Meeting Recap Archive 2005

December 2005 MEETING NOTES (from Nita VanTil - Corresponding Secretary)

The December meeting of Southern Flames was held on Wednesday, December 14th, at 7:00 pm at Beads by Design in Marietta, GA. We had a potluck with a Cookie Challenge and a Grab Bag Trade. Thanks to everyone for bringing such yummy dishes and cookies. Congratulations to Joan Houghton-Theall on winning the Cookie Challenge! There was some extremely tough competition, but Joan managed to please member's taste buds the most! The Grab Bag Trade was a big hit with some folks trading beads, jewelry, glass and tools. It was a lovely way to start the holiday season.

Announcements:

The January meeting will be on Saturday, January 21st at 7:00 pm at Beads by Design in Marietta. We'll have our annual Bead Exchange - don't miss it - this is one of our most fun meetings each year! See details below.
Torch Time Rules - Please be aware that there has been an update to the rules for Torch Rentals. The new rule states "Members may not use torch time to teach for hire." Click here to see the rules.
Andree Kosak's lentil beads made wtih frit are featured on the Spiral Design's website. Take a peek - her beads are lovely and her lentils are perfect.
Bead Release - The Fall issue of the ISGB Bead Release magazine has been mailed. Marcy Lamberson had a wonderfully written and illustrated article on the work of Rita Maya Burkholder. Linda Edmunds has a bead a a very sweet poem in Jim Kervin's article on Dog Beads. There is also a photo of Gerri White with the quilt she made for the ISGB Gathering Auction last year.
Joan Houghton-Theall has a new website. Her daughter did the design which is as lovely as Joan's jewelry and beads. Check it out at www.junemoonjewelry.com .
Congratulations to Kim Runge! Kim was accepted for the Trajectories Exhibit and Catalog - a very prestigious competition that had entries from artists all over the world. Way to go, Kim!
Tink Martin is coming to teach for us in April. Details will be announced later this month and the lottery will be at the February meeting.
Beads of Courage is still in need of beads. We will have a challenge in February for 'Purple Heart Beads' where all beads in the challenge will be donated to Beads of Courage. They must be purple. You'll get your name in the drawing for each purple heart bead you bring. In addition we'll start having a donation box for any other beads you'd like to donate to Beads of Courage at our meetings. For more info, visit their website at http://www.beadsofcourage.net/index.htm.

January Meeting Reminder & Details

January 21, 2006 at 7:00 pm at Beads by Design in Marietta, GA.

BEAD EXCHANGE!!!

Make a beautiful bead and wrap it up. Make sure that you DO NOT identify who made the bead (either inside or outside the package).
When you come to the meeting, there will be a place to drop off your bead.
Everyone who is participating will pick a number from a hat - in this game, high numbers are good!
The person who picked number 1 will select and open a package.
Now number 2 has a turn and a decision to make. Number 2 can take (some may say steal) the bead Number 1 has just opened OR select and open a different package. If Number 2 takes the bead from Number 1, then Number 1 gets to select and open another package.
Number 3 has the option to take an opened bead or open a new package.
As the game progresses, if your bead is taken, while you can't just take the same bead right back on the same turn, you can take a different opened bead or open a new package. Once a bead has been opened and stolen 3 times, the third thief gets to keep it.
This continues until each person has had a turn. So, no one will know the complete final outcome until it's all over.

We'll go over the rules that night, so don't worry if this sounds confusing - it's a lot of fun! Everyone (all levels) is highly encouraged to participate.

There is no bead challenge for this meeting so that you can concentrate on bringing a pretty bead to exchange.

November 2005 MEETING NOTES (from Nita VanTil - Corresponding Secretary)

The November meeting of the Southern Flames was held on Saturday, November 12, at 7:00 pm at Beads by Design in Marietta, GA. The highlight of the meeting was a demo by visiting instructor Kristen Frantzen Orr. Kristen showed both how to make the complex cane that is an important part of her technique as well as how to make a lovely floral tube bead. Kristen uses 'painterly' techniques for layering color that help add depth to her lovely beads. You can also see pictures from the meeting and the class in our scrapbook on the Southern Flames Website.

The meeting pictures also include beautiful beads from the Floral Bead Challenge. Finally, we had our Holiday Tree Raffle won by Karen Lee. I'm sure Karen is enjoying the season with that beautiful little tree. Many thanks to everyone who brought a bead or bought a ticket for the tree raffle.

