Happy Holidays

The tree is up and lighted and there are a few ornaments on it. The rest are waiting the arrival of my son on Saturday. He has special requested that we finish decorating the tree together. It's the first time we've been able to do this together in 5 years and I must admit that I am over the moon happy that this grown up child of mine is sentimental enough to want to get out all of the family ornaments and place them on the tree with me.

In fact it is a season of firsts for us. Our son has been either in Korea or Iraq for the last 5 Christmases, our daughter has been either on duty or on call as a nurse, and so is the first time we will all be together to celebrate Christmas together in our 'new' home, albeit over the weekend so the nurse daughter can get back to the ICU for Christmas. But the other first is, that for the first time ever in the long history of my sister and I being adults, we will celebrate Christmas in my home. My sister and one of my nephews are making the long, long drive down from Iowa just to be here with us. We've spent so many Christmases in her home when we visited from Australia and I've always been so grateful for her opening up her home as if was our own. It is truly a great pleasure to have her here.

And with all of that family business coming right up, I'm taking a little blog break. "What" you say, "haven't you been on a blog break?" Well yes, in fact it does appear that I have been missing in blog action. There have been so many things happening over the last month that I am feeling the need for a little break and some time to reconnect with my family. In fact, I need a little time to reconnect with my studio and me. So I'll be back in the beginning of January, bright eyed, bushy tailed, and full of new designs.

Happy Holidays All!

And blessings and brightness for the coming year.

Blessings, Sorrows, & Coincidence

Shortly after I wrote last night about the 'spinner' pendants, we learned that my husband's uncle had passed suddenly and very unexpectedly early yesterday morning. A wonderful man with a colourful and fascinating life, 20 years in the Air Force, a WWII POW, a Viet Nam vet, a pilot, a long haul truck driver, a champion bowler, a volunteer, a driver of red mustang convertibles, a father of 6, and partner of Kathryn. A life lived all over the world.

This morning I read Erin's comment about the spinner pendants and likening them to blessing beads that you could hold in your hand and use to be mindful of those things that give you joy. Is her comment a coincidence?

This pendant is larger than I might normally make and the chain is longer so that the beads are comfortable to hold and turn in your hand. Six beads for six children, blues and purples for tranquility and harmony, green for balance, and a splash of red for strength. And a little piece of turquoise for the cycle of life. I reckon after you have lost your life partner of more than 60 years you might could use a few blessing beads. This is for Kathryn.

We'll be leaving in a day to drive to just out of Tuscon where Kathryn and most of their children live. We will do more than pay our respects to Uncle Bob, we will celebrate his life. And we will think of the joy that having Bob in our lives has brought us.

A blessing.

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.

So many cranberries.....

So little time......


If your household is at all like mine, right now you are probably staring at a large container of cranberry sauce left over from the Thanksgiving feast. We love cranberry sauce. Thanksgiving wouldn’t be the same without it. But a little goes a long ways and there is always way too much. So it usually sits there quietly in the fridge until it just really has to go.

This year I said things would be different. I figured if those folks over at Ocean Spray can make cranapple juice, I can make cranapple crisp. What I like about making a fruit crisp is that it does not tax my non-existent pastry skills the way a pie does. It doesn’t require a lot of exact measuring, a bonus for the pastry challenged. And even if the crisp isn’t perfect, it can always be fixed up with a generous dose of vanilla ice cream.

So here’s what I did:

3 huge Granny Smith apples, peeled, sliced and coated with 1 Tbsp flour, mixed with about 1 ¾ cups of homemade cranberry sauce, spread in an 8x8 greased baking pan

Topped with ½ cup old fashioned oatmeal, ½ cup flour, ¾ cup brown sugar, ½ stick softened butter, ½ tsp cinnamon, all mixed together until it was crumbly.

Baked at 375F for about 30 minutes until bubbly on the bottom and golden on the top.



Ocean Spray, move over.....Hot out of the oven, with a generous dose of vanilla ice cream, this was seriously delish! Quite frankly we were suffering from desert withdrawal so it was necessary for our mental well being. And all those antioxdents had to be good for us. In fact this was so good I am thinking of making cranberry sauce specifically so we can have this crisp whenever we want. A big step indeed for the woman who does not make desert, not ever. (that’s what the bakery section of the grocery store is for).

