Busy, Fun Busy, Busy

I am now having a lot of fun putting together kits for my Beaded Cabochon  Pendant class next week.  You can see in the picture above some of the cabochons I made for the class.  I have already glued on the backing to save time since the glue requires considerable dry time.  I like to use E6000 since it is good with ceramic clay. 

I have come up with an additional sample for the class to work from.  This one adds a row of beads around the edge.  They don't all show here due to the angle of the shot. And I see a small bit of thread I will need to cut off.  I have struggled quite a bit with which method of attaching the beads I wanted to use.  Originally I used a blanket stitch which gives a lovely look to the back as well.  But it takes a very long time and requires some skill.   So I went with the bead embroidery back stitch which does a great reliable job and looks good.  The sample above uses the back stitch method.  The class is only 2 1/2 hours long so I am trying to teach a method that will result in a finished product in the time allowed.

Here is a picture of some of the cabs I made up for the class.  I totally enjoyed making these and I love how the colors came out.  I imagine I will be making some more before too long.

I made a lot of earrings for the show and they sold well.

I have also been very busy because last week I participated in a Craft Show:  Mare's Wares Art Festival to celebrate Canada Day and start off the long 4th of July weekend.  It was a wonderful experience and I am so glad that I did it.  I felt a bit rusty since I haven't done a show in 2 years.  I see how staying practiced helps.  But I sold well and best of all I saw many folks that I hadn't seen since my last show.  Great blasts from the past and wonderful reconnections.  And the organizers of this show Mare and Karen are just the best.  Friendly and helpful all the way around.  And the setting:  so beautiful.  My booth was nestled into a lightly wooded area next to an apple tree.  How pastoral is that.

More earrings--my hand stamped hoops with Vintaj flowers

       And lots of funky Lake Erie beach glass that my Buffalo friends just love and bought for gifts.

And my beaded bracelets which went well.

What didn't sell well, my new wire wrapped bracelets.  Necklaces were not a go either.

I guess you can see what I mean about Fun Busy!!!

Thank you for stopping by!!

Sue Beads' Challenge

I was one of the lucky 5 to be chose to participate in Sue Beads Challenge.  She gave each of us a set of these lovely enameled flowers.  I got the purple ones in the upper right hand corner.  She sent us a very generous amount.

When they first arrived I thought that I would use them in a seed bead creation.  But as time went on I did not think this would work out so well as the flowers need bigger beads to show off their great colors. Then I matched them up with some of my own handmade beads and decided that they looked great with these matte turquoise porcelain beads that I had made recently.

  And better yet they looked great with these ball head end pins that I made last weekend.  The copper turned this wonderful pink red color that also looked great with Sue's flowers. 

So I decided to make a rather long pendant that could be added to a variety of stringing materials. I used a Vintaj black flower that I lightened slightly with Gilder's Paste, lots of my turquoise matte porcelain beads, and a butterfly pendant that I had made.  It was also touched up with some Gilder's Paste.

And  I attached this long pendant to a kind of fancy chain that I had.  But it looked a little bare so I wove a piece of turquoise roving that I had into the chain and this is what I got.

 Thank you Sue for such a fun Challenge and wonderful enameled flowers to play with.  Be sure to visit Sue's blog for the others who participated in this challenge

Bead Table Wednesday 6-22-11

Yesterday was Bead Table Wednesday, but I couldn't get any photos to load to my blog.  Now I am trying again and they are loading just fine.

I am posting a pic of some of the cabs I just got out of the kiln.  I am making these for a class I am teaching in July.  We will be making a beaded cabochon pendant like the one in the photo below.  I am teaching this class at the Thousand Islands Art Center in a nearby town. 

Beaded Cabochon pendant

I made 15 cabs for a class of  possibly 10.  I made several of this pine bough since that is the one pictured in the class catalogue.  Now to pick out the seed beads, adhere the backing to the cabs ( I am doing this ahead because of the drying time)  and package all the kits up.  I actually enjoy putting together kits.

Thank you all who wrote such nice and enthusiastic comments about these cabs!!



You can check out all the other goings on on BTW by clicking my BTW button in the right margin.

Enjoy looking.

Color Inspiration

 Mary Harding  Heart pendant Colors inspired by Redon and Hockney

Ophelia by Odilon Redon

David Hockney Pool in 3 Blues

I have long been a fan of David Hockney's paintings.  It wasn't until I made the pendant above based, I thought on the colors in the Ophelia painting by Odilon  Redon, that I realized in my mind's eye I was seeing the luminous blues and yellows from a Hockney painting, as well. 

And now I have even more Hockney's to marvel at since he has been drawing almost daily on his iphone and ipad.