Announcements

ISGB Renewals are due. To receive the Gathering packet in February, you'll want to renew before the end of the year.
Don't forget the Lottery for Pam Dugger's classes in February will be at the December meeting. Check the website for details. Also, Pam works with Bullseye, but has said you can use Bullseye or Moretti in class. The demos will be with Bullseye.
Many thanks to Gerry for letting us meet at her store!
The December meeting will be on Wednesday, December 14, 2005. We'll have a holiday party potluck dinner, a brown bag swap (anything glass / bead related), a cookie challenge, and the lottery for Pam Dugger's classes in February.
The swap shop is being removed from the website due to lack of interest. If you have items, feel free to still email them to the Web Mama to put in the announcements.

September and October 2005 MEETING NOTES (from Nita VanTil - Corresponding Secretary)

This includes both the September meeting and October meeting notes. I missed sending out the September notes, so it made sense just to send them all together. But, first - since our November meeting is this week...

November Meeting, Saturday, November 12, at 7:00 pm at Beads by Design

KRISTEN FRANTZEN ORR Demo . Visiting instructor, Kristen Frantzen Orr, will demonstrate some of her floral techniques for us.
Holiday Tree Raffle. Our annual holiday tree raffle will be at this meeting! Bring your 'ornament' beads to donate for the tree. Each bead will get one raffle ticket with additional tickets available for purchase for $1 each.
Bead Challenge: Florals! Show us your prettiest flowers.

September Meeting Notes

The September meeting of the Southern Flames was held on Wednesday, September 21 at 7 pm at Beads by Design in Marietta, GA. The meeting started with announcements and the lottery for Kristen Frantzen Orr's classes in November. Then, Andrew Jackson Pollack did an incredible demo of a wine glass with a crawfish for the stem. Andrew is from New Orleans and has relocated (at least for a while) to Atlanta due to Hurricane Katrina. He coordinates the Lampworking Department as a member of the faculty at the New Orleans School of Glassworks. He started his demo by making the crawfish using Italian techniques. Andy also blew the cup and base portions of the glass using tubing with a line pattern that he twisted slightly. Finally, he assembled the wine glass. You can see pictures of the demo on our website in the scrapbook. Thanks to Andy for sharing and for donating the wine glass for our auction!

October Meeting Notes

The October meeting of the Southern Flames was held on Saturday, October 29 at 7 pm at Beads by Design in Marietta, GA. As always, the meeting began with announcements. The scheduled presenter was running a little late, so our demonstrator from last month, Andy Pollack, graciously agreed to an impromptu demo of an implosion flower pendant as a 'warm-up' act. We really appreciate it! Next, visiting instructor Corina Tettinger demonstrated a marble with a cute little frog sitting on it. She started with how to pull various types of stringer to use in the demo. She created and shaped the self-encased floral marble then added a sculptural frog on top. Corina generously donated a bracelet for a drawing that night. Thanks to Corina and congratulations to Southern Flames member, Susan Vesmarovich, for winning the bracelet! Also, the challenge that night was bracelet beads - congratulations to Marjorie Langston for winning the challenge!

Announcements (Sept & Oct)

