There once was a neophyte from Maine whose imperfect donuts drove her insane Her instructor relented "Rounded- not dented" use the CGBeadrolller and don't complain Humbly yours, a newbie who has never used one... ~Pam~

I think there is a limit to what I would do for a free CGBeadroller... Although I am totally willing to gain 250 lbs and then walk barefoot across 4 miles of rusty nails through a desert in Hell while wearing a necklace made of dead fish. Worth It! ~Juls~

With sincere apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways I love thee to the depth of 18 millimeters My glass can reach, when glowing from the flame For the ends of beads and ideal glass I love thee to the width of 10 millimeters My bead can spread in evenness and beauty I love thee as freely as a mandrel spins I love thee purely for defeating wonkiness I love thee with the passion of Pandora And the heat of Hestia, goddess of the hearth. I love the with a love annealed at 968 degrees Fahrenheit I love thee with with my breath, my burns, my smiles, My tears, of all of my life!--and, in the event of a propane mishap, I shall but love thee better after death. ~Susan~

pologies to Joyce Kilmer I think that I shall never see Rollers as lovely as CG's. Rollers whose finest graphite is prest against flowing glass to create the best; Rollers that aid and assist and inpire and spark imagination to dream with fire; Rollers that help to sculpt and mold and tame the glass in contours bold; Rollers that coax the glass into rounds and ovals and disks in shapes that astound. Poems are made by fools like me, The best Rollers are only made by CG. I have just one roller and I love it madly! It's not just a great tool but it's obviously made with love and care and I'd dearly love to have another. ~Patty~

grew up in a neighborhood north of Washington DC that was known for making exquisite hand made beads. The sand from the coastal beaches of Maryland and Delaware were of a purity not found anywhere else in the western hemisphere. Families were known to make different shaped beads, each family perfecting their particular shapes with the help of CG Beadrollers, which are known to be the finest beadrollers made. The skill was passed from generation to generation. All children were taught this skill from the time they were 5 or 6 years old. All children, but me. My family was the one family who did not make beads. My father worked for the federal government. The skills passed from generation to generation in our family was filing alphabetically, placing callers on hold and unjamming the Xerox machines. Of course, this made us outcasts. While the other children bragged about how their fathers could make 35 mm big hole disk beads or perfect 25mm round beads, I was only able to counter with "my father is a contract procurement officer for the department of the army". Which brought peels of laughter. I couldn't blame them, I had no idea what that meant either. While Peggy Baker's father was known the world over for his exquisite round dichroic graduated bead sets and Valerie Goldberg's mother encased silver glass ribbed bicones, all I could brag about was that we had a much better health care plan, including dental. Secretly, I longed to be a normal family like the rest of my friends. I spent many hours dreaming I was adopted and that my real parents would show up to claim me and teach me how to form a perfect egg shaped bead embellished with raku frit. I remember going to my friend Andrea LePine's 10th birthday party and seeing her unwrap and entire set of CG rollers with their beautiful flame handles. I cried myself to sleep that night. Every Christmas I would write to Santa Claus and beg him to bring me a Quad Squad Pandora style roller. I promised to clean my room every day and help my mother with the dishes if I could just have a Ribbed Small Chunky Oval Trio. I would wake up on Christmas morning with such hope in my little heart only to have it dashed once again when I unwrapped yet another type writer ribbon, or pencil sharpener. My mother could see that civil servitude was not my dream. One year she took pitty on me and bought me a cheap Chinese made knockoff with a metal handle. The other children laughed at me. I didn't have a torch or glass so I used it to make Playdoh beads on bamboo barbecue skewers. When I became and adult I followed in my family's tradition and went to work for the county of Sacramento CA, but in my heart I still longed to someday have a set of my own beautifully made CG rollers and make beautiful beads like the other girls I grew up with do now, but it is difficult to break out of one's class. The untouchables may become rich, but they will always be untouchable. And the civil servant can dream of being a bead artist, but without the proper equipment will never take their place as a bead maker. But we dream...we dream. ~Kevan~

