More Beading

Front and back of my latest beaded cabochon. Low fire clay with a crystal glaze and black terra sig on the back. 

New Blouse

I worked on a blouse yesterday. I used some bamboo dobby that I hand dyed. The fabric feels like silk but is as easy to care for as cotton. Then I got to playing with the fancy stitches and the fancy threads. 

Latest Beading Work

This is one of my low fire cabochons, glazed with a crystal glaze. I am thinking of a beaded bail and a fabric necklace for finishing. 

This is me having fun. I took some brown clay, used a special high tech tool to cut out circles (the top from a bottle of pop), and used slip trailing to make the little squirgle on top. My idea was to emulate a piece of chocolate candy. 

What to do with all these buttons I made. This one is fairly thick. I don't think I'm going to do much with the button holes on this one. 

If I Keep At It Long Enough, I'll Finally Make A Mug

^6 porcelain blend. I need to do a little shaping with the paddle tomorrow and pull handles. I figure if I keep working on mugs and handles, eventually, I'll have a mug. 

Menorah In Progress

I liked the menorah I made during the summer semester, and I want to make a few more from the same design. I used a very special tool to make the clay form a semi-circle. It's called a plastic bucket and was probably left over from something we ate. 

After the clay has started to dry but before I did any cleaning on it. 

Close up of the texture. I want to use a glaze that breaks over texture on this piece. 

I had to make the top wide enough to accommodate the candle cups and put a kind of frame around the piece to give it more support. 

^6 cashmere, a porcelain blend that fires very white and will make whatever glaze I use pop. 

Chic Firing Wear

We've been having a discussion on clayart about peeking into the kiln before the kiln has cooled. There have been several posts about protective clothing. Kilns are hot, synthetic fibers melt or burn at kiln temperatures. 

After singing my hair twice, I decided to cover my hair with a bandana. If I remember correctly, this bandana features Betty Boop as a biker chick. 

The goggles are something Jim has had for years. I think they are designed for wear when using a torch. All I know is they allow me to see the cones far more clearly than if I just looked with unprotected eyes. They also keep my eyebrows and eyelashes from being singed. 

I admit the pants are a problem because they contain spandex. Alas, my batik clay pants finally died and I'm left with pants with spandex until I can make me another pair of cotton pants. The blouse is 100% cotton. The shoes would be a disaster if I opened the kiln, but since I never put my feet up by the peep holes, I figure I'm okay. 

What I Did In The Clay Studio Today

Because the photo was dark, I enhanced it. Behold.... although this is raw clay, the photo shows it the color it would be if glazed with clear glaze. This is a really smooth clay. The three pieces that have depressions are to be molds for cabochons. I thought if I used a really smooth clay and buffed it, I would end up with smooth cabochons. 

The other pieces will be jewelry. 

Up close with one of the cabochons. It needs some sanding and finishing. I wanted to leave myself a piece that would be fairly easy to bead around. 

The piece with the turtles is a special piece I've been working on. No, the turtles aren't white clay. The turtles are covered with corn starch because that's the only way they would come out of the mold. The inside of the jar will be glazed with clear. The outside will be left naked because I love the color of the clay. 

The two pieces with the rib next to them will be mugs when they grow up. The one that's a bit taller than the rib is as tall as it's going to get. I'll do finishing work on it tomorrow or Tuesday and pull a handle for it. I'll put a clear glaze on them on the inside and around the top edge - but I want to leave the outside naked. Same great color clay. 

The other mug needs a few more coils. I just got to the point where I didn't want to work on mud any more so I gave up for the day. 

The last photo is a piece made out of the clay used in the first photo. It's being bisque fired. It will get a clear glaze so the color of the clay shows. 

More Beading

One of my ceramic cabs, fired in reduction and beaded. 

I loved this stone the first time I saw it. Squares are harder to bead around than circles. 

This is one of my low fire ceramic buttons. I need to so something with the holes. I'm thinking about stringing blue beads through the holes. 

Beaded Earrings

From now on, I'm going to ask the fellow at the bead store in Albuquerque to write on the packages just what the stones are. Behold - pretty stones and I'm clueless. I think the green ones are unikite, but I'm lost after that. 

Waiting to be bisque fired

This pot is about 9" tall and made from a red low fire clay that fires to a wonderful deep red color. I'll be putting clear glaze on both the outside and the inside. 

Spiny Oyster and Pearls Necklace

I finally got the spiny oyster cabochon finished and strung onto a 22" necklace. It's for sale in my etsy store. If you click on the title for this post, you should be magically taken to my etsy store. If that doesn't work, click on the I (heart) etsy logo at the top of the page. 

Finishing Up The Bead UFOs

I can't remember what these stones are. I know they aren't amethyst. 

Haven't a clue what these are, either. Earrings. They are earrings.  

Making Jewelry

Unfortunately, I can't remember what kind of stones these are. I like the end product, though. 

This one I do remember. Both the stones and the cabochon are ocean jasper. 

An Experiment

I'm not real sure how this one is going to work out. I used ^6 Anasazi and ^6 Calico for the appliques. 

This is made with ^6 Calico. I used a rubber stamp to make the leaf panel on the piece. There's a rose on the opposite side. 

I used a butter mold to make the shells for this piece. It's also out of ^6 Calico. I won't be doing the shells in a different color - I will probably use a shino on the piece and the shino should break over the texture.