bethie's Blog at GardenStew.com

The Beadmakers Art

bethie — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:52:08 -0400

Author: bethie
Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:52 pm (GMT 0)

Several years ago we had some birthday money and decided to get us a beadmaking kit. These have everything you need to get started except the bottled gas. You can get that at home improvement centers. The bead kit runs about $100 but was recently on sale at the Hobby Lobby for $75.
When we got it home and set it up I had hubby start to make beads, in case it blew up or something. He was so very good at it that he has worked in the flame ever since and I assist and do the bead designing. It just worked out that way. He doesn't really like to pick out colors and such and that is the BEST part. I study up on new techniques and then he learns them! He is so great. Once the bead goes into the flame it stays there until it is done. You wave it in and out of the flame as you work on it. Too long in the flame and it will melt and fall off. Too long out of the flame and it will go into shock and break. It is a somewhat graceful hand dance. Once the bead goes into the flame it is usually molten orange so you need to plan your colors beforehand. When the bead is completed it goes into the fiberglass blankets to cool slowly.

In this photo a bead is in the flame and he is holding a graphite marver in the other hand. The bead is rolled and shaped on this as you work on it. There's another marver laying on the table with frit on it that I made. Frit is pieces of the bead rods broken up into different sizes and colors and then picked up on the hot bead.

Frit with bead.

In this photo you can see the cooling blankets on the table beyond him. They look like cotton batting. At the end of the table near the doorknob is where I sit. Those plastic boxes are those day pill things and they are full of frit of all different sizes and colors. I put it on a marver as needed and push it over to him when he's ready for it.

These glass rods are made in advance and then cooled and put on beads. You take glass rods of different colors and tape then together. They go into the flame and you pull molten glass out of them simultaniously and twist it as you pull. You cool them and then they can be used different ways on beads.

This bead has silver leaf on it. The bead is made of trasparant glass.The leaf is cut up by me and put on a marver. You can't touch this stuff with your hands at all. It's very light also. We were back there yucking it up and I looked down and all my leaf had blown away! Now I keep it a little further away. On the odd shaped bead the leaf is on the surface. On the round bead on the end it is in between layers of glass. There are a million ways to make beads.

Many bead techniques use dots. Dots of colors are put on the beads and then manipulated into shapes. These ferns are made with dots that are then pulled to give them their graceful shape.

This bead is a dark brown bead. Then white dots were put on it then amber dots were put over the white. While the amber dots were still raised up the dark frit was picked up. At the very end it was "smashed" to give it this flattened shape.

These are some camo "man beads." They can be used as zipper pulls on jackets or on coolers and keyrings.

Some beads are just for fun.

These sparkly beauties are made with dichroic glass. It is applied to the bead near the end. It can't stay in the flame too long or it loses its sparkle so it must be worked very gently. I love this stuff!

These flower beads are still on the mandrels. The leaves are green dots that are then pulled into shape. The light gray above and below the bead is a release agent that is dried on the mandrel before the glass is put on it. These take a good while to make as the pattern is on both sides. We don't sell these but like to give them as gifts to flower lovers.

Some "eye beads" and amber necklace beads. The amber beads are "smashed" to give this shape. The amber beads are very popular here.

We buy glass beads and make jewelery to sell. I do the beading part of the necklace and hubby does the silk cord and the rest of the wirework. The handmade bead is always the centerpiece. This is an amber bead with silver leaf that is burned on it to give it a gold look.

I make lots of mix and match earrings to coordinate with.

We don't usually make handmade matching earrings but this one is mine and I DO sleep with the beadmaker.

This is another of my personal pieces so I get 5 handmade beads on this one all made to my specifications. What a guy!

When I first suggested making face beads hubby just couldn't believe he could do it-but I did. These are hard to make and Never sold either. It's the only time I recall us discussing makeup colors! The wires are on them because they hang on the knobs of my stereo. You don't have to wear beads to enjoy them.

Imaginative, creative, FUN.

Decorative Greenhouse Startup

bethie — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:00:09 -0500

Author: bethie
Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 4:00 pm (GMT 0)

We got our old windows and some assorted junk and we are ready to roll. Here's some old spindles and stuff from the dump we will decorate it with. The headboard in the back is oak and will probably end up with stained glass panels in it for another time.

