The Bead Shop is empty at the moment

July 25, 2008

New Style and an Oil Tank

Hi all! I hope your summer is going wonderfully well, wherever you happen to live. Mine is crazy busy with "my real work" which always seems to happen when the weather is great. I did manage to develop a new style of bead last week...crystal encased abalone and shell...which will replace the fumed beads for a while. Much as I love fuming, I think I've waxed eloquently about all the health risks.

Which brings me onto the next (nasty) topic. As some of you know, my DH is renovating the house to build on a new bathroom upstairs, an extension of the office in the middle, and a new studio for me at the ground level. It's been a real ordeal getting all the permits and geo stuff done, and today the bobcat and caterpillar arrived, with their operator - Benjamin - and work began. And stopped as soon as a huge, and I mean HUGE oil tank was discovered underneath the planned reno space. The local papers have been full of awful stories about it costing $150,000 and more to remove these things, should they be leaking. So we now have a team of engineers and soil examiners coming out...after they get a permit from the municipality to drain and remove the tank. It's all very scary and we are praying the cost will be at the lower end of the scale. Here's a pic of my DH and Ben standing on the tank:

So that's my little tale of joy for the day. Here are a couple of pics of an encased abalone bead:







Thanks for dropping by...


July 6, 2008

Busy Times

Hi all! It's been a busy two weeks helping my daughter move out with her significant other of four years and into an apartment just a few blocks away. I'm just so happy to have her near still and she is too. It's a lovely place, close to the sea and shops.

On the bead front. I've been playing more with the silver glasses, making mostly focals, which I'll list later this week. Here is one of them, called The Mermaid's Jewel. I adore the sea greens and swirling "movement" in this bead. It is not as colourful as Aladdin's Cave but it is still very striking.

Thanks for dropping by...


June 25, 2008

Just Fuming!

Last night, I put on my respirator and fumed a couple of focals.Although I'm familiar with the result of fuming beads, nothng prepared me for the sheer magnificence of this:

This bead, Aladdin's Cave, and it's friend, Neptune, will be listed on eBay later today. Thanks for dropping by...

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