lo and behold

I can’t believe I forgot to include this bit of news in my Report Card: May:  lo and behold on Artfire is now open! 

Isabel took my new camera and did a beautiful job photographing my bracelets, so they are now available for online sale.  I will be adding my glass items soon.   Take a look:  www.lisaoram.artfire.com. 

And guess, what?  I have 500 bubble padded mailing envelopes to safely ship these beauties to new homes!  How’s that for optimism? 

I have lots more to list in the shop, but still, 500 mailers seems like a lifetime supply.  What do you think?  Prove me wrong! 

I am not going to do an in-depth report card like I have for each month this year.  I am going to do a quick review of the month, and the “semester,” and then “my personal fake grad school” is going on summer vacation.  Which is not to say that I will not continue learning or growing in my artist-identity, or that I am going to stop blogging, but that the pace is going to change -  because that’s what summers are for. 

And I feel it, anyway. It has already happened. My stance relative to the project has shifted.  And I cannot (nor do I want to) fight against the movement.

When I started this idea in January, I felt like the blog and the prospect of “being in school” would push me, keep me accountable.  And it did.  I pushed hard.  I kept the belief that I had to move forward on many fronts:  reading, writing, thinking, meeting people, almost elbowing myself into a community and into way of life. It’s a hard thing that I am trying to do, and it would be easy to stop and stall,  or tiptoe and retreat, or to try and then run away scared. But I did not – and do not – want to treat my transformation timidly.  I am nearly fifty years old.  I don’t have the time to be anything but serious.  

So, I traveled to Austin, TX in April and to Millville, NJ in May to take what for me felt like “master” glass classes.  I spent serious time and money absorbing what I could from great teachers.  And now that I have had a big dose infusion of other people’s greatness, it is time for me to incubate.  I need some quiet time with my self and with my “new flame” as Steve calls the torch.  I have been very true to my hour-a-day regimen and it feels great.  But instead of pushing, my job now is being open and receive what the glass has to offer me. 

The one push I need to still focus on is getting my torch set up in a studio that does not need to shut down when the New England winter rolls in.  I have done some preliminary thinking about how to safely set up in a finished room that already exists in my basement, and when I came home from Millville, I thought I had the answer: natural gas and an oxygen generator. It’s a true basement – no windows. At all. But still, it’s a large room, and I began to imagine what color I would paint the walls, and how we could improve the lighting, and what kind of shelving I’d like. . . I was feeling excited about it.

And then, in the last week, the universe delivered me two options for studios outside my home in shared space with other artists.  One is about 10 minutes away in the next town over, and one is literally about a mile away.  Both have pros and cons, and on one of the spaces, I will have to make a decision in the next week.  Each has a story that I will share soon;  for the moment, I am trying to be open and discern what I am meant to do. 

June is a transition month: the kids finish school.  It’s my birthday.  Some years, including this year, we take a vacation at the end of June to sort of launch the summer. 

July and August are going to be about my physical space here at home. The traveling is done, including that I cancelled my registration to The Gathering.  I will feel a longing, I know, when it is going on without me, but I also know it’s the right thing for now.  By September, I will have the room of my own that I have been waiting for and longing for.  Not shared with Steve.  Not the guest room. 

And then, I think another burst of energy will come with September.  And what – I’ll be a sophomore?  A senior?  LOL! 

I live in a college town and today was the last day of classes. Finals coming up for the students, but not for me!  No exams in my personal fake graduate school. 

