Busy, Busy, Busy – Beads, Beads, Beads!!

Just a quickie post here fellow blog-landers!!  I’ve got some eye candy to show you, so without further ado……here they are!!  Hope you like them……………… (as usual you can find them  on my Website, Etsy or Artfire…just click on the links to the left…)

Lapis

"Fairy Moss"

"Oriental Express"

"Glee"

 

 

 

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Seriously Awesome Frit Crusher!

I got a new toy!!  Well, I’ve had it for a couple of months now – so technically it’s not “new” new but I haven’t told anyone about it yet, so I guess it officially qualifies as New!

Anyway……we have a friend who is a boilermaker by trade – that means he can weld!!  Amongst other things…he he. Hubby went round to visit one afternoon and I asked him to see if Pedro had any pieces of scrap metal laying around because I wanted to see if I could fashion a frit crusher out of it.  It would have been a very basic model – probably not even with a “base” as such because I don’t have any welding gear (lots of soldering stuff, just no welding..).

Maybe I’d better explain what a “frit crusher” is to those of you who are scratching their heads right now saying “What the….???”.

A frit crusher is a device consisting of a hollow piece of pipe (preferably with a base so the glass is contained inside)  and another piece of pipe (also with a base) that fits inside it. Now you put pieces of glass rods etc inside the larger pipe then you whack the living daylights out of it with the smaller pipe and it crushes all the glass into various size pieces – which we in the know (wink, wink) call “frit”.  The frit is then used to decorate lampwork beads.  It’s great stuff – you’ll just have to trust me on that.

No idea???  Look at the pics – they tell a better story than me…much less confusing.  She’s a “Big Mama”!  There’s a big can of butane gas next to it as well as a rod of glass – just for comparison.

I just wanted some info on how to make one and some offcuts of pipe that were maybe just laying around but lo and behold……a couple of hours later when hubby came home – my brand new awesomely, fabulously efficient, super-dooper frit crusher got plonked on my work desk!!!  Compliments of Pedro!!  Yay – Go Pedro!!!! Thank you Pedro!! How awesome is that!  Hubby said it took him about 5 minutes to make……that’s what happens when you know what you’re doing.  Probably would have taken me 5 hours to work it out……

I have some more projects that require a skill level slightly higher than that of soldering.

I think I may need welding lessons.

PEDRO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Frit Crusher

Pedro's Frit Crusher

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Just a couple more beads…

Boy – I’m on fire!!  Well, not literally anyway!  I am trying really hard to list just a few beads every day or two just so I can clear this backlog of beads that I have!  Well, it’s a bit of a job – but I’m determined to get it done.  So – without further ado…..here are tonight’s offerings…….Take care!

"Seaside"

"Eggplant"

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More New Beads!!

Yee Haa – I’ve got a bit of momentum happening here with bead listings…dunno how long I can keep this up for!  lol  Anyway – here’s a bit more eye candy for you to look at.  I have to go and do some more photo editing and cropping now before I can upload any more.  That’s the time consuming part.  Anyway, chatting isn’t getting it done – right? As usual, you can click on the website links to see more pics.

Catch you later!  Enjoy….

Blue, Green, Amethyst focal

"Earthenware"

 

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More New Beads!!!

Another three sets listed tonight!  At this rate I’ll be hoping to clear my back log of bead listings in,  say,  6 months!! lol…..  I’ll just keep plodding along, filling up empty “shelves” so to speak.  As usual, you can find these on my Website, Etsy or Artfire……Links are on the right hand side of this page.  Hope you like them!

"Tempest"

"Laguna Blue"

"Plum Brulee"

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Instant Gratification….

I’m an instant gratification kinda gal.  Actually, that’s probably a polite way of telling people that I’m as impatient as all get-out!  Not with all things….I’m really quite patient with animals and children. And melting glass to make beads. Ok….mostly patient with glass….sometimes not.  lol

What I am really NOT patient about is waiting in traffic.  Especially when I’m in a hurry and running late and should have already arrived at where  I was supposed to be about 8 minutes before-hand (which is usually 99.7% of the time – oops).

I also get grumpy when I have to wait in a queue for too long at the checkout.  This usually happens on the days I have forgotten to bring the insulated  “cold” bag with me and all the chilly stuff just has to sit there and drip.  All I can think of is my ice cream turning into puddles of sweet milk and my chicken thigh fillets turning into a delectable, albeit unplanned, treat for my puppies at their dinner time and not mine.  Checkout queue’s are nobody’s fault (except maybe Woollies who insist on having only 2 checkouts open to cope with 4000 customers at some of the busiest times of the day) – just one of those annoying delays…..take a deep breath….

My biggest desire for instant gratification is this:- when I buy something on-line, I usually needed it yesterday!  Never mind that I might have procrastinated for a week before buying it! I just need it NOW!  Do you ever find that?  Surely I’m not alone?  I’m like a cat on a hot tin roof waiting for my parcel of precious goodies to arrive via the friendly neighbourhood postie.  I particularly like those E-books that you get on-line….where you pay now (Paypal you are soooo awesome!!) and 10 minutes later – voila!  Your book is sitting in your in-box awaiting your perusal!  Love it!

Anyway…I’ve got a parcel from Mimi’s Gems coming from the good ol’ US of A!  Sooooo can’t wait for it to arrive!  Got a pile of swarovski and Tierracast stuff in it.  I need to play!

