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.

Work In Progress: or, Yes, I am Still Working on Feltzilla...

Kimmie here:

While we were in Montana, I got a face put on Feltzilla. This, I thought, was the final step, and I would call him finished:
Sorry about the blurry picture, but I didn't have a camera with a macro function there. The blurry photo is pretty accurate, though, in describing how the piece looked to me. I wanted it to be harder, sharper, meaner looking!

There were a couple of difficulties with this. I had trouble finding the finer felting needles I needed, and after we got back to Mammoth Lakes, I started working full time on the mountain. I was tired enough at the end of the day that FZ was not high on my list of things to do when I got home. Then, Morgan accepted a job in Hawaii...HAWAII??? So after one month of glorious snow, we moved here to Lihue on the island of Kauai. I brought FZ of course, and a few weeks ago I found a website that offered not only size 40 needles, but superfine 42's as well! WooHoo!

The finer needles are working wonderfully, but my obsession with firm fine felt is one that requires patience. Needlefelting is incredibly time-consuming: I spent an entire day on FZ, removing his face and adding felt so that I could pack it in and give him a solid, not-overly-fuzzy surface.
I tightened up his arms and legs, got rid of that paunch and lengthened his neck. He now has some very handsome plates on his back and stands a little taller. He is not so easy to pull in and out of his building though, so I have to make a decision about how removable I want him to be. I may have to compromise on those plates in order to keep the versatility. With the longer neck, I also plan to have flames coming out of his mouth.


The process of needlefelting is an interesting one, in that to add firmness, I am trying to add material while condensing the bulk. It's easy to try to add too much, and tricky on this scale to pack it in. But I think the results will be worth it. I learn a lot with each project, and this one is no exception. I am hoping to have a mold made of the ring so that I can make a multitude of FZs and offer them as special orders!

I have no pressing duties today, so am going to grab my needles and get sticking! ...I have new ideas and projects I want to work on, but am determined to Finish FZ First!

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!

How will it show?

Lots going on this week; I went surfing 3 times with Morgan over the weekend. There is nothing like getting tossed by the waves as you paddle out, then finally making it out past the breakers to sit for a while just contemplating the ocean. Yesterday we were blessed with major dolphin sightings. There were less than a dozen surfers out, and each of us had a close encounter. The dolphins would surface and slowly move down the line, playing in the waves and surfacing all together, en masse, rolling around with each other. Mating season? One surfer got the surprise of his life as he paddled out and two leaped out of the water within feet of him! I was lucky enough to have one surface about 5 feet from me, then he playfully swam under me as I sat on my board. I think I could have touched him with my foot. Then he jumped out of the water just a few yards away. We are paddling out again today, hope they come back to see us!

(okay, so I didn't see a baby dolphin sticking his tongue out at me, but if he had done it, I'd have seen it!)

Then this weekend I expect to be taking a metal clay and metalsmithing workshop with Kate McKinnon. I think it will be a good investment in new skills, and I already have a project in mind! Not to mention the pleasure of seeing Kate again :-).

I'm interested to see how these new experiences will show up in my work...it may take a while for them to be absorbed, but I'm sure I'll be feeling their influence soon.

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.

Bead and Button, 2010: The Day After

Kimmie here, about to get opinionated:

It's Monday after the Bead and Button show, and we are all tired, exhilirated, and ready to go home.

It has been great hanging out with friends and developing new ideas. I think that's why we all come; sales are good and important, but the quality and quantity of artists at this show make it unmatched as an inspirational experience. I hope it can stay that way. Economics have made it hard for many of us to come, especially with increasing numbers of non-art-bead vendors at the show, but we are all optimists and fully expect things to improve with each passing year. I hope Bead and Button pays attention to what people are saying and needing, because so-called 'gem and jewelry' shows are a dime a dozen, and really not what this show is supposed to be about. It's supposed to be about artistry, like the wonderful work in Bead Dreams! I saw a booth here selling cheap sunglasses and fake pashmina scarves. That is NOT Bead and Button. Enough rant; but the mixed feelings of excitement and frustration are hard to keep in. Maybe keeping them in is a bad idea, anyway. The more people express concern about the direction the show is taking, the better, I think.



But about those new ideas: I'm really bad about keeping track of ideas, never having a sketchbook at hand when something percolates up. I have, however, learned to trust that if I put something into the flowing waters of my brain, it will swirl into the appropriate eddy and come back when it's ready and I'm ready to make it a reality. Tentative new projects will involve learning to carve wax for casting jewelry, recomitting to my metal clay/embroidery pieces, and designing some exciting jewelry pieces with my own beads. Can't wait to get started--and come back to Milwaukee next year with a suitcase full of exciting new work!

*also want to add extra thanks here to Kate McKinnon for offering to share booth space and a hotel for the show. She is talented, nice, and above all, fun! I wouldn't have been here if she hadn't given me the opportunity, and I really appreciate it.

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!