I have primed all the windows and the first thing we do for the four windows for the body is to take off aluminum strips and rip the edges to get rid of the grooved parts. We save these strips for later use. We are predrilling all the holes and using screws. This is a two person job as the windows are unwieldly. Now the box is made. The door will be taken off and hinged later.

We throw this dropcloth on the floor so we can kneel on it since it's cold but when we turn around... My Sheppies have taken over.

The feet are cut off some old bed footboard and are put on. The round ones are in front. Mark this stuff or you are sure to get confused.

For the roof we hold up these slightly larger windows and measure the angle. After figuring out our fractions we see that our miter saw will not cut this deep so we decide to go with a 45 degree angle. Once we put it on there will be only a very tiny gap that we'll caulk on the inside when building and on the outside after it is in place. We take the roof back off and rip the very point off the roofline so the dowel can lay flat. The dowel is not affixed at this point.

Now we take the little strips we ripped off the windows and use these to hold the glass in place. The strips are put on with our little brad gun. You could use little nails or even a good glue for this.

The picture shows what the glass will be put against then more strips will be put in front of the glass to sandwich it in. The grooves left on the edge will have dowels in them. Now we are done for this weekend.
Hubby has had his sandblasting equipment out recently so I ask him if he will blast some glass for me if I get it ready. He gives me "the look." He asks me if he has ever said no to me. Actually he hasn't but I don't push it.
First contac paper is put on the window, no air bubbles allowed. Then the pattern is put on the other side of the window. Now the pattern is cut out with a razor knife and pulled off. This photo is of the door.

Now the door is blasted and the trim painted. I got this doorknob set at the junkyard.

The roof triangle is done. I have laid it on my bed so it will show up good. Hubby was pleased to see our initials on it. I know this way it CAN'T be sold! Look close and you will see where I forgot to cut out one flower center! AAARGGGH!

We cut and paint the spindles and such. We put the glass in the roof front. The back glass we think we will put mirror in. If we hang a windchime in the roof it will reflect nicely. Here is where we are now.

Christmas Presents, Past & Present

bethie — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 16:23:19 -0500

Author: bethie
Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 9:23 pm (GMT 0)

Well, hubby and I just finished several new pieces and I thought I would put them in. First I thought I would show some past presents. Someone nicely loaned me their scanner.
Some things made out of wood. We were lucky enough to be offered some wood off a barn being torn down and we decided to make this large Tenn. Flag for our local library. We love books! Hubby even hung it for them.

This fish was carved and then woodburned.

These all swam away one Christmas.

Birdhouse clocks for everyone.

Little greenhouses one year.

Yes, I am on my own Christmas list!

I made this pattern for some kinfolks that long for HOME.

Color makes a big difference.

Of course our main love is stained glass. This was a baby shower gift.

Hubby's Mom is a wonderful seamstress. We were able to solder real pins to this piece.

There's always a cat lover on your list.

And an owl lover too.

This is a mosaic piece I just finished this morning. It was inspired by my lusting after Zuzu's orchids.

Just finished this one also.

Back to work for me.

Trellis/mosaic project

bethie — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 15:19:41 -0400

Author: bethie
Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 7:19 pm (GMT 0)

Hubby and I just finished this piece for a client. She just had her house painted so her plants are cut way back and she wanted a change. She wanted a large mosaic centerpiece for the wall so I looked at her space.

I suggested instead of just a mosaic floating on the wall that we incorporate it into a trellis that will give some vertical interest to the space. My hubby agrees to build it.
My husband cuts out the concrete backer board into a two and a half foot octagon for the mosaic plaque. Now the part of the glass that is cut with a glass cutter is cut and glued with silicone glue.

I found this design on the web and just loved it. On the blue side it is a moon face also. Now all the rest of the pieces will be cut with mosaic glass pliers. Snap, snap snap. If you can't cut glass the whole piece could be made this way to good effect. Now I am piecing and glueing. I am going with black grout so the blue pieces around the rays are glued very tightly against them. This is more labor intensive than if the grout was a different color but I want black grout.

Days later I am finally done with the piecing. It now sits 48 hours for maximum glue curing.