Here’s my new slogan….

“What do I want? Whatever I want! When Do I want it? NOW!!”

Have a good one!

 

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Fibromyalgia Sucks!

I know I’m being a bit rude – but Fibromyalgia really does suck!

I hurt – all the time.  Some times I really really really hurt. Other times I just really hurt. My head hurts, my hip hurts, my left bum hurts, my legs hurt, my shoulders and neck hurts, my jaw hurts – did I leave anything out?  I get really exhausted when I exercise…and then I hurt some more…..so I don’t exercise.  I rattle like a pill jar.  I’m pretty sure my pharmacist thinks I have a secret drug lab hidden in my kitchen due to the copious amounts of painkillers I buy with codeine in them.  Trust me….I don’t waste these pills by boiling them up in test tubes in my secret drug lab!  If, in fact, that is what you actually do in secret drug labs  (I think I’m showing my complete lack of knowledge of such affairs in this last statement….).

And I can’t remember where I put my sketch pad where I drew up plans for these really awesome beads and bracelets.  Stoopid memory.  Stoopid lack of memory.

And it’s hot.  And humid.

And there’s probably another cyclone coming.  Like our northern cousins need more rain.  Heaps of them still don’t have roofs from the battering Cyclone Yasi gave them last month. Hopefully it will just go away.

And my clothes have shrunk.  Or somebody has snuck in to my wardrobe (snuck….is that really a word?  It doesn’t look right!) over the last few months and systematically replaced all of my clothes with ones that are a size smaller. Now you know what that means, don’t you?  Clothes shopping!  Those who know me, know just how much I ADORE clothes shopping!  NOT!!! I would much rather pluck my nose hairs out whilst hanging upside down in the mango tree with the squabbling  bats!  Anyway….my loathing of clothes shopping is a story for another time….lol

Bah humbug.

Right!  You’ve had a little whinge. Time to stop indulging in this “poor me” type of stuff.

Get over it, Dufus.

Ok.

I’m done.  Now counting all the wonderful blessings I have in my life!

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And a few more beads….

Just a couple more listings to end the day.  There’s still lots more to come and I’ll be continuing to take photos over the coming days, weeks etc with the help of my good old Mum – Go Mums!!  In the meantime, I hope you enjoy a little bit of eye candy…. As usual, if you find that you can’t live without them – you can find them on my Website, Etsy or Artfire (click on the links on the right).

"River of Blue"

"Royalty"

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New Beads!!! (Don’t Fall Over!)

I know – it’s been a while……sorry about that!  Had lots of stuff to sort out over the last few months.  Anyway…..here’s a few new goodies for you to feast your eyes on.  You can find them on my website or Etsy….Enjoy!

"Chai"

"Pretty Baby"

"Meandering"

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March!! What?? Already??????

Can’t be!  Not March already!!  What is happening to the year?  Going too fast, I say.  I see more grey hairs every day – lucky I’m blonde and no-one else can see them hey!

My Nana used to say that when you’re young you can’t wait to be older, then when you’re older, you wish you were young again.  No truer words were spoken.  My son – who for the record – now towers over me by a good 6 inches (14 yrs old, size 11 shoe, 12 kilos wringing wet – well maybe slightly heavier than 12 kilos he he) – keeps saying “I can’t wait for…..(blah, blah, such & such)” and I tell him not to keep wishing his life away!  Now, how’s that for my Mum talking!  I can clearly remember her saying that to us kids and now here I am saying it to mine!  Seems like the same old stuff just keeps on getting said to each generation.

Anyway not too much to bliggity-blog about – except it’s MARCH! Already!  And that I’m going to ANASTASIA’S class in Brisbane in May!!  YAY!!!  Check out some of her stuff here:   http://www.anastasiabeads.com/beads.htm  Just cut and paste into your browser).  This is what I will be learning – well not all of it….  It will be totally awesome!  And I get to “play” with fab glass artists too.  The best bit is that you can talk about glass and beads and lampworking until you’re all blue in the face and about to explode and nobody gets tired of it!  Unlike certain people around here that get that faraway “I’m-not-really-listening-anymore-‘cos-it’s-not-my-pet-thing-and-you’ve-been-talking-non-stop-for-like-hours-and-can-we-please-talk-about-something-else-now-and-Beige……I-think-I’ll-paint-the-ceiling-beige” look in their eyes (but you know they still love you anyway!).  Anyway….that’s a couple of months away yet – although, the way the year is flashing by, before I know it –  I will be telling you guys all about how amazing it was!

More news – I have taken most of my stuff off  Etsy and Artfire for the moment.  I am in the process of taking photos of new beads and marking down the older ones ready for a fresh new start. Also – NEWSFLASH!! – I am reducing shipping costs so that it will be cheaper for anyone wanting to purchase beads. So keep checking back as there will be new stuff often!

On a sadder and more sombre note:-  my prayers and sincere condolences go out to all those affected by the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand.  It has been heartbreaking to watch the suffering, devastating and loss of life on the telly – I can only imagine the terror you all felt when the quake hit.  It has also been heartwarming to see you all pull together as a community – rescuer’s putting other people’s welfare ahead of their own safety, people helping complete strangers in their hour of need.  Now the re-building of lives, buildings, businesses, livelihoods etc begins…..

That’s it from me – best I be going to edit all these pics and get busy listing!  Have a good one!

Cheers

Sandy

 

 

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