline for B and B. For me it is, as someone on Facebook noted, like summer camp. It's work, but it's also about friends and familiar faces that I haven't seen in far too long. The show itself can be overwhelming. So much to see, even the view from my booth will have my eyes dazzled by the end of each day. It is great to see beaders come out wearing the boldest, most beautiful work, eyeballing the Bead Dreams display (rooting for me and Joan!), and seeing what some of my favorite artists have brought to show.

It will be bittersweet this year, some of my very favorites won't be there, not the least of whom is Joan! Maybe next year. She's at a show this weekend, http://www.innovativebeadsexpo.com/show_details.php?id=147&link=attend
in Allentown, PA at the Fairgrounds. If you are anywhere near there, stop by and say hi for me!

Time to get some finishing touches put on the BronzClay, for firing tomorrow, maybe some more silver fairy pods too. And more glass on Monday! Eek! Get to work, Kim!

Just a post

Kimmie here:

I don't have any pictures to share, as I'm not posting from my home computer. The batch of silver fairy pods turned out nicely, just need to drill and patina and they will be ready to go. Time is running so short here before B and B! I have reached that point where I have some of everything and get perplexed about what to make next...do I make some of something I don't have? should I make bunches more of something I think will be popular? Why aren't there more than 24 hours in a day (and in my fingers)?

The first batch of BronzClay didn't turn out at all. I am hoping I have figured out the malfunction, because the new pieces are looking great. I added some sculptural elements and hope to get molds made from them before we go to Milwaukee. That's how much I like them! I actually got so involved and the ideas were flying at me so that it was hard to stop, come down to Earth and get some production going. Time to experiment will come in a few weeks...

On a happy note, I found new batteries for my old camera online. The old one holds a charge for about 5 minutes and I had put off finding a new one thinking they'd be expensive. Wrong! Just $6 each, including shipping. I ordered two and plan to have lots of pictures from Bead and Button to share!

Life + Art

Kimmie here:

It is interesting to see how our lives influence the art we make. Sometimes the connection is hard to spot...for example, I have been making beads featuring koi fish for years, even back in my fimo days, but haven't had so much as a goldfish in my life for years! Where does that come from? I think it has to do with the colors and the way a beautiful fish in a pool of water is evocative of peace, elegance, tranquility--totally imaginary for me.

The lentil animals are challenging to design and fun to make in bunches. They are snappy and quick and pack a lot of punch in their tiny package. When the design is right it just hits you all at once and pushes all the right buttons. I think that's why I enjoy making them so much. I've historically been really bad about not wanting to make the same thing twice. The fact that I actually like making these by the dozen has got me pondering their nature here...I guess there's nothing incredibly profound about them, but when you're staring at the flame for hours at a time it's easy to let the mind wander.

The past six months or so have been very active and exciting for me; I've been spending lots of time outdoors, learning fun new sports, and I think all that adrenaline is informing my new work.

It seems like the more I do, the more creative and inventive I feel! There's a long summer of surfing and mountain biking ahead, and when winter comes, more snowboarding. Tons of inspiration under the sun, I hope you will enjoy seeing what comes next!

A Midweek Quickie

Kimmie here:

This is where colored yarn comes from! LOL, if Ihad been able to keep a straight face, I would have had my boyfriend Morgan convinced this is true. But I went and said that they look like they have sweaters on and started cracking up and blew it ;-).

I got my felt bead sent off to Milwaukee and won't see it now until June. I have a second one almost halfway finished, but it is hard to find time for it what with glass and PMC projects also knocking on my door. It almost makes me feel guilty to just curl up with my big bead and some wool! But there's a whole month between me and B&B and I hope to have two big beads on my table to share, along with all these fun glass beads.

Whoooo's ready for the weekend!

Kimmie here-


I really can't complain, this week just flew by. The creativity has really been flowing; I am so excited about these little (10mm) lentil animals, I have about ten different ones already! I'm going to make myself a bracelet with one of each...might have to make it two strands the way things are going.

These owls will be posted on my site tomorrow, keep visiting the blog to see the rest of my tiny menagerie!

**and if you have a request or suggestion, please let me know! Post it in a comment here in the blog :-).

I have been asked recently how I my pictures turn out so well, and I must say it is pure luck. The workshop where I'm set up has a big skylight so all I have to do is plop the beads down and snap a photo. My camera is so old that it will only hold a charge for 10 minutes or so, so it's a good thing I don't have to do a lot of fidgeting! I do have one good tip though: instead of a spendy gradient sheet or tricky backdrop, I use parchment paper from the baking section of the grocery store. Just unroll it -drape it over something if you need a background- and roll it back up when you're done. Great stuff, and it keeps cookies from sticking to the sheet... ;-)

Glass and felt from Kimmie

I added these guys to my etsy store last week, I think they are so happy! It will be challenging to figure out how to display such tiny animals at shows, but I have a few ideas.
Speaking of shows, set your calendar because I will be appearing at Bead and Button in Milwaukee in June! Joan and I have both sent in entries for their Bead Dreams contest, which Joan WON in the handmade beads category a couple of years ago. Maybe she will post a picture of those prizewinning beads for us. That was an exciting year at B and B; my friend Wayne Robbins and I received the People's Choice award for our collaboration, "The Collector":

He was my first big felted project; creating him really reiterated the importance of having a good stash to draw on! He lives in Palo Alto, California now, in the library of a home up on a hill. I'm sure he is very happy there, but I do kinda miss him sometimes.

**Don't forget to go see Joan at BeadFest Wire this weekend!

-and wish us luck on our Bead Dreams entries for this year...I think we are both going to be superstitious and not post pix till we know if they've been accepted ;-).

More Springime Beads

Kimmie here, with more lentil-based animals from my torch.

Is it just me, or do they seem to be conversing?

Whenever I put two or more animal beads in a picture they end up looking to me like they are talking, or at least relating, to each other. I don't know if it's because they are so similar, or what, but it always tickles me! Maybe I have been looking in the flame too long. What do you think? Well, I hope that's not the case, because I am logging many hours working on new and fun beads for the Bead and Button show in June. By the time the show rolls around, it is entirely possible that I will be having whole conversations with these little inanimate objects, but at least I'll have lots of them to share!