I finished the custom order quicker than I anticipated, so I made a start on a new set of beads for eBay. I thought I was actually going to have them ready to list on eBay yesterday, however, I ran out of gas (propane, for those of you across the big pond) and it was too late in the day for me to bother unhooking it and taking it be refilled.
Anyway, the gas tank is full again, and after I finish work today around 12.30 pm, I plan on putting the finishing touches on those beads, and they'll be up on eBay tomorrow. If I wasn't in such a rush this morning to start work, I would have taken a "sneak peek" photo to share with you. Oh well.. drop by tomorrow if you'd like to check them out. Have a great day!
Tuesday, 31 July 2007
Friday, 27 July 2007
Friday Funny . . .
A friend emailed this to me this morning. It's quite clever really, and as I got a chuckle out of it, I thought I'd share it:
The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.
As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5-year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".
In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.
There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.
In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.
Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.
By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".
During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl.
Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.
Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.
The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.
As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5-year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".
In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.
There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.
In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.
Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.
By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".
During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl.
Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.
Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.
Thursday, 26 July 2007
Bead Happenings . . .
Just a quick 'heads-up' to let you know that this weekend I'll be working on a custom order, which means that in all probability, my current set of beads up on eBay will probably be the last you'll see out of me for about a week or so. I will try my hardest to put together a few focals for my Etsy store, but, no guarantees. Have a great day, and catch you again soon!
Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Glass Wall of Shame.org . . .
I came across this site today while searching for something. It's actually a shame that it doesn't appear to have been updated for a while. The idea of informing the buying public regarding shady bead practices is a great idea. I guess they never got the word out. Makes for some interesting reading though, even if it didn't seem to last all that long! VERY interesting in fact!
Tuesday, 24 July 2007
Memories. . .
I've been browsing around on Myspace again lately, and finding a few "lost" friends. One I recently came across was the home page of my ex, Toney. As many of my regular readers may know, Toney was the last guy I dated before I met DH Russ. I met him through the internet back in 1997 on a singles site. He's American, and at the time, was living in San Diego and I was still living in Sydney.
Anyway, we got to know each other really well over the phone and through tons of emails over the period of about 6 months, and in November '97 I went over there and spent about 6 weeks with him. It was a really happy time in my life, and although Toney and I eventually didn't work out due to a variety of circumstances, we have remained friends and have kept in touch occasionally over the years via email. I didn't realise he had a Myspace page though until this morning.
I think there's always one person in your life you look back on and wonder "what if?". For me, Toney's that guy. Don't get me wrong, I don't for a minute think I would have been happier with Toney than I am with Russ or that I sit here wishing life had worked out differently, because that's simply not true... but, you can't help but wonder what would have happened had you chosen the other path.
Well.. that's quite enough melancholy out of me for one day!
Anyway, we got to know each other really well over the phone and through tons of emails over the period of about 6 months, and in November '97 I went over there and spent about 6 weeks with him. It was a really happy time in my life, and although Toney and I eventually didn't work out due to a variety of circumstances, we have remained friends and have kept in touch occasionally over the years via email. I didn't realise he had a Myspace page though until this morning.
I think there's always one person in your life you look back on and wonder "what if?". For me, Toney's that guy. Don't get me wrong, I don't for a minute think I would have been happier with Toney than I am with Russ or that I sit here wishing life had worked out differently, because that's simply not true... but, you can't help but wonder what would have happened had you chosen the other path.
Well.. that's quite enough melancholy out of me for one day!
Monday, 23 July 2007
New Beads Tomorrow . . .
Well thanks to my internet access being so sporadic all day, I only managed to do my medical transcription work for about an hour today. I still don't know what the problem was, nor if its fixed itself, but it seems okay for the moment. Murphy's Law is such that I am meant to finish my job at 5.00 pm, and the internet seemed to come back online 5 minutes before I was due to finish.. oh well.
