Thursday, January 29, 2015

Snow Day! + Free Day + Hearts

Woohoo! I felt like a kid. I got the word on Monday afternoon that work was canceled for Tuesday. It's a snow day! Immediately my brain got to spinning about ALL the things I could create with my free snow day.

Unfortunately I forgot about all the snow I would have to shovel. lol. It turns out that this snow storm, dubbed Blizzard 2015 by the local media, is going down in the history books. My little town was the jackpot town for this storm. Seriously! Up and down the eastern seaboard of the United States my little town went down in history as having the highest snow total. When all was said and done we had a total of 36 inches of snow! Thankfully it was a light and fluffy snow. None the less it required a lot of time and energy to shovel it away.


News worthy, a screenshot of the tele before the storm ended. It's not often that Boston news cares about what happens in Central Massachusetts.


I had to shovel my way out of the house. My two dogs were on my heels wondering why I couldn't shovel faster.


I was the only one in my house that had to get up and go to work today, the day after the storm. Something seemed wrong with that! This is my husbands' truck and my sons' car. Buried. Luckily my car gets to live in the garage.

It was not a total loss as far as beading goes. I did have some time at the end of the day which I put to good use by cleaning up my jewelry bench. It was in desperate need of organization.


The before photo. A bit difficult to find space to work.


The after photo. 
It feels good to have some space. I already have a project ready to work on. More on that in my next post. My husband and son, who share this office space have both commented on how good the space looks. Whoa! Since when do my guys care about organization? Now if only they would clean up their spaces.

I also made time to clean my new glass order. I received an order from Frantz Art Glass...this always makes me giddy. I didn't take a picture of all the new glass rods I received. I wish I had a photo to share with you. Rebecca got me thinking about the beautiful color Marsala with all her intriquing posts of this lovely Pantone color. I can't wait to try these new colors and see what beads I can come up with. 

I did have a litte torch time too. Of course with Valentine's Day around the corner I've been conjuring up some hearts. I love hearts. I collect them and I love to make them. For some reason I haven't made hearts in a long time. I collect hearts in all types of mediums. I see them in clouds, in trees, I covet paintings of hearts, even Dollar store felt hearts make my heart sing, I have some small quilted hearts and of course lampwork glass hearts. 

Today I share some of my own lampwork heart beads.




And these hearts have carmalized nicely with silvered glass stringer decorations.


I have learned over the years that some people love hearts and some people, quite honestly, can't stand them. So today I ask you, are you a heart person? Do you love them or don't care to work with them? Are you designing a special piece of jewelry for Valentines Day or are you rolling your eyes and saying not happening here? I love to know what you're thinking so please share your thoughts in  kind manner.

As always, thanks for visiting with me and stopping by ABS today. 



Ema Kilroy is a lampworker and metalsmith living and working in Central Massachusetts. 

11 comments:

baymoondesign said...

Your beads are gorgeous!

Unknown said...

I do love hears! Especially the way you create them. It has to have a reason not just suck there. If that makes any sense.

Patti Vanderbloemen said...

While I do not typically gravitate towards the heart shape in design, I looked in my etsy shop and my bead stash and found I had quite a few of them! I always think of hearts as a shape - like oval, diamond, round. I don't tend to associate them with a feeling..I think that comes from hating Valentine's day so much. It is just a "Hallmark Card" kind of day to me. We should be telling our significant others we love them ALL THE TIME...not just one day of the year.

Love your snow pics! I originate from Chicago, and I remember snow days like you had! Glad you all are safe and sound!

Deb Fortin said...

Hearts! I can take 'em or leave 'em.
I agree with Patti that valentines day seems to be more of a chocolate candy -maker holiday and a Hallmark "excuse for a card" holiday.

I have some customers who love them and I will do custom work with hearts, for them. I have an equal number of customers who Hate anything heart shaped, so for them I don't use hearts.LOL

However if I had some of YOUR gorgeous lamp-work hearts, I'd use a lot more of them-.Hearts that is . I really love the way you have that creme brûlée effect at the base of the first two , with luscious transparent swirls atop. such eye candy.

Shai Williams said...

I don't care for the typical red hearts but the broken ones or the lopsided I adore.

Becky Pancake said...

Hi Ema, Kudos to you for getting your bench cleaned. Your hearts are awesome. I am rather neutral about hearts. I don't love or hate them. I use them occasionally but I am not really drawn to them either.

Unknown said...

I'm like Patti in that i didn't think I like hearts but have found many in my bead stash! The most beautiful heart I own is the gorgeous green one that I bought from you a couple of years ago. It was in my copper necklace that I showed in the Art Jewelry challenge on facebook.Your glass work is wonderful, Ema!

Terri said...

When snow is that high I can't help but think of all the poor dogs that have to go out to do their business....


Wow..you do Beautiful work...lovin' those lampwork hearts!

Bijoux Gems Joy said...

Although I have traditional Valentine type hearts in my stash I find myself drawn more and more to the unusual hearts. Like most of the commentators the shape is not something I normally use but it has been popping up quite a bit lately...

I saw Mary Harding's post today (Friday Jan 30) and those almost sang to me. :-)

Eileen Bergen said...

Yes! I am a heart person too. I just finished a bracelet and made ornaments for a Valentine's Day tree, which I add to each year.

Your lampwork hearts are gorgeous!!

Sorry for your snow, though the snow is lovely. Been there, done that, moved to Mexico.

Ema Kilroy said...

I'm with most of you on the Valentine sentiment. I'm not big on the need to "celebrate" on that particular day.

But I am drawn to hearts. Thanks for your kind comments!