Now hubby works his magic with the grout. He is GOOD at this.

Now we decide the dimensions and start the trellis. It's made out of treated deck boards that hubby rips. It will be attached to the house itself but the trellis will be two inches from the wall so a plant can climb it.

Now hubby goes and installs it and all are pleased.

In the meantime I make this fun planter from Hummingbird's recipe.

Then I glass it and hubby grouts it. Now I just need to get a plant.... That's a problem I LIKE.

Making A Mosaic birdbath

bethie — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 11:50:50 -0400

Author: bethie
Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2007 3:50 pm (GMT 0)

Well the hubby has talked from time to time about making a mosaic birdbath. First he had to find a shallow one piece low birdbath. Birds really like shallow water. He finally found one he liked and brought it home. I asked him if he had any preconceived ideas for design or color and he said "no." Hooray- now it can be just what I want. First we drag it around to several places it might look good. We decide to nestle it in some mini- varigated bamboo that I have trimmed like a hedge. Now I am ready for design and color. I decide on a kind of Mer-Lady. I want something that doesn't fade into the background because I have a lot going on here. So I draw her and here she is. You can see where I have made corrections on the original.

Before hubby goes out the door he says if I have the pattern cut out when he gets back he will be happy to start cutting glass. You don't have to tell me twice so I get busy. I need three copies of the pattern. One will be cut out and glued with rubber cement to the glass that will be cut with a glass cutter. They will be cut and ground with the paper on them. One copy is a map that you will need to lay the cut pieces on and the third I will use to put the design on the birdbath and put in my files. Since the birdbath is concave I will cut the pattern in pieces to get it to lay flat in the birbath.
Now hubby has cut the glass that is cut out and given it to me. I take the paper off every piece and clean and dry it with windex and lay it on the map.

Now I will take the hair and snap each piece into 4 or 5 and lay it back on the map. This is done because I want the hair to look like long pieces but it has to conform to the curvature of the birdbath. This takes some time and when I am half done I decide I better start glueing it. If someone knocks this glass off this paper I will be in big trouble.

Now I am using my 100% silicone glue. This makes a great waterproof bond. I know how good because now that I decide on red for the outline I change the heart on her face to red and have a time prying up the blue heart. Then I am finished with the glue. I get my razor knife and trim all excess glue from the edge. Now the piece sits for a full 48 hours to cure. We decide on a pale gray grout to match her face. We could go with black. That would give her kind of a broken puppet look that would be interesting also. Hubby does his usual great job of grouting. It sits for 24 hours now and then I clean it with a ceramic tool and some little wire brushes. It's ready.

She nestles right into this bed as if she were made for it!

Cousin Cindy

bethie — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 16:42:03 -0400

Author: bethie
Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 8:42 pm (GMT 0)

Cindy is my hubby's first cousin and Our Good Friend. I first met her when I came to Tennessee to live and she came to visit her Grandmother. We saw her every year after that and eventually she came to live in our little rural backwater. She fully embraces the country lifestyle so I asked if I could come and take a few pics. She said yes so here we go on a tour of Cindy's Place in the World. Here's a few flowers in bloom.

Not sure what this is but dug up a few young ones for myself. It reseeds readily.

This santolina was stunning in the late afternoon sunlight.

Gentle beauty meets the eye at every turn.

Interesting bits of wood abound.

No shed should be without a dressing of rusty tools.

This lovely pot on it's perilous perch. Is that it's predecessor down there or just for fun? You decide.

Beautiful butterfly weed.

An interesting dish catches our eye.

A scenic little twig arch.

Why there's a beautiful kitty.

Let's rest a spell and go on in.

In the early evening shadows the waterford crystal still dazzles.

Why there's Pappy looking like he could climb right out of the photo and turn the radio on while he's reading his paper.

Goldilock's herself couldn't resist this pretty bed with the late evening sun slanting in the window. I am no exception so Gentle Reader, I bid you goodnight.

Hypertufa Eggs

bethie — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 16:23:03 -0400

Author: bethie
Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 8:23 pm (GMT 0)

Well, last summer a friend came over so I could help her make some hypertufa faces. There was a little mix left over so I told her we could just dump it out. Instead she made an egg and went home. Her faces cured and so did the egg. I kept walking by that egg and came up with an idea. I would mosaic that egg like and Easter egg. I had just gotten some pricey mirror glass but I knew it wouldn't take much. Hubby was instantly on board for the grouting. We decided to surprise our friend with this egg when she came to pick up her stuff.