The up side to that however is that I spent a few hours in the studio today, finishing a new set of beads. Here's a sneak peek at a few of the beads. Assuming I have enough time tomorrow morning, this set should be up on eBay around 9.30 am. If I don't have time to list the auction before I start work, then it will definitely be up at just after 12.30 pm when I finish work.
And speaking of beads, this is the only half decent photo I've managed to get from my new camera, and I'm not really all that happy with this photo either. The colours are good, but when I compare the "crispness" of this photo to that of my old Nikon, well, it's just not there. And it should be since my Nikon is about 4 years old and my new camera is much more advanced.
Hmm.. looks like I'm really going to have to sit down with my good friend, Farid, and figure out what the heck I'm doing wrong - and soon.
See you tomorrow!
The up side to that however is that I spent a few hours in the studio today, finishing a new set of beads. Here's a sneak peek at a few of the beads. Assuming I have enough time tomorrow morning, this set should be up on eBay around 9.30 am. If I don't have time to list the auction before I start work, then it will definitely be up at just after 12.30 pm when I finish work.
And speaking of beads, this is the only half decent photo I've managed to get from my new camera, and I'm not really all that happy with this photo either. The colours are good, but when I compare the "crispness" of this photo to that of my old Nikon, well, it's just not there. And it should be since my Nikon is about 4 years old and my new camera is much more advanced.
Hmm.. looks like I'm really going to have to sit down with my good friend, Farid, and figure out what the heck I'm doing wrong - and soon.
See you tomorrow!
Sunday, 22 July 2007
Backyard Blitz (Part 1) . . .
DH Russ is in renovation mode at the moment. Ever since we moved into this house back in February last year, we've been talking about completely overhauling the backyard. The house is on a good size block, unfortunately, the majority of space is in the front yard, as all the houses in our cul-de-sac are set quite a way back from the road. It's nice to live in a quiet cul-de-sac with loads of trees out the front, but the downside to that is that we have a tiny backyard.
In reality though, that doesn't really bother us all that much. We don't have kids so there's no need for a large yard for them to play in, all the outdoor entertaining takes place on our back deck (granted, that doesn't happen all that often, since the weather in Melbourne for the majority of the year isn't conducive to dining outdoors), and although we have a dog, Toby spends the majority of his time either in the house with us asleep on his bed here in the office, or else sleeps in the shed.
Since Mum moved down, Russ has got his butt into gear and decided to start work on the yard. Mum loves tending garden and has a green thumb (I, on the other hand, could kill an air fern at 10 paces), so that's given him all the incentive he needed to make a start on transforming the yard. We're planning on having our own vegetable garden at some point, and Mum is talking about a whole load of flowers and plants she'd like to have (most of which leave me totally confused, since I can barely distinguish a weed from a wattle).
So far Russ has pulled out all the nasty rotting railway sleepers from one side of the house and replaced them with volcanic rocks he picked up from our 100 acre property. Here's a photo of the area before he started (and these are very early photos - there's loads of work to still do before it even nears completion):
And after he's put in the rocks:
The brick pillars (near the gas bottle) will be going at some point - at the moment, that's where the barbecue is, but as its never worked and we have plans to purchase one we can move around, there's not really much point in it being there. What we hope to put there at some point is a hot tub. It's all very difficult to imagine at the moment, but I have no doubt at all that Russ will work it out and (eventually) it will look wonderful.
Russ is taking photos of each stage, so it will be interesting to see how far it all progresses over the months (years?!). Russ is actually very good with this type of thing, and although he bitches and moans the whole time he's doing it, I know he actually loves it. It keeps him out of trouble I suppose, and God knows I'll never be the type of person who will enjoy doing this sort of stuff, so just as well he enjoys it! LOL.
Oh.. and beads! I started on a new set today, but I only managed to make about 4 or 5 beads, so unfortunately, there won't be anything new up on eBay. I'm hoping to get a chance to finish this set tomorrow, so make sure to stop by Tuesday morning if you want to check them out.
