First Sunset of Daylight Savings Time

I took this photo on the first afternoon of DayLight Savings Time. It was so fantastic to have it light out so late. And what a beautiful sky there was that day. It was also the weekend we got a whole lot of snow, and despite the fact that it is raining today, most of that snow is still here.

Etsy Mud Team

As part of the Etsy Mud Team, I am paraticipating in their current Critter Challenge. I called my entry, in the picture above, Quizzical Critter. He is also hidden in one of my listings on Etsy which is part of the Challenge.

Felted Flowers and Beads

I have been working on making some felted flowers and beads for an upcoming class I will be teaching at the wonderful Fiber Options, a new fiber and fabric store that has kindly landed in our rural neck of the woods. I love going in there and since I don't knit I had to find an excuse to return often. So I am felting. And now they have asked me to teach a class. It will be on Sunday April 27 from 1PM to 4PM. I am looking forward to doing this. I love the colors of the roving. And they have ordered new colors just for this event.

Art Bead Scene Submission for March

I have just submitted my March entry for the Art Bead Scene. You can visit their blog at http://www.artbeadscene.blogspot.com/ You will really enjoy this one. It is so interesting.

Happy Birthday ArtBeadScene

I am wishing the ART BEAD SCENE a Happy Birthday. I am a day or two late. But what a great year it has been getting their daily blog of inspiration, information and insight. And most important of all, they celebrate the artist made bead. This is by far my favorite blog.

New Jewelry

I have been doing a lot of beading lately, perhaps because it is so cold and going out to heat up my studio for clay seems daunting many days.

I have been experimenting with thinner bracelets in peyote to see if they could look nice. I ususally do cuffs but I am very happy with this one and another one I am almost finished with.

Fun in the Sun Stringing Magazine Challenge

In January Stringing Magazine ran a challenge titled Fun In the Sun. I entered a bracelet that I made with my ceramic Fiesta Beads and Melanie of Earthenwood Studio handmade porcelain snack charms. I guess being outside and eating outside are two of my favorite summer activities.

You can visit the Stringing Magazine site where all of the entries are featured with a photo. A winner will be picked by the public. Anyone can vote on a favorite. Feel free to cast a vote for my piece if you like it.

Stringing Magazine posts the following about the contest:

Fun in the Sun Stringing Challenge Gallery
About the challenge: The challenge theme was "Fun in the Sun" Stringing publishes stringing and simple wirework designs.
Voting: Voting ends March 12, 2008.
In the spirit of fairness and friendly competition, please vote only once and from only one e-mail address.

They have already posted their next challenge which is called: Channeling Cinderella

Entries are due to stringing@interweave.com no later than May 16, 2008. Voting will be held between May 30 and June 30. To enter send a clear, high-resolution TIF(better) or JPEG (good) photo that is 300dpi at 3"x5".

Foremost Focal Featured Artist

I am excited to announce that I the current Featured Artist on the website of Foremost Focal. They have a long article about me and are carrying an assortment of my handmade ceramic pendants and beads. You can read about it by clicking the Foremost Focal link above.

Here is an excerpt from the article.

Mary has been making artwork for most of her adult life. She began making ceramic beads and pendants in 1998 when she had the good fortune to take a ceramic class with Ann Burnham and renew her ceramic skills. Soon, Mary was continuously engaged by the excitement of each new kiln load of beads. She was first inspired at that time by the need for larger holed beads for the macramé jewelry she was designing. However, after seeing ancient beads in museums and on a trip to Mexico, she began to experiment with glazes and stains that would create the look of an archeological find.Out of this search she became very committed to using stains and smoke, along with some commercial glazes to color her beads and pendants. Mary feels that too much colored glaze removes the presence of the clay from the bead and no longer draws the eye into the clay to experience it. The viewer needs to enjoy the many nuances of surface, texture and aleatory (unpredictable) markings. She uses earthenware and porcelain clay fired at low temperatures to keep the clay open to receiving these stains, colorings and smoke.Mary’s artistic influences have been such masters as John Cage, Marguerite Duras and Freda Kahlo and the folk artists she researched in Northern New York and Mexico. She grew up in the Southwest which has certainly had a lasting influence on her love for southwestern and central American art. Moving to New York State fulfilled a wish to live in a land with green meadows and lots of water. Her recent work of gathering the plants of the pastures of northern New York to decorate her ceramic pendants is a form of folk history that she has imaginatively interpreted by making colorful renderings of these resilient green beauties. (to read the rest please go to Foremost Focal.)

Foremost focal was recently written up on ArtBeadScene. In this article you get a good overview of this wonderful site that features only handmade glass and ceramic focals and beads. They also offer suggestions for other kinds of beads that would go well with their focals. The site is run by Chris Thommen who is located in Michigan.

Winterlude for a Beader Part II

Clearly the winter weather continues up here in the Northeast. But oh so beautiful on sunny days. I took the photo above when I was snowshoeing this week. I was standing on the river which is now frozen completely.

