Dance of Love

...is the name of my latest offering on Just Beads. This month on Modern Savages our theme is Surrealism, so here is my response to Joan Miro's 'Ballerina II'. If you would like to read more about this theme and my inspiration, checkout my posts at Modern Savages.

Today I demonstrated at the Victorian Blacksmith Convention. I go every year. It's a great chance to show people lampworking - spread a little education and glass love. Every year I take a selection of jewellery, assuming Jane Public is more likely to want ready to wear. This year I was caught unawares, and as I rarely make jewellery anymore (as most of my beads sell online) I decided to take all my 'orphans' and see what happened. I also marked down all my jewellery (and mine is already a lot cheaper than similar work elsewhere) hoping to shift some stuff that I've had around for awhile. Wouldn't you know, I barely sold any jewellery, bargain or no (just 2 pendants), but the loose beads went like hotcakes. I'm not about to retire anytime soon, but it paid for the order of odd lot bullseye glass I made last week.

So, I'm a pretty happy camper at the moment. And I just heard that my beads just arrived at Lisa's - so I can schedule a bunch of new auctions for this week. So, stay tuned for a new direction from me - focal beads at auction (now that postal costs wont make them unattainable!)

Lights, Camera, Action!

The blog topic on Flaming Hot this week is about photographing beads for sale. I used to be a bit haphazard about the style of my bead photos, but after experimenting quite a bit over the years, I am now fairly consistent with the style I like. A lot of bead artists photograph their beads as strands, sometimes even with crystals or silver spacers included. That works really well for some people, but I have never felt 100% comfortable using that approach. I feel like I am putting preconceived ideas into the heads of potential buyers, as to how the beads could be used in jewellery. And I know that jewellery designers can come up with some amazingly creative ways to string beads (Just check out my friend Lisa's site for an example!). So, I have discovered that I am happier with a more random display of my beads, what appears to be a haphazard arrangement, (but that usually took ages to arrange!), generally combined with some clear overhead shots of the beads arranged flat, so that all the details are clear. I also think its really important to ensure the holes/ends can be seen clearly (as these can often be 'problem areas' on newbie beads), and both sides of major focals. I love being able to include multiple images, to show a range of combinations and viewpoints. I'm so glad I finally worked out how to use a html template for the auctions sites, so that I can upload as many images as I like, while only paying for one image to be hosted. The other thing about the way I photograph beads... I am a shocking procrastinator. I only seem to take photos when I have a great pile of beads cleaned and ready to go, and then I force myself to my little 'studio' set up. I have a very small, portable, fabric softbox to diffuse my lights - high wattage from the hardware store, and they are incredibly bright and hot. It is physically uncomfortable due to heat and glare, and I have burnt myself on the lights more than once. So, I do have an excuse for putting it off... really.

Finally Catching Up

I have been torching a lot these holidays. But I've been a bit slow to get some new auctions up. Mainly because I'm stockpiling beads, to be sent to my friend Lisa in Arizona. She has kindly agreed to post my USA sales for me, to cut down on postage costs for my customers. Of course, it means those auctions will only be available in the US - would be crazy to post them back here again afterwards :) . So, when they go off to her next week, I'll have lots of new items up for auction. In the meantime, I've put two new sets up that I'm keeping here, one on Just Beads and one on Ebay.

'Some Like It Hot' 'Opal's Fire'

A career of change?

They say that students we teach now will have several careers throughout their lifetime (and some that don’t yet exist) so there is a definite challenge there in how we prepare them for their working life. But even middle aged adults in the workforce now are changing careers on average about 3 times. And there are some inherent challenges to changing jobs that we might not always consider. Penelope Trunk at Brazen Careerist talks about planning for career changes in advance, specifically by putting money aside so you can afford to face the pay cut that is often part and parcel of changing careers. I think for a lot of people, this is much easier said than done. It’s human nature to live to your means. I have worked in several different fields in my life, and I think the life experiences you gain are incredibly valuable and there is a lot of opportunity for previous experiences to be immensely valuable in a new role. Those experiences, however, don’t necessarily have concrete value to a new employer. I guess I was relatively lucky. When I made a major career change approximately 7 years ago, from photography to teaching, I did not have to take a cut in pay. What I did ‘lose’ however, was the 8 years of teaching experience I could not gain while I was working as a photographer. Those years that would have equated to salary and position in my new career. Whilst I value all of the employment experiences I have had, I do sometimes now regret that lost time, and how it may be affecting my career. (Not that I had a lot of choice with over 300 teachers made redundant the year I graduated…but that’s another story for another day.) People will hesitate to make career changes due to financial concerns. As Trunk states, “I could live on a lot less money and be fine” is a lot easier said than done. Actually, I guess I have been lucky once again on that count. If you had told me 5 years ago that we could more than halve our income and continue with minimal changes to our lifestyle, I would have said you were crazy. But when my husband left corporate banking after 18 years and started his own business, that is just what we did. And the positive changes far outweigh any monetary issues. Sometimes a new direction is the way to go, and you just have to bite the bullet and be very Nike about the whole thing.(Just Do It). And sometimes change is forced upon you, and you have to roll with the punches. So sometimes I wonder about this prophesied future where everyone will change careers as much as 7 times in their working life. That’s a lot of new beginnings to face. Maybe we all need to consider some of Trunk’s advice about being prepared….

