A Studio Tour for You

Hola! Buenas tardes! It is a gorgeous day here. Just in case you happen to be the curious sort....it is 85 degrees and the humidity is 65%. It has been slightly overcast all morning and just now, at 1:45, the sun has come out. So, things could change pretty quickly around here. In half an hour it might be 102 degrees.........


Below is this morning's sunrise, before the clouds came in. Today I got an awesome email from a lady named Linda Lee. She was googling herself and she found me.................!

She is a glass artist and lives on a lake in New Hampshire. Her shop is http://www.pondhillstudio.com/ and her lampworked beads are gorgeous.

She also has an etsy shop http://www.pondhillstudio.etsy.com/ and she is really a talented glassartist. I can't say so much for her blog, she has not posted since February, silly girl! But her glass beads are worth taking a trip to her studio to see. And her prices are very good.

There are many talented glass artists out there. I do not really consider myself to be a glass artist. I just call myself a glassworker.....or a glassmesser, maybe that is what I am.


Also, there are some very impressive glass studios out there. My studio in WA was sooooooooo impressive. It was so full of stuff and so fun to walk around in. I was also very, very organized.


If you have not seen the old studio, you can go to the website, http://www.glasspondstudio.com/ and see my lovely old studio and read about the little shed in the woods. Eventually I outgrew the shed and took over half of the garage. You can see a photo of part of that studio at the bottom of this blog.


But, oh well, it could not exactly come to Mexico, could it?


While we are in this exciting stage of not really having anyplace to really put anything, I have made major compromises. I have not begged Senor to hurry up and roof this place in so I can have a decent studio in which to work. I have not bugged Senor about the fact that he even takes up more space around here than I do. I have not broken down once in tears because I do not have room to do anything around here. I have not complained at all...........

Really I am just doing what I can with what I have........ and it is working fine.

So! Just for Linda Lee of New Hampshire and anyone else out there who is interested........HI MOM.............I am going to take you on a tour of my studio today!!!

Aren't you excited? And it is a free tour!!!!! So, here we go!

In the photo below, we are entering the studio!

Try to ignore all the odd other stuff......this is the studio............
Now, let's get down to business. The table covered in orange and pink oil cloth as you enter the studio door is the main work table for beadworking.
Now, you will see other things on that table, like a papaya ripening, but that is unimportant.

The sewing maching is capable of sewing beaded tapestry hangings together when it feels like it.
The current project is a Hawaiian lei made of silver and amazonite from Brazil and opals from Africa and silver from Karen Hill tribe of Thailand.......notice the tools placed so neatly to the side of the work area..............very, very tidy.Now to the right of the work table is an area on top of a very old chest from Belgium. Alot of assorted craft and bead items are here. Note the cake pan cover at the end, bead boxes in the middle and a few photographs and things that are always getting in the way...........Against the window wall we have an area that thinks it is a kitchen, but really is not. See how the bead boxes control everything. They take over that piece of metal called a hot plate, they cover not just one table but two, including the area where the blender thinks it should be. Some old silver is drying out, competing with a few cups and glasses. But again, note how neat and tidy everything looks.
Until we get here...................now just because I am such a nice and sweet person, I allow Senor to store his tools in the studio. But, look how he takes advantage of this opportunity. His stuff is everywhere................. how he can find anything, I do not know................. so...we try not to hang out in this area of the studio for long.


Beyond Senor's tool area is the refrigerator which Senor is extremely unhappy with. I wanted a small refrigerator and I will admit this one is too small for our family of two.
The importance however, of this area is not the refrigerator which has made its way into the studio, it is the glassmessing station located on the table to the left.
All of the glassmessing is done here. When the glass is in full operation, the grinder is pulled out from under the table and set up outside in the Hilton Garden Room. Since it is a job that requires using a face mask, the circulation is better outside. Note the mangos in a bowl which have been placed out to ripen by someone we won't mention.......................
To the left of the glass is the art easel which gets used when there is no energy remaining for glassmessing or beading.......................this is a nopale cactus drawing done in aquarelle, or watercolor pencil..................don't worry, it is not finished.................
If you will follow me we will go into the bathroom. Right outside the door are more boxes of crafts and glass and beads......alot of fabric is kept here for use in Christmas cards and wall hangings ...................

In the bathroom, under the triptic daffodil painting is the current fire book, the third one. Inside the fire books are records of every firing ever done in the kilns.................
In the shower is the big computerized kiln. It is temporarily on sabbatical as it heats to 1600 degrees and it is already hot enough in there.

Someone thinks it is also a fine place to store fertilzer and other assorted items...............

As we leave the bathroom you can see the smaller hot box kiln sits on the floor and doubles as a vase for paper flowers........................

We are going to now leave the studio and head for the showroom. I am serious. I have had four shows in there.....................

Below is the computer where I work on http://www.glasspondstudio.com/ www.glasspondstudio.etsy.com/ and my galleries at http://www.glassartists.org/ and http://www.delphiglass.com/ and www.glasspondstudio.artfire.com/

and, of course, the blog................

When it is showtime, the books go under the bed or in the bathroom attached to this room, the lights go down, the red carpet comes out, well sort of..............

and the glass and the beads come out of their hiding places to say hello.................

Who knows what this little studio will be in the future? I am not sure. I would like to see it out in the stable, but I will patiently wait, until after the roof is on, to see the possibilities...........

hey, if you have a little studio............... glass, beads, painting, sewing, woodworking, metal, it doesn't matter what you do in it...............well, please, nothing we would not want to see.................... send me a picture of it and I will have a studio posting day. I would love to see other people's studios and workshops.

You have always had access to my email on the website, so I will just go ahead and give it to you here. adamsLH@aol.com. Be sure and tell me it is a studio or workshop picture or I won't open it................

Send me your studio picture, Linda Lee.

Cookies, the fat cat says it is siesta time. adios, linda lou.