In reality though, that doesn't really bother us all that much. We don't have kids so there's no need for a large yard for them to play in, all the outdoor entertaining takes place on our back deck (granted, that doesn't happen all that often, since the weather in Melbourne for the majority of the year isn't conducive to dining outdoors), and although we have a dog, Toby spends the majority of his time either in the house with us asleep on his bed here in the office, or else sleeps in the shed.
Since Mum moved down, Russ has got his butt into gear and decided to start work on the yard. Mum loves tending garden and has a green thumb (I, on the other hand, could kill an air fern at 10 paces), so that's given him all the incentive he needed to make a start on transforming the yard. We're planning on having our own vegetable garden at some point, and Mum is talking about a whole load of flowers and plants she'd like to have (most of which leave me totally confused, since I can barely distinguish a weed from a wattle).
So far Russ has pulled out all the nasty rotting railway sleepers from one side of the house and replaced them with volcanic rocks he picked up from our 100 acre property. Here's a photo of the area before he started (and these are very early photos - there's loads of work to still do before it even nears completion):
And after he's put in the rocks:The brick pillars (near the gas bottle) will be going at some point - at the moment, that's where the barbecue is, but as its never worked and we have plans to purchase one we can move around, there's not really much point in it being there. What we hope to put there at some point is a hot tub. It's all very difficult to imagine at the moment, but I have no doubt at all that Russ will work it out and (eventually) it will look wonderful.
Russ is taking photos of each stage, so it will be interesting to see how far it all progresses over the months (years?!). Russ is actually very good with this type of thing, and although he bitches and moans the whole time he's doing it, I know he actually loves it. It keeps him out of trouble I suppose, and God knows I'll never be the type of person who will enjoy doing this sort of stuff, so just as well he enjoys it! LOL.
Oh.. and beads! I started on a new set today, but I only managed to make about 4 or 5 beads, so unfortunately, there won't be anything new up on eBay. I'm hoping to get a chance to finish this set tomorrow, so make sure to stop by Tuesday morning if you want to check them out.
Saturday, 21 July 2007
One of "those" days...
Well, that's what its been. I fired up the torch early this morning in anticipation of making a new set of beads, and I really may as well not have bothered. Everything I made ended up in my water jar, except for about 5 beads which I'm still not exactly over the moon about. All up, I made about 20 beads that ended up looking like a dog's breakfast. At 3.30 pm, I shut the torch off and gave up in total exasperation.
GRRRR... I hate days like this. I generally only have the weekends to torch nowadays so the time I have to make beads is precious, and when everything goes wrong, I feel like finding a cliff and throwing myself off. I guess tomorrow's another day, and I have a few other ideas I want to try, so hopefully things will go better.
So, assuming I have a more fruitful day tomorrow, I may have something new to offer you on Monday. At least I'm hoping that's the way it goes!
GRRRR... I hate days like this. I generally only have the weekends to torch nowadays so the time I have to make beads is precious, and when everything goes wrong, I feel like finding a cliff and throwing myself off. I guess tomorrow's another day, and I have a few other ideas I want to try, so hopefully things will go better.
So, assuming I have a more fruitful day tomorrow, I may have something new to offer you on Monday. At least I'm hoping that's the way it goes!
Thursday, 19 July 2007
My New Toy. . .
I've been thinking about purchasing a new camera for a while now. While my Nikon Coolpix E4300 has served me reasonably well for the past few years, I've never been particularly happy with the super close-up shots. Of course, that may actually have more to do with my lack of photography skills than the quality of the camera itself, but, I felt it was about time I upgraded. After comparing a number of cameras, I decided to purchase a Canon Powershot S3. I've read a number of reviews about how fantastic this camera is for super macro shots, and the added bonus of an image stabiliser was what sucked me in.
So it arrived this morning, and the first thing I really love about it is the weight - it has a lovely "hefty" feel to it and sits perfectly in my hand, which I think will really help improve the quality of my macro shots. I know I really should buy a tripod (I did have one a few years ago but it broke and I haven't bothered to replace it), but we'll see how it goes. Now, of course, all I have to do is work out how to actually use the new camera. It took me about 3 years to get the hang of using the Nikon, and now I'm on another learning curve.
