Twenty Million Shoe Boxes on One Computer!

Have you ever loved and hated something in equal measure at the same time?  I LOVE my Mac. It's getting a bit old now but that's ok, I am familiar with it and it lets me do everything I need. However! It has been getting increasingly slower and I have finally worked out that if I take some old stuff off it, that will make room for new stuff. A bit like me, really - new stuff goes into my head and pushed the old stuff out! At least with a computer you can CHOOSE which old stuff to put out!

Anyway - I now understand it all. Jon, at Bollicomp in Adelphi Mill has finally got me to understand.  1 kilobyte = a shoe box. 1 megabite = 1,000 shoe boxes. 1 gigabyte = 1,000,000 shoe boxes.

Therefore, it is taking AGES for my poor old Mac to shift 20,000,000 shoe boxes onto an external hard drive so I can make room for all the new GORGEOUS glass photographs I can put on of my smalti!

It is just a waiting game, folks. In the meantime, I need to go break glass................

Mosaic Club Soup Recipe!

What a fabulous morning! It was so nice to have the window open today. I did not realise how much I had missed the sounds of the canal. Lovely.


Janet asked me to write my recipes down, so I thought I would include a recipe at the end of my blog each week.   Please feel free to send recipes in, though. If I use them, I will put them on my blog.

I am really looking forward to seeing Janet's floral mosaic finished.  I love her use of stained glass and mirror.

This photo just does not do justice to Georgina's beautiful woodland mirror.  Using colour on her grout to add depth and atmosphere, her careful addition of very fine glitter on the grout just completed the look. Stunning!

No - not even Georgina is that quick! She has gone back to a project she started before Christmas and it is looking goo...oood!

Heads down and concentrating. 

We did have a lot of laughs today. 

Actually, we quite often have a lot of laughs!

Just loving Sue's chosen colours for her door number.  I think it may even be finished next week when I melt those glass pieces down into cabouchons!

And what can I say about Tonie's work. It was a pleasure to have her in the class. It is a pity she lives so far away but I was really pleased she wanted to use the GORGEOUS Dynasty Smalti! We found the colours she wanted for her first ever try at mosaics and I think she has been bitten by the bug.

I really must get those photos done now the boxes are open.

You can purchase the smalti from my Ebay shop - just click on  the Ebay icon on my website:

MY WEBSITE

Ok - here it is, the first Mosaic Club Soup Recipe:

Roasted Vegetable and Red Lentil Soup

Serves 4

4 x small maris piper potatoes

1 x large parsnip

2 x medium carrots

1 x medium courgette

1/2 x red onion

2 x sticks celery

2 x mugs COOKED and drained red lentils

2 x pints vegetable stock

1 x teaspoon paprika

1/2 x teaspoon ground garlic and chilli flakes

1/2 teaspoon Oregano

1 x tablespoon olive oil

optional - splash of milk

Scrub all the vegetables, peel the onion but just top and tail the others except the potatoes.  Chop into small chunks except for the courgette, make those a bit bigger.

Dry the veg with kitchen roll or a clean tea towel. Spread out in a roasting tin.

Mix the oil, herbs and spices. Pour over the vegetables and rub in to cover them.

Roast in pre heated hot oven for 20 minutes. Turn temperature  down to medium-hot for 30 minutes.

Place cooked veg, lentils and stock in a pan and bring to the boil.  

Depending on how you like your soup, either add a splash of milk and serve as is or liquidise partially.

Add seasoning to taste if required.

Hope I remembered it all - enjoy!

Our New Spring Timetable

Well, it is here! Our popular mosaic workshops plus a new glass fusing course. Exciting! I am really looking forward to meeting new students this year, so why not book with a friend.  Our morning workshops and full day courses include lunch.

 

Please click on the link to go straight to our workshops page:

 

SPRING COURSES FOR ADULTS

I have really enjoyed planning the fused glass course - participants will create lots of lovely fused glass items for use completely separate from mosaic but there are also opportunities for the mosaic artist to benefit from this wondrous course!

Our range of Dynasty Smnalti is now in stock and until such time as our mosaicsandmore webiste it up and running, we will be selling the tesserae through our ebay shop.  It's easy to access, just click here:  ebay

Fused Glass

What a fabulous day, today! Had a lovely morning with my ladies (though we missed you, Sue!) and we polished off all my lentil and parsnip soup. Sorry I forgot the bread, though!

Then had a beautiful drive over to Whaley Bridge to meet a group at Project eARTh. What a fabulous group! 

My ideas for a glass fusing course went down well and I just had to dig out this photo of the Ying and Yang design, recycled glass dish which my son made for my sister a couple of years ago.

Hmm, the fused glass course idea went down so well, I'm going to have to deliver it at the studio.

The Smalti is also here!  

BAMM members and my students get 10% discount. 

Just £3.10 (ANTIQUE DYNASTY SMALTI) and £4.05 (MODERN OPAQUE DYNASTY SMALTI) per 100g.

Will get in on my new online shop, soon!

I have started unpacking it and taking photos:

New Shop!

I cannot hold it in any longer! I am currently working on my new online shop which will stock gorgeous glass smalti and mosaic tesserae plus other art and craft materials.

I have just put an order in for 240 KG smalti!!!!!!!!!

Better get signed up for my classes as I can offer 10% discount to students during their courses!

Mosaics by Debra Tracey

A lovely shot by Oliver of my 'Locus 1' mosaic

Allsorts of Liquorice sits next to my daughter's 'heart of glass' mosaic on slate.

A detail from Devilfish.