Art Bead Scene April Submission Aphrodite's Robe

My Art Bead Scene Submission for April is inspired by Botticelli's The Birth of Venus as that is the ABS theme for this month. I have been inspired by the colors of Venus' robe and the feathers of the Zephyrs. I think the use of crusted pearls and pearl sticks was also inspired by the painting since it is of rising from the sea, but it was not a conscious choice. Color is always the first factor when I design a free form peyote piece. This necklace features two of my handmade ceramic star flower beads which pick up the blues and reds in the size 6 transparent rainbow root beer beads.The orange teardrop carnelian beads are from Artbeads.com. The button clasp is a Victorian metal button that fits in well with the other colors.

Beads 2009

YEAH!! I'm in. Below are the photos of my pendants picked by Beads 2009--described by the editors as "the coolest beads and findings available on the market today."

I am so pleased. You can see these pieces on my website here. They are on a special 30% off sale to celebrate.

Many other ceramic beads and pendants were also picked. You can see the entire list and links of all of the Beads of Clay members who were chosen on that blog later this week.

Torched

I have been so busy with prepping, teaching and firing for my Making Fused Glass Jewelry Class that I haven't been blogging much. And then I had a free day and I tried out my Mapp gas torch on some 20 gauge copper wire and 24 gauge copper sheet. What fun. I had drawn a bead on fine silver but never on copper. I could have gone on for hours. And what an indescribable red the bead is. Like a ruby in the rough.

The pendant below is made by a student in my glass class. Great combo with the copper. What a vibrant pendant. She had never made anything in fused glass before.

Beautiful pendants and links for a bracelet by Mary K, a student in my class.

Beautifl color in these stunning pendants and brooch made by June.Marita made these intricate and wildly colorful pendants and earrings.These delicate tiny links for a bracelet were made by Laura.

How lucky I was to spend such an exciting afternoon with such a talented group.

Book Sale Find

I recently went to a book sale in a small village in Canada. I had a wonderful time despite the fact that there wasn't a bank in town for changing money and the wait in line was a freezing experience.

I found a wonderful book about the history of jewelry called Jewelry Ancient to Modern (with about 714 illustrations that are numbered and explained in detail) which I have checked and found is available on Amazon.com. (used). I was so excited to see the photo above which depicts Egyptian faience figures. I have always wanted to see how these were used in jewelery since I have molds of them from the Metropolitan Museum and have made quite a few in the past out of clay and Paste Clay which simulates faience quite well.

In any case, the book is just packed with illustrations from the Ancient Near East, Egypt, Etruscan, Byzantine, and on to the present with the more recent work being that of Lalique.

This book has more illustrations than any other historical book about jewelry that I have seen. Indeed a great bargain at $1.00.

Use the Muse Contest

Here are two photos of my entry in the Use the Muse Contest organized by Scarlet Lanson. I enjoyed making my piece as I had never used Filigree in my bead work. The Challenge kit came with many lovely swarovski crystals, pearls and tiny seed beads. I used my own size 6 and 8 seed beads for most of the bracelet and then used the small beads for more detailed decoration. You can view all of the entries in the Use the Muse and see the winners here.

Others that I know who are also in this contest are Lorelei, Melissa Lee , Christi Clothier and Andrew Thornton ( he won a prize).

Thank you Scarlet for doing the contest. I really enjoyed making my piece.

Below are some close up shots and a different view so that you can see the vinatage button and how I clasped the bracelet.

Carved tree pendant and wrapped felt bead

Today I am showing off a photo of a new tree pendant that I made and then strung with a wrapped felt and wire bead. I carved the tree into clay and made a mold. Then I fired an impression from the mold, stained it and painted with multiple colors. It is simply coincidence that the colors match the wire wrapped felt bead. The bead is one I learned how to make in a tutorial by Deryn Mentock which you can see here. The tutorial for making the wire wrapped beads is now on sale at her Etsy shop.What a wonderful tutorial. It has sparked so many ideas for me. Thank you again Deryn. The felt on the bead was made by me also. It was an unsuccessful flower that I have been cutting up to wrap around the metal bead frames which are then wrapped with the wire and seed beads. I love it the way something unsuccessful in one context is great in another.

New Colorful Clover

These are some colorful clover pendants that I made last week. I have them listed on my Etsy shop for now as they are one of a kind.
I think they go along with welcoming Spring after a long cold winter. In the Northeast we had more cold than usual. Colors look so hopeful and cheerful. I am glad that the weather is changing. This is the best time of year because we have so many months of great weather to look forward to.

