Adventures in Beadland
with
Java Joanie |
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The adventure
started calmly enough, with Joanie coming to my studio over Memorial
Day weekend, to learn how to make beads. Joanie is a nurse, and
mother of 3+, so I figured she'd be ready for just about anything,
and probably a good person to have around, in case of an emergency.
I knew from the emails we exchanged that she had a great sense
of humor. Little did I know what was in store for me, that fateful
weekend.......
Our first
domestic crisis occurred Saturday morning, when I had to inform
Joanie that my coffe maker had bit the dust. (He's dead, Jim.)
With a bleary eyed glare, Joanie had but two words to say:
Starbucks. NOW.
Seems she
suffers from migraines, and actually NEEDS coffee in the morning.
Who knew?
(At least that's the story I got. )
That disaster
averted, our next crisis was of an actual medical nature, when
Joanie impaled her hand on a stringer (we're thinking that second
Grande' Cappachino was probably a bad idea.... ) and I had to
apply emergency Bandaid therapy.
Fortunately, the patient survived, and went on to make some beautiful
beads:
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Clockwise, from top left:
Frit bead, encased in clear, with three petal flower and green
stringer stem
Beads demonstrating stringer
control, sometimes known as
"wonky nipple beads"
Black core, with dichro overlay, encased in clear
Heart bead with white base,
encased in amethyst, two amethyst spacers
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Adventures
in Beadland - Part Two
So, things
went along exceedingly well after that, except for the frequency
of potty breaks, necessitated by the misuse of the medicinal
(and the second "recreational") caffeine fix. After
the little stringer stigmata incident, I figured we were in the
clear, medically speaking.
Joanie
did manage to sneak out onto the deck everytime I wasn't looking
for a SUNSHINE break. (She's from Michigan. Need I say more ?
She's looking forward to the two weeks of summer they get almost
every July.) During one of the sunshine breaks, she even uprooted
some of the plants in my garden (on purpose, actually - she's
handy, that way) and repotted them for me.
(Yes, I've
been watering them, Joanie. At least I think I did... Once this
week anyhow. They're fine..... Brown is a good color for a plant
- matches the decking.)
Every chance
we got, especially after the sun went down and I could drag her
back inside, we made Beads: Look !! More BEADS !!
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More Beads:
Center Bead: Amethyst with goldstone chips encased
Other beads demonstrating dots (with and without caffeine), raking,
encasing, swirling and tweezer technique, color overlay,
and Sharon Peter's patented
"Ohshitflatfish" technique.
(For those beads that seem to have gone horribly wrong, but still
have some life in them yet.....)
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And now,
for a Joanie Break; See the New Beadmaker In Action: |
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Java Joanie
Learns The
"Proper Way" To Dip Mandrels
(The proper way being the way
I say to do it!) |
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Nurse Joanie ! Code Blue ! Stat !
I had to convince her it's a Mandrel,
not a thermometer!! |
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Here's Joanie
at the torch, practicing safe beadmaking, wearing her safety
lenses, and pointing the glass rod AWAY from the teacher, just
in case of thermal shock !
(I was running low on band-aids... ) |
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Joanie making a bead, using gravity to help shape
it, becoming one with the bead (but trying to keep her fingers
out of the flame!) |
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Adventures
in Beadland - Part Three:
Being from
Michigan, Joanie was on the look-out for crab cake, something
she'd never tried before. So, on Sunday evening, we felt it was
our patriotic duty to take her to Captain George's All You Can
Eat Seafood Buffet. Let me just state for the record that they
made no money on us. We stuffed ourselves silly, causing no problems
for my husband or myself, being seasoned pros at the All-You-Can-Eat
places. However, poor Joanie, being a diminuitive Five Foot One
AND A HALF, quite suddenly realized that she had run out of room
between her rib cage and her pelvic bone.
She went from closing her eyes in ecstasy to grimmacing in pain.
Oh No ! Another medical emergency !
I suggested calling for the Jaws of Life to pry her stomach open,
but she said to stop making her laugh, and she'd probably be
okay. We rolled her out to the car and headed for home.
People were starting to stare.
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Here's
Joanie, making lunch for us.
Okay,
Sure, I promise LUNCH with class, but I NEVER actually say that
I'M going to make it, now, do I ?
(Always
be sure to read the fine print!)
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So, that's
it for Adventures in Beadland with Java Joanie.
And a wonderful
time was had by all !
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