I joined Toastmasters to improve my speech making, and was scheduled to make my first speech last week.

What a drama for me. I had written my speech and re-typed it several times to fit in with the time I was allocated 5 - 7 minutes.

I spoke about my early life and how it happened that I had entered for the Miss Universe Contest which took place in Johannesburg, but had to have a Miss Salisbury entry.
My speech went ok, but due to my worrying about not forgetting my words, I did not take advantage of any dramatics,

In the Evaluator's report I got the message and will do better for my next speech, hopefully in early December.

Now I am getting ready for the Christmas markets, assembling my necklaces.
I love making the beads but when it comes to assembling them, it is another story.
I have to be more creative than the last one, and I pore over all my books to find that special accent I need to make my necklaces stand out.
I took part in the Wearable Art Exhibition in down town Cape Town, and I think I achieved my aim of making some dramatic necklaces.
I learnt a lot from my time in Murano, which is a permanent exhibition of so many styles.

I am hoping to join my family in Natal for a few days over Christmas, which will be like a short holiday for me, not sitting at my torch!

I regret not taking time out to keep my blog going, but due to various breaks due to tours, hospitalisation and recovery time, I did not have energy to get back to completing my blog entries.

Now I feel energised to keep this going.

While recuperating, my daughter visited & kept me on the go, we also drove up to Darling where we enjoyed the flowers and visited old friends. My daughter who loves using her camera, took many beautiful pictures of the flowers, while I enjoyed the sun.
I was keen to visit Hilda's Kitchen next to Groote Post where we had an enjoyable chat with the Taste Manager at the cellars. I really enjoyed the Chardonay wines and I intend to get back to Darling to visit The Marmalade Cat Shop.
I also want to visit the Kitchens at Groote Post.

I had to spend my time creating and assembling my entries for the Wearable Art Exhibition at the `Edge Glass Gallery in Long Street. This exhibition is showing an amazing selection of necklaces with the WOW feeling.

I am now getting ready for the Country Craft Market in Southey Vines on 29 th October.

I regret not taking time out to keep my blog going, but due to various breaks due to tours, hospitalisation and recovery time, I did not have energy to get back to completing my blog entries.

Now I feel energised to keep this going.

While recuperating, my daughter visited & kept me on the go, we also drove up to Darling where we enjoyed the flowers and visited old friends. My daughter who loves using her camera, took many beautiful pictures of the flowers, while I enjoyed the sun.
I was keen to visit Hilda's Kitchen next to Groote Post where we had an enjoyable chat with the Taste Manager at the cellars. I really enjoyed the Chardonay wines and I intend to get back to Darling to visit The Marmalade Cat Shop.
I also want to visit the Kitchens at Groote Post.

I had to spend my time creating and assembling my entries for the Wearable Art Exhibition at the `Edge Glass Gallery in Long Street. This exhibition is showing an amazing selection of necklaces with the WOW feeling.

I am now getting ready for the Country Craft Market in Southey Vines on 29 th October.

I was looking forward to my trip to San Antonio, ,as I had been there 4 years previously, and I liked the people at the studio where I was having my tuition.

The class I was having was Cold Connections and PMC which is short for precious metal clay.

My tutor was Liza who was patience itself. She had such a calm way about her and managed to get the best out of me. We made some rings and bead caps. The bead caps were made by pressing the soft "clay" into a textured sheet, and then cutting out the little circles with the impression on. We managed to make quite a few (will add the pictures later) and then we fired the whole lot overnight, although with pmc one can use a small hand torch.

The cold connections were a different story, one gathers various bits & pieces where you use rivets to hold the item to the main plaque. Liza has a enormous box full of tiny objects, which she used to assemble a pendant.She used a copper base and added the objects in a presentable fashion. I will eventually make my own piece one of these days.

In the meantime, I am busy assembling necklaces with the WOW effect.

My next port of call was Austin which is an hour or so by car from San Antonio. Liza kindly drove me over to my next hotel, which was called Habitat Suites.

