Well hello Divali fans.  It’s been a long time, and quite an unintended long time.  I have been silent here for so long.  But not for lack of desire….I have just been making hay so fast I haven’t found the time to blog.
We are settled in Charlotte, NC, and loving it.  This is such a beautiful city.  I am having so much fun exploring all of the parks, finding new walking routes, finding new restaurants, meeting new customers, and getting re-aclimated with the South.  I truly do love the South.  I wouldn’t give up my time in Berkeley for anything in the world.  But this feels like home.  There is something very special about being able to see family and long-time friends so spontaneously.  It is very comforting to my soul.

I have been super busy getting Beads Forever and Bead Trust re-situated.  We had 8 (yes, you read that right: 8!) 53 foot containers of “stuff” that we hauled from CA to NC.  So you can imagine that it took a LOT of energy getting all of that put back together again.  We are back up and running, and I have finally found time to get back to my torch.  In a way, it was nice to long to be at the torch.  I had so many ideas that bumped around in my head while I was away from my creative outlet.  And for three months I spent more time with the beads in the (Beads Forever) warehouse than every before.  It was such a great education; I noticed so many beads that I had never noticed before, and really got a good grasp on our products.  One of our weaknesses in the CA showroom was that we weren’t organized; so I got to organize every detail here, and it is so refreshing and uplifting and logical to be organized here!  It feels good to be more hands-on with the beads and the business.

Now that Beads Forever is up and running smoothly, I am devoting more of my time to Divali Glass Jewelry.  I am gearing up for a show in Texas in 2 weeks, and am having so much fun creating new styles.  The picture at the top is of a necklace that I made last week.  The beads were inspired by a dress I wore to my cousins wedding last weekend.  Being a jewelry designer, I have to create a showstopper to wear to fun events like weddings.  So this was my showstopper last weekend.  And excuse the unflattering picture, but here is the dress.  It’s fun to see the inspiration and the piece!  The necklace has beautiful fireworks-like designs on the surface of rainbow-striped beads, interspersed with beautiful shimmering Citrine nuggets.  I have a lot more pieces in the works.  I am trying a new creation tactic: instead of working on one piece at a time, like I normally do, I am working on about 10 pieces at once.  I make a few beads for each piece, and then lay them out on my work table the next day, so I can see my progress as I go.  It’s feeling like a very natural evolution, and I’m enjoying it.  And then one day sometime in the next few days, I’ll have enough beads for about 10 finished pieces, and what an exciting day that will be!  I leave for Dallas early next week, so I hope to have time to string and photograph some of the new work before I head out.

More from me soon.  I hope that really means soon.  I’ll do my best
Carter