Carolina Firefiends

It's not a typo:  We are the Carolina Firefiends, and after many months of missing it, I was finally free to attend the meeting of the NC lampwork group.  This month the meeting was held in Cary, with around 14 attending.  Isn't our logo cool? 

Or maybe it's hot...

Some of the members are my old glass buddies from the biannual workshop events in Asheville, and it was so good to see them again!  I also got to meet face to face, the people that I know only from online groups and forums.  Hooray for new friends in the flesh!

Julie (right) of Jewlie Beads has been one such cyberfriend and fiend (lol) and I've long admired her work with wire.

Yee (left), has amazing lampwork and metal skills, and is to be applauded for organizing the meeting.  It was great to finally see them both!

Check out the purple glasses I scored from my old buddy, Lysa:

Mr. T said they look like Elton John glasses, lol!

Julie graciously offered to teach us techniques in wire wrapping.  Her handcrafted earrings below are the specimen we were to achieve. 

You can browse more of her creations in her JEWLIE BEADS ETSY SHOP and she offers tutorials there as well.
As we were outside/porch dining, we closed the interior door, took out our pliers, hammers, and steel blocks, and began tap-tap-tapping our metal parts.

High five to Hibernian Pub and our kind and capable waitress for great service!

I managed to mangle one of my curly S's, trying too hard to gain perfection.  Julie kindly offered her S.  My wire wrapping skills are wanting, but I know the areas I need to work on now.  Here's the outcome for my efforts:

  

Since arriving home, I cut and curled more parts

and made a 2nd pair:

Eh, I'll keep trying.  I'm very grateful to Julie for sharing her expertise with us!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  ~ ~ ~ 

Some of us brought beads to exchange for beads, or other items.  Robin, the sole (brave) male in our group, is really great with glass and a torch!  Just look at his creations that I've added to my personal collection:

Another trade was for this pretty necklace, made by Heather.  Hard to see, but there are woven jump rings that create a movable "flower" around a bead.

There was also a "brown bag exchange" of sorts...numbers were drawn from a hat, and here's my prize!

  Yee's cored bead work is exquisite!

I'm looking forward to the next meeting with these fine Firefiends.