I just couldn't say no

I promised myself that I would not sucomb to the pressure of pastel Easter bunny cuteness. No way, no how, no matter how much persuasion. But then..........it happened. I made a special teeny tiny little bunny for my friends 7 year old grand daughter. Her favourite colour is pink. Her name is Sarah. My daughter's name is Sarah and she also loves pink. How could I disappoint little Sarah. So there you have it one tiny little pink bunny, bursting with cuteness.

I'd like to blame it on the cold that I've had for a week. It put me in a weakened condition. My normal non-cute self would not do this. I must still have had a fever. But no, I have been out of bed for two days now. Unike my dogs who at this very moment are lying in my bed. Bad dogs.

I am feeling quite well. The secret is that lurking deep inside of me is a special fondess for sweet pink bunnies, especially when I know it will make a little girl smile. Shhh, don't tell I would not want the word to get out that I can embrace pastel for a good cause.

Bun Bun

Bun Bun is what my daughter called rabbits when she was just a little tiny girl. This morning I woke up with this image of bunnies in my head. I had heaps of other things to do, but you know, sometimes you just have to go with what's there. These are little prototype bunny beads. They are in the bisque kiln right now. There's only a hand full so I can see what they glaze up like.

I love baby bunnies. They are one of my earliest happy memories. Seeing them hop through the grass at dusk was such an exciting thing. You had to be really quiet so that you wouldn't scare them off. That is not something so easy to do as a four year old. I loved those little grey furry plump bunnies. My mother was less than thrilled with them. The object of those little bunnies affection was my mothers garden. New pea sprouts, lettuce, spinach, not a the asparagus, but almost anything newly sprouting, was what they were after. Me, I think I'd like to plant a garden just to feed those little babies.

OK, now that I've lured you in here, hop on over to the Beads of Clay Blog. Joan Tucker of Off Center Productions is writing a monthly spot light feature of BOC members. This month it is me!!!! She's even made me sound somewhat interesting. Yippeeee.

Thanks, Joan!

Hooters!

No, not that kind of hooters. This is a nice clean blog, ya know. I used to live in a rural area where we had barn owls. They are huge and absolutely magnificent. I used to watch them at dusk come out to hunt. They circle, glide, almost like they are floating in air. And then suddenly swoop in for the catch of the day. Quite awe inspiring.

These little owl beads are my small tribute to the barn owl. They've gone through a few renditions until I was happy with them. Yes, I know owls generally do not have green or blue tummies. But these are my owls and in my world owls can be whatever colour I choose. I like their round little colourful tummies.

These are made in a similar way to the bird beads. Except the the face gets molded and then the wings are added later. These have even got tail feathers.

As long as I've been on a bit of bird kick lately, I thought why not add some nests? Sometimes it just happens that way for me. One idea leads to another, and then an entire day is gone. Spring will be here soon. I see signs all around me. Those birds will need some nests, right?

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

First Friday Freebie!

Yeah!!!! It’s a give away.

I have been blogging for just a little over a year now and it’s been a wonderful experience. I have made so many friends, from all over the world really. You’ve all given me such amazing support and have truly nurtured my creative soul. Now I’d like to give something back.

This is the first of a bunch First Friday Freebies that I’ve got planned. Why First Friday? Well, one I like the alliteration of the F words (nice F words mind you). Also, the First Friday of the month is one day of the month I generally can remember. I don’t know why, but other Fridays can get lost in a drift of time. No I do not have dementia and I am mostly quite oriented to reality. Time just isn’t one of those things that always holds much relevance to me. So there you have it.

This first give away is for a mystery bowl of beads. It is a mystery because I haven’t finished firing all of my beads this week. So not even I know exactly what will be in it. But you all like a surprise, right? I promise it will be a nice surprise.

Now for the details. You have until midnight Thursday to comment here and you will be in the running for this beady goodness. Any ole comment will do. I’d love to spread this beady goodness around. So if you’d like another chance at this you can blog, tweet, facebook it. What ever you would like to do. Just come back and leave another comment about it and you will have another chance. On Friday next week I’ll randomly pick a winner. So be sure to come back next Friday.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Hi again. A couple of questions have come up. Everyone is eligible for this. I will ship these beads out anywhere. So don't hestitate to enter if you are not in the US.

Also if you blogged, twittered, or whatever, be sure to come back and leave me another comment so I can give you another chance.

Thanks everyone for participating.

Stacked Spinner Pendants

Some time ago I made a lot of little flat beads in circles, squares, and oval shapes with the vague intention of using them in bracelets. And maybe someday there will be bracelets. Instead, for some odd reason known not even to me, I started making these little stacked bead pendants. It all happened when I was using a piece of wire to have a look at different combinations of beads. Then out came the torch to make head pins, the bench block to make paddles, and well the bracelet idea had pretty much flown away by then.