Thanks to Kate McKinnon for donating a copy of her new book, The Studio Annual 2004, to our resource center. Kate's book includes beautiful photographs of inspiring textures. Although it's not a project book, it does include full instructions for the Shag Carpet of Pearls. The book may just inspire you to some new designs and ideas for your jewelry.
Congratulations to Leah Fairbanks and her husband on the birth of their new baby girl!
The Gathering has been officially moved to Kansas City from July 17 - 26, 2006 (main conference July 20-23). Get more information at www.isgb.org.
Don't forget to renew your ISGB membership before the end of the year. There is an online form available on the ISGB web site. Renewing by year end insures that you'll get a copy of the Gathering booklet when they are sent out in February.
Southern Flames will fund another Gathering scholarship for the 2006 Gathering. Remember, preference for this scholarship goes to SF members. Applications and administration of the scholarship are all done by the ISGB. Again, the ISGB web site will have details on how to apply.
Results of the vote on using the little flame as our logo were 15 to keep it and 1 to have a contest to decide. So, we're keeping the flame!
Results of the Instructor interest sheets: Top 5 - Tom & Sage Holland, Andrea Guarino, Sharon Peters, Bronwen Heilman, and Lea Zinke. We'll be working to see if these instructors can be scheduled for future classes.
Beads of Courage update: Handmade beads are used for milestones when the children get to choose the bead they want. So, you can make them any color you like. (commercial beads are used for the individual color beads). They also need purple hearts and butterflies.
The December meeting will be on Wednesday, December 14, 2005. We'll have a holiday party potluck dinner, a brown bag swap (anything glass / bead related), a cookie challenge, and the lottery for Pam Dugger's classes in February.
The bead exchange will be in January. The silent auction will be in March.
Robert & Camille Simmons are showing his glass beads and her beadwork at Zee Art Party in Virginia Highlands on November 19th and 20th. For more information about the show, go to http://www.spiritkat.com/artparty
The ISGB is looking for nominating committee members. Go to www.isgb.org for more details.
Arrow Springs is offering a free screen saver, and we want you to participate by supplying images of your flameworked, blown or fused glass. Images of your work, as well as that of other artists, will be displayed consecutively, in slide show fashion, on the computer monitor when the screen saver is activated. This is a great opportunity to not only share your work with other people in your field, but it is also an excellent venue for offering a link to your web site other than through traditional methods. Go to www.arrowsprings.com for more details.

August 2005 MEETING NOTES (from Nita VanTil - Corresponding Secretary)

The August meeting of the Southern Flames was held on Saturday, August 27 at 7 pm at Beads by Design in Marietta, GA.

The Garage Sale was a great success with a large variety of items including glass, tools, frit, videos and even a wine rack (for storing glass?). In addition, tool sampling was enjoyed by many. It was great to have the opportunity to try the 'Creation Station' and the other cushioned wrist rest! Thanks, Margo, for bringing those and other tools to try out. Finally, it was really nice to see all the lovely creations the people brought back from the Gathering. Many people brought treasures to show. Don Meadows brought his sculptures by Lucio Bubbaco for us to admire. They are so delicate to transport, we appreciate the effort. Hope to see you all on September 21 at the next meeting!

Announcements

Some new items have been added to the resource center: Lucio Bubbaco video, Kimberly Adams new book, The Complete Book of Glass Beadmaking, and the new book, Dots: The Definitive Guide by Deanna Griffin Dove and Brad Pearson. Do be sure to follow the proper procedures when checking out and returning items from the Resource Center.
The lottery for Kristen Frantzen Orr's classes will be at the September meeting. Be sure to get your lottery form and check in to Kim by September 19 if you can't attend the meeting. Details are on the Southern Flames website
Southern Flames is sponsoring classes with Pam Dugger in February, 2006. The lottery will be in December. Details will be sent in email and posted on the website in late October.
Sheets will be set out at the September meeting for you to indicate your interest in various teachers for future classes.
The deadline for the Trajectories exhibit has been extended to October 1. Details are on the ISGB web site
Marjorie Gore has information on special prices for Glass Alchemy glass. Contact her for more information.

July 2005 MEETING NOTES (from Nita VanTil - Corresponding Secretary)

The July meeting of the Southern Flames was held on July 27 at 7 pm at Beads by Design in Marietta, GA.

We were treated to two wonderful demonstrations of borosilicate beads by Brian Renoud. Brian is an active member of Southern Flames and makes lovely boro beads. The first demonstration was an inside out bead. The second was a coil pot. Both resulted in beautiful beads. It was great to see that you can work boro on a minor with a little patience. Many thanks to Brian for providing such excellent demos!

Announcements:

Thanks to Sara Hoyt for designing our Southern Flames Postcards for the Gathering. 400 cards were donated to the Postcard Project. Each member with a bead on the card will receive 2 cards.
The final cost for Corina class is $325. This is due to Kim by August meeting (Aug. 27)
Kristen Orr will be teaching for us in November. The class dates are Nov. 10-11 and 12-13. The lottery at September meeting. Details will be out soon.
Bead Fest is this weekend. Their website, www.beadfest.com has a coupon for admission discount if you plan to go.
There was an article about member Sylvie Lansdowne in the last issue of Bead Unique. Congratulations Sylvie!

June 2005 MEETING NOTES (from Nita VanTil - Corresponding Secretary)

The Southern Flames June meeting was held at Beads by Design in Marietta, GA, on Wednesday, June 15 at 7:00 pm.