She was delighted with it but the joke was on us. She didn't even Remember making the egg!
I have went on and made these eggs whenever I have a little hypertufa left from another project and then I mosaic them at my leisure.

I started some last week. I put pencil lines in the center of the egg and glass this first. That keeps everything straight. I go round and around working on about five at a time.

Then hubby works his "grouty majic" and they are done just lacking a little cleaning. They are about 6by4inches. They throw off sparks in the sun like crazy.

The Fragrant Garden

bethie — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 12:36:26 -0400

Author: bethie
Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 4:36 pm (GMT 0)

Well, I thought since we are all living and breathing gardening right now I would just take my camera and go for a meander in my yard. I am hot and heavy into scent gardening here. The very first good smell comes with the daffodils in February.

I grow many varieties even one that is scented like gardenias. I love pansies and violas that exude their sweet scent and beautify everything they touch.

Hubby's fave is in bloom right now-Queen Fabiola. She has a very delicate light scent that gets right in your throat.

Everyone's favorite is the spicebush. A sprawling messy bush that blooms very early, is native to here and smells like cloves. He sends runners up and is good for sharing but must be transplanted very early.

Hot on the heels of this is the native Carolina Allspice.

She is another sprawling shrub that is impervious to drought. Her blooms look like little waterlily's and smell like strawberries. On these warm spring days these can be smelled all over the yard.

I love her so much I was able to find a chartreuse version that smells like oranges.

The akebia vine aka choclate vine is also in bloom now. He's a 30 footer but very polite in habit.

My poor sorry little lilac bush is in bloom also.

Lilacs don't do well in this climate and mine is no exception. I am able to eke out a few great blooms though and I do love them.
My magnolia vine, schizandra chinensis is finally starting to grow well.

It's flowers are little and fragrant and this vine has many medicinal properties.
Wallflowers are an easily grown biennial that blooms very early and is fragrant. They reseed easily. I start mine on August the first for bloom the next spring. This first one is not fully opened. They are the orangest! Try these.

That's what's smelling up the place here. Then it's on to wisteria, lily of the valley and gardenia. Later in the summer it's cestrum nocturnum and autumn clemmie. She's a cloud of fragrant white. Of course I grow a lot of herbs too.
If I could bottle this smell today I could be a millionaire-I guess I already am.

Fairy house startup

bethie — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 12:17:07 -0500

Author: bethie
Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 5:17 pm (GMT 0)

Well, we started on our fairy house. I decided to go slightly Gothic with it. Hubby jumped right in to help. Once I had the dimensions he cut it out of exterior plywood and put it together with a light duty nail gun. This avoids wood splitting or having to predrill any holes. At the rooftip it is a whopping 41 inches tall. It will be completely grouted so it will be very weather resistant. The house has a bottom but then was placed on a concrete type board to have a little yard. The windows are thin wood. After grouting, the glass windows will be siliconed in place.

Now I am glueing river rocks to the front and then a very beautiful metallic glass. The grout will be gray. The steps are going an opaque green glass. The door I have hammered copper and put on with little copper nails.

Here's some things for the house.

This moon attaches to the back of the house. I think Every house should have it's own moon. The rock piece is the house chimney. It has a hole drilled in the top that these little copper bats will fly out of in front of the moon. The antlers are going to be an arch over the front door with a little copper wire vine "growing" on it. The windows in the middle of the house have little copper boxes on them that another little vine will spill out of. That's it so far. It's a heavy piece that will be able to be viewed from all sides. I assume that fairies are not afraid of bats but it might keep those pesky GNOMES out.

Fun with Gourds

bethie — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 12:20:29 -0500

Author: bethie
Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 5:20 pm (GMT 0)

Hubby got an unexpected Christmas bonus and put it right in my hot little hand and told me to spend it-so I did. We had grown gourds several years ago and they were all cured and piled up in the shop awaiting transformation. I got online and got me some gourd art supplies- some leather dyes and psanky egg dyes, an exacto tool set with a tiny saw blade, some oil based pastels etc. I LOVE art supplies. It rained all weekend for two weekends in a row so hubby cleaned up some gourds and we got started. My first one was the big gourd I put in the gallery then I switched gears and did some smaller ones. For all these gourds the pattern was put on in pencil and woodburned into the gourd. The gourd when finished is sprayed with a Krylon sealer.