These are actually quite fun. If you squint just right some of them look a little like pagodas. I think of them as interactive pendants because all of the little parts spin. Because of the different shapes of beads you can change the profile by twisting the beads into a new position. I think about those old days when I had to sit in meeting for countless hours, bored to tears, and I would have loved to have one these to play with while I tried to keep from yawning.

These ones are off to First Friday and market this week. All except one that I'm claiming for myself. I'm thinking it could come in handy waiting at the doctor's office or better yet when I'm having my 'oh dear I'm at the dentist anxiety. '

Thanks everyone for stopping by the cranapple post. I had no idea there were so many cranberry lovers out there.

Still Here

Many thanks to all of you who have so thoughtfully asked after me. It really means a lot to me. So, yep, I'm still here. Life rudely interupted my routine last week when I found out that I was showing at a gallery opening on Friday night. That was at 1 pm in the afternoon with set up at 4pm and opening at 5pm. What was needed was what I usually stock for monthly market. Problem was I didn't actually know what I had. I am not Ms Spontaneous and like to plan, arrange, think things through.


Well I did not cry but I did walk in circles for an hour. It was a matter of missed communication and it all turned out OK, better than OK, even. In fact, after a glass of wine (or two) it was quite fun. And best of all, the gallery opening was quite successful.


It did put me in a bit of a spot for the market Saturday. So head down, tail up I have been in the studio night and day. Almost caught up.

Sunday, when I should have been in the studio replenishing my supply of little trays, I made bracelets. After all the beads were sitting there in a little pile after my frantic search for things for the gallery. A little while ago, Cindy at Sweet Bead posted a photo of bracelet she made using spiral links. I loved those links and they just stayed there in my mind for days, fermenting into an idea. And this is what came out. Those green beads are from Sue at SueBeads and are wonderful little etched glass disks that slide and spin on the links. I love those beads and they seem to go well with my favourite glaze.

This is the second bracelet I made and these beads have got a glaze combination that I had forgotten about. I quite like this glaze effect.

For this second bracelet, I made a clasp that mirrors the links that are close to the center bead. I wasn't too sure about how well this would hold up. But all of the brass wire pieces have been tumbled after I put patina on them. The tumbling has harded things up nicely. I wore this one to a function on Sunday night and it's very comfortable and the clasp held up just fine.

You know, this wire bending stuff is quite addictive. The pounding part is pretty much a bit of alright, too. In fact I would like to go off and do some more of that right now. But I have a spray paint and ceiling tile project that needs to be finished up. Intrigued? Well if this little bit of garage floor magick works out, I'll get back to with the wonders of using a $2.50 ceiling tile to create a table top display.

It just wouldn't do

I got juried in for ceramics for the local studio tour and there will be beads and such there in addition to pottery. I can't actually sell anything non-ceramic like jewelry or things made of bronze or copper. I have to have representative photos for the brochure. Umm...that would be Tuesday. Again working at the last minute. But it just wouldn't do to submit a photo of a naked bead for all of the world to see. So this is what I came up with. I know, I'm stretching the definition of ceramics just a wee bit. But I just could not help myself.

This was a really fun piece to make. I got to use my porcelain piece and a little bronze doodad I made. I wire wrapped, I pounded on the bench block, I stunk up the house with liver of sulphur. But best of all I got to use my torch. I love, love fire. I love melting things. The strangest thing about this piece is I can see it finished. That never happens. But that will be another day. It actually has to go into the show as is. If I put a bazillion dollar price tag on it maybe I can bring it home and finish it. But then maybe the vision will have passed by then.

Meanwhile I am off to the studio to turn pots. And wait for my son to get home. He's got leave for the holiday weekend and we've got lots of things planned. Unfortunately, my daughter will be working. Nurses have awful holiday schedules. Nurses who work and go to school full time have no leave at all. Ah, Christmas....how far is that way?

Have a fantastic weekend!

Old Mother Hubbard

Old mother hubbard, went to the cuboard, to fetch her poor dog a bead.....OK you get the idea... My cupboard is pretty bare right now, bead wise. But lest you think I've gone to the dark side and devoted myself to making pots, let me set you straight. I've spent the last couple of days making pendants, a few beads, glazing, and loading a kiln with lots of stuff. There are lentil beads in there. There are some of my old favourite pendants in there. There are barnacle pots in there. There are my favourite of all--experiments in there. It's a kitchen sink of stuff. And come Monday, you all should have a sampling of what's in there.

Meanwhile, this kiln 'god' is looking over things as the alchemy of firery magick happens. Made be my son, this looks a lot more like a gargoyle or devil to me. But who am I to argue. Maybe what you need is something fierce to gaurd your precious makings.

Have a fantastic weekend all!

