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I sent this out to some of you yesterday, but wanted to post it here as well. Everyday, I pass the Mexican Petunia plant and marvel at its ability to bring forth numerous fresh blooms each day - all of which fall off that same day... Then there was the added bonus of the biggest and most colorful butterfly diving into the blooms - AND THEN... the bewildered look on Charlie's face as he stood there with his tennis ball in his mouth... LOVE it.
I feel, at times, like I've not lived even a smidgen of what is out there! My honey took me out to CA for a long weekend & while I'm normally an incurable shutterbug, this time, I was unstoppable! There were so many plants and flowers that we just don't see here in Texas - and everything just grew with such abandon - I was in awe.
Hibiscus trees? I thought I was doing well to fill a half barrel with one here - and really have to baby it.
Trees so big I almost fell backwards looking towards the top... and cactus gardens that flowered so beautifully... The joy in the landcaping transferred to the joy in life... Creamsicle colored bicycles and Bird of Paradise that would dwarf my house?! REEEALLY??
I loved the color combos - and dreamy creamy corals & pinks....
These cruizer bikes were like old restored cars... of a bygone era - the pink & black one had black/white dotted dice on the valve stem covers! Later I saw them for sale - upwards of 1k each... crazy!
Trees had serial numbers - they were registered... as in historic and been there forever...
And this tree was the most magnificent of all - with what seemed like bouquets of orange blossoms in a ring that faced upwards - in this amazing blaze of color... I wish I'd been able to look down on it from the air!
Yes, unfortunately there ARE limitations... for me it's usually the fact that the nicest colors are often very dark - and if light cannot pass through the glass - the color is locked inside. So - how to thin the glass to allow the light...
Over the years lampworkers have been able to work with glass from Italy, Germany, The Czewch Republic, China, Japan AND the US (to name a few)... that being said, we know that not all of the glass plays nicely together... so - how can we allow the colors to work off each other - but leave the glass in its purest form.
Just this. Separates. Keep in mind also - that molten glass just naturally wants to be R.O.U.N.D the tiles, Freefall and the Matchsticks are all hand shaped, painstakingly reshaped...
Sometimes we are also looking for that in-between color... you know, maybe not quite amethyst, but not really lavender... so then the thinness of two colors is important when it comes to veiling or draping one over the other... to allow the light to flow through.
My eyes are always searching for the possibility of new shapes, then how to use them effectively in finished jewelry. I could barely keep my hands off of the new Matchsticks up at the top and the great chunky tabs... seemed I worked with an end idea in mind, but I'll keep my idea under wraps until I see what YOU do! smiles, Jill
I spend a great deal of time listening to talk radio... my ears are always tuned in for the true meaning of what's being said AND just two weeks ago, my mother complimented me on my writing here... (smiling) - so I must be doing something right!
That being said, how is it that I can pour out what I mean to say here and get my message across - yet fall so easily in toneless texting?
When I'm out, I see people everywhere tuned in (or is it out?) to their phones, robotically texting as they navigate our world... how many of those texts sent say exactly what the sender intended?
Personally - I MISS talking, looking into someone's eyes, knowing that I have their full attention and I am conveying exactly what I mean... without emoticons. not smiling, Jill
...as you may have heard, we managed to wish the rains away - I think I personally sent June's torrential rains to California... and it's been a pretty dry and brutal July so far. We are into that period of summertime when the weather channel is just a repeat of "sunny and hot" and we have entered that routine of 100 degree days. OH well...
BUT - did I tell you about how nice the evenings are??
There's a deck out back and the house sits high in the neighborhood... so the winds blow across the deck and through the trees. One tree in particular has my attention. It's this pretty live oak tree that bends ever so obligingly over my deck... I added some lights to it early June - so now in the evenings for a few hours, the lights dance as the tree sways in the breeze - I love the visual. When I sit out there and enjoy the peaceful evenings - Life is SURELY good.
Last year I finally got the elevated bed in the retaining wall under control... I planted those black eyed Susans... their presence last year was meager... but they're the star of the show this year. I love that from sitting on the deck I can enjoy the view of the flowers over there. Most of what I planted is draught resistant and a perennial - so, it's nice to add to it, knowing they'll be back, even stronger next year.
I confess - I've never lived anywhere long enough to enjoy watching a tree grow... but when we moved in July of 09, my son Andrew gave me a little stick of a 'survivor' from Glassdaddy's compost pile - it was a peach tree. Hard to believe it's almost 15' tall now - I don't care if it ever produces peaches - it's just nice to watch it grow. Actually, it's been nice watching everything grow - including my youngest son. He announced yesterday that he leaves for college in eighteen days... I didn't know he was on the count down... : (
It's all good, it just seems life speeds up as you age.
smiles, Jill
After this trip to NYC, I'm going to have to shelve my normal mantra - Less is More. At least for awhile. In a bygone era, where it wasn't all about just getting the building up - and having additional vertical real estate - there was amazing craftsmanship. I am tickled to see ironwork that looks much like my scrollwork on my beads... how satisfying it must've been to finish a project like this and stand back to admire it!
