Mermaids and Insomnia

Lampwork Glass Mermaid Bead

     For some reason, I've had some issues with insomnia the last few days. Instead of lamenting all night long, I try to think about some things that I don't seem to have time or quiet to think about during the day. One particular idea that has been swimming around my brain for several years is a book series about mermaids. I have become a bit obsessed with mermaids over the last several years and think they would make a wonderful basis for a series of books for tweens and teens. I love just thinking about the story lines and backgrounds while laying in bed, letting my mind wander and play with all the possibilities. Of course, the next step is to start writing it down in bits and pieces. I've written some, but need to tackle it again since lately I've come up with lots of new ideas and story lines. Soon, soon...
     The bead you see above is one of my own lampwork glass beads. The mermaid is swimming around the outside of the bead, you can see her tail just to the left and she has lovely silvered ivory hair cascading through the water. I created a series of these, this one being my favorite. She was part of a multi-strand necklace. I said was, because after I had the piece professionally photographed, I dropped her and she broke. I dropped her on concrete from about four feet up, that  is what happens with glass. She took me about 2 1/2 hours to create, so I was very sad when she broke, but it is a reason to get back on the torch sometime and make another lovely piece. Loren Stump, a teacher I had at one time, said, "it's only glass," and I try to remember that when I lose something I really like. He lost a humongous glass sculpture that dropped at a show, worth thousands of dollars and that is what he told everyone who came by to see what had happened. Keeps it all in perspective.

Teesha, Thai and Sunsets

     So today's class with Teesha Moore  started with the process of bookbinding. I have never done this before and it was challenging for a newbie, a labor of love is what I'm calling it. I'm sure it will get easier each time I make one, though I don't know how many I'll make, I may just continue to create visual journal pages and bind them up at a later date in a different way, we'll see. This first photo is the front of my new journal and the second photo is the back. I don't know if you can tell, but it is very dimensional. Several of the images, though not all, were glued to foam, just plain black fun foam, and then cut out and glued to the surface. They look very cool in person, I love it!

There are several of my own lampwork glass beads dangling as charms on the side. So glad I could incorporate some of them. We also painted as many of the interior pages as we could get to in the time allotted. I got fourteen pages, front and back painted, but still have one more page left. And although I have taken these photos of the journal covers, they are not quite finished. I still have embellishing to do using some markers and gel pens. Dots, swirls and stripes...so I'll be updating these photos eventually.
     We had a little escape for lunch, headed over to a most excellent little Thai restaurant called Thai Chili. I had an order of fresh basil rolls, similar to 

Vietnamese spring rolls, but with lots of fresh basil and no red meat. With a side of rice and a glass of cool Jasmine ice tea, it was a perfect lunch. I met a very nice woman from Paw Paw, Michigan and we walked over to have lunch together with another group of women in the class. They haven't taken any time to introduce everyone, I wish they would. Although we have name tags, we don't know where everyone is from or anything about what they do, it would be nice.

     Finally, got back to the B & B, had my half sandwich from last night's dinner for dinner with a glass of Chianti and then watched the sun go down. What a gorgeous sunset!  The sun became the most intense shade of neon orange as it hit the horizon, a color I've never seen before in all the sunsets I've watched in Traverse City and Austin. It was absolutely surreal. Sue, another student staying at the B & B agreed, so it isn't just me. I hope I get to see another one tomorrow and maybe at least one sunrise? Though that probably happens on the other side of the house. We'll see if I can get my booty up out of bed at 5:30 a.m....can't wait for tomorrow's class!