ceramics

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~Bead Table Wednesday~

It’s been a busy week here with workmen in and out of the house.  I am surprised I was able to do anything creative.  Two weeks ago, in this post, I showed you a variety of components I was working with.  I am really struggling with getting these to come together right.
BUT…..I was successful with this pendant…..
I love making those fused silver rings, hammering them FLAT…..very therapeutic…..and then stamping them for some texture.

I had a headpin leftover, and it was lonely, so made this simple pendant for myself……….

I have also had my hands in clay and glaze again……

Cant wait to glaze these and fire them.  I love that owl towards the bottom right…..he’s gonna be a cutie 🙂
Right next to him is a bezel box that I cant wait to fill with goodies and resin.
Here are a few glazed beads waiting for something creative to happen to them….

I think they may grow up to be pendants.
Be sure to go the Flickr group, Bead Table Wednesday, and check out what other jewelry artists are up to.
Happy Bead Table Wednesday!!!
What is happening on your bead table?


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Creative Project #27 ~ a beady kind of day

Today was a day of catching up on some rest as well as melting some glass.  I go into another zone when I make glass beads.  It is like my own little zen.
Here are a few of the batch I made today….
I also designed a new necklace to go with this ceramic pendant that I got out of the kiln on Friday…..
and have started to make some of the components.
The day ended with several rewarding hours of agility training with our agility club and my wonderful potcake, Trixi.
It has been a fun and busy weekend…..I love it!
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Creative Project #24 ~ paint, paint, paint!

I almost missed my post today!!!  WOW!  Couldn’t let that happen since I am on such a roll!
Thursdays are usually such a busy day for me anyway, and today was even crazier with Saturday’s market coming up.
Thursdays are my day to grocery shop, have lunch with friends, run errands in town, do banking, dog agility class……..
On top of all of that I baked vegan cheesecakes to sell on Saturday, made tons of hummus, and painted ceramic beads.
These babies need to go in the kiln first thing in the morning, right after my run!
Here are some of them drying….
Tomorrow I will need to get all my show goodies together and in one place, like floats, bags, display stands……just so Saturday morning there are no early morning meltdowns.
Good Night!
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Creative Project #23 ~ sewing bags while waiting

Happy Hump day all!
A really quick post today to show you a glimpse of my creative journey today.  I mentioned yesterday that Saturday I have a function to attend to raise money for Friends of Abaco Animals.  Those clay pieces I showed you yesterday I put in the kiln for their first firing.
The firing took about five hours and now I sit and wait for it to cool down.  Last time I checked the temperature was at 960!  I probably wont be able to open the kiln until tomorrow.
So in the meantime I went outside and washed out cat and dog food bags……
Hung them to dry……
Now you are really thinking I have lost my mind!!!
But……I am making bags to sell at the Humane Society stall on Saturday!
Great shopping bags that are waterproof!
Trixi and Merlin wanted to pose with the bag! hahaha!
If you are in Abaco, please come by Da Market on Saturday, from 9am – 1pm, in the parking lot of the Bahamas National Trust office.

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Creative Project #22 ~ silk and clay

This week is turning out to be busy, busy, busy!  On Saturday I am participating in something called “Da Market”.  It is put on by the Bahamas National Trust.
There will be farmers there with fresh produce, local food, preserves, arts and crafts.
I will have a tent there for “Friends of Abaco Animals”, and under that tent a small selection of a few of my things.
If you are in Abaco, be sure to come out.  I may have a few surprises 🙂
So this week I have been preparing for Saturday, and found some time today to finish up that scarf I started on Sunday.
Let me tell you….silk is so much fun to sew!!! It keeps running away from you!
In the end I won the battle and got the scarf hemmed!
I am looking forward to making some more of these.
I also had my hands in clay on and off today.  I need a few embellishments for this weekend.
That blue contraption is my slab roller.  I also leave the pieces there to dry into greenware.  The shelf above it my husband hung for me yesterday so I can easily grab tools and glazes.
This week is flying by…..hope it is a good one for all of you 🙂

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kiln is FINALLY done!!

The absolute worst part of pottery is the waiting time….waiting for the greenware to dry so you can fire it….waiting for the kiln….waiting for the paint to dry so you can glaze, waiting for another firing!
This morning I was finally able to pull out the platters I put in yesterday morning!
“Morning Song”  This one matches the table, a pillow and some artwork that I have made.
They were worth the wait.  I love all the colors!
“Owl and Friend”
So then I loaded the kiln back up with some greenware that need to be turned into bisque, and needed something to occupy my time  so I made some journal covers for the show this weekend.
These are a few of my favorites.
There are a  few more small projects to finish for the show, price everything, pack up my show supplies and then enjoy the weekend selling and talking to artists and customers.
Hope you are all having a great week!

