Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year from the Santos Ranch

It's difficult to believe that it has only been 3 months that we officially opened our home & studio! We have met so many nice people, artists who are lampworkers, rock carvers, wire-wrappers, stone shapers & polishers,silver-smithers, soap-makers, and gourd carvers also! Frank & I would just like to say "Thank You" for visiting our home and we hope all of you who have visited have enjoyed our company as much as we have enjoyed yours! We look forward to a New Year, and wish all of you a year full of love, good health & creativity!

We had a really nice Christmas Party at our Boutique, planned a little at the last minute, and of course we forgot the pictures until almost the end! Someone definitely has to take responsibility for remembering to take pics! Thank you to Jennifer & Jim, Ron & Carmen, Sioux, April, Natalie, and of course, my friend and creative partner, Jelveh (and Martin) and her beautiful mother (who I really think is her sister), Shahla, and of course, my husband, Frank, for helping out at our Boutique. We had a steady stream of visitors who were treated to homemade cookies, nuts, and chocolate nut clusters, made by Carmen & myself, as they shopped through my house and then the studio! Here are some pics of our Boutique.

Construction was finished in the studio, it looks twice as big! We still have to do the final painting, or at least someone has to do it... Frank will be running the gas lines and extending the exhaust and lighting to the 4 new stations soon in preparation for our next Lampwork class with Corina in Feb., and wait till you see our glass storage system he just put together today.

In the meantime, no time to kick-back and do nothing, it is time to do some wire-wrapping! Jennifer & Jim will be back on Sunday, Jan.17, 2010, to show us how to make a ring, details to follow......We want to work in a basic and more advanced class on the same day. Let me know of your interest! Also, I was reminded to include a telephone number to contact me, 408 848-5598!

2009 Christmas Boutique, Sunday, Dec. 20, 2009, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Are you in the spirit yet? If you are looking for original and well-designed gift ideas, come to our Christmas Boutique to see the latest in lampwork beads & jewelry designs! Jelveh from Jelveh Designs will be on hand to demo new Lampwork designs! Ron Martinez, Master rock carver & his wife, will also be here to show us how beautiful a rough stone can become with a little knowledge of stone carving and polishing techniques; and Jennifer & her husband Jim will showcase polished cabachons wire-wrapped in silver wire. Maybe Jim will share some of his techniques for forming and polishing natural stones. We have other artists showcasing their jewelry and arts as well. Our studio may still be under a little bit of construction, so forgive us! We are getting prepared for the 2nd Wire-Wrapping Class with Jennifer on Jan.17 (I will post more info on this soon), monthly get-togethers with local artists, another Rock-carving class, another Lampwork Bead making class with Corina Tettinger, and other events. Keep in touch, sign up as a "Follower" on this blog to get an e-mail with new posts!

What a mess, more construction!

Torres Construction from Gilroy has started a remodeling project at our studios, again! Fernando & Frank are seen here mounting a long steel support beam to hold up the roof after opening up the wall that separated the front room and bedroom. The opening will give us more space to extend our working table, adding 4 more torch stations and space to do our other classes like wire-wrapping and stone carving. We will also have space for display cases. Today they will be re-locating the electrical wires, making sure we have enough juice for our large kiln, then comes the sheetrock patching and I guess Jelveh & I will be assigned to the painting...does anyone know how to paint a large glass bead on a wall?