Kui Studios Art Glass Beads

Lampwork Carnival: July Edition ::Other Creative Pursuits::

Resa Kerns — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 19:10:25 +0000

Welcome! If you’ve found your way here for the Lampwork Carnival, welcome to my tiny corner of the world. If you came here just to catch up with me, you are in for a treat! This is the July edition of the Lampwork Carnival, with a theme of “other creative outlets”. To learn more about what a Lampwork Carnival is, or to read previous editions, visit the Lampwork Carnival’s home on the web.

It is no surprise to see lots of varied talents in this group! Many of our bead artists had very full artistic lives before they even thought about melting glass. But, it was a challenge to find folks who were blogging about their other creative pursuits! Then, again, there are only so many hours in a day – even for the Renaissance women and men. If I’ve missed a great blog post, I invite you to add a comment to this post and share it!

Art Trading Cards are one of the newest art-collecting phenomenon, and are getting some buzz on the beadmaker’s forums. Our Carnival editor, Lyn, shares one of hers.

I’m excited to see the interest in Art Cards, as it is the one other creative pursuit I’m still dabbling in after becoming glass-addicted. Here’s a sample of some of my recent cards.

Beads and crochet are all the rage these days. Cindy Gimbrone is reviving her crochet skills.

After entertaining us for some time by her observations of life, and everything, on her blog, Lori Greenberg has finally written a book!

Kim, at Heavenly Fire is also entering the publishing business, partnered with Lori Robbins. Scroll down to the news section for the book details, and read her journal for some of the progress reports!

You’ve got to check out the gorgeous photography of Pam at The Blue Between. These are some of my favorites!

Lots of Lampworker’s are also experimenting with Precious Metal Clay (PMC) – after all, we’ve already got kilns! I love these beads by Barbara Becker Simon.

I mentioned above that it was a challenge to find blog postings by glass beadmakers about other creative endeavors. When I first mentioned this project to my good friend, Steph, her response was “are there other creative pursuits besides glass??”. Well, indeed there are — check out this recent thread at Lampwork Etc. The talent of this group is phenomenal! But, I did note many a post that said — “this is what I did before I found glass”!

Finally – although not always billed as such, I think many beadmakers who blog are finding a creative outlet in their writing. Check out a variety of beadmaker blogs at the Lampwork Carnival home site, and check for additional links on every blog you visit. You will find beadmakers writing about a variety of topics.

I’ll close with a bit of creative fun on the computer. Check out this clickable image map of Jen Geldard’s workspace!

That’s this month’s edition of the Lampwork Carnival. Hope you enjoyed this round-up! Many thanks to Lyn for giving me a chance to play hostess. Join us next month at the Lampwork Carnival Blog for “Summer Vacation Special”. Bloggers — get your posts written about your summer vacations, and make submissions by August 10.

Happy Independence Day from Captain America!

Resa Kerns — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 19:29:09 +0000

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July holiday! Riley enjoyed a day home from school, and staying up late to go watch fireworks. She especially enjoyed setting up in the back of the pickup and eating bags and bags of popwork — she thought it was like a camp-out. The weather was perfect (actually, rather cool), and we saw enough beautiful fireworks to call it a successful outing.

In case you are wondering — the glasses are special 3D fireworks glasses. They didn’t really do much for the fireworks, but were fun for looking a car headlights while waiting for the show to begin.

15 seconds of fame

Resa Kerns — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 20:32:17 +0000

I’m really pretty proud to say that I’m going to be featured in a very small column in the local paper for my lampworking. The column is too short to even amount to 15 minutes of fame — so I’m calling it 15 seconds! This is the piece (or collection) that is being featured — I’m calling it Circus Catch. It is a very fun collection of bright, primary colors, with a lot of texture. The bracelet incorporates some elementary silver wire work — I would love to do some more with that! For the locals — the column is called “Community Sketchbook”, and should appear in this Sunday’s Missourian. (click here for a larger view of the picture)

A Photographer in the Making

Resa Kerns — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 14:30:47 +0000

As most beadmakers/beadsellers know — you’ve got to learn how to take decent pictures of your beads! If you want to sell them, if you want to show them on the forums, if you want to put them on your website — you’ve got to have a decent picture. The quest to take reasonably good pictures of my beads started me down the road towards better photography. Despite the fact that I have a family of wonderful, professional-grade photographers — I never really got into any of the details of photography. Maybe because I had all of them, I never needed to. But, the beads were all mine, and I needed to learn how to photograph them, and I think I’ve been making some good progress with that.