This is a burgundy leather dye.

This is a black leather dye. Leather dyes are permanent and NOT skin friendly. I end up hugging the gourd when I am working on it so I had and old dress on to get ruined. I was in and out one morning working on a gourd and later that day was working on another and looked down and was wearing a good dress! When did I change my clothes? Since the dye was still wet I was able to pretreat it and get it out. Pay attention to what you're doing bethie. Get out of that gourd trance. Hubby in the meantime took the saw and did this lattice cutout on his first one. The top is also cutout and can be used as a stand if desired. Me Love.

Then he did this small canteen gourd with a delicate egg design.

I made a repeating butterfly design into a potpourri bowl.

This morning glory design is colored with the pastels.

This apple gourd was hard as a rock and took forever to burn.

Hubby ended his gourd fun with some mushrooms, then I colored it for him with the egg dyes.

I love face art so I ended with a fun mask with cutout eyes and mouth.

It's supposed to rain all this weekend too. Hmmmmm.

Favorite Pieces

bethie — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 10:05:13 -0500

Author: bethie
Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 3:05 pm (GMT 0)

I thought I would show a few of my favorite pieces in here where everyone doesn't have to see them. I'll start with my favorite outdoor piece.

This started out as a surprise piece of glass my hubby bought me. Little did he know how much work that little glass would make. I decided we would make a peacock feather and I liked it so well decided to make two more and a hypertufa vase to display them in. The glass is heavy so the vase is built with a piece of pipe in the bottom that slides over a rebar driven in the ground. The feathers are each braised to a rod. The vase was hollow and the feathers were creted right into it. This dude ain't going nowhere.( I hope)

We love this piece but hubby did say he hopes we never have to make it again.
This pair of ethnic faces is made with glass of all different textures. The sun hits it in the morning and it's one of the first things I see as I head to the shop.

This fish was a fun pairing of glass and copper art.

This feeder was made from some beautiful cast iron shelf brackets we bought for one dollar. I told hubby they would be wasted on a shelf and must have their own place to shine. So this feeder was born. The plaque under is a fave also. I make pansies that are on wires sometimes and these sat around so long waiting to be soldered that I was missing two pieces of them. So I decided to put them in a plaque before more got lost. I can't sell it because their is so much labor in it that I HAVE to keep it. At least that's what I tell myself.

I HATE to sew but I found myself having to buy a new sewing machine. I resented having to spend a dime on a new machine so I decided to make me a pincushion that would cheer me up at stressful sewing times. I got out my sculpey and made this. He's the only company I have when sewing as hubby runs for the hills when he sees the machine come out.

When I was in third grade I wote a book report on making mobiles and made my first one. I still make mobiles and here's one I really like. We are major birdwatchers so these are all representative of real birds.

My modest dream was to have a bathtub in a room that is NOT a bathroom so hubby plumbed one of the spare rooms and we made a dressing room. I love Bath, Bubbles and a Book. I had seen this beautiful stencil in a book and wanted it bad. Lucky for me the wall is very rough so hubby cut thin board for the stencil to go on. Then I painted it and sealed it with poly and he put it up. If the wall hadn't been so rough I would have had to paint it in the tub. It's such a peaceful place.

This is my favorite batik.

We work in hot glass also and make beads and jewelery when we have the time. Here's my faves.

I'm not happy unless I have several things in the works at all times.