Anyway, the batteries won't be charged up enough until at least tomorrow for me to even consider playing around with it, but I'm really quite excited about the possibilities this camera seems to offer. I may even sit down with my friend, Farid, and have a chat with him about improving the quality of my photos. Although an amateur photographer, he knows a heck of a lot more about this stuff than I do - as a matter of fact, he's the person that took all the photos for the book I'm in and they turned out wonderfully.
Well, time for me to start work.. have a great day!
So it arrived this morning, and the first thing I really love about it is the weight - it has a lovely "hefty" feel to it and sits perfectly in my hand, which I think will really help improve the quality of my macro shots. I know I really should buy a tripod (I did have one a few years ago but it broke and I haven't bothered to replace it), but we'll see how it goes. Now, of course, all I have to do is work out how to actually use the new camera. It took me about 3 years to get the hang of using the Nikon, and now I'm on another learning curve.
Anyway, the batteries won't be charged up enough until at least tomorrow for me to even consider playing around with it, but I'm really quite excited about the possibilities this camera seems to offer. I may even sit down with my friend, Farid, and have a chat with him about improving the quality of my photos. Although an amateur photographer, he knows a heck of a lot more about this stuff than I do - as a matter of fact, he's the person that took all the photos for the book I'm in and they turned out wonderfully.
Well, time for me to start work.. have a great day!
Tuesday, 17 July 2007
Is This Really The End?
So, it's no secret to anyone who knows me how much I love Trailer Park Boys. It's not that well known out here in Australia, with it being a sorta low budget Canadian "mockumentary" and only being shown sporadically on cable TV. I was introduced to it about 4 years ago by a Canadian guy DH Russ works with, and after getting over the initial shock of it, I was hooked. I've purchased every season on DVD from the USA, and when I can't watch it on DVD (such as Season 7 - the most current), then I tend to watch it on the web. Anyway, I've watched all of Season 7's episodes, and I loved it, particularly the last few minutes of Episode 10 which I'm not embarrassed to admit, I actually shed a tear or two over.
Anyway, if you're an Aussie and like TPB but don't generally get much of a chance to watch it, here's the last 5 minutes or so of Episode 10 from Season 7. The cast are apparently taking a break from shooting next year, and there's rumours that Season 7 may have been the last. If that's the case, then this last 5 minutes or so was the perfect way for it to end.
Oh and a warning - if you're the type of person who is offended by profanity, drug or alcohol references, then I would recommend you don't watch the video. If you're not that sort of person but have never heard of TPB, then by all means watch it, although none of it will make sense to you and you'll no doubt be thinking HUH? If you ever get a chance to watch TPB from Season 1, you may be surprised how it sucks you in (particularly if you have a twisted sense of humour, like I do!)
PS. Hey Lucy - if you make it down from Surfers, the offer still stands, there'll be a cold one waiting for you! :-)
Anyway, if you're an Aussie and like TPB but don't generally get much of a chance to watch it, here's the last 5 minutes or so of Episode 10 from Season 7. The cast are apparently taking a break from shooting next year, and there's rumours that Season 7 may have been the last. If that's the case, then this last 5 minutes or so was the perfect way for it to end.
Oh and a warning - if you're the type of person who is offended by profanity, drug or alcohol references, then I would recommend you don't watch the video. If you're not that sort of person but have never heard of TPB, then by all means watch it, although none of it will make sense to you and you'll no doubt be thinking HUH? If you ever get a chance to watch TPB from Season 1, you may be surprised how it sucks you in (particularly if you have a twisted sense of humour, like I do!)
PS. Hey Lucy - if you make it down from Surfers, the offer still stands, there'll be a cold one waiting for you! :-)
More Beads to Come . . .
Here's a photo of a focal I currently have up on eBay. There's also a matching set up for auction too. And if you'd rather purchase a few focals without having to do the whole eBay "thing", then make sure to stop by my store on Etsy. I'll also have a few more focals up on Etsy in the next day or so!