I’ve also recently been pressed into service to take still shots of my daughter, while others were taking the video. And — if I do say so myself, they turned out pretty good! I took the picture you see below this post. So — my interest in better photography got another shot in the arm.

And — of course, as I get my website, and my blog going, there is an on-going need for some pictures to punch it up a bit.

All of this is background to say that I just acquired a brand-new compact camera! The idea is that it will always be with me, and I will shoot more pictures, gain experience, etc. I think it will also help with making the quickie bead shots to put on my blog or web page. Here’s a shot I took in macro mode, with no flash. I think it turned out quite well! (by the way, this is a tiny little porcelain doll that resides in my dollhouse — she is probably about an inch or so long! Click on the image to see a bigger view.

Here Comes the Sun

Resa Kerns — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 20:44:38 +0000

We are back from vacation, settling back into the school/work routine — and time to get back to some bead business!! But — first — here is my beautiful baby at her Spring Dance Recital! She did a wonderful job, and had a great time. The original intended costumes never arrived, so the dance studio had to put things together at the last minute. I actually think the outfit came out cuter than the one they had planned! She danced to the Beatle’s “Here Comes the Sun”.

We had a great vacation! The definite highlight of the trip was a visit to the New Shanghai Circus — a wonderful Chinese acrobatic troupe. Riley fought to stay awake and see the whole show — and now loves to do “similar” acrobatic tricks. My favorite is to see her try to tie her legs up like a pretzel! Too funny

Unfortunately — I came back from vacation with an ear infection, and just haven’t really felt like myself for awhile — so have taken a small, unplanned hiatus from bead-making. (although my mom and I did make some pretty cool jewelry while we were gone — I’ll get some pics up for that soon.) I should have some fun beady eye candy for you soon!

Take care, and thanks for checking in!

On vacations and carnivals!

Resa Kerns — Fri, 12 May 2006 17:46:29 +0000

Tomorrow, I begin a week-long vacation! Well, after a dance recital, church, and church musical … then we begin our vacation!! It is the only real vacation I have planned this summer, so am really looking forward to it. Riley, of course, is ecstatic!

Are you familiar with blog carnivals? They are tremendously fun, and a great way to discover blogs you otherwise wouldn’t know anything about! Check out The Carnival of Lampwork and see what it is all about!

Have a great week, and I’ll send you a postcard!

A Friday Greeting

Resa Kerns — Fri, 05 May 2006 20:31:22 +0000

Happy Friday everyone! I can’t believe it has been so long since I updated my journal! I haven’t been writing much, but I have been busy! Check out this fish — my first. His little tail broke off (twice) — but I am still hugely proud of my first sculptural piece! In addition to all the unfamiliar manipulation of the glass — this fishie took me a long time! I’m not used to working on one bead that long. It gives me a new appreciation for some of the intricate focal-sized beads I see.

Tomorrow I am going to the Bead Blast in Kansas City — very exiting! I just love looking at all the beads and trinkets — but am also hoping to come home with a bagful as well. I’m about to enter the jewelry-making zone this summer, and need a few supplies!

Have a great weekend!

Bead Jammin’!

Resa Kerns — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 18:07:34 +0000

Last night I had the greatest time — with my new lampworker friends in Columbia!! I attended a “bead jam” at Village Glass Works, and had a ball. It was wonderful to meet folks with a similar passion for glass beads, and to just commune informally. We had a couple of short demos on the torch (and those were priceless!) — but mostly we just shared our work and chatted. I am so inspired by what folks are doing! This was my first such gathering — but can’t wait to do it again.

Riley in the Tulips

Resa Kerns — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 14:34:53 +0000

Well — you can’t see much of the tulips in this pic — but I loved this pic of Riley. At four years old, she is a seasoned model (for grandma, anyway!) Happy Spring, everyone!

Monday Wash Day

Resa Kerns — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 13:58:17 +0000

Remember those old housekeeping guides that set up a particular task for a particular day? In an effort at orderly beadmaking, I’m adopting a version of that. Monday is beadcleaning day — so that is what I spent last night doing! Beadcleaning is not my favorite chore, and I long for the day when I can pay Riley a small sum to do it for me! But — there is some satisfaction in sorting out the sets and seeing them laid our all ready for the stringing. Unfortunately, (or perhaps fortunately!) I had more beads than I could clean in one session — so I may still be cleaning beads tonite!

Have a great day!