Stoolmageddon

Things have been a bit ridiculous of late.... lots of carrying on and shenanagins with a dose of thyroid trouble and migraine clusters thrown in for good measure. So it wasn't really surprising that not much was getting done chez Johnston let alone beadmaking but last week I decided what I really needed was some lampwork therapy. I have often described making beads as meditative and so I thought I would put it to the test.
I fired it all up, the fan heater, the kiln, the oxygen generator the ventilation, it was all humming and a whirring like a finely tuned orchestra. I chose my glass, purple obviously and I decided to make something I hadn't made for ages, flowers, flower beads would be my medicine.

I don't know if you remember but my trusty bead making stool shattered into pieces mid bead somewhere back in the autumn and I replaced it with a kitchen stool some 40+ years old. I know it is really old because I remember it being so high up I couldn't sit on it when I was little, but I digress... With everything set up and ready for action I was keen to get started so I sat my lardy arse down and heard a long low groan as the replacement stool sagged under me... I quickly stood up and with a pathetic wheeze the poor old stool slid sideways in slow motion and to it's ultimate doom under a cloud of 40 year old dust, a dying breath expelled by it's brown vinyl seat as it met the floor...bummer.... no bead making for me then.

Today I have a new stool on order, it has a back and everything, gas lift, 360 degree swivel and it's coming the day after tomorrow. I am so excited but I have to wonder, two stools in two months? perhaps I should lose some weight!

Red Floral Lampwork Bead