Sunday, 15 July 2007
Beads for Sale . . .
Tomorrow I'll have a new set up on eBay, plus 3 or 4 focals which I'll probably have up for immediate purchase in my Etsy store. I think the break away from the torch did wonders for my creativity - the focals in particular have me very excited. I very rarely allow myself time to just 'play' at the torch - normally when I sit down, I pretty much know exactly what I'm going to make, but today after I finished the set for eBay, instead of working on another set, I decided to simply play and see what my muse came up with. I think I need to do this more often, because the ideas for the focals just seemed to come out of nowhere and I had a hard time stopping. I know everyone says there's no such thing as an original idea when it comes to beads, but in all honesty, I really don't think I've seen these style of beads anywhere else. I can see more of these beads in the near future!
Anyway, if you'd like to see how the focals turned out, drop by my Etsy store tomorrow. I might list one on eBay, but I'll see how I feel about that tomorrow. Time for me to relax and just enjoy the rest of my Sunday. See you tomorrow!
Anyway, if you'd like to see how the focals turned out, drop by my Etsy store tomorrow. I might list one on eBay, but I'll see how I feel about that tomorrow. Time for me to relax and just enjoy the rest of my Sunday. See you tomorrow!
Saturday, 14 July 2007
Bead Update . . .
Wow, a whole week has passed me by and I haven't updated the blog. There really hasn't been anything that interesting to report - I've just been working in my medical transcription job and that's really been about it. The good news though is that I will be making beads today. If you haven't visited my website lately, you may not be aware that DH Russ took a look at my kiln earlier in the week and realised what the problem was. So he's rewired a few things, replaced the electrical cord and it's working. I haven't sent the newsletter out yet to let my customers know that I'll be returning to making beads earlier than anticipated, but come Monday, I should have at least one new set of beads ready for eBay, and I'll send the newsletter out then.
So, that's about all the news I have to share with you at the moment. My stepson, Daniel, and his girlfriend are coming over tomorrow night to see us. As I've mentioned in previous blog entries, he's an apprentice chef and has been living in Tasmania for about 1½ years while completing his apprenticeship. So tomorrow night he's coming over and cooking us garlic prawns for dinner. This is such a yummy dish and I'm looking forward to not having to cook for a change! I always find you enjoy something so much more when YOU don't have to cook it too!
Okay.. I'll be back in a few days' time when I have some new beads to share with you. Have a great weekend!
So, that's about all the news I have to share with you at the moment. My stepson, Daniel, and his girlfriend are coming over tomorrow night to see us. As I've mentioned in previous blog entries, he's an apprentice chef and has been living in Tasmania for about 1½ years while completing his apprenticeship. So tomorrow night he's coming over and cooking us garlic prawns for dinner. This is such a yummy dish and I'm looking forward to not having to cook for a change! I always find you enjoy something so much more when YOU don't have to cook it too!
Okay.. I'll be back in a few days' time when I have some new beads to share with you. Have a great weekend!
Saturday, 7 July 2007
You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby . . .
. . . so what happened? ;-)
Just kidding! Happy 52nd Birthday Russ. Love you lots!
Just kidding! Happy 52nd Birthday Russ. Love you lots!
Friday, 6 July 2007
I'm in print!
As regular visitors may remember, I'm a contributor in a new book being published by Karen Leonardo. Karen contacted me today and it appears that the book is due for release in November. Here's a photo of the front cover - and yep, that's my bead (the square one)!. You can pre-order the book on Amazon. For my Australian friends, Lily of Hotbeadbox will most likely be stocking the book when it's released too. There'll be step-by-step photos in the book of me making the bead on the cover, along with tutorials from the other contributors too of course!
Well.. that's made my week! With my kiln dying, I've been feeling very sorry for myself, and this was just the thing I needed to lift my spirits!
Well.. that's made my week! With my kiln dying, I've been feeling very sorry for myself, and this was just the thing I needed to lift my spirits!