Hope you've all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. And if it wasn't Thanksgiving for you, then I hope it was a great weekend.

Robotogami and the Birthday Boy

It’s funny to me that when I ask my son what he’d like for a home cooked birthday dinner, we both know that the answer will be lasagna. But it is a little ritual we go through each time we have the opportunity to celebrate his birthday. Last night we had a late birthday celebration and the fine opportunity to relive Cole’s childhood Transformer days. I do believe that he may have owned every version of Transformer available. It was a passion. In fact I am quite enamored of those small vehicles that become either heroes or villains.

A couple of weeks ago we were at the art market hosted by Tornado Gallery each month. Their current exhibit was of sculpture by Dustin Wallace. He’s a draftsman, machinist by day and an artist by night. Dustin creates these incredible transformer like sculptures with movable parts that have all hand machined gears inside and water jet cut parts. Among these were these little flat copper “Robotogami” pieces. They come flat and are cut from a single sheet of metal with small hinge points so that you can fold them into a 3 dimensional sculpture posed to your own liking. Perfect gift for the transformer loving son.

Cole’s eyes sparkled as he bent the robot into shape, got out my jewelry pliers to refine the hands and other points to his liking. And in that moment we were transported back to his childhood days of endless construction of young dreams. I think it’s the holiday season coming up that is making me so nostalgic. But I do love these magic moments.

Butterflies and Pinks

One of the things I promised myself when I had finished the shows, was dedicated time to work on some designs that have been floating around in the back of my mind. Well, today I woke up feeling the best I have all week, looked at the dining room chaos, and said to myself, " no sense in wasting this positive good feeling on organizing." I love Japanese kimono textiles and the rich patterns that many of them are decorated with. I have this book of Japanese textile designs and several of them have been nagging me for years to translate them into bas relief ceramic design.


So I sat down and 'plucked' elements out of 3 textile patterns and arranged them in a way that felt right to me. Many of my designs start like the sketch above. No, I'm not going to make black butterflies. What I do is 'black' in the major elements, scan to my computer, reverse colour, and then add detail later. I am sure there are more efficient ways to do this but I like using my markers and mechanical pencils. It feels like my ancient days of drafting when I studied landscape architecture. I'm not entirely sure which parts of this particular design will be made into jewelry components. That will come later, days, maybe even weeks from now. Eventually, the design will be made into a model, probably several, and cast to make pendants. It may even be abandoned. Today it was just so very nice to sit down and sketch. The dining room can wait till tomorrow. In fact it is my experience that chaos will always patiently wait for you to attend to it.

Have a happy weekend all!

Thanksgiving Treasures - Tesori Trovati

Such a great pleasure I had when I received my earrings from the secret Thanksgiving Treasures swap hosted by Leslie at Bei Mondi. You see I have been a long time admirer of the designs by the talented Erin Prais-Hintz of Tesori Trovati. I was over the moon when I saw the return address, and even more so when I opened the package. Inside, beautifully packaged was this pair of earrings that I absolutely adore.



These earrings,called 'Singin’ the Blues,' are made of aged brass earwires and chain, Swarovski Montana Blue sapphire crystals and faceted peacock pearls. They are light as a feather and both the crystal and the pearls catch the light and sparkle as you move in a way that a photo doesn't come close to capturing. I love these!

Thank you so much, Erin! These are perfect. And be sure to check Erin's wonderful blog where she shares her designs, inspiration, and observations of life. Definitely worth a read.

Last but not least, thank you Leslie for organizing this very fun exchange and letting all get to know each other a bit more. I've truly enjoyed this.

Tiny birds

One of the last things I made for the shows last weekend were these tiny little porcelain birds. I've been playing with the idea off and on since spring. But being the skillful procrastinator that I am, I put them off until just a couple of days before they absolutely had to be ready. I'm not entirely sure what happens to me sometimes. 'Cute' is not really something most people associate with my work. But, you know, these are getting pretty close. Just so you know, I've opted to label them as sweet. I'm actually feeling a little obsession coming on with these. Rolling small lumps of clay, pinching and poking them into tiny birds is quite therapeutic.

I'm still trying to get back into the routine of things but I am still tired. I think that might have to do with the enormous pile of plastic tubs, table drapes, props, and general chaos that is happening in my dining room right now. Making little birds is just so much more enjoyable. Reading a book, napping, anything but taking care of that mess. It's just too much like cleaning.

