Art of the Firebird

Respond and Rework

Frostfire — Sat, 09 May 2009 22:18:16 +0000

I got this from Kandice Seeber, who got it from the BeadedLily’s Sketchbook blog — sounds like a fun meme!

THE RULES:

Respond and rework. Answer the questions on your own blog; replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention; add one more question of your own.

THE QUESTIONS:

What is your current obsession?

Once I finish up my grades, I’ll get back to working on borosilicate glass leaf pendants, trying to work out some nice shapes & colors.

Which item from your closet are you wearing most lately?

Jeans, jeans, and more jeans, with the occasional cargo pants thrown in there.

What was the last thing you bought?

A couple of magazines this afternoon during our regular Saturday trip to Borders.

What are you listening to right now?

Nothing except the ambient noise around here. Sometimes silence is the best!

What are you reading?

Anna Quindlen’s Rise and Shine

What 4 words would you use to describe yourself?

Introverted, creative, sardonic, strong-willed

What is your current guilty pleasure?

I don’t really have guilty pleasures, but maybe it’s reading “chick-lit” and romance novels.

What would you do if the internet was irreparably damaged and you had to find another way to connect?

I would like to think I’d write letters, but I’d probably just stay unconnected. I’m not a phone person so that’s out.

Where would you go if you could travel anywhere right now?

Probably New Zealand, since that’s the place I most want to visit.

If you could grant someone else one wish, what would it be?

I’d give my father a cure for his heart disease and pulmonary fibrosis.

What flower are you most anxious to see bloom this spring?

Actually, I’ll be just as happy when everything quits blooming since the pollen has made me utterly miserable this spring.

What are you most happy doing?

Hanging out with my husband, or melting glass, or both together.

Care to share some wisdom?

Two things:

Life’s not fair, so get over it.
If you’re in a hole, stop digging.

If I walked into your work space today what would you want to show me? What would you want to hide?

I’d want to turn on my torch and show you how I make my beads and pendants. I wouldn’t really want to hide anything in the workspace, but I might close some of the other doors in the house!

What makes you laugh out loud?

The ICanHasCheezburger and IHasAHotDog websites. They also make me go “Awwwww!”

How many pets do you have, and what kind?

Three cats, plus the 80 or so I work with as a

Link back to me if you do this meme yourself!

Post from: Art of the Firebird. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.

Respond and Rework

Observations From Cleaning the Studio

Frostfire — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 01:02:39 +0000

When there’s no room to work in the studio except around the torch, it’s time to do some cleaning! With the Good Mews Spring Flea Market coming up, it’s easy to get motivated because there’s a good place to take the useful-but-no-longer-wanted crap. So far there have been four boxes of stuff (not huge ones, but decent sized) excavated and removed, and a second giant garbage bag full of true trash is almost full. Along the way, I discovered a few things:

the missing box of craft wire, hidden behind some other stuff.
three half-finished blank books, needing just to be stitched.
a whole bunch of foam brushes, separated from the rest of the brush herd.

I also observed a few things:

It is quite possible to have more shoeboxes than one needs for storage.
Watchmaker tins are cute, but they really do suck for storing jump rings.
Paints do dry out after twenty years, even well sealed up.
One person’s ephemera is another person’s trash.
One person’s perfect storage system is another person’s storage nightmare.
The average lifespan of a gel pen is something less than five years, even if unused.
Worktables are much easier to work on when not covered with ten layers of crap.

Finally, I confirmed that a good labelmaker is your best friend when you’re trying to organize a studio!

Post from: Art of the Firebird. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.

Observations From Cleaning the Studio

The Omnivore’s Hundred

Frostfire — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:35:49 +0000

Courtesy of the marvelous Charlene Anderson, I bring you:

The Omnivore’s Hundred

The Omnivore’s Hundred is a list of foods the gastronomic Andrew Wheeler thinks everyone should try at least once in their lives.

Here’s the drill…bold the foods you have tried, and strike through those you wouldn’t touch on a bet.