Lazy Days...

I am on holidays at the moment - term break. And I have been taking it easy, reading, blogging (My other 2 blogs) and torching. I always plan to stock up on my inventory on holidays, but I sometimes find it hard to get going. I have torched quite a bit this week, but I have been experimenting, playing around with some new ideas, which isn't always hugely productive. But, I will have new beads up on auction this week. I have also been busy job hunting last week, and lots more applications to write this week. The whole process is very ironic. You have to build yourself up in your application, and be the most self confident you can be... and at the same time, the whole process is one that can very quickly strip your confidence away. Interviews and applications, its all very stressful. Especially when you are torn between the jobs you want to do to fulfil your career goals, and the ones you have to consider for financial reasons ... and all the associated politics. Ugh, I think I'll just head back to the torch where I can forget all that. Yep, Queen of Procrastination, that's me! I have just realised I didn't post a pic of my most recent auction. Its a Modern Savages set, 'Wildflowers in Bloom', and it has been re-listed this week.

Are we really in the 21st century?

Why is it, in this day and age of supposed equality for women, when we have female politicians, pilots, surgeons, astronauts etc, that women do not seem to be able to breach that last bastion of manly endeavour, the TV Game Show Host?

Seriously, the only game show in Australia I can think of with a female presenter was the Weakest Link - and she was there for the fear factor for sure! And reality TV is no better. I happened to see an episode of Dancing with the Stars last night. Daryl Somer's hasn't changed his act in 20 something years, and frequently his jokes fall well short of not only the humour they were aiming for, but also the standards of political correctness of the current decade. Sonya Kruger on the other hand, who 'mans' (woman's? ugh whatever) the green room, seems smart, witty, and can think on her feet. I'm sure the whole show would be much more bearable to watch if she was hosting. (I wont go into what would have to happen to the dancing & judging to make it bearable to watch - last night had some terrifying moments!). So, what is it going to take for Ed Phillips to give up the podium on Temptation to Lavinia Nixon? She has far more experience as a TV presenter than him.....

Linking Up

Im working on some blog publicity this morning, so this blog is now listed with Blogarama . Apparently I get a higher ranking if I link back...so here goes.

Good Intentions...

The theme for Modern Savages this week was 'intent'. I am quite happy with my MS blog post this week, discussing the intent behind my current set, 'Wildflowers in Bloom'. But it got me thinking about some longer term goals - the intent towards my beadmaking in general. I have had a few new intentions lately - to have auctions up constantly, and create new work regularly...and more recently, to really work towards developing some new work that is uniquely 'me', an idea that I revisit and reform, and that will perhaps grow into a series of work. The Wildflower beads are a step in that direction, and there may be a few more ideas on the burner. Hopefully the challenges of the weekly themes on MS will be another tool to help me grow in that direction. The first 2 themes didn't really extend me - I had the Fall beads made already (its a very logical theme for this time of year, when most of your customers are from the US), and while they are really relevant to the theme, a they are the fulfilment of my 'intent', the Wildflower beads were made upon my return from the USA, not in direct response to the theme. But the next few weeks hold some very different themes - some involving artists whose work is nothing like the style I use in my beads. So there are definitely some challenges ahead....

Better Blogging

I have recently joined a couple of 'Ning' communities relating to education and blogging. Ning is a free site that allows users to set up their own online communities, with similar resources to those found on sites like My Space.Through one of these communities I have found a link to a post about a 31 day challenge to better blogging, so I will probably be working through some of those suggestions in the near future. One suggestion I noticed when skimming the site the other day, was to return the favour when your blog gets linked to or commented upon on another blog site. The Modern Savages collective I mentioned the other day was blogged about today by Michele on Blog about Crafts, so I wanted to return the favour. Looks like some interesting discussions and good advice on promoting craft work of various kinds.

A new blogging outlet...

I have become involved in a new collective of mainly glass bead artists, who will be blogging together on the creative process, and creating work for sale on a shared theme each week. The blog can be found at http://www.modernsavages.com/ . This week I have been working on my share of Modern Savages, updating my edublog and mainly, getting ready for the SCA event I am running this weekend. My husband has organised a 2 day fighting symposium, with guest presenters from the United States, and my event is the feast on Saturday night. I was at a friends cooking till after 11pm on Tuesday night. I'm heading back tonight, but hopefully it wont be a late night - it only desserts on the agenda tonight (hmm, and cookies, and the pie filling....). Hopefully next week I can get stuck in to some serious torch time....