Here is one of his ipad paintings that I just love:

If you think you would like to try this you can use the ipad app brushes, just like David Hockney. It is available for the ipad and the iphone. I don't this it is available yet for the Droid.

Wild Thunderstorm Yesterday

My studio is in that barn!!  No harm done, luckily

My husband is up there cutting it up for firewood right now.  Our tractor is under all those branches, safe and sound.

And I can still get inside.  We feel very lucky!!

Bead Table Wednesday 06-08-11

It is Bead Table Wednesday.  I missed last week because I was out of town.  This week I have some porcelain leaves and round beads and  some earthenware hearts (on the left.)

These porcelain leaves are connector beads with a slight arch for bracelets.  I have tried out 3 different colors and they all came out well.  The center top is a cappuccino and is a matte finish.  Kind of nice.  The round beads are the same color as a previous BTW but because they are on this pure pure white porcelain clay body the turquoise blue color is more blue.  I think it is so interesting that the stoneware clay body has the slightest tint of yellow brown in it and colors this same glaze a slightly green blue turquoise.  I just love this turquoise on this very white clay porcelain clay.

I hope you will click on my sidebar BTW button and visit all the other bead tables today.  Some, I imagine are at the Bead and Button Show!!  Have much fun and success Ladies!!

Belle Armoire Jewelry, Summer 2011 Leafy Links by Shannon LeVart

Colorful Clover Pendant by Mary Harding

Shannon LeVart, Miss Ficklemedia, has a super wonderful article in Belle Armoire Jewelry,  Summer 2011 which just got on the newsstands on June 1.  In her article titled Leafy Links, Shannon LeVart has written a poetic interpretation of my ceramic pendants by creating 3 magnificent necklaces.   These pendants of mine are  beautifully set off by Miss Ficklemedia's patinaed drenched with color chain and pearls-- a unique mix of rustic and cultivated--  and her exquisite sense of style and flow.  If you would want to make one of these for yourself, she has detailed, extremely clear instructions on how to do it.  You can purchase the pendants from my website at a special sale price for the month of June.  I am celebrating later in the month with a Giveaway of one of these pendants.

The Necklaces, made and

 photographed by Shannon LeVart

Wild Pasture Flower Pendant by Mary Harding

Willow Leaf Pendant by Mary Harding

2nd Saturday State of Your Studio/3rd Friday Cone 5/6 Glaze Tests

Some sweet tiny heart beads for a special order

Every 2nd Saturday, and every 3rd Friday Marsha Neal Studio sets up  linking blog posts on BeadsofClay  for us to post to and catch up on other studios in the bead and handmade world.  Anyone can participate who wants to share their studio happenings or glaze tests.  You don't have to be a ceramic bead artist to participate.  I hope you will join in on the fun. And you have a month to link up your post.  I thought I would share some recent glaze tests  and a few beads since I am sort of bridging the time between these two linky posts on BOC.

The tiny hearts in a bigger heart!!

Coyote Cone 5/6 Glaze  Layered Black with Really Red on top

Coyote 5/6 Glaze Cedar Shino

Coyote 5/6 Glaze layered with Gun Metal Green then with Archie's Base on Top

Coyote 5/6 Glaze Pistachio Shino

Coyote 5/6 Glaze layered with Black, then Shino, then Archie's Base

My friend Cait, the BarefootWeaver's buttons using some of these test strip combos.

I hope you enjoyed this color treat today.  These are indeed amazing glazes!!

Art Bead Scene May A Simple Garland

Here is how I came to make this necklace.

 

I really love the colors in this month's Art Bead Scene challenge painting Hide and Seek by Berthe Marisot.  I made this large donut pendant last month to reflect my favorite color combination of ochre and a red brown.  I felt that it also worked for the painting Hide and Seek. 

I have been wanting to try Heather Power's Bird Nest Bail tutorial for some time and I decided to try it with this pendant.  I found that it worked very well.  I used an antiqued copper wire in gauge 22 because that is what I had.  But I do love this color and gauge for this pendant.  I added three of my light red round ceramic beads to bring out the color of the cherries in the the painting and the similar color in the pendant.  The black flower is a vintaj charm.

The two simple leaves are stoneware ceramic pieces that I made recently. They are attached with my copper ball head head pins.  The cord is one I felted from Moreno wool and includes all the darker colors in the painting. I love it with the pendant.  The copper clasp is one I made based on Cindy Wimmer"s Spiral Clasp tutorial.

I loved putting all these handmade components together into my Simple Garland Necklace.   I am so pleased to have been able to make a submission for the May ArtBeadScene Challenge.  Thank you for stopping by and looking.

Bead Table Wednesday 5-18-11

It's  Bead Table  Wednesday.  I am showing my recent firing of stoneware and porcelain beads with some new glaze colors.  I am very excited about how black the black beads turned out.  And that I only had to fire them one time at cone5 to get this fabulous color.  I can't wait to make them into a necklace along with some other black beads I made from a different clay body and stain.