OK, I am going to be brave now. I am off to unpack one container. If I do one thing at a time it will be done in time for the New Year.

So Tired

I've just finished a week of 12 to 14 hour studio days, a day of set up, a night market, and 2 days of studio tour. And only one bad photo of one little part of it to show you. I am tired! I really had no idea what to expect of the studio tour. Or at least what I expected had very little to do with the reality of it. I've only ever attended the tour. I've never shown my work on the tour. It's very different from this side of the street.


Something like 5,000 people attend this local event. The way it works is that the Arts Alliance coordinates and publicizes the event and selects a juror for the show. This year 10 studios were selected as host locations and 56 artists were selected to show their work. Our location was in the home of a jeweler, and in addition to my ceramics, there was an oil painter, an acrylic painter, and two photographers. We used the entire house as our 'gallery' so there was a lot of art. I had no real understanding of just how many people mark their calenders and get out there bright and early on Saturday. You know 5,000 is just a number a multiple of 5, 5 x 1000. Numbers are an abstract concept to me. This is a pretty serious big event and I was completely unprepared for what perhaps 700 people coming through one home would be like. Overwhelming is probably an understatement. And these people are serious collectors and buyers. Which turned out a good thing for me but Mother Hubbard's cupboard was pretty bare by the end of Saturday , with another day of tour to go.

It was good though. I shared the dining room with my friend Liz and her beautiful photography, a piece of which came home with me. We laughed ( a lot). We learned together as it was her first studio tour as well. I learned to add numbers in my head (sort of). I learned that you really, really do need to bring a calculator. But lacking that, buyers will get out their mobile phones and add up numbers for you. I learned that it is good, really really good, to ocassionally step outside of your comfort zone and do something new.


I feel a little like a creation story today. And on the 10th day she rested.


Tomorrow, I will be back to my normal routine, thankful that I won't do another large show until April. Heaps of time to prepare, right?

My heart is filled with sadness

As many of you know there was a mass shooting on Ft Hood, TX this afternoon. As some of you know our son is stationed at Ft Hood. We have gotten a text message from him that he is fine but as you can imagine very busy right now. We are grateful beyond words that he was not harmed. But our hearts are heavy with sadness for the dead, the wounded, and their families. When your child becomes a soldier the Army becomes part of your extended family. I am in a deep state of shock and almost unbearable grief with this tragedy that touches our family so closely.

Things that make me smile, part 2

Mary Jane, aka Maire Dodd, sent me this photo of a pendant she made that incorporates a few of my porcelaine beads. I actually got this photo on one of my most down with the nasty virus days. She asked 'does this make you smile'? Oh yes, indeed, it made me smile, and it still makes me smile. MJ made this piece for the fun with focals challenge hosted by Heather Powers at Humble Beads. Mary Jane said she wasn't sure what to do with the beads, wasn't sure why she had gotten the faceted glass beads, and that she was sure you must carry an inventory of beads around in your mind. And then it clicked for her and out came this focal piece. I love that! And this definitely makes me smile. And what MJ doesn't know is that this in fact is one of the first set of beads I ever made. I hung on to them for a long while and then it was time for them to find a new home. And what a lovely home they have found. Thanks Mary Jane!

If you'd like to see more of the 'fun with focals' challenge you should head over to the Flickr group. There is a lot of very innovative things happening there.

And the other thing that makes me smile all over today is that it is my son's birthday. He's 29, my first baby, and I remember his birth as if it were yesterday. I can still see him with his scrunched up beautiful new born face. Blinking at the world as if he was just not quite ready to be in it but taking that deep, deep breath and then letting out a most healthy new born, I am here, wail. What absolute beauty.

Things that make me smile

This past week has been a tough one for me. I had the distinct non-pleasure of getting a virus on top of the seasonal asthma I get at this time of year, precisely while I am getting ready for 3 events. But you know, I was thinking, while I was having my own little pity party, what makes me happy? What makes me smile? Well, top of that list is all of you out there who've stopped by to wish me well. And there are some pretty spectacular pieces of jewelry that I've had such a thrill to see over the past little while. Too many in fact for just one blog post. So I thought this is just the time to do a little series of these wonders in no particular order.
Judy, at Judith B Designs, recently posted photos of pieces she made using some of my components. I must say that I was completely gob smacked when I saw this necklace. Judy used a cornucopia of pearls, smoky quartz, and lapis to make this piece and topped it off with a vintage rhinestone drop. Stunning!