Junk Saturday

bethie — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 09:39:38 -0500

Author: bethie
Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2006 2:39 pm (GMT 0)

Well we found out about a new junk place. They are only open two days a week, so yesterday was the day. I wanted to look for some glass to make a totem. Yes, thanks to Cajunbelle and Miss Petals, I am on the hunt for glass. The place is a defunct shoe factory and was huge. Piles of junk everywhere. I'd say half or it you couldn't even get to. We were like rats in a maze and were hoping we didn't run into the real thing. I wore a light jacket and it was freezing in there. No heat at all. I didn't want to be weighed down by a heavy coat. Good thing too because there was some climbing involved. I found some nice glass pieces right away. Hubby asked what they were for and I told him we are making a totem. He said, "A what?" So I explain but he wants to know why this is the First he is hearing about this. OOps, must have forgot to mention it before. Now he is totally into it and as I am clambering over mounds of junk I keep hearing my name. When I look up there is a nice glass piece for me to decide if I want. I could rent him out to unesorted ladies. He doesn't mind fetching and carrying at all. As I pick out pieces he carries them back to the counter. They had a zillion good pieces. Turns out they bought the whole inventory of a lighting place. Wonder of wonder I found a pretty dress in with all this junk. I don't know where that came from. Here's some of the glass pieces.

And here's a closeup.

I especially like these crackle ones.

Since most of it was new it was nice and clean. They had some domes that were huge. The smaller ones were one dollar and the bigger ones were two. I found this interesting brass piece to make a birdfeeder out of.

We were inspired to go on to Goodwill where we bought four lamps to do hypertufa in. Everything was half price so what a good deal it was. We had a good time but had to get home and get cracking on our Christmas presents once again. I'm pretty sure that tonight I will dream Of garden totems instead of sugarplums.

Church comes Home

bethie — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 07:27:44 -0400

Author: bethie
Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2006 11:27 am (GMT 0)

I was somewhat surprised by my hubby dragging this bench home from "The Junkyard from Hell". It's only a few miles from my house and quite a scary place. I've been there but I usually send "my representative" to look for interesting junk. We've had some good finds but this bench was huge, 9 feet 4 inches of Huge.

We measured in my front room but it was just too big so my husband said he would cut it down to size. He took off one end and sawed two feet off it and then moved the middle leg back to the middle. Then he painted it gray and then sponge painted (only he did it with a plastic bag) it a lighter gray. Then I made some pillows for it and in it finally came.

It's a very comfortable bench too. We love to restore junk!

Stress Test

bethie — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 15:44:00 -0400

Author: bethie
Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 7:44 pm (GMT 0)

Yesterday at 11:30 it started to rain, no thunder so I was on the computer. Suddenly there was the dreaded straightline wind. A weird whump hit the roof. I jumped up and yanked the computer cord out of the outlet. Another whump. Went to the utility room and sparks shot out of this plug (our burglar alarm is plugged there) and black smoke is coming out!
Shut door and went to kitchen window, big limb down and all wires off the pole. Call 911! Hubby is on job with no phone. Luckily get Cindy(husband's cousin and our good friend) and she is coming right over in case I and dogs have to bail. Police come. I have to physically shove dogs in living room closet because I need them close for exit and police won't come in. Police says firetruck on the way and they will go into attic to make sure there's no more fire. Big storm erupts now. 4 fireman,1 police, 2 electric guys (to turn off electricity quick) and Cindy arrive. Things check out ok. Fire and police leave. Now need electrician before power guys feel safe to turn power back on. HOT. Mr. bethie makes the scene. He has just come from mex restraunt to get surprise "friday food". Surprise is on him! Gets electrican on the phone but he is already at another storm victims house. Walks hubby through checkpoints. Hubby is handy as a shirt pocket. If wires behind this outlet are melted we are screwed but mercifully we are unscrewed. Get power back on at 2. Meanwhile they have had to take down power lines to our shop. They are hooked up illegally! Not by us of course. Not because of size of shop but distance from house, shop is deemed "commercial" and has to have its own meter and be rewired to it etc. Not doing this anytime soon. Cost $900 for firetruck service. Hopefully insurance will pay that. Not sure since like all of them they keep cutting benefits. Possibly lost burglar alarm system, have to get the guy out. Lost koi pond pump, 1 tv, vcr and microwave. Still happy house didn't burn. Got to "meet new people". Cindy blew off work and stayed. Ate well and had a drink-phew! Kosmo sure looks happy about it all.