Happy Spring

The river that runs through here has openned up just in time for Spring. I took this photo a few hours before all of the ice was gone. This year the melting was slow and gradual and there was no dramatic crack and bang and millions of ice chunks rushing down the river. Just a slow lazy gradual melt. Maybe I should take a cue from the river and take time to enjoy the season.

Thermocouple Woes

Just in case you have a digital AIM Computer and your Thermocouple fails, here is how to get the right new one. Now that AIM is not taking any orders it has been hard to find out how to replace this. Luckily I found a helpful person at Bailey, who I could talk with once I had learned from Marla James that I needed a K type thermocouple.

Very specifically this is a 7" 14 guage thermocouple. However, it has to be cut down about 4 inches. The sheath on the wire is in sections and we left 3 on. We also took off the porcelain block since the one in the kiln was fine. It is important to keep the yellow and red wires in the right part of the block. The wire comes with a red and yellow sheath and under the sheath the wire has a red mark on it. When you take off the high fire sheath in order to bend and cut the wire the red make will no longer be there. So it is important to bend the wire in the control box of the kiln so that you know the red wire can only go where it is supposed to be. We must have done everything right because the control read out lit up immediately and I could get the program I always use to come back.

Specifically the order number at Baily is C-172-50. Here is the catalogue page link.

Now the woe part. Actually, not that bad. I ordered the wrong part the first time, I made several calls to Aim and looked around quite a bit on the internet before I ran into the nice person at Bailey who let me return the wrong part and told me about the right one. It has been about 4 weeks since I have been able to use my AIM Kiln. Although, I have other kilns, I love my AIM and am not willing to put a small load in the big kiln. It is so great to be able to do that again.

Innovative Beads Expo

These are some of the brown tone beads and pearl sticks that I bought for using with my peyote bracelets and necklaces. Browns to die for!!

I attended the Innovative Beads Expo when it was in Syracuse, NY last week. It was even better than the last time I went. It has been awhile -- last year there was a blizzard and I couldn't go. The very first time I went I was lucky enough to meet Marsha Neal at her booth. She isn't on the circuit as much now that she has a child. She is such a friendly and fun person. It was wonderful to see her work in person. She had other beads as well and I believe it was the first time I saw Gaea's work in real life and I bought one of her Mermaids.

The show was packed but I had a fabulous time going from table to table. I was mostly interested in the gem stone tables. This show has fantastic prices on stones. Usually I have to buy on the internet so it was a real treat to see these in real life.

These are some of the stones I bought. They are specifically for the Right Angle Weave bracelet class that I will be teaching this summer at The Handweaving Museum in Clayton, NY.

I also had a great time at the Bead Embroidery table and was able to get some ultra suede. I had just heard of it but I had never seen it before. It makes sewing on the bezel for a cab so much easier. I usually use leather and it is very hard on the hands since it is so tough by comparison.

And, since we were in the "city" I went to Brennan Stained Glass and picked out some basic glass for my upcoming Fused Glass Class workshop (Saturday April 4). I already have the cool dirchroic that we are going to use. I get that on the internet at Artisan Dichroic .

Etsy Mud Team Stamp Exchange

These are the three stamps I sent to Amy Esther as part of the Etsy Mud Team stamp exchange. She wrote about them in her blog yesterday. You can see Amy's ceramic work in her Etsy store here. Her blog and her work are very interesting and full of great colors and great food and delicious recipes. I love the name of her blog: In the Night Kitchen. Also one of my favorite Maurice Sendak's books.

Clovers To Celebrate March

Despite the huge snow storm blanketing the east coast, I am thinking about Spring. Luckily I live too far north and west to be even getting much snow today. But my heart goes out to anyone who has to cope with a foot of snow.

Art Bead Scene Submission for February

The Art Bead Scene theme for this month is The Kiss by Gustav Klimt. I have had the good fortune to see this painting in the original when it came to the National Gallery in Ottawa, Canada. I have always, it seems, loved Klimt's work. For this submission, I made a ceramic pendant stamped from a Klimt syle stamp and then I hand painted the glaze in colors from the painting. I used a wonderful brass chain I got from Etsy (JemsGems) and wire wrapped black ABS and orange Swarovski crystals. I used some puff yellow agate beads which I also wire wrapped. I was so excited when I discovered that I could lay a link from the chain across the top of the pendant so that it blended in better with the necklace. I guess you can tell that I loved making this one.