Classes:

• Three days in Austin, TX for classes with Jill Symons and Heather Trimlett.  Wrote about it here, here and here.   Felt very welcomed by Jim and Rose of Blue Moon Glassworks.  Enjoyed the social and the solitude.  Definitely worth going. 
• Had more than a few “ahah” moments at the torch in Austin, many of which I felt impacting me immediately when I started working again at home.   Will detail this in another post. 
• Also, visited Nancy Tobey at Snow Farm and got re-inspired to take a class there in the fall.  (Plus, Nancy said she likes my blog and that was a big smile for me.  Hi Nancy!)
• Next:  I am taking a weekend class with Kristina Logan in May.
• Next:  Will continue to keep my eye open for classes with bead makers I admire. I would like to take at least one “travel class” a year.  Maybe Bead and Button next year? 
• Next:  Will also look for teaching studios in a wider driving distance. Recently discovered some interesting classes in Rochester, NY. Need to look into Boston, Worcester, CT, NYC, DC. 
• Next:  I am re-thinking the Gathering in July.  Maybe TX and NJ are enough and I could add Snow Farm. The Gathering is very expensive and long and it may be a better use of my energy to keep up steady practice on my torch and focus on getting my indoor studio set up before the fall. Plus, my mother is having surgery at the end of June and I may want to travel to Michigan to see her. 

Reading:

• Caught up on my magazine reading while on the plane to Austin: Jewelry Artist, Step-by-Step Wire, The Flow.
• Next:  Not sure.  I felt like reading was really important in the winter when I couldn’t torch.  But now that I can, I think doing is more important. 

Blogging:

• 15 posts in April.  Down from March, but still in my zone
• Learned to post from my iPhone!
• Got a new camera.  Long needed.  Can take much better photos now with little additional effort.  At some point, I will actually learn something about taking photos and they will get better still. 
• Added my blog to the BlogHer network. 
• Discovered some more “midlife bloggers.”  Will write about them soon.
• Next: My 100th post is coming up.  I think this one is number 95.  Want to mark this in some way.
• Next:  Stop writing report cards. It’s feeling tedious for me - which means it probably even more tedious to read it. 

Studio:

• Spoke with building commissioner of my town. More food for thought about how to proceed.
• Met someone in Austin who powers her torch with natural gas and an oxygen concentrator in a spare bedroom of her house.  Suddenly, that sounded very safe and comfortable and maybe like the answer to having the studio in an already finished but unused room of our basement (used to be an office that Steve and I shared). 
• Next:  Do some more computer research into oxygen concentrators and maybe look at some at Carlisle . It would be so great to find one there and drive it back in my car.  I assume the class will also use Mini CCs which will be the first time I’ve used something different than a Minor Burner.  One of the best reasons to go to the Gathering is to check out the technical vendor display. But we’ll see. 

Making:

• Heather said “A bead a day" and that’s what I’m doing.  Well, actually it’s more like an hour a day which includes 3 mini spacers for a warm up, and then usually two or three other beads. Where I used to think I worked best if I had at least a three hour block of time, I am rather liking this daily dose of glassy love. 
• Next:  Torch as much as I can.  Go where it takes me.  This is the most important thing and what I most want to do. I may stop writing altogether and post just big photos of what I make every day. 

Professional/Networking:

• Am making local connections through a group called Artisans of Western Mass. Went to one meeting. Will get myself on their website soon. 
• I had hoped to set up my Artfire store and do some selling for the Mother’s Day/Graduation gift season, but I couldn’t do it without a better camera.  I have now taken photos to list ten items and I hope to get them up by end of May.  
• Next: Going to a <free> workshop tomorrow about business and marketing for artists. 

I just realized that in My Own Personal Fake Graduate School, I forgot to plan vacations.  No spring break coming up?!?  No intersession between semesters?!?  I am going to need to talk with the Registrar or a Dean and get that changed.  I’m getting a little burned out – or maybe it’s because I’m writing this just before bedtime.

Classes:

• Registered for Marbles, Buttons, and Beads with Heather Trimlett at Blue Moon Glassworks in Austin, TX.  Marble class got cancelled b/c not enough enrollees.  Negotiated a day-long private class with Jill Symons instead.  So, three days of glass class coming up in April. 
• The decisions and planning and emotion around the class in Austin was so huge, it’s worth at least two bullet points. 
• Next:  I am taking a weekend class with Kristina Logan in May. I cannot imagine better preparation (Heather, Jill, Kristina) for a summer of torching.  

