{idate}16may06 {crop}GlassBeads/2006abs_bump0130crop.jpg {crop_alt}extravagant abstracts take 2 {iprc}Well, gee, I have finally finished these beads, and am really happy with them. And now that I have completed this obligation I feel free to do other things, like post. Because it's been so long, I'd planned to pile up a buncha links in lieu of something about beads, but never got around to it, so now you get these as a bonus...Alas, the latest batch of links are now rather stale, but having gone to the trouble of saving them, I'm gonna display them. {ip}First there was this post, about the intersection of "chauvinism and comics" , which of course I've noticed, like just about like every other female reader of (traditional super-hero-type, the kind I read-as-a-child, and would still *like* to enjoy, if only...) comics out there. I don't recall where I found it, but I discovered it well ahead of the big blogs it's currently being discussed on. Of course, you'd never know that now, cuz as usual, I'm l-a-t-e. {ip}Then there was the gentle inquiry from the customer for whom the beads above were made, who was understandably concerned that I had her credit card number, but she didn't have any beads. What, you might wonder, would stop me from going berserk and charging that card all the way to its limit? Well, as it turns out, the Mastercard people who give us merchants `merchant status' kinda frown on that sort of behavior; also, it's bad for one's rep; but in point of fact, people with access to your credit card information "can indeed do evil things." (If the link doesn't make any sense, search for the post dated Sunday January 01st 2006, 10:50 pm---unfortunately, I think the links change as the author adds more posts...) {ip}When I saw that cartoon I laughed my ass off, because although I'd *never* do anything like that to a customer (and indeed, since starting my own business I'm pleased to say I've not had any customers who inspired that kind of irritation) like just about eveyrone else who's worked in retail, I surely understand the sentiment. Oddly enough the other cartoon that had me rolling was the one in which the hapless employee of the Ohio State campus area gas-mart wanders into a gun shop looking for suitable armament to defend himself against rampaging Ohio State fans after the big game. Maybe this comes out of living in Detroit (with attendant gunshots) for so many years... {ip}I owe "pharyngula" for a (different link) to this site, which the author notes "I do not write a journal comic because I think anyone particularly cares about my life, but because I am most inspired by everyday stuff that happens to me." The thing is, in real life I couldn't even get to know this guy well enough to care about his life, cuz he smokes, and I suffer so grieviously from cigarette smoke that I simply stay away from people and places that allow this habit; but in the internets, so many of the cues by which we judge people---their appearance, their social economic status, even their accents---are stripped, leaving behind their eloquence. {ip}It's one of the things that gives me hope for humanity. {ip}Via "boingboing" comes another gifted comics artist, who writes about a woman named Bee. The boingboing link depicted her getting run off the road while riding her bicycle, and after the joys of recently crossing a construction-constricted bridge over a highway with a buncha impatient cars---in the rain---I really emphasized. And when the guys at the welding shop declare my not-pulsing, not-broken regulator fixed, I get to do that lovely route *again* to pick up the regulator, oh, the joy...so anyway, I'll be ready to unwind by checking out more of " Bee's quirky adventures" . {ip}Also via "pharyngula" is this link to one of those classic pieces of humor circulating amongst academics, in this case "a startlingly honest lab report" , the kind I wished I'd written in college while struggling in Organic Chemistry. And returning to the feminist theme, a rather dark offering from those funny folks at the Onion " that elicits smiles of the very sharpest and darkest kind." Personally, I consider it an altogether appropriate mother's day gift. {cdate}14jun2006 {h1}Extravagant Abstracts, {h2}Revisited {public} {p}A while back I made "some ultra-bumpy" abstracts. I really liked these beads, but Page's customers didn't. So eventually they all sold, and because I didn't have anyone in particular nagging me to make more, the variation went into hibernation, though I always assumed that I would someday make more. And, to be frank and not at all humble, I'm absolutely thrilled with the way these beads came out. I think they're gorgeous. (Did I mention the part about not being humble?) {icap}2006abs_bump0130.jpg {cap}Extravagant Abstracts, round 2. Effetre, Vetrofond and Czech soda lime glass; thompson enamels; assorted frits; 22k gold leaf. approximately 12--16mm hole to hole. May 2006. {p}That day came when someone emailed me, specifically requesting bumpy-style abstracts. The posting date for the files featuring the first batch is 11may of 02 though it seems like only a few months (yeep, *four* years ago---how time flies!) which naturally meant I figured I'd be able to reproduce the beads without any difficulty. {p}But of course, there are *always* difficulties, not least of which was that a) the customer wanted slightly different (ok, totally and completely different) colorways than the ones I'd originally made and b) as I stated, I made the first batch out of odds and ends---now long gone, as I discovered when I went rootling around for the transparent colorless frit that gives these beads their rich texture. {p}Now, if I hadn't sat on my hands for two weeks already (more on that when I document the red beads) I could've just called up Arrow Springs and ordered some of this most basic of frits. Heck, I could've called 'em anyways, grit my teeth and paid for priority shipping. But nooooo. I called some local vendors. No dice. So I made some clear frit. {p}Really, I don't mind breathing cancer-causing glass dust and shortening my life thereby---if I did, I'd give up making this sort of bead. I don't even mind breathing said dust while making frit, if it's a frit I couldn't get any other way, such as frit made from striped cane, or even pure colors not offered. But to have to make frit out of clear! Let me be absolutely, Effetre 004 clear here: I had no-one---no-one at all in the whole wide world---to blame but myself. {p}So after sucking it up (literally and figuratively) and making the clear, I was finally ready to start making the beads. I already knew, from one abortive experiment, that red was gonna be a pain in the patootie, so I decided to start with green instead, because that's a very easy color for me to work with. And how I developed this "will be the subject of the next post"<2006abs_bump_grn.html> in this series. "Blue/Purple"<2006abs_bump_blu.html> and "red"<2006abs_bump_red.html> follow. {p}See my newly created "price sheet"<2006price_schedule.html> for prices, ordering info, etc. {p}post created, posted 16may06; link to green abstracts added 24may; links for blue and red added 14jun