Two Questions

I’ve been playing around with making sets of beads/components for a while now. Sort of like what you see here. It was my daughter who suggested, actually maybe demanded a little, that I make things in sets. You see she is actually the reason I started making beads. She’s been making jewelry for several years and wanted to use my ceramics in her work. But a lack and alas she’s got little time for beading now that she is a fully certified and practicing ICU nurse.

So my question is, do you prefer your pendants and focals to come with beads and small components that match/coordinate?

From a ceramics perspective it’s easier to put things together in sets as each glaze firing will vary slightly, so no two things will be exactly the same. Sometimes they even vary from one section of the kiln to another. Being the perfectionist that I am, I like the glazes on components to be the same if they are being used together in a piece of jewelry. I can really only do that if it’s from the same firing. Maybe this isn’t so important?

From an Etsy listing perspective, it’s a lot easier to put together groups of things in order to keep those pesky listing and PayPal fees down. That 50 cents total listing and selling fee can really start to bump up the costs of what I think would be reasonable prices for individual items.

My second question is about technique. Again, my daughter influenced my ceramic practice. She doesn’t like the fired wire loops on my pieces. She doesn’t like them because they don’t match the brass wire and findings she prefers. She is very opinionated! I like them because the pieces are cleaner looking without holes in them. Does it matter to you?

Sets or not?
Wire loops or not?

I’d really love to hear from all of you!

Thanks and have a wonderful Friday, LeAnn

Give-Away!

Have you ever tried to guess how many jelly beans were in a jar? Well now is your chance to win a fabulous prize from Summers Studio by guessing how many pieces of little bisque buttons, connectors and pendants came out of the kiln this morning!

Clues? You want clues? OK then, the size of the pieces in this bowl range from 1" (2.5 cm) to 2" (5 cm) in diameter. 10% of the pieces are 2" (5 cm) in diameter. All of them are about 1/8" (3 mm) thick. The size of the container is 8.5" (21.5 cm) by 3" (7.5 cm) tall. That is about 0.10 cubic feet or 0.0028 cubic meters. Alright then, it's a wee bit bigger container then those short bread cookie tins at Christmas time.

Would any of this information actually help me to narrow down how many things are in this bowl? Of course not. My brain is just not configured that way. But this might help. There are between 150 and 250 pieces in there. The number of pieces in there is an even number.

Rules of the game:

You have until midnight (CST) on Monday to submit your number.
You may enlist any of your math geeky friends to help you out.
Enter your guess as a comment.
You may not choose a number that has been previously submitted.

And just what is that fabulous prize? It is a mystery! It is a mystery even to me. But I can tell you that it will be the final glazed version of a set of things in this bowl. And that there are several brand spanking new designs in there and that you will have a choice of jewelry components or buttons or both!

Just why am I doing this now. Well I just made 151 sales in my Etsy shop. And at least 1 number in 151 is common to both my age, birth month, and birth year. No, you do not get bonus points for guessing my age. In fact I'm thinking you will get penalty points for that.

Let the contest begin......

Hot out of the kiln

Well not really hot but brand new! These two are couple of the things that came out of the William Morris design excursion last week. I'm not entirely sure that I've actually accomplished an ancanthus leaf feel to these.

The pendant is about 1.5 inches in diameter and matches the small tablet shaped connector beads. They are glazed front and back so should be lovely and smooth against bare skin.

Now that I've had a couple of days to get used to them I'm starting to like them. As usual when things first come out of the kiln, I'm pretty ambivalent. I think it's the anticlimatic feeling that comes with competing a process.

I've got a few other designs I've been working on but as luck would have it somebody left the camera on and it has no juice. I wonder just who could have done that?

Tray full of kiln goodies

As usual, I have mixed feelings about the results when I fire new pieces. But over a few hours, days, I find new things in the pieces. There is always something that can be tweaked. Maybe that's why of all the things I've done over time, I always come back to ceramics.

Dissapointments in this lot? Yep, absolutley. My favourite old pigment "peacock" is no longer my favourite. It is too dark, too intense. It looked much better when I was working in a beautiful red terracotta. It does not translate to well to porcelain.

Success? Some. I've been working on tweaking a clear base glaze that, to date, I've only used on stoneware. Yippy Skippy!!!! It is working! It is a bit glossy but with just the most wonderful satin feel. I wish I could it into your hand. Very touchable. And it takes colours well. I am in love and have all sorts of ideas of where to go with this one.

And the Morris inspired pieces are coming along. I'm not sure that they look a whole like an acanthus leaf. But I'm starting to like the blue and green glaze effects. And as usual, I have a few more ideas of what to do with these. I've got a couple of ideas for pendants and buttons and......

So just check back soon. I'll start listing some of these next week and give you a wee preview.

Happy weekend! Cheers, LeAnn