Thursday, 5 July 2007
A New Arrival . . .
Congratulations to my beautiful cousin Felecia, and her husband, Chris, on the birth of their first baby, Zach Tappenden. Zach made his entry into the world after a relatively brief labour (your lucky girl!) on 4 July, and from what I understand, Felecia wanted to come home the same day! LOL.
Flea and Chris, I hope to see you and Zach soon. And I expect lots of photos!
Flea and Chris, I hope to see you and Zach soon. And I expect lots of photos!
Wednesday, 4 July 2007
Kiln Update . . .
Well, after speaking with my glass supplier, Lily, it appears I may not have to wait as long for my new kiln as I originally anticipated. At this stage, it looks like it may be ready to go in 3-4 weeks. If that is the case, then I anticipate I'll have some new beads ready for sale in about 4-5 weeks. I'm still not exactly thrilled at the thought of having to wait that long, but it could be worse. Lily told me that the company that is supplying my kiln are swamped with orders at the moment, and if I had ordered it next week, then I probably would have had to wait at least 9 weeks for it be delivered!
Of course, no matter how long it takes, I still have to cough up about $1900 for it. Since I don't have that sort of money sitting around, I've had to borrow the money off my Mum. I looked into having my old kiln repaired, and DH Russ called the guy I bought it off. Unfortunately, the man who made my kiln 5 years ago passed away a few months ago, and as he was a sole trader, his business has been dissolved.. so, unless I could find some other company to repair it, the new kiln was really the only option at this stage. DH Russ is taking the kiln to his workplace and asking a few of the electricians to take a look at it - those electronic aircraft engineer guys are pretty good with that sort of stuff, so.. you never know, they may be able to repair it for me.
So, that's what's happening at the moment. If you're interested in placing custom orders, and don't mind waiting, I'm still taking orders. I have a few orders on hold for the moment, but I'm always happy to add you to the list.
That's about it outta me for the moment.. I'll be back again in a few days' time. Oh, and for my friends in the USA, I hope you have a happy 4th July!
Of course, no matter how long it takes, I still have to cough up about $1900 for it. Since I don't have that sort of money sitting around, I've had to borrow the money off my Mum. I looked into having my old kiln repaired, and DH Russ called the guy I bought it off. Unfortunately, the man who made my kiln 5 years ago passed away a few months ago, and as he was a sole trader, his business has been dissolved.. so, unless I could find some other company to repair it, the new kiln was really the only option at this stage. DH Russ is taking the kiln to his workplace and asking a few of the electricians to take a look at it - those electronic aircraft engineer guys are pretty good with that sort of stuff, so.. you never know, they may be able to repair it for me.
So, that's what's happening at the moment. If you're interested in placing custom orders, and don't mind waiting, I'm still taking orders. I have a few orders on hold for the moment, but I'm always happy to add you to the list.
That's about it outta me for the moment.. I'll be back again in a few days' time. Oh, and for my friends in the USA, I hope you have a happy 4th July!
Sunday, 1 July 2007
Bead Woes . . .
I'll have a new set of beads up on eBay tomorrow morning, and they will in all probability be the last beads I'll have for sale for at least 6 weeks or so. The reason? My !@#$%* kiln died today.
I can't believe my luck (or lack thereof) when it comes to kilns. This is the second kiln in 5 years that has died on me. The one that died today was my 'back-up' kiln - the first one I purchased when I started making beads around 5½ years ago. Since this particular kiln never had a controller, meaning I had to 'babysit' it when it was going through the annealing cycle, a few years ago I decided to purchase a mailbox annealer kiln from the USA. At the time, beadmaking was still in its infancy here in Australia, and as I couldn't find a suitable beadmaking kiln, I decided to purchase one from the USA.
That was a great idea - in theory. At the time, it cost me around US$680 for the kiln, however, when you added shipping from the USA to Australia on top of that, and the extra I had to pay when it reached customs, it ended up costing me, in total, close to $2,000. And even that wouldn't have been so bad, but I never had anything but problems with it from day 1. I managed to get about 1½-2 years of usage out of it before it died. Sending it back to the USA for repairing was simply out of the question, but luckily, I had the back-up kiln to tide me over.
