April 9, 2024 Shoshone, California

 80 degrees, sunny and very windy.

John and I went on a hike on the white trail to see the flowers. Pepperweed, ground cherry, phacelia, desert chicory, rock rose.

Gravel ghost, desert 5 spot, cool rock, gravel ghost, mojavea, phacelia, white wooly daisy, gilia. John standing behind a huge gravel ghost.

Desert spine flower, yellow evening primrose, pink monkey flower, yellow wooly daisy, pygmy poppy, and chia all together, chia, gravel ghost, button brittle bush, yellow tack stem, the stem of the yellow tack stem has small tack shaped glands on it. desert gold,

Desert gold.

Desert gold and phacelia. A beavertail prickly pear with 16 blooms!

I finished this basket. It is 11 x 9 x 3 inches. It is made from dyed pine needles, polyester thread and glass beads. The center is a piece of fused glass I made. It was warm and light enough to have dinner on the patio.

No clouds for sunset, just a rosy glow. Yellow wooly daisies, tack stem and a pincushion, beavertail prickly pear, desert gold and 5 spot, poppies, evening primrose with rock rose, desert tortoise, and humming bird. 

No, no, no. I got a jury summons for Colorado on April 29. I won't be anywhere near Colorado then. I got a postponement until July 22. Phew, I think I will be there then.

April 6-8, 2024 Las Vegas, Nevada

 High of 64 and sunny.

Today I took a class from Susan McGarry called Amazing Glass Clay.  Excellent class. One of the tools we got was a set of tiny measuring spoons. 1/4 tsp a tad, 1/8 tsp a dash, 1/16 tsp a pinch, 1/32 a smidgen, 1/64 tsp a drop. To make the clay you have to measure small amounts exactly.

Examples of what we were making, wood grain pendants, geode pendants,  More examples, leaves and my pieces. The kiln in the class room was broken, so I will have to wait till I get home to fire them. Very cool technique. Great class.

Photos from the gallery of excellence. This is a real buffalo skull, it is huge. I sat next to the woman who made this last night at the meet and greet event. The photo she showed me did not do it justice. A cast cat, a glass projector, a snail with mushroom, the raven and skull was made by a high school student. There were about 20 pieces from the high school students.  A geode made by Susan, the instructor of the class I just took. Welcome to Spring, and a combed piece. Drawing for prizes at Tim Carey's booth at the end of the expo. 

It was lovely to get home. Looks like the ravens left their nest while we were gone. Flowers in the backyard.

A picture of me taken at the free photo booth at the glass expo. Prickly pear bloom.

We made an eclipse viewer. John with the viewer.  We saw this small eclipsed sun. I was taking photos of shadows to see if they were sun shaped. They were not, but I saw this bird. The flowers around Shoshone exploded while we were gone.

Desert gold.

Desert gold. 

Desert gold and a petite sunset. 

April 3-5, 2024 Las Vegas, Nevada

 80 and sunny.

We are in Las Vegas at the Glass and Bead Expo. I am taking glass classes. My first class today was wire wrapping lentil beads. These are some the instructor made. 

The instructor Libby doing a demo. This is the one I made in class. Libby made the bead, I wrapped it.

The second class I took was advanced glass combing. These are some examples of advanced glass combing. Meanwhile in the casino there is a Ladies International Poker series. LIPS going on. Here is Janine the instructor demoing combing hot glass. I am going to buy one of these drop out  bottom kilns while I am here. 

Janine teaching us glass combing. And a close up of combing.

After classes John and I walked around the pool a bit. It was a lovely day for it. Too bad I was in class all day. I took another wire wrapping class from Libby this morning. Top left is the pendant I wrapped. Top right is the demo one that Libby made the bottom 4 are the ones the 4 of us in class made. Libby made all the glass beads. Great class.

This afternoon I took an alcohol ink on glass class from Annie. These are the things I made in that class. My new favorite slot machine. The red queen has been generous to me. 

This evening I took a peyote beaded bezel class from Wendy. She made this example of what we were making. Mine is only partly done, but good class. The exhibit hall at the Glass and Bead Expo opened today. Everyone who makes anything glass has an exhibit here. Great place to see all the new products and learn about things. there was a line of about 200 people at the door before it opened. I had a class until 3, so didn't get into the exhibits until after that. 

I took a class called Over the Edge. Last year I took a class called on the edge where we learned how to work with strips of glass on edge. This years is the advanced one where we learned about working with curved edges. Here is the Alisha in the green shirt demonstrating some techniques. In the foreground are some finished project examples. Here is what I made before firing.

Here are some of what the other students made before firing. We can pick up fired projects tomorrow. At the exhibits this afternoon my friends Anita and Lois talked me into getting into the glass cutting contest. Anita and Lois are friends from the glass group in Denver I belong to.  Here we are with our cutters in the air.

Anita, Lois and I trying to get as many pieces as possible cut in the 4 minutes allotted. We were given a clear piece of glass and had to cut as many pieces as possible on the pattern below in 4 minutes.

Lois won first place. Her prize was a cool mold for slumping. Congratulations! I think I probably came in last. It has been windy, cloudy and cold. There were no colors at sunset.

In the evening was the meet and greet party. They had this photo booth. Sue, Lois and Anita enjoying the festivities.