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.

Thank you and An Exciting Achievement a BeadStar Finalist

My Desert Dusk necklace     Finalist for BeadStar in Seed Beads

I want to thank all of you for your wonderful comments on the bracelet I made for the 7000 Bracelets for Hope  blog hop.  You were all so encouraging and generous with you time and words.  Thank you SO much.
I also am very excited to see that I was included as a Finalist in the BeadStar Competition in Seed Beads.  That means that my necklace along with 19 other lovely pieces was chosen to be voted on for the final winners in that category.  I am especially pleased to be a finalist in the seed bead category because of my free style and intuitive, rather than patterned approach to bead weaving.  I feel so honored,  If you want to vote on all or any of the 8 categories for BeadStar please click here.  The link will take you to the page where you can view all of the finalists.  They are spectacular.

7000 Bracelets Blog Hop

Today is our blog hop in support of the 7000 Bracelets For Hope campaign.  Lori Anderson has been the coordinator of our participation in the Global Genes Project.   Each person who signed on to this event has agreed to make a bracelet , blue in color,( the color of their denim blue jeans theme)  and donate it to the Global Genes Project.They in turn will give the bracelet to a parent of a child with a Rare Disease.  

The Global Genes Project is  a non-profit advocacy organization that aims to raise awareness about the prevalence of rare diseases worldwide.  They developed the 7,000 Bracelets for Hope™ campaign to draw attention to an estimated 7,000 different chronic, life-threatening and fatal rare diseases and disorders affecting approximately 30 million Americans and millions more globally. I am so pleased to be a part of this campaign.

The bracelet I made is composed of all handmade components made by me except for the copper chain and jump rings.  The beads are stoneware in a glaze color that I made from two colors that I had.  It came out very denim blue I think.  The leaf link is made by me from porcelain clay.  The bead caps are handmade from copper and hand stamped with the word love and hearts.  The spiral wrapped clasp is a sized down version of the one featured in a tutorial by Sweet Bead Studio.  The blue bird and heart are also made from Porcelain clay

I like to think that this blue bird, the New York state bird, symbolizes hope and happiness

A heart to symbolize compassion and love

Thank you for stopping and supporting this important awareness campaign.  I had a very happy time making this bracelet and hope it gives some joy to whomever receives it.   You can visit the others in this blog hop by going to Lori Anderson's blog and clicking on the participants names.

2nd Saturday State of My Studio Beads of Clay

It is 2nd Saturday at Beads of Clay and I am linking up to the post with these pics from my studio on Saturday, April 9.  This pic above is of the Gauguin inspired flowers I am making.  Here they are all glazed in my special mix of layers to create that intense tropical red I am hoping for.  Actually now they are fired and some are in my Etsy shop and a pic of them together will be on my BTW post tomorrow.

On Saturday I also glazed these beads so that they would come out close to a denim blue.  I am using some of these to make a bracelet for the 7000 Bracelets project and blog hop coordinated by Lori Anderson.

The blog hop is on Saturday April 16.  I have finished my bracelet and the cool part is that everything part of it is handmade except for a bit of chain.  Thank you to Sweet Bead Studio for the spiral clasp tut.

BTW April 6, 2011

I was excited to get the red color on the top left flower. These red flowers are the glazed version of the white bisque ones I had on my bead table last week.   It took some fancy mixing to get that rich of a red.  The red flower below is not quite the color I was hoping for.  The round blue colored pendant in the right hand corner is made with porcelain frost clay.  This is the first porcelain pendant I have glazed with my cone 06 glazes.  The colors are fine.  Mayco states on their bottles that their colors are not changed by the higher temp of cone 6.  Seems to be true in this case.  I do notice though that the details of the image are significantly softened by the higher firing temperature.

Here is a close up of the flower

You can visit all of the other Bead Table Wednesday pics and see what others are up to by clicking on the BTW button in the right hand column.

Thank you for stopping by.

Glazing Day

I spent a lot of time yesterday hand painting pendants, toggle clasps and charms.  The picture above in terra cotta and teal was serendipitous.  I didn't intend the teal to be quite that color and quickly added some more green to change it to my usual color.  But when I see it on the terra cotta clay, I see how great it looks.  Actually even better.  I may do more this way.  Of course colors change once I put on the clear glaze and fire them.

A few toggle clasps hand painted and drying before I put on the clear glaze.  I seem to never tire of taking photos of work in progress.  These should arrive in my Etsy store later this week.