The meeting focused on sharing and showing our work to one another. Before the meeting really started, we began the evening with a video of a Japanese beadmaker demonstrating beadmaking on a traditional Japanese torch (with a vertical flame). Thanks to Marjorie Gore for sharing her video. As always, the meeting started with announcements from Carl and Margo, then we got to enjoy each other's work. There are lots of wonderful pictures on our website in the scrapbook. The main website address is http://www.southernflames.org. You can access the Scrapbook from the menu on the right.

Announcements:

Thank you to everyone for all the beads you have donated for the Gathering bags!! A special thank you to Stacia Schmidt for coordinating the effort. Stacia is sending the beads out this week. We really appreciate all her work in tracking and taking care of the donated beads.
Membership cards were passed out to those present at the June meeting. They will be used to identify you as a Southern Flames member for torch rental at Beads by Design. We'll be sending the rest of the cards out in the mail later this month. If you think your address may be out of date in our database, please reply with your current one.
Don't forget the deadline to sign up to sell your work on the Southern Flames table at the Gathering is June 24th. If you mentioned it to Nita, but have not emailed her, she may have missed adding you to the list. So far, the following members have signed up to sell: Marcy Lamberson, Virginia Walker, Marjorie Langston, Walter Green, Robert Simmons, Linda Edmunds, Brian Renoud, Elizabeth Girod, Rodney Andrew, Carl Andrews, Nita Van Til, Sara Hoyt, Stephanie White, Margo Knight, Kim Runge, Lillie Bavendam, Marie Shackelford, and Cristie Prince. If you want to sell and aren't in this list, please contact Nita Van Til at southern.flames@gmail.com.
The final cost for Corina's class in October will be no more than $325. If you made the lottery, your final payment is due in August.
Please let us know if you are going to the Gathering! We are hoping to have stickers for Southern Flames members to put on their conference badges. Please just reply to this note that you are going. Thanks!

May 2005 MEETING NOTES (from Nita VanTil - Corresponding Secretary)

The Southern Flames May meeting was held at Beads by Design in Marietta, GA, on Wednesday, May 11 at 7:00 pm.

After the announcements, we were treated to two excellent demonstrations by visiting instructor, Brad Pearson. His first demonstration was of a large mandrel 'Pulsar' bead. Brad emphasized the importance of laying on the glass evenly when working on a large mandrel. Brad avoids using tools for shaping when possible, using gravity and heat to shape his beads. The only tool he used on the large mandrel bead was a rake for creating the design. His second demo was of using masking to create a design on the bead. He avoids colors that bleed when using masking techniques, preferring colors that create sharp edges like cobalt and silver gray. Brad created a donut shaped bead that he decorated with overlapping dots to create masked patterns. He then used heat and gravity to make the bead round. Many thanks to Brad for sharing some of his techniques with our group.

Announcements:

Torch time will open on Monday, May 16th! The rules for renting Southern Flames torches were read and copies were distributed to members that plan to take advantage of torch rental time. Cost will be $5 per hour. A full set of rules will be posted at Beads by Design. Please review and follow these to help us keep torch time safe for our members. (Click here to read the Torch Rules)
If you have not yet renewed your dues for the May 2005 - April 2006 year, please send in your check. Directions can be found at http://www.southernflames.org/MembershipInfo.htm .
Linda Edmunds has been appointed as our Web Coordinator for another year. Linda does an excellent job keeping our web site up to date. We really appreciate all of her efforts. She has let us know that she would like a break next year, so if you have worked on web sites and are interested, keep it in mind for next year!
If you would like to take photos at our meetings for posting on the web site, please check out the Flames Scrapbook for the types of photos we use and contact Linda Edmunds for details.
The Bead Making Extravaganza on May 7th was a roaring success! We made 236 beads for the Gathering bags. Stacia confirmed that we are now at 425 beads total. So, we still have some to make. Please bring your flame color donation beads to our next meeting so we can meet our goal of 500 beads to donate for the participant bags at the Gathering.
If you are a member of the ISGB, too, you may have noticed an article by our own Marcy Lamberson in the last issue of the Bead Release. It also contained a picture of 5 beautiful violin beads by our web mama, Linda Edmunds and mentioned the work of Carl Andrews and Darlene Balkcum in Corinna's Spotlight on Magic Color Reactions.
Kristen Franzten Orr will be teaching for us later this year. Details for the lottery (including pricing) will be announced in August.
Southern Flames will have a table at the Bead Bazaar at the Gathering in St. Louis on July 30th!! This is our first year to have a table for our members to sell beads. If you would like to sell beads on our table at the Bazaar, contact Nita Van Til at Southern.Flames@gmail.com for details. Those selling will be asked to either volunteer an hour of time to help man the table or to donate 15% of their proceeds to Southern Flames. Whether or not you are planning to sell beads, if you are attending the Gathering, you are welcome (and encouraged) to help man the table. Again, contact Nita to sign up!
Southern Flames member, Bonnie Anderson, is participating in "The Ugly Necklace Contest" at http://www.landofodds.com/store/ugly3contest.htm . Her necklace is #5, titled: My Butt Ugly Necklace. Please help Bonnie and go vote for her necklace as the ugliest ever by July 15, 2005!!
BeadFest is having a big show in Atlanta on August 12 - 14 at the Georgia International Convention Center (adjacent to the airport). They need volunteers to help work the show. Volunteers will receive free admission to the show for an hour or two of their time. If you would like to volunteer, contact Karen Keegan, the show organizer, at Karen.Keegan@Primedia.com.
Beads by Design has just become a distributor for Paragon kilns. If you are looking for a kiln, Gerry has a variety of models to choose from.
Our member, Marjorie Langston, along with Deanna Griffin Dove and A Touch of Glass, is sponsoring the 2nd Annual Hot Time in the Mountains! This is a 30 torch retreat on September 23 - 25 at A Touch of Glass in Asheville, NC. There are only 8 openings left, so if you are interested, you can get more details on Deanna's web site: http://www.mindspring.com/~griffindove/pg_events_and_classes.html (it's at the bottom of the page.

The April meeting was held at Beads by Design in Marietta, GA on Wednesday, April 13, 2005, at 7:00 p.m.

The main event of the meeting was a demonstration of a beautiful embellished fairy bead by Sylvie Lansdowne. Sylvie used dichro to make the background interesting and then decorated the fairy's body with a lovely vine with roses. Flowing hair and ethereal wings were the finishing touches on a gorgeous creature. Thank you, Sylvie, for such a wonderful demo!

The March meeting was held at Beads by Design in Marietta , GA on Wednesday, March 9, 2005, at 7:00 p.m.

The meeting began with the Lottery for Brad Pearson's classes. You should receive email from Kim Runge or Kristy Nijenkamp with more details if you got into one of the classes. The highlight of the meeting was an inspiring demonstration of a floral bead by Leah Fairbanks. She created an interesting background for her bead using palladium, frit and gold. She then decorated it with sweet peas, vines and leaves made at the beginning of the demo. Leah gave several great tips on florals during the demo that were appreciated by all.

The February meeting was held at Beads by Design in Marietta , GA on Saturday, February 12, 2005, at 7:00 p.m.

Lots of fun was had at the annual Sweetheart Bead Exchange!! Click here for some great pictures taken by Walter Green at the meeting. There were two food oriented challenges for this meeting. The appetizer challenge was won by Marcy Lamberson for her delicious Teriyaki Wings and the dessert challenge was won by Lorrie Hassett for her scrumptious Cheesecake. She kindly shared her recipe! (Click here for a copy)

The January meeting was held at Beads by Design in Marietta , GA on Wednesday, January 19, 2005, at 7:00 p.m.

The main event in the meeting was a demo by visiting instructor, Jen Geldard. Jen started with a very informative demonstration of a flower button made on a mandrel. The flower petals were enhanced using one of Jen's favorite tools, 5 ¼ wire bending pliers. There are some of these available now to check out in our Resource Center. Jen then made a lovely bead off the end of the mandrel. Jen is well known for her use of enamels which she included in both demonstrations. If you missed the meeting, you can check out pictures from Jen's first demo on our website by clicking on this link: SF - Jen Geldard Demo.

Prior to the demonstrations, a slide show by Robert and Camille Simmons of pictures taken at Leah Fairbank's class in Ireland was displayed on the TV monitor during the lottery for Leah's classes in March. There are still spots available in Leah's Thursday / Friday class (March 10-11). If you are interested, contact Kim Runge to sign up. Registration will open to the public later this week, so get your checks in now.