Reading:

• Read Blogging for Bliss and discussed it here. 
• Bought a copy of Totally Twisted.
• Next:  not sure yet.  I may go back to some of my old books like Passing the Flame to study technique.

Blogging:

• 13 posts in January, 14 posts in February, and a whopping 23 posts on March! 
• Updated my About page with a photo. Still there is a second photo I want to add.
• Next: get a new camera.  Even if it’s just another point-and-shoot.  A point and shoot is bad enough to begin with, but a broken point and shoot is just out of the question.  And constantly borrowing the camera we bought my daughter for her birthday just isn’t fair. 

Studio:

• Finally:  met with Jim, our beloved contractor and carpenter. Discussed two options:  1) moving the studio into a finished room in our basement, or 2) building a shed out back. 
• Next:  Talk to some folks in Amherst government about permits and regs relating to business space in my home.  Continue to learn about venting and torch.  Look into oxygen concentrators when I am in Austin and at Carlisle.   

Making:

• Made necklace.  New original design.  Great experience.  Very happy with resulting product. 
• Got Isabel to string a bunch of beads for bracelets so I have lots of portable projects for the plane ride to Austin (see classes above)
• Got back behind the torch for the first time since November.  Spent a few afternoons at Open Studio at Snow Farm.  Cranked up the torch in my garage.  Ran the kiln a few times.  Feels great to be back on the horse. 

• Made great progress on the elusive sphere that I long for – the marble mold!  
• Next:  Torch as much as I can.  Go where it takes me.  Be present and work hard in my classes. 

Professional/Networking:

• Finally joined the International Society of Glass Beadmakers (IGSB). 
• Registered for the IGSB Gathering in Rochester, NY in July.  I’ll be there for about four days.  I’m a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing, but what the heck.  Jumpin’ in with both feet. 
• Joined a local newly-formed group called Artisans of Western Massachusetts. Will go to my first meeting in April. 
• Got my Facebook profile updated and added Friends.  Started to use the site regularly.  Jury is still out on whether I think it’s a good thing.  But it has been fun.
• First time – I entered a contest!  Art Bead Scene Color Challenge.  They also have challenges every month, so maybe I will do another one.  Or maybe I will next send something to a publication. 
• I had hoped to set up my Artfire store and do some selling for the Mother’s Day/Graduation gift season. I know it’s a good idea, but I could not do it.  Not without a more functional camera.  I feel bad about this because I really wanted to do it.  Perhaps I can open in September for the holiday season.
• Next:  My focus is going to change over the next two months.  I am moving from winter to spring work mode which means more time at the torch, less time at the bead table.  More hands-on time, less time in books and on the computer.  I am ready to turn myself away from the hard push of self-propulsion I’ve been on for the past three months, and move toward being more open, more receiving of what I can absorb from other <real> people rather than just what I make for myself.  I feel like I can slow down a little and breathe.  It feels welcome to place myself in others’ hands for a while.  My Own Personal Fake Graduate School becomes My Own Personal Real Graduate School for just a little bit.

Health:

• I am pretty much sustaining morning water ritual.
• I am exercising moderately 2 – 3 times a week.
• Experimented with getting up early to write and exercise.  Worked OK, but I am not committed to it right now. 
• Next:  Get back to taking notes in Health Journal.

Hmmm, let’s see – the shortest month:  what did I do with it?

Blogging:  14 posts, which is one more than last month, even though I was on vacation for a week.  Completed my participation in a blog party with 80+ other people.  Installed Feedburner plugin, which was surprisingly not simple.  Sponsored a giveaway on my blog! Acquired some new blogs to follow, which I am very much enjoying. 

Studio:  I have not been able to torch in my New England garage studio since early November.  I am seriously, seriously craving some melted glass.  I did not call the contractor this month as I had hoped to, but I have done new research on ventilation, basements, sheds, and more.  I intend to call him this week.  I do not want to spend another winter without a torch. 