Sung to the tune of "Saturday Night" by [who else] the Bay City Rollers! R –O – L – L – L – L – ING…BEADS R –O – L – L – L – L – ING…BEADS R –O – L – L – L – L – ING…BEADS R –O – L – L – L – L – ING…BEADS Gonna keep on rolling in the pulsing flame On Saturday night, Saturday night, Rolling hot glass in Donna’s great new thang On Saturday night, Saturday night, I – I – I - I just can’t wait I – I – I – I got a date At the good ole bead rolling new tool show I gotta go Saturday Night Saturday Night Gonna flame it up, roll it up Do it all, make a ball, Saturday Night, Saturday Night It's just a Saturday Night A flaming Saturday Night Flaming Saturday Night Gonna roll my beads till the night is through On Saturday Night, Saturday Night Tell you all the awesome things I'm gonna do On Saturday Night, Saturday Night I - I - I - I love them so I - I - I - I'm gonna let her know Saturday Night, Saturday Night It's just a Saturday Night A flaming Saturday Night Flaming Saturday Night Congratulations Donna on your business expansion. I love seeing how you have taken your dream and made it into a reality!! ~Wendy~

The CG Beadroller is the Queen of all of lampwork tools. She rules with a benevolent, yet firm hand, and does not back down from fiery, difficult situations. All of the kingdom's glassy subjects live in admiration of her beauty and power. Long live the Queen! ~Glenda

My testimonial for the beadroller is quite simple. They are truly the easiest to use. There's no pressing, there's no base and the tools are light as can be. I can make several beads on one mandrel with ease. I never have to look for the bottom part or the top part. Just one piece ready and waiting for me to use. I love the fact that there are mixed shapes so that I can use one roller for many different styles and shapes instead of having to pull out a different one each time. Donna is great! Speedy shipping and I've never had a problem with any of mine. I only own one however. The reason is not because I don't like her rollers but the fact that I never have time to do anything "I" want to do. After I'm done packing orders and dealing with family things, I'm simply too tired to play. BUT, I am happy to say that ..that is about to change. I promised myself that I would give me some me time every day. I could make up some fabulous, crazy story but there's no need to. Donna's rollers are simply the easiest and versatile roller to use. I recommend her to all my customers and her presses are what I give in my giveaways. People just love them! That's my story and I'm sticking to it ;-) ~Irene~

Sung to the tune of Silent Night..... Super Wow! Holy Cow! All so cool, Want it now Round your pandora Beads shall be. CG Beadroller So easy, you see. Let me win one, please! Let me win one please.. Thank you very much for this opportunity to enter your contest. I have never used one. I really, really want to though.... I am hoping for an early Christmas present.... lol Feliz Navidad, ~Steve~

The Aurora from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

<NEWS FLASH FOLLOW UP>
Done for the day with just one hitch, not bad - except it was a major goof up.
One of the top beams was a foot and a half too long...

NEWS FLASH ! ! !
This is what my back yard looked like the end of last year.
Actually, this is what it looked like after we had the old building half demolished.
Yes, that's a 63 Belaire. 85,000 original miles, good condition, but needs restoring.
Still has the sticker in the window that they put on when it was used as a street extra in the Stone film 'JFK'



This is what it looked like in January.



This what it looked like in February.
I had no idea concrete stain dried that fast with just a little bit of sun....


Our 24x36 ft building was delivered this morning, and will take about a week to put up. Sometime after that, we can take possession of the cnc machine that has been in storage for 2 months. I don't know how long the learning curve will be, but we'll be machining the graphite for the beadrollers in house soon.

Kara keeps making work for me. I just uploaded a bunch of new beadcaps for her.

2/20/11
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST DARN SON-IN-LAW ON THE PLANET ! ! !

2/6/11
We finished the jewelry tools sooner than expected. YEY ! !
If you make jewelry, you need to try these out.
They're not your mothers tools, extra steps have been taken to refine the tools for a finish that won't mar your silver.
Come and gettum.....

2/3/11
Coming soon - - jewelry tools - -

1/30/11
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ME ! ! !
Yep, it's been two years, can you believe it?

Thanks to my awesome awesome customers, my little experiment with cavity marvers exceeded my wildest expectations. To say thank you, I've listened to your pleas, and will offer the 'sampler' as the anniversary tool. I've also made a limited quantity of a ribbed version, and each will come in a flame bag. The Anniversary Special will run through Feb. 15th.