Zeb(my other dog)celebrated when all the excitement was over by puking 3 times on the already wet and muddy lr rug. We'll be steamcleaning it tomorrow. Got badly needed inch of rain! Up early this morning to get started with cleanup. Trellis shattered, about 10 potted petunias destroyed, limb fell directly on 5 butterfly bushes so may have to drastically cut them. Good hubby is chain sawing right now. In typical "US" fashion we're "not too worried about it" More worried about crazed back to school shoppers when replacing appliances at Wal-Mart.
My beloved came tapping on the door a little bit ago to have me come out. He had his hands cupped and this beautiful freshly emerged Polyphemus moth in them.
Ants were attacking it so he brushed it off and we admired it a bit and let it go. NOW all is right with the world.

Dead Pet Society

bethie — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 12:09:16 -0400

Author: bethie
Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 4:09 pm (GMT 0)

Several years ago my beloved German Shepherd "Champ" died. We decided to make him a little memorial stone. It was a little heart shaped stone with his name and a paw print in stained glass embedded in it. My husband decided to take it and show it to the vet the next time he went as the vet is a big dog lover. Well the stone never did get back here. Between the two of them they decided to leave it up there with our phone number on it in case someone else would like one. So from time to time we get a call from a grieving pet owner who wants one. They get their choice of glass color and it's fairly simple. Sometimes the circumstances are quite distressing. We got a call once from some people just a few miles from here that were loading their horse in the trailer (with their 2 kids right there) and a tragic accident happened (I've managed to block that part out) and the vet had to come out and put down the horse right then and there. They called for a stone and said how much it would mean to the kiddies. We made them a nice big stone with two horseshoes and the horses name. When we went to make it we didn't know if the horshoes should point up or down and had to make several calls to find out. We didn't want to bother the owner. They got the stone and with the kids made a little flowerbed in their yard.
Sometimes months go by and sometimes we have several to make at once. We recently got a call for a rabbit and a dog and decided to make our dog Lucy that died of old age this winter her stone at the same time. We usually put a paw print on it but the rabbit print was so underwhelming I decided to make a little profile instead.

They were pleased. Then right after that we got a call for a cat stone. We had went up on the price since materials have gone up so much. We gave her a price and then found out her cat's name only had four letters so we decided to make a cat profile too.

I was glad we went to the extra effort because when hubby delivered it (he always does the people part) she told him her grown son had died several years ago and this had been his cat. Just so sad. I made my pets a little memorial spot on the way to my garden.

They are buried in a different spot in the yard but I wanted to see this everyday when I go back to the veg garden. We made my big Rottie "Max" a caricature stone since everyone was always afraid of him for some reason. I took this picture yesterday and you can see how dry it is here. I love how my Sheppie "Zeb" chose that exact moment to lay his toy down on the stone. So the Dead Pet Society goes on and I hope that someday my Champ stone will find its way back home.

Sandblast

bethie — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 14:42:03 -0400

Author: bethie
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 6:42 pm (GMT 0)

Six months ago we were listening to a Ben Taylor cd. He's the son of James Taylor and Carly Simon. His music is great and we had it up pretty loud when there was a loud crash. One of my sandblasted owl pictures had fallen off the wall. The picture is sandblasted on the glass so it was a total loss.
It's one of a set of nine we made at least 15 years ago. Suddenly we're looking at a big empty space and thinking "oh no, we've got to make that picture again". I knew I still had the pattern since I have every one I ever made but getting to it in my bulging craft room was another story. My husband had to see if the sandblast hoses had dry rotted with age and get all his stuff together too.

I had taken a picture of the broken one so I would know what was frosted on it. I finally got tired of looking at the empty space and we got started. First the glass is cut to size, then a sticky resist paper is put on the glass, then the pattern is put under the glass and everything you want frosted is cut out with a razor knife. I decided since we were going to all this trouble we should make a few candle things while we were at it. I wanted to come out with more than I had going in. I had a great rosebud pattern (not one of mine) that I just love. I also had a complicated sunflower pattern I wanted too. It took forever to get cut out. You have to cut the design for these four times so it will be on all sides. My husband came in and laughed and told me to go look in the mirror. Little bits of sticky paper were all in the front of my hair. I didn't know how they were getting there. Then I realized when I was taking a "little break" from the sunflower cutting I was leaning my head in my hand! I was more than ready to be done. My husband blasted the glass, then we cleaned them, foiled them, soldered them, cleaned them again, put black patina on the solder and cleaned them for the last time. Finally.
They turned out very well but I still blame Ben Taylor a little bit.

