Nah, not really.  But if you’re reading, thanks.  I appreciate you took time out of your day to peek inside my brain.

So what have I been up to?

My eyeballs in drawer pulls mostly.   I had an order for 28 of the buggers which I finished and delivered.  I have a second, nearly identical order for another 28 of them that I’ve started in on.  I did take a week or so off though.   I don’t mind the repetitiveness of it all, but even I can use a break here and there.   But, with tonight’s session I have 9 done.   I’m trying to bust out the rest this week since the temperature’s are rising, limiting the amount of available shop time.

I’ve also written a tutorial on how to make drawer pulls and knobs.  Given I’ve gotten oodles of practice, I figure I may as well write it all down.   Most folks that know me know if you ask I’ll likely just tell you how to do something if I know how to do it.  But some folks like to have all the steps in one spot and documented, so I put together a document with soup to nuts directions including how to create your own inexpensive wooden shaping mold, and sourcing info for parts.    It’s listed for a very reasonable $20.oo on my Etsy and Artfire sites.

On my ‘week off’, I dabbled a bit in murrini making and whipped up a lovely borosilicate radiation murrini I plan to use in some more glow in the dark beads for Beads of Courage.

Radiation murrini

I think the bead looks nice too.  It’s the only one that I’ve made so far, but I’m trying to squeeze in a few at the end of each session to break up the monotony.

Radiation glow in the dark bead

Unless someone beats me to it, my intention is to put together a freebie tutorial on making the murrini for others to use if they want to do their own, ideally for some BOC beads, hint hint.   It’s on tap for next week.   Before anyone asks, I assume that yes it can be done in soft glass too.  I make that assumption not out of some bold swagger, but rather the method I used to make the cane those are pulled from was inspired by a recent Glass Line tutorial by Akiko Shinoda, who works with satake glass, affectionately known as “water glass” for it’s seeming ability to turn to liquid just by looking at a flame.  If you’d like to go the slacker route and buy some radiation murrini pre-made (boro only…sorry), feel free to make me a reasonable offer.  It’s not something I make and sell on a regular basis, hence the lack of an actual price.

So there you have it, what I’ve been up to, a shameless plug, and a little charity work.  All this in addition to the day job, daddy duty, and occasional bouts of sleep.

Until next time, try not to get burned in whatever you’re doing.