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It’s that time.

Read about it here:

http://lorigreenberg.com/blog

Thanks!

Last I wrote it was Tucson or Bust!  Upon returning it’s more like Tucson and Bust.

The good news is, you get more pod beads to peruse and buy over at lorigreenberg.com.

The bad news is, for me, Tucson was a bust.  I shouldn’t be that harsh.  I made back my expenses (which were high this year because I opted for a corner booth) and enough to cover hotel/travel and meals.  I don’t care what anyone says, that dollar amount is still a lot of beads to sell…especially with my pricing.

The crowds just weren’t there but I’ll do it again next year.  You can’t judge a show by one slow year and this is only the second year.  Last year was great.  My only concern is that the dates were September 7, 8, and 9 which is right after Labor Day which is right after a lot of kids go back to school.  Not our kids…ours go back in August.  Next years show is a few days earlier.  Last years show as a few days later.  I wonder if that made a difference.

I did notice that local buyers were there but out of towners were less, and store buyers were less.  I heard that the more established shows were slow too.  You just never know.  The Fed needs to drop some interest rates so this housing slump clears up.  So many people are being effected by that and now it’s even hitting the bead business, yes?

Ok.  Won’t go there.  Off to get back in the on-line swing of things.

Well, tomorrow is pack-up-n-drive day as I head to Tucson for the Best Bead Show.  Drop by the Tucson Convention Center and say ‘hi’ on Friday, Saturday or Sunday.  Or all three if you just can’t get enough.

It’s only a couple hours away but when you spend so much time in the studio, that feels like driving cross country.  In my old age I love road trips.  So many quirky things along the way.

Wish me luck and hopefully I’ll have the energy to check in from the road after post-show dinners…or at least from the hotel.

I love shows.

Uh oh.  I’m gettin’ crafty.  I can’t help it.  Crafty is everywhere.  It’s the new black.  Felt, flowers, glitter and sequins.  It’s getting to me and I’m jumping on the bandwagon.  Did I just say that out loud?

Yep.  Here I go.

Check this out.  Gift boxes made from cereal boxes.  Or other cardboard.  For all that spare time I have and the need to have some funky packaging at my shows that folds flat.

Sure, I could buy boxes but who wants to do that?  I’ll just take my recycling cardboard and create these boxes.  Or better yet, I’ll have my mom do it.   She’s not crafty but she likes projects and I’m thinking she’s a sucker for a cool package.

I’m going to make mine inside out so people can see the bright colors and also know just how unhealthy we are at breakfast time.  Good thing there’s not a pattern for bacon packaging.

Hey, I’m turning green!  I think I’m a greenie at heart.

Holy smokes it’s been a long time since I took a picture.   You will be happy with todays.

So, somewhere I was going on and on about confusion and kids being sick and chaos.  But know it’s for a reason because I can’t blame it on Mercury retrograde.   Whew.

The good news is, the kids are better and back to school.  The bad news is, now I have it.  Yep, got them squared away and woke up hardly able to swallow this morning.  So, off to the doctor for me because I-do-not-have-time-for-this!  Doesn’t my body know I have a show coming up?  So, I’m on the mend too after sleeping a little extra today.

And I know things are turning around because, look what grew in the kiln last night!

While I love most of my beads, ones like this don’t come out of the kiln every day.  I really really love the pod beads that I’ve been doing but yeehaw!  These are killer!   I’m gonna have to write about them on Watch Me Create, so be looking for it!

So, I think I’m getting it figured out. (See my last post). It all has to do with the being ‘mom’ thing. I just know it.

I recently decided that, with the kids starting school and no more full-time childcare that I needed to back off work and focus on family more.  That, and I was starting to feel burned out. I’ve felt burnout before but it has always been relieved by a nice week away for vacation or with friends. Not so this time. Since February last year.

It wasn’t bad. I wasn’t sick or depressed or anything really bad at all. The worst of it was that I just couldn’t get into things (work) as much as I have in the past. Previously that has driven me nuts. Now, something is different and it feels kind of good. It feels good to pick the kids up from school and do things with them instead of worrying what is left undone in the studio.

It’s funny though. You may be thinking, oh no, Lori won’t be making beads anymore, or writing. But that’s not it. Really, nothing has changed. I’m just not going to obsess about things and I’m not going to be looking for new things all the time. I’m just going to work and do what I can do. It’s hard to put into words because it’s more of a change in mindset than anything physical.

I feel better already.

Do you believe that everything happens for a reason?  Fate?  A master plan? Destiny?