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getting somewhere……

Work continued today on the table and a few other things that I probably shouldn’t have started.
Look at how dirty my fingers are…..i dove into the bag of clay!
Now the big kiln is on and I love the smell of that firing!
I guess you all want to see the sofa table…….
It matches one of the pillows I have made and also a few pieces of artwork I have done, but i think I am going to use this to display my jewelry on.  Which reminds me….I still need to show you some new jewelry pieces!  In an upcoming post for sure!
I am still painting away on the chair…..I think I made it way too complicated, but oh well, I have to push thru and finish it now.
I took a few minutes today to make some vegan brownies…..

They are so moist and chocolatey ~ you cannot tell they are vegan.
You can find the recipe here.  They whip up very quickly.  The hardest part is waiting for them to bake!
Enjoy!

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Bead Soup Party Reveal

Today is the day for the reveal of my Bead Soup Party necklace!
Be sure and go over to Lori’s blog and check out all the jewelry artist’s blogs.  There are so many participating in this party that the party hop will go on for a week!  Everyday a new set of artists will reveal their creations.
You can also go the the Flickr page where most participants will be posting pictures also.
My partner for the Bead Soup Party was Janet from Singing Woods Blog.  Go check out her blog.  She sent me a selection of beads from the wonderful ceramic artist Gaia.
This is what I got in the mail from Janet, in case you forgot or missed that post……
Here is what i created with the bead soup I received……
The chain to the left of the pendant is made by me out of copper and sterling silver wire, soldered together for links.
I did ribbon at the back of the necklace.  I have done this on a few necklaces lately and found it to be very comfortable, and I thought that ribbon was perfect for the focal.
I had a few beads left over to make some matching earrings also.
Hope you like what I made Janet!
Don’t forget to check out everyone’s blog and see all the wonderful creations!
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Last Weekend’s Show and My Surprise Package

A few posts ago I told you I was busy getting ready for a show.  Abaco had its first Agri-Expo and it was a great success!!  That’s me in my tent with my quilts hanging up.  I had little art quilts, jewelry and ceramics on the table, and had great upright stands for them but the wind was brutal and everything kept blowing down.  I did well, sold quite a bit of jewelry, ceramics and got an order for a quilt!
There were lots of vendors with organic produce, farmers brought their goats, pigs, sheep and chickens out, and there were many other arts and crafts tents.  There were also fantastic food vendors including a vendor that had vegan foods for sale……YUMMY!
So this week I have been trying to gather my self together again, work on orders, work on swap quilts, quilt a quilt for a fundraiser this weekend, and stay inspired.  I still feel like my imagination is overflowing and I am enjoying that, just wish I had more time to play with these ideas.
Yesterday I got a nice surprise in the mail…….my “Anything Goes Mini Quilt Swap”
Here is one of the quilts I received:
It is 8″x 8″ square with embroidery stitches and button embellishments!!!  I LOVE it!!!  Looks like the water and bubbles.  It is hanging next to a flower that is painted on my studio wall and matches perfectly.
My sweet swap partner wasn’t sure I would like that quilt.  Thought it may have been too pastel-y, after seeing my work, so she sent me another on!!!!!! Can you believe it?
This one is called “Here Comes Summer” and I am infatuated with this one as well!!!  I can’t believe I was so lucky to receive TWO and from such a great quilter!!!  Her work is perfect and precise and I feel honored to be her partner.  I have been admiring her work for a while now, so I hope we get to be partners again!!!
Check out her blog and look at her awesome work.
I have quite a collection of swap quilts now, and am involved in 4 more right now, so that means I have 4 more on the way to me!!
This is the wall in my studio that I started to hang my collection.
Well, I need to get back to work and finish those swap projects!!!  Today I was making clay buttons to add to one of those projects, so I thought I’d do a post while I was waiting on those to dry.
I’ll be back the end of the week to show you the large quilt I am quilting for the fundraiser.
Have a great week 🙂
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Easter Earrings

Happy Easter everyone!!
A few weeks back I ordered some of Jangles new beads called the “Woodland Collection”.
Ever since I got then I have been trying to figure out what to do with them.  They are sooooo amazingly cute that it has to be the perfect project.
So I was looking at the whole set today, trying to figure out what to do and the little lilac birds were just screaming “EASTER” to me, and I paired them with some white and yellow feathered glass beads I had made.
I have more ideas for the rest of the beads just need to wrap my head around the assembly part of it.
Go and check out the Jangles website and Jennifer’s blog.  She is one amazing ceramic and jewelry artist.