May's Monthly Get Together (MGT) Friday, May 14

Wishing all Mothers a Happy Day today! Our son is barbequing for us today, maybe not outside as it is raining lightly. Nevertheless, I will enjoy not cooking today and being with my kids and our extended family. I am also spending some time social networking on Facebook with friends & nephews & nieces and looking at their pics with their kids! Where did time go?

Well time marches on here also, at Graceful Studios! Frank is busy, designing new tools for our Lampworking community and Jelveh is testing all tools in-between her bead making! I have been practicing my beads with Jelveh's patient instructions, here are a few. I have also been practicing with a new tool, a "grove" making bit for my glass grinder, it makes a shallow cut on the side of cabachons to fit silver wire around it. You don't think the glass pendant is too big do you? Come by on Friday 3:00 - 7:00 pm, torch time is free! Come practice, Jelveh will be demo-ing blowing glass to make small vessels and making chards! We will have 1/4 inch hollow tubes for you! And Jennifer will be here to demo some of her wire-wrapping techniques! Bring her a challenging item to wire-wrap! Have goodies to sell? Bring them, we love to shop! Refreshments served & gift drawing at 6:00 pm.

Rock On! Rock Carving Class this Weekend

Where did the torches go? Don't worry, Lampworkers, the glass torches were just temporarily stored so the flex shafts could be mounted on the tables for the rock carvers to learn the time-honored technique of "Intaglio carving" or carving from the back of a stone. Ron Martinez, www.visionsbyron.com and his lovely wife, Carmen, were here all weekend, taught 7 students, designing, selection of burs, flex shaft use and carving techniques. One of the students brought his own saw to trim his own "material," to carve! Thank you all for a great and fun weekend here. I, as usual, ran out of time to final polish my carving, but hope to finish it to show off, (even my son was surprised my rock looked pretty good for a beginner!) Ron's next class, a "beginner's class" will be on June 4-6, 3 days, in San Jose. E-mail them for more info: CARam67@aol.com and everyone has to have a flex shaft, it is a powerful, multi-use tool that can carve for long hours, polish, and drill rock, metal, and glass! Ron & Carmen are distributors of Foredom equipment and can help you select carving, drilling and polish tools!

April's Get-Together & Chain Maille-ing

April has begun with a flurry of rumbles in our humble Studio! It must be the earthquate weather! We got together Friday and welcomed new guests as well as our faithful supporters (and Jaime drove 4 hours to get here)! Visitors joined us from the Carmel Gem & Mineral Society (we are members of the Santa Clara Valley chapter)! Our friend April brought her new necklace designs and silver rings, and Ed, our new instructor, demonstrated chain maille designs.

Our first chain maille class on Saturday covered 2 designs, (I am still trying to figure out the Snake) but everyone else picked it up quickly. We learned how to measure and cut our own silver jump rings on Ed's equipment, he had several cutters on hand, then we polished our silver bracelets on his vibrator that cleans silver with stainless steel shot. Thank you Ed for being so generous with your time and your knowledge of working with silver. Your handouts were very much appreciated also! Congratulations to Jim & Marily for winning the drawing, you won both gifts!

Rain nor Sleet Stopped THIS Get-together!

We were hoping for no-rain, but alas, it rained on our parade, (no sleet) but once everyone arrived, (Welcome newcomers came from Watsonville and Half-Moon Bay and Philadelphia!) we were comfy, warm, and had plenty of food to nibble on. April brought her already-made jewelry and loose faceted gems and necklaces to sell (I restrained myself from buying one more ring), Jelveh demo-ed beads and one vessel, (Frank now has to cut some more tubing as Misty wants to try blowing glass at home real soon); one brave newie got on the torch with Jelveh's help, and I demo-ed an idea I had, making silver links. I wanted to show how simple links can be made using a hand torch and silver wire, and it takes less tools then lampworking (oops I forgot to show how to simple it is to make a headpin with the torch)! We thoroughly enjoyed seeing new designs, sharing ideas, and meeting new friends! Thank you all for braving the elements and we hope to see you again next month! Frank, Jelveh & Grace

March Get - Together, Spring is Here

We welcome any Lampwork Glass Bead artist or Jewelry Artist to come join us for our monthly get-together this Friday at Graceful Customs Lampwork Glass & Jewelry Studio at 10730 Center Ave., Gilroy, Ca 408 848-5598 to learn and share ideas and techniques that make YOU happy and that can make US happy! We have been busy this new year hosting lampwork classes and now plan a Chain Maille class, see our blog for more info! Anyone is welcomed, our artists may also display and sell their goodies! We love shopping!

Spring is here!

Wow, what a weekend, we had 11 students here for 3 days of learning Corina's latest "floral designs." Some were previous students, others were new to our Studio. All seemed to enjoy themselves, devoting 3 days of more than 8 hrs each day, to total emersion at the torch. We took care of their basic needs, (cooking meals on-site) as one student commented, and allowed them to concentrate on learning and practicing new foral designs that Corina developed just for us! One student stayed an extra day (she slept over), because she did not want her "special vacation" to end! She made the trip from Florida! Corina is soon on her way to Hawaii (with Bonsai) to teach the same techniques and sit on the beach! A well-deserved vacation for her after her week here. Jelveh & I will be here practicing what was learned! Thanks Jelveh for helping put this weekend together!

Feb. Monthly Open House, "Green" theme

This Friday, Feb. 12, 2010, 2:00 pm to 7:00 p.m. will be our monthly get-together at GracefulCustoms Studio. Come see our newly remodeled area! We have been busy improving the seating and lighting areas and adding a splash of color, hope you like the cheerful yellow paint! Jelveh will be demoing her latest designs in lampwork glass beads. Open torch time! I will be happy to show anyone the Viking weave to make a silver bracelet! We've added more glass rods to our inventory and some very "happy" colors in anticipation of Spring and our "Floral" class later this month with Corina Tettinger! Refreshments served, bring any jewelry/bead related to "green" and a drawing will be held for $25.00 worth of glass or tools. Congratulations Garnet for being last month's winner!