My third winterlude class was with my friend Cait Throop, who is an amazing weaver. The class I took is called Triangle weave. This class intrigued me because I love all the new fibers but don't really know how to knit, crochet (beyond making bracelets) or weave. Here was a chance to spend the day with a great friend and some wonderful fibers. She was so kind to make a trip to the fiber shop to help me pick out what I needed. I chose some lovely shades of burgundys and had a wonderful day with Cait, the other students and some great fibers.

The photo below is at the beginning and gives you a good look at the triangle looms that we used. She likened them to the potholder looms we (some of us) used as children. And indeed the technique is similar.







The pattern we used is called a Log cabin pattern but it doesn't show up much in mine because of the colors I chose. Below is a photo of another student's piece that shows off that pattern nicely. I like the caotic pattern of mine quite a lot too.





Below you can see a photo of mine almost finished. We all finished our scarves before the class ended so we could take them home and wear them. I am really happy with my piece. It is warm and pretty to wear. I am planning to add some beads to the fringe at some point.






Cait is now teaching this class at the St. Lawrence County Arts Council.



Winter footsteps. Windswept.

Winterlude for A Beader

Near where I live the college has a special name for that time between Christmas Vacation and the beginning of the second semester. They call it Winterlude and offer classes that students would not ordinarily take.

This winter I seemed to need a Winterlude and took some jewelry related classes that I would not ordinarily take either. In December I was invited to participate in an ornament making class at our local arts council. We made lovely ornaments out of plated silver wire and beads. It was fun to be a student. In fact it was very relaxing and I had a great time and used my new wire working skills to make some cool presents for family members and friends. My winterlude has continued on into January when I got together with a few friends, Sally Hartman, Vlema Bolyer and Kim Klatt to learn how to fuse pure silver wire. What fun.

Up until that time I was leary or more accurately afraid of torches. But that little baby is such fun to use I could hardly stop myself from making more and more. The thrill of watching the little ball of silver jump up the wire, and the excitement of watching the thicker wire turn molten and then magically fuse was addictive. I had to stop when I was getting my tab too high, as that wire is expensive.

Here is the set up with a small micro torch, safety glasses, and a heat proof surface in a cookie sheet to work on and prevent drops of red hot silver.

Here I am trying to heat a piece of wire and make a ball on the end of it.

I probably won't have much luck as this was copper wire we used for the picture because I didn't think of taking the pics until we were almost all packed up. When the wire is pure silver little round drops form on the wire and grow by jumping up the wire. We did a number of these for head pins as seen the the next picture.

They make very elegant findings, and despite the high cost of fine silver wire they are still economical to make.

Then we learned how to hammer and shape the silver ring above into a very chic

pair of earrings using the head pins we made to wirewrap a bead for each loop.

Our helper for learning to make these fine silver findings was Kim Klatt who is a great jewelry maker in her own right, and a superb teacher.



Our hostess for the day, and some more days planned for the future is Isis, a wonderful spinner and weaver and owner of a new pup named Casper.

Thank goodness for Caspar and for this wonderful day making fine silver findings.

Now You See It Now You Don't Winter

I have decided to call this Winter Now You See It

Now you don't

But isn't it beautiful?

Winter All Around

Now that it is December, it seems that winter is here to stay. Oh, well. I guess I have to adjust to this unwanted change in weather. But it seems that this year more than others I am having a hard time giving up the warm weather.

But when I look at all the snow around and sit cozied up to our woodstove, it isn't so bad after all.

Fused Glass At Gallery Tour

In addition to glazing ceramic beads, my guests on the last day of the tour had the opportunity to make a fused glass pendant. These came out great.

Artistis' Studio Tour

If you were to look up Artists' Studio Tour on Google you would find over 38,000,000 entries. So I guess it would be safe to say that Artist Studio Tours abound in the US and most cities and towns engage in this form of promoting the arts.

In St. Lawrence County, in Upstate New York, we have been having artist studio tours for at least 20 years and I have been actively participating for at least half of those years. I have seen this event grow and become a great opportunity for artists and the public. This year there were 39 participating artists. Our usual brochure grew into a booklet and many studios were open for the full 3 days of the event.

I think this event is very special which is why I am writing about it. It is special to me because for a remote, rural county-- geographically, the largest county east of the Missippi River-- we have an exceptionally active artistic community. And we have a very interested public. In addition, we now have an active and forward looking Arts Council with a Director, Hilary Oak, who believes in the arts and is very good at their promotion. Not only is a studio tour a smart marketing opportunity for artists, it is also a chance to educate the public about how our individual creations are made. For me, the fun this year was involving my guests in ceramic bead glazing and glass fused pendants. All that participated experieced a sense of joy in participating in their own creative process. And I felt so happy that I could make this happen and give back to my guests who are friends, customers, and people new to me this year.

Here is a photo of some of the lovely ceramic bead glazing my talented guests did.

After the tour was over, there was still some of the colorful glazes they had used leftover in the paint dishes. Since I don't usually use much glaze, mostly stains, I thought about throwing them out since they were getting dry. But in the end, I didn't have the heart to do it, so I began glazing some beads that I had around. I took my own advice and put on several coats so I would get bright colors. And did I ever love the results. Now I want to make more and here is what I have to play with for the next weeks. So I say thank you to my guests for coming and letting me share my skills with them, and I say thank you again for using all those bright colors and getting me inspired.

