Exhaustion Ensues

Holy cow what a few days I've had.

Starting Thursday I've been huddled in classrooms at the Puget Sound Bead Festival. Seriously...it ROCKS.

Four classes down, one to go. And so far I'm thrilled with two of the four.

The first was a Bronze Clay class. My pieces turned out really neat and I like them, but working with the substance itself is not going to be for me. I gave the rest of the clay I got in class to another student. It is a ridiculously messy substance. And VERY finicky. I am looking forward to taking photos of the pieces I did make...they'll be the only ones I make for a long time. At least until I get a kiln.

The class did give me lots of new ideas for use with PMC, which I haven't played with in awhile so it was definitely worth it.

That was Thursday's class. An all day affair.

Friday started out miserably. I had to take Timber to daycare, which took some time since I needed someone to help me get him inside (he can pull me down and that would be bad). By the time I got to Tacoma I had about 10 minutes to get to class. Which would have been plenty if ... A) I could have found any parking and B) I didn't have to waddle like a fat duck.

I finally found an open parking space and waddled down about 6 flights of stairs, WITH my suitcase full of supplies, to get to my classroom. I was near tears.

Walked into class and it had already started, of course. So I was pissed off to begin with and then the class just wasn't holding my attention. It was a class on how to polish / grind metal using a Flex Shaft (or Dremmel) ... I don't think it's something I'll do a ton of for awhile. Besides that I don't have a Flex Shaft...though I do want one.

The second class of the day ROCKED. It was enameling with a torch and I'm SO excited to buy enamel and get started making new pieces.

Today's class though...so far my most exciting. It was Tube Setting. One of the most technical classes I've taken in a long time.But there are SO many options and ways to use this technique. I just need to get a Flex Shaft. And clean my work space area...at least organize it better.

Tomorrow's class sounds like a fun one...probably a bit more of a 'project' class for me. It's called "Stack Rings" and I'm sure I'll learn new things. But I do know how to make rings...at a basic level. So hopefully I'll catch on quickly.

Thank goodness I took Monday off to recover. I'm already exhausted. I've done more walking in the last three days than the last three months. :) My legs are killing me. Surprisingly my back isn't in too much pain...at least not the sharp stabbing pain I had been having before I started taking water aerobics. It must be helping.

I look forward to finding time to take photos of the results of my classes. The piece I almost finished today is probably going to be my mom's birthday present. :) It's going to ROCK. If I do say so myself.

Oh yeah...I did manage to find an hour to browse through some of the vendors. Nothing spectacularly different but I did snag some incredible Czech glass beads. I know...glass...not my normal purchase. But they're really different and gorgeous beads. Some of them are more expensive than gemstones.