Now for the 'other' exciting news - Along with my already indispensable husband behind the scenes, I've grown big enough to bring both of my children on board. Arik will be helping me in the shop. He'll also be starting a line of frit (see the catagory list on the left for the link), and will work into making custom blends. Kara has always wanted to retail jewelry finding (link is on the left), and has also found the cutest line of jewelry tools. She's working on hand finishing the surface, and will unveiled them soon.

A big thank you smooch to every one that helped make this possible.

1/23/11

1. Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweat things. 2. One Tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor. 3. Atheism is a nonprofit organization. 4. If man evolved from monkeys and apes, why do we still have monkeys and apes? 5. The main reason that Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live. 6. I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose. 7. What if there were no hypothetical questions? 8. If a deaf child signs swear words, does his mother wash his hands with soap? 9. If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is it considered a hostage situation? 10. Is there another work for synonym? 11. Where do forest ranger go to "get away from it all?" 12. What do yo do when yo see and endangered animal eating an endangered plant? 13. If a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages? 14. Would a fly without wings be called a walk? 15. Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? Are they afraid someone will clean them? 16. If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked? 17. Can vegetarians eat animal crackers? 18. If the police arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent? 19. Why do they put Braille on drive through bank machines? 20. How do they get deer to cross the road only at those yellow road signs? 21. What was the best thing before slice bread? 22. One nice thing about egotists: they don't talk about other people. 23. Does the little mermaid wear an algebra? 24. Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery? 25. How is it possible to have a civil war? 26. If one synchronized swimmer drowns, do the rest drown too? 27. If you ate both pasta and antipasto, would you still be hungry? 28. If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done? 29. Whose cruel idea was it for the work 'LISP' to have 'S' in it? 30. Why is it called a tourist season if we can't shoot at them? 31. Why is there an expiration date on sour cream? 32. If you spin an oriental person in a circle three times, do they become disoriented? 33. Can an atheist get insurance against acts of God?

1/21/11
Someone showed me this youtube of Fragile Ice at Yosemite Park, amazing stuff.
There are 13 vidoe's in the Yosemite Nature Notes series.

1/7/11
I guess it's time to do my first update of the new year/decade, althooough - it only seems like a day has gone by since yesterday.... It's been three years since I've seem my dad, so I went home over New Years Eve weekend. I'm from North Dakota (transplanted to Texas), and you never forget how subzero air can hurt your lungs, but it's still a bit of a shock when you take that first deep breath and start to choke. duh... The weekend was great. Pat and Vanna were doing "Wheel" from Los Vegas. Polka Party Express, ok, accordion music isn't that bad, I kind of like it. There was a 100 car pile up near Fargo, other end of the state, thank goodness. The fold out couch bed has not mysteriously become a pleasant place to sleep. Crock pot roast at dads, nephla at my sisters, salmon patties at my brothers. Showed Aunt Rose how to text, I fear my cousins will never forgive me now. Taco pizza at Happy Joe's, and peppermint ice cream. Oh Oh, and Jeopardy!!! I love that show!!! Old family photo albums, even got to take a few pictures. Funny, I don't remember being that slim, sigh, and my hair was a much prettier color of red once, double sigh. I hate it that my 88 year old father can out exercise me. Got to add numbers to the phone book in the awesome new house phone my brother bought dad. Speaking of my brother-slash-great-white-humter, how come I didn't get some deer jerky? Probably cause I'm too stupid to ask for it? And all the Pheasants along side the road when we drove down to my sisters, that was awesome, they were everywhere, it's actually become a whole new hunting industry there now. And somehow, husbands can always manage to turn white socks into pink socks when wives aren't around, but I'd rather wear pink socks than complain... Bought a new pair of ankle boots, they will help hide the pink socks. Walking OUT TO the plane is a trip, so is watching the pilot do his pre-flight check by walking up to the propellor and giving it a spin. After I got home, it took 2 days to get all the orders shipped. Don't people have anything better to do over a holiday weekend than buy beadrollers? Wish I would have made a snow angle, not.. Have you ever driven when it's snowing? It's like traveling through a time tunnel, the snow looks like it's flying straight at you, it's hypnotizing, glad I wasn't the one driving. zzz And the oil boom, holy cow, 2-1/2% unemployment in NoDak. It was a short trip, but dad & I packed it full of talk and time together. Ahhh, happy camper I am.