Yay, I love lampworking – I’ll go do some! 
Boo, it’s cold in the shed 
Yay, the torch has made it all toasty now!
Boo, all glass hates me
Yay, that last bead looks good!
Boo, now I have to wait 13 hours for the kiln to finish
Yay, beads are ready!
Boo, cleaning beads sucks
Yay, I can watch Smallville while I’m cleaning!
Boo, Smallville still sucks
Yay, Lex is on screen!
Boo, I stabbed myself with the reamer
Yay, cleaning’s finished!
Boo, all my cleaned beads are ugly
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Being a lampworker is a rollercoaster ride of emotions. Sigh.
I had to get in on the Art Bead Scene Challenge this month – the painting was stunning, and had a mass of green-gold tones, which I adore:
Plus, painted by a woman, featuring a woman (and not in the ‘woman as object’ pose that often permeates, well, everything) – it was the perfect painting to make me join in *G*.
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| The greens are more olive really – I still suck at photos |
I have some gunmetal findings which I thought would echo the darker tones very well, and I brightened them up a little with some of my polymer clay beads made specifically for this challenge in lovely green and golds, with lighter leaf and vine motifs. The deep brown carved coconut flowers hint at the darkness within the orb, and I finished the necklace off with a polymer flower, again in muted green, which is a nod to the flower decorations on the central character’s hair.
Designing a craft fair booth can be nerve-wracking – standing out in a crowd without spending a lot is even more difficult. So, I’ve put together some ideas for how to draw attention with your display at a craft show (disclaimer – I do not guarantee it will be attention of the positive sort…but it should help you get noticed!)
However, there is one thing to remember, whatever method you choose – at one point, a customer will inevitably come up to your stall and attempt to buy your display items, at the same time ignoring all your actual craft work.
- Buy some inexpensive but pretty picture frames and mirrors, and hang or drape necklaces over them – just gently tack or hook the clasp/ends to the frames’ backs to prevent the necklaces from slipping.
- Make dramatic, theatrical jewellery? Buy a few mini-puppet theatres (like this: Tabletop Theatre) and suspend your pieces from above. Or make a lightweight frame yourself and top it with a mesh grid, then use illusion beading wire to let your pieces ‘fly through the air’.
- Or perhaps you create jewellery with a vintage, decadent feel? Kid’s mini treasure chests are a funky prop, ideal to fill your table; have some of your jewellery overflowing from within them to really amp up the ‘olde world’ theme. (Seriously, there are some pretty cool looking ones – search ‘treasure chests’ in the Amazon toys section.)
- You know the rolls you get from the center of wrapping paper, kitchen rolls, and yes, toilet paper? Try taping them to your table with masking tape, in little configurations, as well as placing tightly folded towels on the table too. Then cover the whole table with a lovely piece of fabric or table cloth, and you’ll end up with a ‘landscape’ on which you can place your items.
- Saw large holes in your display table. Bribe a few good friends to crouch under the table and stick their heads through the holes – voila, interactive mannequins to wear your jewellery. Don’t forget to cut arm holes too if you have a lot of bracelets!
- Fruits and vegetables. Long cucumbers make great bracelet holders when suspended horizontally between two blocks (try using some carved taro root for the blocks). For necklaces, try hanging a few around the neck of a pineapple, and use torn lettuce leaves as earrings cards. Remember the carrots for any rings you may be selling.
- If you’re like me (and if you are, you have my deepest pity) you’ll have a lot of stuffed animal from childhood. Well, I’m sure that cuddly ALF figure would look just dandy in a wirework tiara (I think I may be showing my age with that reference…), and My Little Pony hooves are just made for showing-off rings.
As a final note, it’s up to you to judge how serious you think I am about any of these options – but even the most dramatic ones may spark something in your mind .
I think this is my first ‘fandom’ related post – yep, I’m admitting it. I get ‘fannish’ about things.
Yesterday was the last ever episode of Smallville, and I watched eagerly, having managed to remain spoiler free – hence the embarassingly loud squeal when I saw Michael Rosenbaum’s name in the credits (the Lex-love never fades once you’ve caught it). Out of nostalgia, I just had to blog about it
If you’ve ever watched Smallville, you’ll have agood idea of what I mean when I say the finale of the series was very…Smallville. It was campy, illogical, and nonsensical, in the most adorable Smallville tradition. As I quickly discovered back when it first started, it’s a lot easier to enjoy Smallville if you make yourself forget everything that happened in previous episodes and concentrate on the incredibly pretty actors – because, hey, you may as well approach the show in the same way the writers do.
I do get the feeling that the writers got carried away and forgot that the series was ending right up until they had to write the last act of the script – hence a flurry of memory erasing (delivered through what I can only describe as some sort of mind-wiping cologne…), revelations of conveniently a identical brother to replace a deceased canon character, and a random killing. It’s almost as if DC Comics said,’ All right, you’ve had your fun messing up Superman…now put everything back how you found it jerks!
Even with myriad faults though, I got a bit verklempt when the montages of Clark saving people started; he was an ass through a lot of the series, but he really started to look and act like Superman during season 10, and putting all his heroic moments together, sans moping, whining, and Lana-pininig really cememted that. Aw. There were even a few adorable clips of Clark heroically saving Lex in particular (as well as one of Lana howling like a spider monkey…not a flattering clip), and later on a few nostalgic and sad clips of their friendship when Lex started to forget everything about Clark.
Another good point was Lois. When she first joined the cast, I was a bit underwhelmed, but when I started watching the series again in season 10, after missing a few seasons, I disocvered that she was now one of my favourite characters. Erica Durance really grabbed the role and made Lois Lane as awesome as she was always meant to be. I actually found it all kinds of adorable to see her and Clark together.
Oh, and I can’t forget that the writers gave us one last Clark/Lex scene – even when Lex is spouting hatred and blathering on about how he’s on the dark side now, he manages to spare a few smitten looks and smirks in a certain man’s direction, and to give Clark a pep talk that encourages him to have faith in himself and save the world. I don’t think Lex has really got the hang of villainy after all, despite what the writers continued to tell us endlessly.
Other things of cuteness: Chloe reading a Smallville comic! Tights and the cape! The Superman theme starting up as Clark rips open his shirt! Perry White (or his voice, anyway)! Lex is president! Frankly, the entire final 15 minutes were filled with cheesy goodness and comic shout-outs, and even with the bad-writing, rushed plotlines, and weird pacing, it made me sad to see Smallville go.
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Well, that was fun – I haven’t written like this for ages, and it’s suprisingly easy to get back into the fannish way of things *cough* I will now retreat back into the realm of polymer clay and beadiness.