I do.  Oh, there’s all kinds of areas in between to debate about like free will and chaos and all of that but one thing I try to remember (in my belief system) is that everything happens for a reason and works out like it should.

What am I talking about?  Two weeks until a big show, a lot of my inventory has sold (that was my free will of putting on the web site…not so smart before a show), a sick kid at home yesterday and today so no torching to make additional inventory.  And last but not least (so far) I have a corner booth this time so I have TWO tables to fill, not one.

So, in times like that when I’m feeling out of control and behind the 8 ball I tell myself, ‘it’s all for a reason and it’s happening just as it should be.’  Then I start thinking of what those purposes are.  Sometimes I guess them other times I don’t know until much later.  So here’s my list (since I can only sit here and type and not do much anything else with a sick kid waiting to go to the doctor).

1.  Less planned inventory means I’ll have to sell and get rid of the boxes of odd beads I already have laying around.  (Which I never want to do because I think that looks crappy as a display).

2.  Bigger booth with less beads means more room for displaying books, calendars, magazine articles and Bead Nerd Blog advertising.

3.  Being out of control means learning to give up control.  Good lesson there.

4.  Being this far behind and unprepared makes me learn to never do this again!  Although if things turn out good it might be the opposite lesson.

5.  Having a sick child makes me slow down and enjoy what I should be enjoying the rest of the time when I’m working so much.

6.  Being confined to the house allows me to get caught up on some blogging stuff.

I feel much better looking at the positive instead of rumbling and grumbling.  Thanks for indulging me!

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Thank you all for the great feeback on yesterday’s pod bead that sold almost before I got it posted on my Lori Greenberg Bead site.

I’ve received a couple inquiries as to if I can make more.  I can, and I will!  Today is a gloriously overcast gloomy day here in the Valley of the Sun and I think I will make beads all day!

Drop me a line at lori@lorigreenberg.com if you want a Cascading Pod 004 (that’s what yesterday’s bead is called).  They’re 30 bucks and worth every penny.

Today’s beauty is a Stitched Bead with a twist…or a wiggle.  Kinda fun, if you ask me and you should see the depth in it.  I’ve explained before that first drafts of bead designs are always the most raw and pure.  Once I get it down and make more and more they get kind of sterile…still awesome beads but almost too perfect in my own opinion.

Well, this Stitch-with-with-a-wiggle bead had me going back to basics.  Using materials in a way where they are the boss and I relinquish control to them.  What the heck is this woman talking about?  You’re going to have to wait and see because I will reveal all in the coming months.  For now, enjoy the new stitches…most of them can’t be reproduced.

If you like the beads that you see here and might want one for yourself, check out all of the beads I have for sale at www.lorigreenberg.com.   

I’m looking back and seeing that I haven’t shown you the new beads here; at least not as much as I should have been. When you look at something so much, day after day, you forget that not everyone is in your head with you, despite what it feels like sometimes. Anyway, here are the new Pod beads that I unveiled at my first show of the year. Pods. Cascading English Gardens. Acorns. Whatever you want to call them.

They evolved from the Elusive series (that I’m making more of today in brights, so watch for them!) You remember the Elusive series…the one that I couldn’t name because they kept reminding me of different things? I thought I was being a bit scattered since I always have a set name for things but the show Saturday confirmed what I had been experiencing. Everyone saw something different when they picked up one of those beads.

I can’t tell you how cool it is when someone picks up your work and they get it. They feel what you put into it. I like to work in a way that my heart and soul is in a piece. Sure there are times when things are just cranked out but when designing, and this is going to sound weird, but I like to think that the energy that I put into the process and the design can communicate with someone when they pick it up. Nothing specific that I want to communicate, just that it ’speaks’ and the person hears and feels something. These beads called people from across the aisle and they ooo-ed and ahhhh-ed before they even got up close.

Sorry to go on and on about that but it was an amazing experience and one I feel like I better not hold onto because it might not ever happen again. It does give me something to strive for though, right?

If you’re an artist and you’re interested in the business side of being an artist, why not follow my Bead Nerd Blog?  All bead business info all the time! 

With the new layout of Lapidary Journal’s Step by Step Beads the actual jewelry piece is in the print magazine and the bead tutorial is on their web site as a free project.  In the September 2007 print issue I have an assemblage necklace that uses lampwork beads, of course.  And the free project is at the Step by Step Beads web site in PDF format.

Glass Amber Marquis Bead - Free project at Step by Step Beads

Check it out!  (and I’ll get you a picture soon too).