1. Venison

2. Nettle tea

3. Huevos rancheros

4. Steak tartare

5. Crocodile

6. Black pudding

7. Cheese fondue

8. Carp

9. Borscht

10. Baba ghanoush

11. Calamari

12. Pho (Oh GAWD yes Pho!!! And god bless Andrea for introducing me to it!)

13. PB&J sandwich

14. Aloo gobi

15. Hot dog from a street cart� (Twenty-six years later, I still miss the guy in Cleveland outside the hospital.)

16. Epoisses

17. Black truffle

18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes

19. Steamed pork buns

20. Pistachio ice cream

21. Heirloom tomatoes

22. Fresh wild berries (picked ‘em myself even)

23. Foie gras

24. Rice and beans

25. Brawn, or head cheese

26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper

27. Dulce de leche

28. Oysters (only cooked, though, not raw)

29. Baklava

30. Bagna cauda

31. Wasabi peas

32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl

33. Salted lassi

34. Sauerkraut

35. Root beer float (I’d rather have a Coke float, though)

36. Cognac with a fat cigar (yes to the cognac, no to the cigar)

37. Clotted cream tea

38. Vodka jelly

39. Gumbo

40. Oxtail

41. Curried goat

42. Whole insects

43. Phaal

44. Goat�s milk

45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth �60/$120 or more

46. Fugu

47. Chicken tikka masala

48. Eel (as sushi, didn’t care for it)

49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut HOT FROM THE OVEN!!!!

50. Sea urchin

51. Prickly pear

52. Umeboshi

53. Abalone

54. Paneer

55. McDonald�s Big Mac Meal

56. Spaetzle

57. Dirty gin martini

58. Beer above 8% ABV

59. Poutine

60. Carob chips (why bother???)

61. S�mores

62. Sweetbreads

63. Kaolin (I’m guessing medications containing it count)

64. Currywurst

65. Durian (and lived to smell about it)

66. Frogs� legs

67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake

68. Haggis

69. Fried plantain

70. Chitterlings, or andouillette

71. Gazpacho

72. Caviar and blini

73. Louche absinthe

74. Gjetost, or brunost

75. Roadkill

76. Baijiu

77. Hostess Fruit Pie

78. Snail

79. Lapsang souchong

80. Bellini

81. Tom yum

82. Eggs Benedict

83. Pocky

84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant

85. Kobe beef

86. Hare (c’mon, don’tcha mean wabbit?)

87. Goulash

88. Flowers

89. Horse

90. Criollo chocolate

91. Spam

92. Soft shell crab

93. Rose harissa

94. Catfish

95. Mole poblano

96. Bagel and lox

97. Lobster Thermidor

98. Polenta

99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee

100. Snake

Looking at the list, apparently I’ll eat pretty much anything that doesn’t involve animal innards??

Post from: Art of the Firebird. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.

The Omnivore’s Hundred

One World One Heart Giveaway Winner

Frostfire — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 03:36:18 +0000

First, thank you to everyone who visited my blog to enter! I’m quite shocked to have received 415 comments on the One World One Heart Giveaway post.

The Random Number Generator has spoken, and the Random Number generated was…

324

Comment number 324 was left by Candie L.! Candie, look for an email in your inbox.

The Caramello Heart Pendant will be on the way to Candie as soon as I get her address.

Post from: Art of the Firebird. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.

One World One Heart Giveaway Winner

OWOH Quick Update

Frostfire — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 04:30:10 +0000

Since I plan to be asleep very shortly, I’ll continue to take comments for the OWOH giveaway until I get up in the morning. However, as soon as I get to the computer, comments will be locked and that’s it. I’ll then generate a random number, determine whose comment it matches, and declare a winner!

I’ll email that winner tomorrow afternoon, but should that person not get back to me by next Wednesday night, I’ll “draw” another name for the heart pendant.

Stay tuned!

Post from: Art of the Firebird. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.

OWOH Quick Update