And about the red flowers.  I have the glaze test strips cooling in the kiln right now.  I will get a chance to look at them about Noon today.  Can't wait.  And since waiting is hard, I glazed one flower before seeing the test strips.  Hope it comes out well.  I will share on BTW this week. 

Hope you have a great Sunday.  I will be outside raking and  hopefully planting some Spinach and beets.

Bead Table Wednesday 3-30-11

                                           

It is Bead Table Wednesday today.  I am showing two photos of some beads I am making out of two different clay bodies.  The photo above is a tray of stoneware beads that have been bisque fired.  The flowers were inspired by the ArtBeadScene monthly challenge painting by Paul Gauguin.  I just love his work and that painting.  I especially like the blues and greens and his wonderful intense reds.  I am going to try to make these flowers a red color that is deep and rich.  If it were my usual earthenware clay body and glazes I would probably not have any difficulty doing that.  But I am going to try to make the red with the cone5 glazes that I have.  In any case, I won't be ready to enter the challenge.  But the inspiration is has been great.  I am happy is I finish the work by next month.  I just love the opportunity to try out new colors and beads.

This picture is of a tray of bisque fired Frost Porcelain beads.  I found this clay great for stamping and cutting out with a cutter.  But to cut with a knife as I tried to do with the leaves, I found it to be sticky and very difficult to work with.  The stoneware in the first tray is so much easier to work with.  The small white buttons on the top left are made by my friend Cait. 

I hope you will visit all of the offerings on today's Bead Table.  You can get there easily by clicking on the BTW button on my sidebar.

Thank you for look and feasting on beads today.

Bead Table Wedesday 3-23-2011

This week I have been making some peyote bracelets with some of my new stoneware beads.  The table is full of seed beads and a tangle of bracelets.  I love all  these colors entwined and mixed together.  I have been so inspired I ordered some more seed beads.  My favorite online shop is Whimbeads.  When I arrived at their site I found out that About.com readers think so too!!  This shop won the 2011 Reader's Choice Award for best online source of seed beads. To me they have the best choice of colors, especially in the matte and metallic category. So I am looking forward to a very special package in the mail this week.  I'll share a photo when they come.
If you click on the BTW Button on the right you will be taken to all the other Bead Tables participating.  Hope you will check them out.

Works of Art

These beautiful onions were grown last summer by my friend Isis. They are a treat to the eye and palette. 

Finished by Friday

Shortly after the New Year I began writing a weekly blog post titled Finished By Friday.  I managed to continue this through February 4th.  Not  too good for a New Year's Resolution.  I was quite distracted by a number of wonderful and fun blog hops.  But now I am back and I am going to continue with the original plan which was to finish up all my unfinished pieces. (MIAS)

This week I am starting off with two favorites that I had not quite finished before I took them up again to let them participate in my FBF posts.  I especially like this peyote bracelet because of the colors and the simplicity.  I am totally unwilling to part with it, despite our local Arts Council wanting it for their shop.  So I am going to try to make another simple peyote bracelet and see if that makes it easier to part with one of them.

Simple flat peyote stitch with 3 of my stoneware stained and tumbled beads

This poppy seed head button is also one of my stoneware stained and tumbled beads.

This bracelet is done in Right Angle Weave stitch.  A simple pattern I developed after taking a basic course.  The clasp is from Fusion Beads.

All of the ceramic beads are my stained and tumbled stoneware

2nd Saturday State of Your Studio--Cait and Mary are back in the Studio EXPLORING

Yes, Cait and Mary are back in the studio exploring different clays.  This time we are trying out some Frost Porcelain clay.  My first impression is that it is so sticky compared to stoneware.  But as we move along during our session, Cait discovers that she can make very thin buttons with it, that it takes a super good impression and that it is fun to bend and mold.

Some of Cait's buttons.  You can see the fabulous impression from her mold on the ones in the foreground.  And look how thin the little squares are and how nicely they bend.

I am finding too that it bends and molds well.  We have just gotten to the first step in learning about this highly regarded porcelain.  I am going to try a few more ways of working with it before I make a final judgement.

These are leaves, hearts, birds and butterflies  If you get in close on the photo you can see how the clay crumbles around the cuts.  It seems sticky.  When these dry I will see how they sponge up.  And then bisque firing and the exciting part  THE GLAZE.

And to get back to our button and glaze adventure, I just have to share another photo of another one of Cait's scarves with buttons.  These beauties are glazed in Coyote Pam's Blue.  What a lovely old fashioned blue that is.  Kind of a pewter blue, I guess. It sure looks great on this scarf.  You can see a pic of it in Cait's Etsy shop here.