Hi

Thanks for all your kind words about my grandfather's passing. He was an incredible person and will be greatly missed.

I've finished teaching the health, illness, and social behavior course for CWRU so now I'm going to wrap up a few revisions on my dissertation and turn that in ASAP! With both of those things off my plate I will turn to working on articles to submit from my dissertation and my glass work.

We've updated the show listings on my website and there may be a few more we'll add as I hear if I've been accepted. I'm looking forward to seeing you all this summer!

Sad News

My 93 year old grandfather passed away this weekend. It's just heartbreaking as I'm sure many of you know. I'll probably be out of commission for a few days. Talk to you soon.

Show Today

Today I participated in a small art show in the atrium of University Hospital. I received a wonderful response from customers regarding my new work! Believe it or not, I really do listen to you! The pendants on silk cords were popular as well as earrings and wine stoppers! I need to get to the studio and make more beads!!

What would you like to see?

I really enjoy questions from customers and fellow lampworkers about my work. Many times the questions are about specific techniques. I'm wondering if people would like to see me put some tutorials up on the web site. They could either be with still photos or an actual video you could download. What do you think?

We don't have a video camera, so we would probably have to charge a small fee for videos in order to pay off the video camera. Would that be a problem?

Thanks for your input!

Job Offer!

Well, believe it or not I actually received a job offer yesterday! It was for a visiting professor position at Miami University. Fear not, I ended up turning it down because it would mean moving this summer and then most likely moving again next summer and it's just too disruptive. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be to turn it down!

Sun!

Hi Everyone,

I just have to say that the past few days have been so lovely in Cleveland! We've seen the sun most of the day and it's been really warm! Ahhhh...

I'm back from my quick trip to see my neices and parents in Columbus and am now working on the few additions to my dissertation that my committee asked for. I'm hoping to finish it up in a couple weeks and turn it in. I will officially graduate in August. YEAH!

I'm going to be in a small show at University Hospitals this Thursday, April 21st from 10-2pm. I am one of about 6 artists that will be selling in the atrium that day. Feel free to stop by if you are in the area! I'll be posting the dates and times of outdoor shows I'll be doing soon (I'm still waiting to hear from a few).

Hello from Columbus

Hi there,

I came down to Columbus, OH today to visit my nieces, Olivia & Chloe. I'm teaching Olivia (10 years old) how to post a blog:). She thought a blog was a new alien bead I had made...

I'll post a picture of them tomorrow.

Katy

Ahhhhh....

Hi Everyone,

Well, I think I've recovered a bit from yesterday and sure do feel a huge weight has been lifted!! I've mostly been cleaning the house, which has been neglected for a while. But, now I'm off to make beads! Can't wait to start working on all the things I've been thinking about and just haven't had the time to work on.

stay tuned:)

I passed!

Hi Everyone!

Well, it's all over and I passed the defense! My presentation lasted about 35 minutes and then there was about an hour of questions. After that, the committee asked everyone to leave and sat behind closed doors deciding my fate. After about 20 minutes they opened the door and said Congrats! You've passed! whew.

I don't think it's hit me yet....maybe I need to sleep for a few days:)

Hi

HI Everyone,

Thought I would post more pictures of beads. This set is really fun to make because I love twisting hot glass:).

This will be short today since I need to practice my presentation to defend my dissertation tomorrow!

Future

Good morning!

So since it looks like I'll be graduating in August, we have been assuming we would be leaving the Cleveland area. I have been interviewing for faculty positions but have not been selected for those positions thus far. It seems that the combination of not having already completed my Ph.D. along with the fact that I have only been applying to positions in states that we want to move to (e.g., NM, AZ, OR, WA, NY, CA, FL) has made the job search more difficult.

So it looks like we'll be staying in Cleveland for another year and I'll be back on the job market this August. At first it was really difficult for me to accept the fact that I'll have to survive another winter in Cleveland and I kept thinking that I've been working on a degree for 8 years just to be unemployed. But, the interesting part is that now I'm in a situation to actually see if my beads can support me. This is something I've never even allowed myself to consider.

I've been applying to any show I can find and hope to have enough shows lined up to bring in some funds to pay the bills.

I'll keep you posted on my journey :)

Update on the Ph.D.

I know many of you have been following my 8 year quest to finish my Ph.D. and believe it or not, it's almost complete! I will be defending my dissertation this Thursday April 14th at 10am. If all goes well, I'll graduate in August.

I'll keep you posted! Thank goodness for my beads because they help keep me sane and thanks to my customers for supporting my therapy:).

Hello Everyone!

Hello!

Welcome to my first journal entry. I thought this would be a nice way for me to share updates and information on a regular basis. Thanks to my DH (darling husband) for putting this together for me!

Well, the fist post I'm making is about these silvered ivory beads. I finally ordered a brass press to shape beads into this great lozenge shape. I quickly realized that the beads the press made were way too small for me. So I contacted Catt (Catt Walk Tools) and asked if she would consider a special request for the same shape only larger (7/8 inch). She wrote back and said she had that exact tool in front of her!! Imagine my elation!! I can't say enough about Catt and the tool, thanks so much!

I'll try to update this daily! My husband and I joke about how this will allow me to ramble on.....

Until Tomorrow...