Everybody needs a calendar - and the new AGLF calendar is ready to order - and an Etsy treasury

So I'm doing this chronologically backwards I guess, or maybe just out of order, but if I was going to write my blog posts in chronological order you wouldn't see this one until the year the calendar is for is over (talk about a run-on sentence).

This is the third year that my friends at the Artisan and Glassworker Legal Fund have put a calendar together, and the necklace I had in the EHCC Trash Art Show this year is in it:




If you want to look at the rest of the preview and/or order a calendar or three (they make good presents too), go here:
http://aglf.info/calendar.html

And if you need other gift ideas, here are some from the Hilo area, put together by Daveda of the Etsy shop thewhatnaught:

'a gift guide . . . ' by thewhatnaught

celebrating sensational surprises from the Big Island!Sending out gratitude & appreciation on a very soggy Saturday!

Handmade Bracelet B... volcanogirlcre... $7.50	Burlap Coffee Bag C... ManilaExtract $8.00
Christmas Children ... SoulRole $65.00	christmas necklace ... BayRepublic $32.00
Gorgeous Peach Seas... Hokulewa $10.00	Light Color Hawaiia... hilobeads $12.00
Hawaii Christmas Ca... doublebrush $4.80	wood buttons guava ... awanderingpond... $8.00
Magnets from Vintag... MRSButtons $12.50	Real White Starfish... SmittenForYou $10.50
Round Wall Mirror -... UpcountryDesig... $110.00	Hawaiian Aloha Shir... MaiAloha $10.00
Shibu Shimmer Shell... EastBayPotters $30.00	Tie Dyed Baby Onesi... AnnThenBaby $12.00
Bead, Glass Lampwor... LavaLampwork $18.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Everybody needs a calendar ...

The 2011 AGLF lampwork calendar is available for preorder here:
http://www.piercesdesigns.com/pages/AGLF.htm.

A new lawsuit was filed against 30 lampworkers. To help out with the cost the AGLF have put together a calendar again. There's a partial preview on the website as well that's why I'm not including one here :)

Announcement regarding lawsuit against Ullja Kuntze

Not my lawsuit, though some friends were involved with it, and I helped with the fundraising for the AGLF (Artisan and Glassworker Legal Fund). I should say that I didn't write what follows, I'm just re-posting it:

June 17, 2010 Announcement (permission to repost granted):

The Plaintiffs in the defamation case Liz Putnam et al v. Ullja Kuntze have filed to withdraw their motion seeking relief against Ullja Kuntze for defamation (libel and slander per se) and fraud.

The Plaintiffs arrived at the decision to withdraw after Ullja Kuntze, with much delay, finally complied with court-ordered disclosure and provided documents confirming that she publishes the blog "handmadeartisanfraud.blogspot.com" and has made false tax evasion reports specifically naming the Plaintiffs and many others to the IRS and state revenue offices around the country.

During the legal proceedings, the Plaintiffs attempted settlement with Ullja Kuntze and requested that she remove the blog, but Ms. Kuntze refused. The high cost of pursuing the case to completion has been weighed against the satisfaction of her admission that she is the publisher of the blog and the person behind the spurious reports to local authorities against artisans around the country. The investment to date resulted in obtaining evidence of her acts, an ample and welcome reward.

However, to pursue the case to completion and obtain an injunction against Ullja Kuntze ordering her to take the blog offline would be very expensive, given her lack of cooperation to date. With proof of her wrongdoing, the Plaintiffs and others targeted by Ms. Kuntze have the needed evidence to protect their professional and personal reputations individually.

The Plaintiffs wish to thank everyone who contributed to the legal costs and to assure their supporters that with proof of Ullja Kuntze's guilt, a win in civil court is not necessary. Thanks to the support of the artisan community, the evidence of Ms. Kuntze's acts is now a matter of public record for all to see.

Case information is available online at the Harris County Clerk's website. The case number is 200966253 and can also be located searching for Defendant name "Kuntze, Ullja".

A few things happened

Since the end of last week a few things happened.

- Norman got into and out of the hospital.
- I found out that my job isn't being cut (just jet?)
- 2 batches of mixed color Jobs Tears seeds sold where I donated the proceeds to the AGLF, and there's more available in my Etsy shop.
- there are more weleweka/mgambo beads available in my Etsy shop or locally
- I have not so far found time to make more lampwork beads

for the meantime, I'm pooped. However, I'll be at work in the morning and I'll be available locally to deliver beads and stuff,and to ship orders from mo online stores.

A bunch of updates: AGLF, Kalera beads, my new camera, base metal findings

Rather than trying to find the time to do these piecemeal, I'm going to try to do them all at once.

I mentioned earlier that there was a defamation attack going on, labeling artisans as "fraud". None of this is true (of course), some details can be found here:
http://artisantruthreport.blogspot.com/ and references therein. To help with a legal fees to put an end to this a private fund was created to which many donated, and many donated some of their creations and supplies. This is the AGLF (main page, links to Ebay, Etsy and Artfire listings are further down), which stands for Artisan and Glassworker Legal defense Fund.


Here is finally a picture of most of the beads I bought from Kalera Stratton, an experienced lampworker in Portland Oregon, who I had the opportunity to meet in person and watch make beads. Some of the beads already turned into jewelry, some on the way there, one being another wire crochet example, another one preliminatrily conected to my first attempt at so-called French Knit. Which brings me to:


my new camera. I hate dealing with new things as there are always learning curves involved. My new camera is a Canon PowerShot A1000 IS, and so far I'm happy with it. I finally got the pictures out of it that I took 10 days ago, a necklace and earrings made with another set of the lampwork beads from Kalera:

This set is currently available in my
Etsy shop










and some chip strands which I'm going to list at Etsy in the supplies category (they're long enough to wear as necklaces as they are if you prefer that):


The first set is picture jasper, leopard skin jasper and unakite, the second is white howlite, snowflake obsidian and blackstone. Each strand is about 32" long, strung on monofilament. There will be more.

A local customer recently asked me about/for base metal earring findings. So I now have the following (not priced yet): french earring hooks, the silver colored ones are surgical steel, the gold color ones I don't know, both silver colored and gold colored headpins, 2" and 3" in length, that are thin enough to fit through the holes in freshwater pearls, and 1.5" silver color headpins that are a bit stiffer and I'm sure won't fit through the holes in fresh water pearls.