Creating Success Around the World

The worldwide blog hop tour, that introduces you to creative people from all corners of the globe.

Every week, our hosts on each continent will introduce you to someone new whose creativity is inspiring! Come take this worldwide tour with us!

You can visit each host below and read about a featured creative person on each continent! All interviews are posted simultaneously around the world, resulting in one big crafting party. And then, add your blog to the Blog Hop party below. You could be featured in the next Around the World Interview! Fame. Notoriety. Pure Awesomeness! It’s all in the touch of a keyboard button…

Our Guest this week is from Spokane, Washington, USA!

Today we are welcoming  Lori from Out of the Flames. She is an amazing artist whose specialties include beading, fused glass and jewelry making.  Since she is coming to us all the way from Washington State, my buddy Tom Selleck, his mustache and I decided we needed to have some good ‘ole southern cooking put out for her when she arrives.  (You know you are lucky to get a packet of peanuts nowadays on those airlines). So we asked Rastus, the local Waffle House cook to put together something amazing for her.

Unfortunately, this also happens to be the day that the producers from Top Chef asked if I can allow their judges, Tom Colicchio and Padma Lakshmi to use my Green Room.  Seems that their studio currently has plumbing issues, so they have asked if they can stash their judges here in the meantime.  Tom Colicchio is a stern looking perfectionist where food is concerned and is certainly not going to hold back his opinion, condescending or not.  As for Padma, well she is the pretty member of the judging team, but she also has very strong opinions as to what is good and what is just nasty.

Between you and I, I really don’t understand how Padma stays so slim.  She eats large portions of food presented from as many as twenty contestants at a time and doesn’t seem to gain an ounce.  Every time I see her, that girl is eating!  Just last week, she put away two racks of ribs and a whole chicken at the Texas Barbeque Cook Off.  And then she threw on her size zero ball gown and attended the Chef Masters Ball in LA, dining on caviar, pheasant and other such frou-frou dishes, pausing long enough to excuse herself and swing by the drive-through at the local McDonalds to load up on the Big Mac, buy ten, get one free special.

You know, if I even look at a burger too hard, I have to unbutton my jeans.  Life is so not fair.

So while Rastus warily sets up the buffet, let’s take a few moments to interview Lori in my office…

Suzy: So, tell me a little about yourself, your family, your other hobbies…
Lori: I live with my Sweetie RJ and One Wolfie we call Lightning. She is 86% gray wolf and the rest is Husky. She is so lovable, I’m pretty sure there is some Cocker Spaniel or Poodle in there somewhere.  I have too sons and they each have a son. Carrson is 3 1/2  and Gunner is 8 months. What fun it is to be a grandma!

Lori: I work with glass and beads. Stained glass, fused glass and bead weaving. I also design and sell patterns on several sites such as Bead Patterns Boutique and The Bead Coop. I have a home studio that my sweetie built me several years ago and I love it.  There is nothing better than walking out the back door and into your studio to “go to work”.

Suzy: When did you start blogging, and where would you like your blogging to take you?
Lori: I started blogging about a year and a half ago at the urging of a good friend. She kept telling me I really needed to blog about my hobbies etc. Then one day my son stopped by and he said ” mom you are not just talking to yourself–you are answering yourself. You need to get out more!” So..I thought well, maybe a blog would help get some of that “talking” out. ( I still talk to myself) LOL! I’d love to have more followers and love the friends I’ve made through blogging. It’s an awesome way to see what everyone is making and learn new things!

Suzy: Can you tell us a few things that most folks don’t know about you?
Lori: Hmmmmm… something most folks don’t know about me—Well, I used to make Lampwork beads. Hence the name –Out Of The Flames. In October of 2006, I was attacked by a Pitbull that was running loose in our neighborhood. It lunged at me and I put up my arm and hand to block it from biting my face. It latched onto my hand and to make a long story short it damaged my right hand. My index finger was broken, the skin and tissues were stripped off my middle fingers and  half of my thumb was gone.

Lori: After several plastic surgeries and skin grafts most of the damage was repaired–except for the thumb.  The loss of the thumb made it really hard for me to hold the mandrels or rods of glass for making beads. So I switched to stained glass and fusing. It took a bit to get used to holding the tools, but it was much easier than the lampwork tools. After about two years, I relearned my beading and how to hold the needles and beads.  And no– I dont hate Pitbulls. I am a firm believer  in it’s how an animal is raised. There are many wonderful loving Pits out there! I just happened upon one that was not raised or treated right.

Suzy: Your photography is absolutely breathtaking.  Can you give any new photographers out there a few helpful hints?  Like me?  Hint, hint.
Lori:  My jewelry pictures are all taken with a little Sony Cybershot. I take my photos in early afternoon in a west facing window. Non-glare surfaces work best. A chest freezer top or a ceramic or terra cotta floor tile work well too… Do NOT zoom in- leave your camera on the furthest setting and then get close enough to fill the frame with your work.

Lori: There are a lot of great photography programs such as Adobe Photoshop that you can use to “tweak”  your pictures. I think natural light provides the best lighting available. Take your work outside on an overcast day for optimal results. Outdoor scenery is a whole different set up. There is nothing like a nice digital SLR camera with a variety of lenses to capture wildlife. We spend a lot of our weekends on the surrounding mountains or lakes taking pictures. It’s a favorite hobby!

Suzy: Can you tell us a little bit about your beadwork?
Lori: When I was about 7 or 8, I was given a loom with a little bag of beads. It was one of those funky little wire looms. Wow– those little things are harder to use then you can possibly imagine. I still loved the beading and made many bracelets for my friends. Later in life I had my sweetie make me a really nice wooden standing loom and  I started back into beading, making beadwork for Regalia for both people and horses. I now have five looms and each almost always has a project on it.

Suzy: Can you tell us a little about what you are promoting right now?
Lori: Well right now I am working mostly on beadwork and designing. I just redesigned my website  Out Of the Flames and am in the process of adding patterns and completed pieces to it. I also am working on fused glass pendants. LOL– As I sit here looking around my studio– I have seven projects in the works! Nothing like variety!