Reading: Read Blogging for Bliss by Tara Fey, which I will write about soon.  Also, I have an assignment from this lovely post by The Rabbit Muse (one of those new blogs mentioned above) in which she says,

“When I look to jewelry makers who inspire me, who make me want to be a better maker myself, I look to the modernist jewelry makers of the last mid-century. There are too many to name here but you would be doing yourself a huge favor by picking up a few copies of Marbeth Schon’s books Modernist Jewelry 1930-1960 and Form and Function: American Modernist Jewelry 1940-1970. These books will make your brain explode. In a good way.”

Making: Finished a bead crochet necklace which has been lingering a long time. I intended to enter it into a contest, but in the end, I realized that it did not qualify.  I have also been working vigorously on stringing and making bead crochet bracelets.  I have in mind to do a special one month sale before Mother’s Day in my (currently dormant) Artfire shop.

Health:  Met my goal of exercising once each weekend and once during the week.  Also, based on another stellar recommendation from Christine Kane, I’ve begun the practice of keeping a pitcher of water in my bathroom and drinking several cups of water first thing in the morning after I get out of bed (and pee.) Here’s what Christine Kane said that inspired me:

One of the best ways to generate great results is to create a morning ritual. A powerful morning ritual sets the tone for your entire day - and your entire year!

She goes on to give many different ideas about how to create a morning ritual that is physically, mentally, and spiritually healthy.  I adopted just one of her ideas: 

Hydrate First
Many Eastern health practitioners recommend chugging down at least a half-liter of filtered room-temperature water first thing. (Yes, before your coffee!)
Upon waking, your body has spent hours without hydration. Drinking pure water at this time triggers a series of physiological functions that keep your body super healthy. Some report that this one practice can actually heal many diseases. (I’m not a scientist – but I can attest to the amazing results!)

I’ve also started drinking water just before I go to sleep.  Together, I think this practice helps me wake up more easily and I have more energy throughout the day.  Drinking enough water has been a struggle my whole adult life, and I’ve tried to fix it many ways and many times.  Now, something feels quite different about starting my day in quiet and private, standing still, looking out the window, and drinking water.  I feel silly to admit this, but I feel like I’m watering plant deep inside me.  And she really needs it, so it feels good.   

So, grade for the month:  I am giving myself an A!  Job well done, Lisa!   I did not do all that I intended, but I did some things that I had not intended. So, on balance, all good. 

For March:

• taxes – yuck!
• planning kids’ camps and summer vacation
• blog:  update my links page, add photos to my About page, sponsor another giveaway.
• new learning:  i think I am going to fly to Austin, TX in April for a 3-day glass class with Heather Trimlett.  That’s all I can say right now: I feel over-the-top excited, and a bit like a madwoman. I will be making decisions and plans in March.
• new connections:  get my Facebook stuff in order, join the Artisans of Western MA group, join IGSB
• make progress on my studio.  don’t know what that means, but I will be in a different place than I am now by the end of the month.
• hope and wish and cross my fingers that the temps get close to 60, even for just one day, please, please, pretty please, so I can melt glass, just one day, and I will feel so much better, sigh of relief, so. much. better. i need to melt glass.

My kids got their report cards last week, and since I’m in art school, I’m going to get report cards, too. 

Blogging:  13 posts, participation in a blog party with 80 other people = A+

Studio:  acquisition of new tools and a used RedMax torch by Nortel  =  A

Reading:  Torchworked Marbles, Step-by-Step Wire, Jewelry Artist = A

Making: finished a bead crochet necklace, worked on and then gave up a knitted sweater that was torturing me = B

Health:  kept a journal of healthy behaviors, bought and took vitamins= A

I have a bunch of posts coming to elaborate on some of these accomplishments.  Stay tuned to see my torch and hear about an excellent article I recently read.

Goals for Feb: 

• Get my blog on the latest Wordpress platform, continue posting
• consult with contractor re studio
• make piece for blog party, string bead crochet for trip in Feb
• enter a jewelry contest or submit to a magazine
• exercise once each weekend, once during the week

Note to file:

• next year:  attend at least two major marketplace shows i.e. Tucson, Bead and Button, ACC