Fab Fibers gave me The Love Blog's Award

Fab Fibers surprised me today ( really yesterday) with a very friendly visit to my blog and this award. Thank you so much. Now I will pass it on.

She tells me the award goes

" to people-like anyone of my bloggy
friends out there-who take the time to
leave a comment, or a word of encouragement.
Or the one I love the most, a compliment on
something that I created and shared with my
friends. You all make me feel so special. "

And I agree--comments on my Blog make my day. Thank you all for writing in.
There are some rules that go along
with this award:
1. The winner may put the logo on their blog.
2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award.

3. Nominate 5 blogs.

4. Put links to their blogs.

5. Leave a message for your nominees.

Here is my list:
LLYYNN Expedition D

EveryHeartCrafts

LampworkDiva

Lucid Moon Studio

Jennifer Stumpf

How Perfectly Imperfect

New Mini Toggles

Here is a photo of the finished toggles that were cooling in the kiln a week ago. (They are about 3/4 of an inch square.) I can't believe the week has gone by so fast. I think they came out great but I am not happy with the toggle stick. I would love suggestions for a shape or size. I am going to make some more today.

I have been busy making some necklaces and beading. It has been nice being in the house and not having to struggle with the cold in my studio. This weekend promises to be relatively mild. I have some new ideas to try out and want to tackle those toggle sticks.

The Kiln is cooling

Here is a photo of some new small toggle clasps in the greenware stage. Now they are glazed and the big kiln is cooling. I will open it later today. The thermocouple in my smaller kiln AIM 88 needs to be replaced so my firing this week has been delayed until I could get enough together to use the bigger kiln. I feel lucky to have this backup. Since Aim is closed temporarily for "restructuring" I am working with Bailey on which is the right thermocoupler. I am also going to put the question out there to the Beads-of-Clay Group. Wish me luck.

One World One Heart Giveaway Winners

Today at Noon I used the Random Number generator to choose the winners in my Giveaway. I had thought originally I would use a hat because I had no idea I would have over 200 comments and requests to participate. I have been so pleased with the response and everyone's generous and kind comments about my work. Thank You one and all.





The winners picked by the random number generator are:





for the Thistle Pendant Vintage Crafters





and for the Toggle Clasp Kathy





I have emailed the winners of their good fortune.





But I want you all to know how much I have enjoyed this event. I will continue to travel to the sites of people who participated as I believe the list will be up awhile.

I Am So Excited

I am so excited. I just made these fused glass links last night and took them out of the kiln this morning. I got the idea from Deryn Mentock's blog tutorial on wrapped beaded links. I have some time this morning so I am going to make some more. I will also try some variations.
Thank you Deryn.

One World One Heart Giveaway

One World One Heart Giveaway

The Entries for this Giveaway are closed. The drawing for the Giveaways was held at 12N00n on Feb. 12, 2009. Thank you all for participating.

I heard about this Giveaway from Gaea and decided to join in. It is the dream and creation of Lisa Swifka. There are over 700 artists participating and each one has a giveaway. When you go to Lisa's site you can see all the names and visit those artists. The purpose of this Giveaway is for bloggers to get to know each other all over the world. Great idea Lisa!

Here are my 2 giveaways:

My first One World One Heart Giveaway is a Handmade Ceramic Thistle Pendant. It is made from earthenware ceramic clay. It measures 2 inches high by 1 1/2 inches wide. It depicts a wild thistle blooming in July in the pastures of Northern New York.




My Second Giveaway is a Handmade Ceramic Toggle Clasp. It measures about one inch. The Toggle Clasp depicts wild flowers that grow in the pastures of Northern New York. There is a high temperature stringing loop on both parts of the clasp. These loops have been fused into the clay during the firings.



Each giveaway includes a few handmade ceramic beads in a coordinating color.


All you have to do to enter my One World One Heart Giveaway is to leave a comment here on this post before February 12. Please include your contact information so you can be notified if you win. If you have a preference for either one of the two giveaway pieces, please specify in your comment.
I will be putting names into two hats and the drawing will be on February 12.

Thank you so much for stopping by.

New Hearts on my Website

Here is a picture of some of the hearts I have made lately. Some are now on my website store and some are on Etsy and some of them went to the Beads-of-Clay bead swap. And some didn't make it into the picture.
When I look at this picture it helps me remember that Spring is not that far away, despite the big snow storm we had two days ago. Soon I will be ordering seeds for our vegetable garden. Just yesterday it felt almost warm out and I didn't freeze walking to my studio. Hurry up Spring we are waiting for you.