In different cities I've also noted that keen detail is often crafted into the surrounds for trees on any given sidewalk... whodathunk... but I'm loving it. They SHOULD be celebrated!
These fire escapes in Little Italy were superb and added a lacy effect to even the shadows thrown by them onto the buildings. I wonder if living amid this day in and day out - one takes it all for granted... As an outsider and an infrequent visitor - I must say that I certainly took note!
smiles and swirls, Jill
Sometimes repetition is therapy. Sometimes it's just a placeholder while waiting for something to happen... in itself, it was sheer beauty. There are 63 disks here in this piece and when I hold it in my hand, I swear I can hear it's heartbeat! They are graduated disks and spaced with tiny little perfect Japanese beads with square edges... The disks stand up because there are so many so close together.
Of course, I'd love to say that I got it out of my system, but you know me better than that! LOL - smiles, Jill
This regal pile represents many separate torch sessions and my tenacious efforts to accumulate a truly decadent pile of this glass 'lust'. I think I did it! While the theme here is silvered glass, the 'star' is Pandora. The first time I bought it, from Moretti & More, Bill Thornton told me that it likes to sit in a hot kiln forever and the color will blossom... but what I find is that it does what it wants to, when it wants... and it sometimes does it quite beautifully! Maybe this rarity makes it one of those things I keep chasing after? I just don't know.
JillSymons.com
Face it, we all like to be successful. We like to make things that turn out as they're supposed to and like to manage to do it over and over with the same results... (no, that's not the definition of insanity...) But - some of the silvered glasses are finicky, this one in particular seems to tease and torment me repeatedly - and only gives an inch when it knows I'm about to send it to the 'do not use EVER AGAIN" pile.
Well, this week, it decided to play nicely... and I love the results. Let me introduce you to Pandora. I let her out of her box this week... again.
OMG - I think my house tilts to where my bead stash is... I make a ton of beads. I LOVE to torch. but, then again - you probably already knew that!!
My pal Catie came to visit about a month ago and decided that I had way too many beads and she was going to help de-stash my stash... I'm talking about maybe 200lbs of beads I'd accumulated in the 18+ years of torching... those that never quite found their way into a set. I am ever grateful for her efforts, but I confess - I'm at it again!!!
I was talking to my hair stylist the other day - and showed her a necklace I had just completed... (you wanna see it?) This is a little different than the ones I make most often on the cording - without silver or a clasp... but I enjoyed making the soldered silver rings and actually wiring this up. It's made from a set called Street Festival - inspired by my move back to Austin - and all the fun outdoor festivals that happen here. ...anyhow...
She asked me if making beads was tedious. What? I practically fell all over at that idea... I've been doing this upwards of 18.5 years now and I love every minute of creation. My 'commute' to my torch is about 30 steps and sometimes I just cannot get there fast enough! This also ties into a conversation I had yesterday with Jeremy Robinson about having extreme passion for what you do - and how if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life! Smiles all - Jill
PS - you've got to watch this, I'll bet you've never seen anything like this!!
“Extended Cut - Jeremy Robinson on Cyr Wheel” — At Tapestry Dance Studio in Austin - weekly Friday night acro jam.
Well, we prayed for rain - and for Texans - God listens! Thank you for checking on me, I am on high ground here - and my worst worry was whether the electricity would cut out and reset the kiln as it was cooling down. I was lucky, many others weren't. Some lost all, and some lost loved ones. I have snagged some pictures that were posted from around the area... as I didn't take any.
These are people who turned out to help foster animals until they could be reunited with their families. How wonderful - in the midst of all this craziness... imagine the terror the animals felt, it warms my heart to see this long line of people stepping up. : )
This one was out near Hutto - southeast of Austin..... look at that wall of water. This is just north of the area that was ravaged by wildfires a few years ago. The image below is of a stretch of I35 that I'd driven just hours before. Yes, I count my blessings & thanks for worrying about me - Jill
OK. so I've been making beads now for over 18 years... that means some of my earliest beads would be driving if they could! One would think inspiration would have gone out the window long ago - and I'm often asked "do you know what you'll be making when you start torching"...
The answer is a resounding "no". Sometimes I'm guided by weather, or thoughts - or even what I'm listening to. This week, as I sat - I wasn't particularly inspired - was "under the proverbial weather" - and was just there. I had decided then to just play with colors... In my stash of glass to find all those that would play nicely and make them in similar shapes (same shape, three sizes) thinking how nice a necklace they'd make.
Warm tones and cool tones.
As we all know, women love to wear black, and when you have pop of color like this necklace brings - it can just make an outfit. Here she is - modeling the warm and cool versions... I had thought I'd like the cool version - but seeing them on - I really LOVE the warm one!
You don't see more of these because, thankfully, I was sent an email asking about black & white beads - and therefore I had a target to aim towards. But - I might mention that I love this style necklace - and have been making them for a stash in my inventory... some solid, and some patterned... they're wonderful. Smiles, Jill
OK... so there were more... : )