To follow up on last week's BTW, I have put in the above photo.  I want to thank all of you for your encouraging comments about my beads which in the end I really liked so much that I finished the necklace I had started.  I find this BTW so inspiring and motivating.  I hope you will click on my BTW button on the sidebar and get over and look at all the other inspiring bead tables.  Its always a great experience.

Celebrating Beads 2011

Today is a Celebration of  Beads 2011:
Now that all of my beads that are in Beads 2011 are back home with me I thought I would share a group shot of the ones that were published in the magazine.

In case you don't know there is a fabulous Giveaway going on over at the  Art Bead Scene in celebration of Beads 2011.  You won't want to miss this one.  Here is the link.

And my personal note to Stringing Mag:


I want to thank Danielle Fox and Stringing Magazine for such kind and gentle treatment of my "lovelies". You photographed them so well and placed them in such fun groupings. And you packaged them up so carefully so that they would came home safely to me. I love it that I can always trust Stringing to take such good care of my work. And most of all I thank you for publishing them in Beads 2011. I love the whole issue. It is so great to have this magazine with all the creative energies in the bead world packaged together in one readable place!!

Satellite Beach Express... Miss Ficklemedia to Mary Harding

Just this week I received a wonderful necklace that Shannon LeVart, aka Miss Ficklemedia, made to celebrate the upcoming publication of her work using one of my pendants in the Summer issue of Belle Armoire Jewelry. Shannon wanted me to actually see and touch how well my ceramic pieces go with her textured chain.

Now I want to share at least these photos of the stunning piece she created. And I can tell you that her chain, color drenched in the exact color of teal as in the background of this pendant, is such a treat to see and wear. It is light weight, flexible and holds its shape beautifully. It is the perfect amount of rustic for my ceramic art. I have worn it out already and loved the way it made me look and feel, and of course I was heady from the compliments I received.

If you are a ceramic bead artist or a jewelry designer, I encourage you to try out her chain. It comes in so many colors and in two textures. I already purchased ( and the package is on its way) some of her teal, paprika orange, and saffron yellow chain for some projects I have in mind.
You can find a pendant similar to this one in my Etsy Shop and the chain in Miss Ficklemedia's Etsy Shop.

Bead Table Wednesday 5-11-11

I was so disappointed when I opened up the kiln last night and took out these beads.  Especially with the brown ones.  I was trying out some new glazes and had high hopes for these two colors, the red brown and the blue brown.  I was ok with the blue brown, but not the red brown.

When I got up this morning I was feeling a little better about them.  They looked a little better in the sunny light of early morning.  I was getting ready to rush out to my studio and make more beads so I could try some other combinations to improve the color.  And then I thought what if.....?  I went to my wire box and got out some new to me antiqued copper wire from Kabela Design that I had picked up at a bead show last month.  And I started wire wrapping the beads and putting them together and all of a sudden I was feeling really happy, excited and delighted with my new beads and new colors. 

The moral of this story for me is never judge a bead out of context.  I should know this by now but I am forever forgetting this wonderful quality of beads--the way they change color depending on what they are next to.

Enjoy everyone's Bead Table Wednesday by clicking on the BTW button on the side bar.

Thank you for stopping and have a great day.  We have SUN today in the Northeast.  Yeah!!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Happy Mother's  Day to all!!  The picture above is the bracelet I made for my daughter-in-law for Mother's Day.  I wanted to honor her because she is such a great mother to our grandchildren.   I have stamped the initials of my two grandsons on the bead caps, one for each boy.  I have also stamped Mom on one of the bead caps and on the dapped charm.  And those green beads (green is her favorite color) are those beads from my BTW post last week.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you!!  I believe all women are mothers.  Mothers to children, or another person, or a pet or a creative spirit.  Whomever we mother gives us joy and reminds us that it is never easy to be a mother but always worth the unconditional love we put forth.

Bead Table Wednesday

This picture most acurately shows the green color of the beads interrupted.

This pic is interesting to me because the butterfly  is fired at low fire cone 06 with a high fire glaze cone6.  The gold color is from some Gilder's Paste that  I got at a bead show recently.  It is able to be polished  when it dries.  The gray color is a glaze that would have fired a nice blue if fired high enough.  But the gray is sort of  cool.

Green stoneware beads firing interrupted by power outage a few days ago.  So the green may just be this color one time!!  I am using them to make a bracelet for my daughter-in law-for Mother's Day.  She is the best Mom ever!!  Some clasps some ear wires and bead caps I made also in the photo.  Two of them say MOM.


Posted from My Droid phone.  Not very true to color.  But such technology is always fun to use.