ISGB Gathering loot.

 Had a great time! Copper beads, Greg Chase cane coin, Jodie McDougall button , Virginia Wilson Toccalino blown beads.

Road trip: Corning and ISGB in Rochester

Corning Museum of Glass never fails to amuse and inspire. Love that place!

Rochester welcomes ISGB Gathering

Packing for ISGB.

Two of these are going with me.

ISGB Gathering.

Muskoka Arts and Crafts this weekend.

My booth number is 97,  I will see you there!

New Work: Johnny Cash Tribute

one piece available here.

New Work : Johnny Cash Tribute.

I started working on this in 2008,  finished yesterday. Probably the most detailed face/ portrait I have ever done. It was insane amount of work, making most components twice, but it was fun, and I am a big fan too. He is been keeping me company through many long nights, catching deadlines and arriving at driving destinations awake.

Sunday afternoon

is all about garden, first harvest, and 10 KG organic strawberries.

Saturady afternoon

studio temperature: 37 C

Friday afternoon

at my friend Martas, I wish my gardens were this beautiful! May be next year.

more cane for beadmaking.

link here

new: cane for beadmaking

Been busy.

Guardian Angel.

Tini (1/2 inch) fella with mighty powers. Here.

Why is cane (miniature mosaic glass) so expensive?

I do get asked this all the time so I took a minute this morning, while waiting for the kiln to ramp up and ran some numbers, which I hope will help to explain:

in the short of it:

by time it is finished I am out about $500 worth of expenses and up to 400 hours of work

in the long of it:

for franchini (shaded) style of large size (30-40 mm dia) portrait cane:

three tanks of propane $66
pounds of glass?
15 pounds color $100-150

10 pounds clear $60- 80

electricity bill goes up $150-$200/ month
(example: 4 consecutive days in the kiln for ONE large component only)

two dead oxygen concentrators (machinery depreciation) $ 600

cutting blade #35

felt belt $35

cerium oxide $25

tools in need of replacing ?

grand total low end : $541 (not counting the dead machinery, damaged tools )

Optimistic, ideal timeline:
engineering: research, drawings, breakdowns, strategic planing  7 days

component building (5-6, +couple of redos) 14 days

coldwork 1 day

component assembly 2-3 days

25 days @ 8 hours a day = 200 hours
25 days @ 10 hours a day = 250 hours
25 days @ 12 hours a day = 300 hours

final cutting and polishing

coldwork 5-7 days

aprox 60 hours

I do take my time, I like them to be detailed, to my liking, sometimes the work gets stretched over couple of years even.

last but not least:
-skill building for over ten years (for me)
-rarity of an image ( I work small = low edition / production numbers)
-artistry, esthetic, mojo, spirit, Lucie touch (as my dear husband calls it)

-ten ears of extensive classical art education / training

than there is also:

-minor and major burns (comes with the territory, do not mind those)

-agonizing pain in my hands, wrists, elbows and shoulders
 (this is very personal, and I am tough as nails, not a complainer kind)

-severe allergy to cerium oxide polishing compound (this one is really lame!)

Corning ROCKS.

Corning Museum of Glass is featuring beautiful show called Life on a string: 35 centuries of glass beads.

The show runs May2013-January 2014 

Their website here.

In the area?... you should definitely go. I can not wait to see it for myself.

"This major exhibition explores glass beads and beaded objects made by various cultures, representing 3,500 years of human history. Life on a String: 35 Centuries of the Glass Bead will showcase, for the first time, many important works from the large historical glass bead collection of The Corning Museum of Glass as well as objects on loan from seven institutions."

I am very proud be part of another show running also in Corning, which is exploring contemporary glass beads and jewelery.

curated by Marshall Hyde: 

Glass Beads Now: An International Survey

May 18 - November 16, 2013

22 East Market St, Exhibit A Gallery, Corning, New York

Gallery website

Carved Ring Necklace, Erica Rosenfeld, 2012

Oh, how very french of me.

I was not able to resist these FIG trees in our local garden center the other day. I had experienced complete childhood flashback, when my folks would load up the van and drive us kids to Provance for the summer. Oh, those Fig trees made me feel sixteen again.
 See, the area where I live now is graded zone FOUR for gardening, meaning whatever you plant will freeze and die till the next spring, thank you very much. I have been assured by the sales lady that those particular plants will definitely survive the harsh conditions, because were actually raised locally, all you do is to store them in the garage over the winter. We`ll see about that.
In the mean time I am patiently waiting for the fruit to mature.

Oh boy

Busted brakes. We are safe and sound, so I am not going to complain much. Lets just say the end of the weekend was not an easy one for us.