Assassins

bethie — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 09:23:44 -0400

Author: bethie
Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 1:23 pm (GMT 0)

Well, it's finally butterfly time once again. There's nothing like these flying jewels. Our host plants are full of eggs. Every spring I root cuttings from pussy willows and contorted willows and grow them in a box on top of my storm house. This gives several of the butterfly species some nice young leaves to eat. In the fall I plant the trees or give them away. Everyone likes the contorted willows. It makes beautiful branches to put in a vase. Sunday we had our first large caterpillar, a viceroy. The butterflies look like small monarchs. We did what we like to call a "worm visit" and keep tabs on our caterpillars. He was fat and sassy and ready to spin a cocoon. I got up early the next day and went to see him. To my horror he was in the grips of an assassin bug.Well, it was too late for him and assassins have to eat too. In a little while he was sucked dry and dropped on the concrete where a bunch of little ants had him. The next time I came by there was no trace of him at all. I did see the assassin bug the next day still on the plant and evicted him with a blast from the hose.

damselflies and giant bees

bethie — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 14:49:14 -0400

Author: bethie
Posted: Sat Jun 24, 2006 6:49 pm (GMT 0)

I chased this damselfly for two days to get his picture. He just kept eluding me.He has a beautiful metallic tail that looks blue or green according to the light. He reminds me of the aluminum tumblers my grandmother had. He is an ebony jewelwing. This morning my hubby and I had went our seperate ways. Him to cut some glass at the shop and me to work on some other glass at the dining room table. That's a room with a great view and good music too. I prefer it to the dingy dark shop. My Rick came tapping on the door for me and we went down to the little creek that runs next to our yard. There was 6 beautiful ebony jewelwings flitting in and out of the sun streaks. Some were femalesand while not as colorful as the males, when they started slowly folding their wings in and out they looked like beautiful black lace gloves. They flitted and mated in the streaky sunpots and then the females landed in the mud next to some scrubby plants and began to lay eggs! Turns out they lay eggs into the plant stems. They just flitted and courted and sparked and the sun beat down and the quiet tranquility of the day was mesmerizing. Then we decided we better get back to business. As I walked back to the house I heard my husband say, "man that was great". And it surely was.
My vitex trees are in full bloom and are just covered with bees We got right under it and enjoyed the pure Beeliciousness of it all. The buzz was right in our ears and flowers were dropping from all the activity. I noticed several of a bee I did not recognize and took his picture. I sent his pic to my favorite bug site-what's that bug.com and they didn't know. They consulted Their expert and he said they are Giant Resin Bees. They just got to America in 1994 from Asia they believe via ship. They are tracking this bee as it spreads. It lives in the holes carpenter bees make but does not make those detrimental holes itself. It seemed a very gentle bee and payed me no mind at all. All in all, a great day in the natural world here.

bethie in a nutshell

bethie — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:49:06 -0400

Author: bethie
Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 6:49 pm (GMT 0)

Welcome to bethie's world. A world of art and nature. I grow the food plants for butterfly larva and in the hot months have hundreds of butterflies daily. I grow a zillion flowers and never have to put up a hummingbird feeder. My husband and I work on stained glass in our spare time, sandblast art,woodworking,hyper-tufa, and metalwork to name a few. I don't think I've ever made anything that he hasn't had a hand in at some point and vice versa. I work on mosaics a lot. This winter when we had the time we did our bathroom vanity in mosaic. It was nothing but work but of course NOW it was all worth it.We have been happily together since I was 19 and somehow managed to grow (and Growup) together and not apart. We love hiking and nature and canoeing. For years we rehabiltated baby birds of prey. We are avid birdwatchers and have made our yard a haven for wildlife. That has its downside as every creature in creation has tried to take up space on our little paradise. From hawks snatching birds off our feeders to weasels taking up in our shop to giant snakes laying on our windowsills we have had an interesting ride. We moved here to rural West Tennessee 20 years ago from the big city of Norfolk, Va. and we have never looked back. The laid back country lifestyle suits us perfectly.
Well enough for now. I hear a bunch of weeds calling my name.