I enjoyed that hotel which consisted of individual "flats" with a lounge, kitchen with fridge, stove, microwave, very convenient.

My class was with Melanie Moertel who makes the most delightful pictures on her beads.
Will continue next session.The session was at Blue Moon Studios.

I was really looking forward to my class with Sabina, her class was held in this glassblowing studio, so I was able to watch the glassblowing as wll.

Well Sabina arrived and we went into the store-room to gather the colours of borosilicate glass. I wanted a pink and blue, and also a few other mix of colours.

The main glass was clear - the rod being 15mm thick. That rod has to be melted at the tip to make a maria which is like a pancake. I dotted my colours and then they had to be manoeuvred with the heat and then covered with the clear. I know it sounds simple but it takes time, the glass rod has to be held in different positions in the heat. I made three different colours.

I had two days with Sabina wish I could have had more. She had to move on to other duties.

I had two more days in Seattle where I wandered around to different interesting spots.

I then flew down to North Carolina to Raleigh. My town was called Fuquay Varina one of those Southern towns that had quite a history, but it had faded with time.

My hostess had a studio in her home, so I was right on the spot. I spent four days with her.
I had a chance to meet her in-laws who were Mexican - a delightful family who were
celebrating a birthday.

Eventually it was time for me to fly to my next stop which was San Antonio.

When I got to Seattle after flying via Amsterdam/Rekjavik/Seattle - I got myself settled in the hotel and contacted my hostess. She that is Corina eventually came to pick me up as I was going to stay ith her while I had my tuition. She is a vibrant busy lady who loves her dogs, she has this little chiwaha, who runs the house. There ae two other dogs, her favourite Scooter who is pictured in her book "Passing th Flame" and her house mate Sherri who has a big boxer dog.

So now you know the set-up where I was having my class. Corina is very detailed and one has to keep up with her as she is a good teacher. We did our practices daily and I went through all the different types of techniques I was keen on. Her frogs, here under-water scenes, using the murrini which I also learnt and a few other techniques. We had full days at the torch,but not all was hard labour!

She introduced me to this Japanese lunch place where myriads of dishes were laid out and one just helped oneself - sushi, salads, fried prawns you name it there it was. The place was always busy.

I then went back to Seattle downtown (Corina lived outside Seattle) where I spent time at the Pike Place market, a fabulous array of fruit, vegetables and fish. The lobsters were enormous, and the tuna !!!

Thee were also craft vendors which I thoroughly enjoyed, and of course I had a fabulous meal sitting upstairs overlooking the bay. I had two days wandering around there, and trying another restaurant, watching the short order cooks get their plates together in a short time, they rally worked fast!

My other class was with Sabina Boehm where I was introduced to her style of pendants. I will show them later.

I have just returned from my study travelling.
I started in Venice, staying in Murano, having participated in the lucia bubacco course.

I am afraid my sculptural prowess needs lots more practise. I did enjoy my walks around Murano and Venice, altho' the crowds were a bit daunting. We had to stay togethr aas a group, which prevented us from getting lost, although it was said, you just had to get to the canal and you would b able to get yourself home!

Getting myself around from vaporetto/train,/plane was quite tricky as there was this time frame, however I managed, except when I got on the Venice/Milan train although I had a First class ticket, I found myself in the second class carriage and sitting in someone elses seat. The gentleman had to go to my seat in First class as I was too ensconced in his seat!

Flying from Milan to Amsterdam was ok - had to wait a day for my next flight, so I took a bed in a hotel nearby.

My next flight was from Amsterdam to Iceland to get across the pond to get to Seattle. All went well, except I could not use the roaming on my cellphone, it stopped in Europe!
Will continue my USA travels in another chapter

I thought I would give you an idea where to look for my beads other than in my studio.

I have quite a stock at Cape Gallery Church Street, Cape Town
Lindy Van Niekerk Gallery in the Tyger Valley Centre
I have a few pieces at Dante Art Gallery in the Waterstone Shopping Centre in Somerset West
I also have some plates of fused glass pieces at Teresa Rabie's Gallery in Stellenbosch Church St.