St. Lawrence County Artists' Studio Tour

The brochures are out and the tour is just two weeks away. I am at a new location this year, my own studio in a ninteenth century barn. Here is an announcement for my part of the tour with a map of how to get there. I am Studio 23. I look forward to this event. I will be doing a make and take ceramic bead event and demonstrating how to make fused glass pendants.

New Raku Beads and Pendants

These last days of summer have been gorgeous and I have been having a wonderful time doing some raku bead firings.

Here is a look at some of the beauties I got from these firings.

October Issue of Simply Beads Magazine

The newest edition of Simply Beads Magazine has a full page advertisement from Fired Clay Artists of which I am a member. Next to the ad is a necklace project by Melanie from Earthenwood Studio which features several ceramic artists from Fired Clay. This is great for getting ceramic bead artists "out there."

Check out the ad if you happen to get this magazine. Simply Beads has been very open to featuring ceramic beads and pendants in their projects. The magazine's editor Molly Schaller has

a love for ceramic beads and we all really appreciate her promotion of this form of bead making.

Potsdam Summer Festival

It was a miracle that it didn't rain, since that is all it has done here in the last 2 weeks, it seems. But traditionally, this wonderful, joyous festival held downtown at Ives Park in the college town of Potsdam, New York, does have sunny weather. Here is my booth which I shared with Isis Melhado. Her beautiful rag rugs are featured in this picture on the corners of the two tables.

This is my third year in a row of selling at the Potsdam Festival and I am always so validated by the very receptive and appreciative visitors to my booth. Potsdam is a very special place with so many people who love the arts. I thank one and all who stopped at my booth this year and enjoyed and appreciated my artwork. I make ceramic and fused glass pendants and free form peyote stitch necklaces using my handmade ceramic beads. The strung neclaces I make are also mostly made from my handmade beads. I love it that there are so many people in this area that like my chunky unusual jewelry.

Colorful Beads Pendants and Buttons By BOC Artists

I recently checked out the Beads of Clay photos on Flickr! and was excited to see so much color. It always amazes me that ceramic bead artists can create such tiny colorful wonders with clay. I want to devote this post to some of these amazing, brightly colored beads, buttons and pendants. You can click on any of the pictures to find out more about the artist and see their Flickr! portfolio.

Red and White
Originally uploaded by marlasmud

This is a great and colorful pendant by Marlasmud. Really exciting colors.

Originally uploaded by annieo2006

Gorgeous flower bead
by annieo2006

Flaming Heart Bead
Originally uploaded by Earthenwood Beads

These colors are truly flaming hot. A wonderfully playful bead by Melanie at Earthewood.

New Watercolors Series
Originally uploaded by offcentergallery

Gorgeous pinks by Joan Tucker at offcenterproductions.com

spotted fish
Originally uploaded by rusmar31

Wild and full of fantasy, this fish button by rusmar31

Three corset-like jackets
Originally uploaded by embroideredsoul

These jackets are so different, colorful and fun.
They are by embroideredsoul

Salsa bead bracelet
Originally uploaded by LadyBrook

Brightly painted salsa beads by LadyBrook

Tuan with Twisty Bead Drops
Originally uploaded by nataliegillihan

Colors and unique shapes from Natalie Gillihan

Ladybug Leaf Pendant
Originally uploaded by Shaterra Clay

Beautiful color combinations so skillfully achieved from
shaterra clay

Heart Button RAKU Love
Originally uploaded by Lisa Peters Art

Great red and silver combo by Lisa Peters Art.

long bead
Originally uploaded by MillerPorcelain

Incredible color and skill from Joan Miller of MillerPorcelain

JoelleBday
Originally uploaded by gaeac

Gaea's beautiful Day of the Dead necklace from gaeac

paz
Originally uploaded by Dilán

Exciting colors from Dilan

Tile Pendant
Originally uploaded by la_v_i_k_a

Great yellows in a cool format by vika

New Tie Dye Buttons
Originally uploaded by claybuttons

These incredible Tie Dye buttons are from Claybuttons. Hard to imagine how she did this. Cool.














A cameo in an incredible color by Yolanda Miramontes

Cameo Pendant
Originally uploaded by yoli miramontes

Multi colored vessel shaped pendant
Originally uploaded by maryharding

I guess I didn't want to leave myself out. A multicolored pendant with several stringing holes for added decoration by MaryHarding of MaryHardingJewelry.


These great colors are achieved by skillful use of glazes. My all time favorite for lowfire earthenware clay is Mayco Stroke and Coat. These glazes come in a wide selection of colors and are very reliable. If you want really bright colors you need to put on three coats. I often don't use such bright colors and with one or two coats you get more of a watercolor effect with Stroke and Coat. I have recently seen that Duncan has come out with some very bright Neon Colors. I expect to have the purple and light green in the kiln by tonight. Duncan also makes a line of colors like Stroke and Coat but I haven't tried them.
For high fire clays like porcelain and stoneware Spectrum and Georgie's make good glazes. But that is not an area that I know much about. A good subject for another blog post.