Cyber Monday Sale Going on NOW

These are pictures of some new listings in my Etsy store this morning for the Cyber Monday Sale which will go on all week. 25% marked off all pieces.  Price shown is the marked down price.   USA Shipping is $2.00 for entire purchase.  $4.00 elsewhere.

Hope you will stop by.  I will be adding more pieces later today and through the week.

And the Winner is.....

And the winner of my Take Your Pick Giveaway is Sweet Tarragon who was the lucky number 35 from the Random generator.  Congratulations!!  She picked number 5 which is the wheat shaft pictured above.  Please send  your address to me at maryatmaryhardingjewelry.com

I want to thank all of you for  playing along.  And most especially thank you  for sending me so many positive, encouraging words about my work.  You are all so wonderful.

Since there were so many entries, I decided to offer a second prize so I used the random number generator again and got

#1  and that was Stregata.  Congratulations!! She picked  the Thistle pendant pictured below, as her favorite.

Again, many, many thanks for all your wonderful comments.  I will certainly do this again.

Happy Thanksgiving

This necklace was made a couple of years ago as part of a charm exchange with friends on the Internet.  I like to wear it this time of year as it is about blessings.

I have so much to be thankful for.  Thank you readers for all your encouragement, support and sharing of your lives with me.  I appreciate your uniqueness and your humanness and thank you for that gift in return.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.

Take Your Pick Giveaway

GIVEAWAY

I am having a Giveaway.  You can pick which piece you would like to have.  Just enter a comment below and include the number of the piece you want.  This is a follow up to my What's in the Kiln? post.  All these pieces were in that kiln load except Number 2 which is an earthenware, gloss glazed pendant.  All the others are stoneware that has been fired to Cone 5, over 2100degrees F. and they have been tumbled.  They do not have any gloss glaze.  They are soft, smooth, and rustic.

You may leave your comments through Thanksgiving.  I will annound the winner on Friday Nov. 26. 

Good Luck and thank you for reading my Blog

Re: 2nd Saturday State of the Studio

MarshaNealStudio on the Beads-of-Clay blog posts a 2nd Saturday State of the Studio every month.  We can link to it and show you how are studios are humming along.

This Saturday I am working on some hot pepper beads made from one of the jalapenos I grew in my garden last summer.  It has dried and is now very hard.  So I am trying out the 2 part quick molding compound I have to see what I can come up with.

In another part of my studio I am drying part of my 100 hearts order.  These are in the food dehydrator that is my current favorite tool.  These 2 shelves have about 60 hearts on them.

Here on a piece of plaster board some hearts are getting just hard enough to place in the food dehydrator without the ribs in the shelving making marks in the clay.  That white powdery stuff is baby powder I dip the cutter in before I cut out the heart.  Helps some.

And in my outside studio, my veggie garden, I have recently planted garlic for next summer. It is safely tucked into the ground with a nice covering of straw.

And here is the sunflower I have been photographing off and on all summer and fall.  It is looking truly magnificent on this very beautiful sunny Saturday.

I think we are having a 2nd Indian Summer here in the Northeast while Detroit and Chicago and the Twin Cities are getting an early winter storm.  I am working very fast this weekend to do all those things that need to be done before winter.  This won't last.

Beautiful Sunday

We have full sun today.  Yeah!!!

Of all the pieces that were in the kiln this week fired to cone5 this is my favorite.  It is a short and stout little thistle with lots of personality.  I already have it started in a necklace for my friend MaryAnne in Arizona.  Today I will make some more of these.  I didn't have any good feelings about this piece until I opened up the kiln.  Actually I thought it would be a dud.  And then it just started chattering and I couldn't help but love it.

These are some more of the pieces that were in that kiln load this week.  This is how they look after they were tumbled for about an hour.

Here are some that were also in that load but have not yet been tumbled.  Overall, I think the colors are a bit drab and I may brighten them up and refire them.

This is from a different kiln firing.  It is earthenware and is gloss glazed.  I added it to my website.  Quite a difference from the others.  I love these subtle browns. 

Would love to hear what you think about any of these.  Good or bad.

Celebrations With Words

Wreath of Hope  Toggle Clasp by Mary Harding

HOPE

In keeping with the ABS Carnival Bloggers November theme of Celebration, I am using some of my art bead toggle clasps to tell of what I celebrate.  I also added some photos of food and plants to celebrate life.

Love Toggle Clasp by Mary Harding

LOVE

Honoring ART toggle clasp by Mary Harding

ART

JOY Toggle Clasp by Mary Harding

JOY

Noel Toggle Clasp by Mary Harding

NOEL

Iced Raspberries

Baked Apples

Iced Brussels Sprouts

What's in the Kiln?

An assortment of stoneware pendants, toggles and heart charms are spending the day in my kiln which is firing to Cone5 about 2100 degrees F.  These will look a little darker when they finish firing.  Also on another shelf which you can't see in this picture I am trying an experiment of firing a green ware pendant with stain on it.  Never bisqued.  I put them in the dehydrator to get them really dry again before I started the firing.  I have never fired a greenware pendant with stain without firing it to bisque first ( about 1850 degrees F).  I was fearful the stain would dissolve the clay and soften the image too much.  Stoneware seems to work better for this.  I'll know tomorrow morning when the kiln has fired and cooled down.