I also have a few pieces at Art of Hand in Long Street - close by the Swimming Pool.
I like to have my work all around - it is like spreading a little bit of lightness.

I am passionate about my work and am always learning new techniques. and with that in mind I am off to Murano to take classes with Lucio Bubacco.

I hesitate to go into my studio as it is so hot, but somehow I manage to create some glass work
.I love to work on the borosilicate glass as it is so different from the soft glass. I am practising all the time, as it requires a slow process as boro takes a while to melt, not like the Italian glass. As they say practice makes perfect.

Making glass beads and pendants requires a lot of preparation, one has to get all the stringers, twisties and murrine ready, as when you are in the middle of making a bead, you cant stop i.e. when you are using soft Italian glass. When you are using boro you can put your mandrel down and pull a stringer, but I like to have everything ready before hand.

This morning I was making the chambered beads, which require a very slow twirling of the stringer on the bead, as it has to build up so that when melted it forms a definite design.
I do not practise that technique often enough to be absolutely assured but it always works out after the firing.

This morning, I sneezed and guess what my hand holding the mandrel twisted and I got a bit of a burn on my forefinger. What a shock, but fortunately I have all the medication on hand.

My it is already the 15th January and i have not done any entries.
I had hoped to play around with my glass over the holidays, but guess what, my kiln had a glitch and on top of that my propane petered out.

I had lots of other fiddly bits to keep me company, playing around with silver, as I want to incorporate more silver in my work.

I had plenty of markets to keep me busy - but now I am in a quiet place, gathering my thoughts and going over all my tutorials, to bone up on all the techniques I will be practising in this quiet time.

I was lucky my son was able to come down for a couple of days to check up on my kiln and sort out any other problems I had in the studio and house. I do need to have a handy man around, checking up on spent bulbs and installing energy efficient bulbs!

While on the market I see what the buying public go for and that is what I should promote.
Many customers ask to have my card to enable them to visit my studio which I rather like then they can browse to their hearts content.

I love chatting to different people and hear what they have to say re the market or they discuss having been to Venice etc.

I had a very interesting marketer next door to me and it was an eye opener as to what goes on in other peoples lives re making a living from selling at the various markets, and how every sale means so much to their lives.

I would love it if I could live on what I make but the competition is so great that one needs to be 5 steps ahead of any body else.

However at the moment I just love creating works which I hope will intrigue customers. My big new ideas at the moment are my icicles which I make from the borosilicate glass. See my flicker page.

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This time of the year there are many markets.

I together with another bead-maker are on the Festive Fair at Hathersage Farm in Gordon Rd. It is a four day affair, and it is huge.

There will be numerous craft makers and many who are drawn to this market as its setting is so beautiful. It is on a Fruit and Vine Estate in the heart of Somerset West.

I have been very busy these past few weeks improving my content. I even went on a Costing & Pricing Workshop where i realised I was grossly under charging myself and my work.

As I use both Italian Glass and Borosilicate glass which have to be imported there is that added tag, but these glasses are most beautiful. I enjoy the challenge of increasing my standard all the time. As they say "Practice makes Perfect".

So I expect you all out there, but of course that is not the only market I am due to be on.

I also go on the Country Craft Market in Main Rd Somerset West at the Southey Park. I will be there on the 4 & 18 Dec.

I have at last had time to add to my blog. With the very sad news of my husband passing away, I am now slowly getting back to a normal routine.

Having had my family with me has been a great help, although there has been a lot of "bossing" I guess in my present state I I do need something like that.

I have not been near my studio and I am really missing my torch, I will be glad to get back there.

Another set of encased florals.
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I made every flower on this roundel which hangs on the wall.

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These beads are called encased florals because I have encased flowers
under layers of glass.
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I composed this glass platter using what I call twisties and murrini
to decorate the glass platter.
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I used mashed up glass which is called frit to make up this picture.
It is in a steel frame to hang up.
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