We have been officially greeted in the latest Bead Release email!  Thanks so much, ISGB; we look forward to a long happy relationship with the organization.

Lisa and Patty and I met yesterday at Patty’s for an impromtu get-together.  Okay, and so here I was casually organizing the different types of things on Patty’s bench, and before you know it, we were cleaning it off.  Har har.  At least Patty was grateful instead of insulted!  It probably won’t be the last time my fidgeting gets me in trouble though.

We came thiiiis close to getting her second torch hooked up.  Propane - check.  Quick connects - check.  Torch - check.  Hoses - check.  Regulator - Um, check, after a trip to the tool store, the junk store and a restaurant.  Hose clamps - remembered after lunch, and check, after a stop at Lowes.  Oxygen tank - check, but wouldn’t you know it, can’t get the cap off one, and the second one was empty.  It’s always something isn’t it?  Next time, we’ll have it for sure.

So, when we finally did light a torch, Lisa showed us how to blow shards.   She’s good with those hollow mandrels!  I can’t wait to try it.  She is really good at explaining it all too.  We tried out Patty’s new glass colors, and I had to order right away after I got home.  Just like after our regular meetings!

Patty had a bunch of Triton beads she had done the night before, and they are beautiful!  She can make that color work.  I have a couple of rods, and this time I know before I start how they should look.  Wish me luck.

So, this is my very first blog post, ever, anywhere.  I’m more of a reporter than a navel gazer, so it was hard for me to get started.  I owe this blog some studio pictures, and now that I have broken the ice, they will be along shortly.

Bye for now!

Kathy

The Firecracker’s meeting this past Sunday brought a sweet surprise during Kathy’s treasury report.  It seems we’ve received our stipend check from the national office of the ISGB!!  So far they haven’t sent us a “welcome to the organization” notice, but we figure the check is a good sign.  Either that, or our reputations have preceeded us and they’re trying to pay us to go away! 

The meeting was just as enriching as usual. We had a visiting artist with us, as my friend Deanna of Chase Designs came for the weekend.  We also had another visitor, Kathy Glover, joining us from the Nashville area, and we’re hoping we can convince her that the travel time involved would be worth it to become a regular member of our little group.  We just felt like she “belonged” with us from the get-go. 

We had demos on everything from off-mandrel hearts to skinny disc beads, and Lisa and I have even begun to entice Sharyl over to the dark side of borosilicate glass.   Lunch was Mexican themed, and every single one of us filled up on several delectable dishes, and still managed to save room for chocolate cupcakes and dreamsicle cake later in the afternoon.

Our live CA gift exchange was just as rowdy as expected, with lots of gift stealing and laughter.  Everyone seemed very pleased with their final prizes, and its been so much fun to see how much growth some of our newer lampworkers are experiencing in their work. 

Our July meeting will be held at the studio of our V.P. Carol Crye in Knoxville, and we’ll have a summer/water/beach theme for our exchange, and potluck lunch will be BYFS. (Bring your favorite salad )

I hope all you Firecrackers know how much Ma and I enjoy having you guys here when its our turn to hostess, and how blessed we both feel to have found you guys.  Sharing a passion for glass is a tremendous joy, and we’re really lucky to share it with a group that we genuinely love. 

The next Firecrackers meeting is Sunday, May 4th in Crossville, TN at the Bead Addicts studio!  Our potluck lunch will be Mexican themed, and we’re gonna try to keep the “official” part of the meeting short so we’ll have more time to play, play, play! 

We’re fortunate enough that my good friend Deanna Chase of Chase Designs will be visiting with us, and I know all the girls are really anxious to meet her and see some demos of her work.

If you’re going to be anywhere close to the area this weekend, use the email addy on our “Contact” page, and I’ll forward directions to the studio.  Anyone and everyone with an interest in glass art is more than welcome to join us! 

Do you ever have those dreams where you work in your sleep?  You awaken totally exhausted and you haven’t even made it to work but you’ve been there since your head hit the pillow the night before!  Something exciting happened when I started making beads because now all of the sudden I make beads in my sleep.  Don’t laugh I know you do it to.  I will find a picture in a book or see something in nature that I want to reproduce in glass and then all of the sudden I find myself dreaming about it.  I’m not complaining……rest assured that I think it is a great trade for the old hard working dreams I used to have. Now if I could create the hours in front of the torch that I have in dreamland my life would be complete.  Enough said I’m off to bed hopefully to have BEAD DREAMS!!!

I am so looking forward to the next get together. Its just a few weeks away and I am so ready. Seems like forever since I missed the last group meeting.  And all the guests that we had,  I really am sad that I missed meeting them. I know that several of them have become friends thru the internet and I would really like to meet them in person. Hopefully I will not have to miss too many more in the future.

I also want to thank all the firecrackers for letting me play. You are all the best. I could not ask for a better group of friends to get together with.

Til next time,

Shari

Well, we finally got all our ducks in a row, and our chapter application has been submitted to the national office of the ISGB!  So hopefully, we’ll be a proud, card-carrying ISGB chapter soon!

Our last meeting at Carol’s house was simply outstanding.  We traded beads (of course), swapped glass to seed the projects for our next CA, and torched all afternoon.  Carol and I did a collaborative project at the torch that was really fun….and an activity I’d like to see continued.  It was very freeing to be handed a piece of nearly-molten glass on that mandrel and then to see what stage I could take it to next.  Combining the vision of two separate artists into one piece brings about an entirely different result that neither of us could have done on our own.

So that makes me want to figure out some kind of really fun activity that the group can do at my house in May………stay tuned! 

Wow another meeting and I’m left with wonderful ideas.  I am always inspired after beading meetings and I am in awe of the talent in each and every member.  This brings me to my topic on “organization” b/c it is a skill that many of you firecrackers possess and one which I seem to lack.  Do you think it is a genetic deletion?  As those of you who have visited my studio know my organization system well it lacks something!  Well truthfully it just doesn’t exist.  I joke about it but I’m not kidding when I say “if I were a ______ where would I be?  I so enjoy Vern and Angie’s studio when I visit there it is so categorized and orderly but I think  those are big shoes to fill so I continue on my quest to become more organized in my studio just maybe it will spill over into my home as well.  But you know what that just AIN’T gonna happen cause now I’m having to find a place for seed beads and my newest addiction threads for treasure bracelets!!!!! I can see myself in the next few months saying “if I were some pretty charlotte and resin beads where would I be”? You know what I think I’d be the last place a husband would think to look…now where would that be so I can hurry and start my new bead addiction???????

Posted by Carol Crye

The Firecrackers met on March 9th at the studio of Carol Crye.  We were pleased to have several visitors, including Kaye Husko, Shawn Turner, and Jodie Ruskin.

Welcome to the future home of the Smoky Mountain Firecrackers!  We’re a group of hot glass artists located in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains and the surrounding region.  We’re currently working toward gaining chapter status from the International Society of Glass Beadmakers, and we hope that you’ll come back to our blog to hear about all the glassy goodness we’ll be involved with in the upcoming months!

 In the meantime, feel free to visit our member sites and shops, and as always, thanks for your interest in and support of self-representing artists of all mediums!