Until today, that is. I fired up the kiln earlier today in anticipation of starting on a new set of beads. When I went into the studio about half an hour after turning it on, the first thing I noticed was a strange smell. The only thing that was running at the time was the kiln, so I knew immediately that had to be it, and sure enough, it was going on and off and making this awful "groaning" sound. I turned it off, turned it back on.. still no joy. The last time I tried it, about 3 hours ago, it wouldn't even switch on.
So now I have to find approximately $1800 from somewhere (and I really don't have any clue where I'm going to find that sort of money on such short notice) to purchase a new kiln and wait approximately 6-8 weeks for it to be delivered. I'm purchasing it through my glass supplier, and she's going to call the kiln manufacturers tomorrow to find out exactly how long it should take. She told me that the last few she's ordered through them took less time than that to be delivered, but, at this stage, I really don't have a clue when it will be ready.
Anyway, like I said, the set of beads I'll be listing on eBay tomorrow will be it for a while. Since I still need to earn a living, and the sale of my beads usually supplements my income, it looks like I'm going to have to consider working 7 days a week in my medical transcription job to make up the difference in the meantime. *sigh*
Well.. that's been my weekend. I'm not exactly in the best of moods at the moment, but as the saying goes, "this too shall pass". As soon as I know anything more, I'll update my blog. I hope you had a better weekend than I did, and I'll be back ASAP with lots more beads to offer you.
I can't believe my luck (or lack thereof) when it comes to kilns. This is the second kiln in 5 years that has died on me. The one that died today was my 'back-up' kiln - the first one I purchased when I started making beads around 5½ years ago. Since this particular kiln never had a controller, meaning I had to 'babysit' it when it was going through the annealing cycle, a few years ago I decided to purchase a mailbox annealer kiln from the USA. At the time, beadmaking was still in its infancy here in Australia, and as I couldn't find a suitable beadmaking kiln, I decided to purchase one from the USA.
That was a great idea - in theory. At the time, it cost me around US$680 for the kiln, however, when you added shipping from the USA to Australia on top of that, and the extra I had to pay when it reached customs, it ended up costing me, in total, close to $2,000. And even that wouldn't have been so bad, but I never had anything but problems with it from day 1. I managed to get about 1½-2 years of usage out of it before it died. Sending it back to the USA for repairing was simply out of the question, but luckily, I had the back-up kiln to tide me over.
Until today, that is. I fired up the kiln earlier today in anticipation of starting on a new set of beads. When I went into the studio about half an hour after turning it on, the first thing I noticed was a strange smell. The only thing that was running at the time was the kiln, so I knew immediately that had to be it, and sure enough, it was going on and off and making this awful "groaning" sound. I turned it off, turned it back on.. still no joy. The last time I tried it, about 3 hours ago, it wouldn't even switch on.
So now I have to find approximately $1800 from somewhere (and I really don't have any clue where I'm going to find that sort of money on such short notice) to purchase a new kiln and wait approximately 6-8 weeks for it to be delivered. I'm purchasing it through my glass supplier, and she's going to call the kiln manufacturers tomorrow to find out exactly how long it should take. She told me that the last few she's ordered through them took less time than that to be delivered, but, at this stage, I really don't have a clue when it will be ready.
Anyway, like I said, the set of beads I'll be listing on eBay tomorrow will be it for a while. Since I still need to earn a living, and the sale of my beads usually supplements my income, it looks like I'm going to have to consider working 7 days a week in my medical transcription job to make up the difference in the meantime. *sigh*
Well.. that's been my weekend. I'm not exactly in the best of moods at the moment, but as the saying goes, "this too shall pass". As soon as I know anything more, I'll update my blog. I hope you had a better weekend than I did, and I'll be back ASAP with lots more beads to offer you.
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