Plans for the New Year

Today's topic on Flaming Hot! is Out with the Old, In with the New, and we've been asked to share our grand plans for the New Year.

I plan to build an inventory of beads to sell. (Oh, I'm having a major case of Déjà vu!) I'll start by listing them in the shop on my website and then I'll start listing auctions on eBay or I may check out Etsy.

I'd also like to take a class or two for new inspiration and to increase my skill.

After we get our tax return, I plan to sock a bit of it away for a shed to make into a studio. (Again with the Déjà vu.) Then I'd like to buy a hotter torch, and see where it takes me. These are my plans, or are they just dreams? I guess the New Year will tell.

My Studio Is,...

Inadequate.

Today's "Blog It!" topic at Flaming Hot! is, "My Studio Is,..." and that's the first thing that popped into my head.

I make do with my little corner of the garage and still have fun, but there are a lot of improvements I'd like to make. I don't really have an adequate ventilation system. I work next to the garage door with the door open and a fan blowing on the other side of me. That gets cold this time of year!

This is what I want in a dream studio. I want a cute little shed in the backyard with a torching workstation on one end where I'll have a ventilation hood, my kiln, and all my glass and tools. On the other side I want a jewelry making workbench with lots of organized storage for all the different jewelry making components I collect.

I want a sound system so I can listen to my music. I want a little couch or comfy chair so friends can visit me and chat while I work. I want some running water and a sink, and oh, yeah, HEAT. Then I want to decorate it in a funky artistic way.

For now, though "inadequate" will just have to be, um, adequate, I guess.

Looking for Balance

Finding the time to do something I really love to do amidst daily obligations is a real challenge. I need to make time for all the priorities in my life: God, family, friends, fitness, and then I need to make time for the obligations that I'd love to forget about. I mean, someone's gotta do the laundry and grocery shopping, right?

All I can do is try to balance all of those things, and if I find that the scale tips over, which happens more often than not, I need to readjust. That's what I'm in the process of doing right now. The reality is I can't go spend a few hours on my torch on a daily basis, especially not at this time of year with birthdays, holidays approaching, and the flurry of homeschooling activity that Fall brings.

My solution for now is that I will give myself two days a week to spend as many hours making beads as I want without guilt. The rest of the week I will take care of all those other desires and obligations, without feeling that I'm letting myself down in the bead making area. It means that it will take me longer to establish the business I had envisioned, but even that is not a bad thing. Without the thought of making beads that will sell, I'm free to experiment and have fun. That's ultimately what I'm looking for. Yes, it is gratifying to sell my beads, but the selling does detract somewhat from the peace I get from creating something beautiful. Balance.

And just because a lampworking blog without pictures of beads is a sorry thing indeed, I'm uploading a picture of a couple of beads I made last week.

Working on the Website

I'm working on getting my bead business going again. Right now I'm working on getting a website up and running. Next on my "to do" list is getting my corner of the garage, "my studio," cleaned out. Then I need to clean up my workspace, clean my torch, purge my gas tank and get it refilled. I'll be ready to start making beads again, FINALLY!

Eventually I want to build a shed in the backyard and use that for a studio, but one step at a time. Right now it's website construction.

Check out my website (which is still a work in progress)!

Beadguiling Designs