2011 Brings on the Birdies

Sometimes I get something into my head that just has to get out into the glass. 

A number of months ago I had this image of a dancing elephant wearing a hula skirt.  She found a home quite quickly and I never made another like her.  I do like elephants and sometimes think I will try again.  I really think she could use some tweaking.  There are so many little details about her that I see and say, oh come on - you could do better.  But she has quite the cute personality. 

Recently I got it into my head that I wanted to make birds - now many, many of us make birds.  I had this image of birds with hearts on their breasts and hats on their heads.  Now, the earliest ones did have hearts on their breasts, but really, they could use some work. 

Turns out there are many things to consider when creating a bird - especially one wearing a hat - that mandrel can be quite bothersome!  Some of the first ones I did not have the hole going all the way through - not exactly a bead - and they are sort of hunchbacky - again, I need some perfecting.

I like to take an idea and play and play, tweaking as I go. 

My Ottoman series is very detailed and exact, these new beads are much more playful to look at and to make - I don't have to be quite so exacting.  I have been having so much fun with colour combinations and different colours on the beaks - I am having too much fun with stripey beaks. 

I also decided to try my  hand at making legs for the little guys.  I don't have the very best tools.  Last year at Bead and Button I took a class with Anne Mitchell - she advised to have tools with long handles as they are easier on your hands and the ends don't poke you right in the middle of your palm - Wow - Anne is right - I will be looking for better tools as my  hands took a beating as I tweaked making birdie legs out of wire.

I have been continuing with the birdie theme and tried my hand at owls - well, they are too much fun - again I can play with all kinds of crazy colour combinations!  I actually think that that guy on the left has no wings!  Hmmmm - I will have to go and check him out - perhaps they are just little wings hiding - perhaps they got forgotten in the adding of toes!  Silly me!  He could be a new species of flightless owls - related to the ostrich?

It is winter here and today it is much too cold for beading.  We have also had tons of snow recently.  I took this photo on the back porch about a week or so ago.

2011 - teaching and shows

Before we know it it will be 2011.  Hard to believe.  Seems like yesterday we were waiting for the world to end as we entered the new millenium and now 2011!  Time goes too quickly.

I have already planned most of my out of town teaching and shows for 2011 and the year is packed with shows and teaching in new and exciting places.  My year will begin with the Oasis show in March (that one is here in Toronto), then off to Las Vegas for the Glass Craft Expo.  Just selling this year, but perhaps I will be able to teach there in 2012. 

In May we hold our Toronto Bead Society Show.  I am a long time member of the TBS and have recently joined the steering committee.  I am the volunteer coordinator.  Not really my first choice of a way to help out - truthfully,  I am not that outgoing, so it has been challenging for me.  Soon I am changing positions.  I will be moving over to running the semi-annual TBS bead show.  Spring will be my inaugural show (as more of the assistant) and then I will be on my own for the fall of 2011.  This show was my first bead show ever and it will always hold a special place for me.  I am thrilled to be taking over the running of it.  It is already going along just fine, thanks to Sue Wise who has manned the fort for the last five years or so.  I shall be taking over from very capable hands.     

June will be Bead and Button.  Now everyone must love that show.  I have never been to such a big show - you could just get totally lost with all those booths.  And the classes - I understand they hold over 600 classes!  Unbelievable.  I have five different classes scheduled, so it will be busy and tons of fun, I am sure.  The calendar will be out sometime in December and you can start picking your classes on January 11th. 

The summer will find me teaching at Red Deer College for a week.  This has long been a dream and when they said yes to my proposal I was thrilled.  I am not quite sure of the dates, but a whole week of beadmaking as part of their Summer Series 2011.  I have long wanted to go back to summer camp and this is my chance!  I get to be the counsellor, so to speak, but still a whole week playing in the glass studio - it will be such fun. 

By the end of October I will be flying off to California to teach at Arrow Springs.  The class description is already up on their website and I could not be happier to be invited.  I will hopefully get to spend a few days with family at Lake Tahoe before teaching. 

By then I will be happy to spend time closer to home.  The fall will bring us back to the shows I just finished - the Toronto Bead Society show and the Ottawa show once more.  It will be an amazing year, I am sure.