Judy incorporates pieces of vintage jewelry in many pieces of her work. I often think how much fun it would be to prowl the antique shops and flea markets with her.

Next up she used my bronze dragonfly charm paired with a bead and dropped off a leather cord. Complete simplicity and perfectly balanced. The dragonfly I make is inspired from memories of the images I saw during my years in the Asia Pacific. This necklace wholley embraces my feeling of that particular aesthetic. Makes me happy :-)

And this is the peep hole of my large kiln, about 15 minutes ago. I love the glow of the heat when the kiln when it is just about to temperature. The kiln is off now, the smaller kiln is on. This is the last 2 firings of the pots for the upcoming events. This is the last of my 12 hour studio days. That makes me very happy!

Where has LeAnn been?

I've been wondering where the last couple of days went. And then I got one of these. Photos of viruses are incredibly beautiful I think. But the thought of those little guys swimming around my lungs, wreaking all sorts of havoc is not so nice. So good daughter Sarah, the ICU nurse who's been treating H1N1 cases for the last week, finally scared the bejesus out of me. Told me that I fit her typical patient profile, 'older' ( I am not), asthmatic (not my fault), prior pneumonia (true), waits too long to get treatment (I don't like all the germs in clinics). It wasn't all of the scary disease complications so much as the reminder of what a horrible patient I would be. And that nurses do not like horrible patients. I don't want to be a bad patient and have nurses hate me. Quick trip to the doc, all is well. I have an ordinary cold and a vaciantion, a vacination that I was scheduled to get 3 weeks ago. And a doctor's blessing to sleep in and nap. I like naps. I don't really have time right now for naps but I will do as told and be a good patient. Really truly, I will try to get over the instinct to challange authority.

BOC Blogger Open Studio – From our family to yours

I don’t know about you, but when I think autumn and cooler weather, cold mornings, leaves turning, I think of comfort food. You know the sort. Hot chocolate, stew, and oatmeal for breakfast.

For many years our family lived in Australia. So we’ve a bit of a blended tradition of holidays and customs. One of my favourite Australian classics is the ANZAC biscuit. Now biscuit probably isn’t what you are thinking. Biscuit is a cookie here in the United States. And ANZAC biscuits are a type of oatmeal cookie. ANZAC is an acronym for Australia New Zealand Army Corps and one of the commonly held notions is that ANZAC biscuits originated as a recipe for cookies that could be sent over seas, without spoiling, to loved ones serving in WWI. Whatever the origin of this biscuit, they are without equal in my humble opinion. Crispy on the outside, chewy in the middle, sinfully rich in butter and super simple to make. And that’s about the extent of what I know how to do with the oven. We seriously have no idea if these spoil. They never last very long.

ANZAC Biscuits

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, chopped
3/4 cup flour
1 cup sugar
8 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon golden syrup
3 tablespoons boiling water
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda


In a bowl, mix the flour, oats, sugar, and coconut.

Combine the baking soda and boiling water in a small bowl to dissolve, and set aside. In a small pan, melt the butter and stir in the golden syrup. Once the syrup is mixed into the butter, stir in the baking soda and water mixture. Remove from heat and pour into the mixing bowl containing the dry ingredients.

Stir until the dough forms. It should be moist and able to hold its shape. If too dry, add a few drops water. If too moist, add a sprinkle of flour.

Place rounded teaspoon of mixture on greased baking sheet generously spaced apart.

Place baking sheet into a preheated 300F degree oven for 12-15 minutes or until the biscuits are a deep golden brown on top. They will puff up during baking and once cooled will be quite thin. Makes about 2-3 dozen biscuits, depending on how big you make them and how much dough you eat before baking.

Now I know golden syrup is not familiar to most of us in the United States. But I substitute dark corn syrup with pretty good results. Not exactly the same, but passable. And if you are in Europe you can substitute treacle.

Falling leaves, Lorelei Eurto

Remember, there’s a 20% discount on everything in my Etsy shop from now until midnight. All you need to do is load up your cart, proceed all the way through checkout without paying at PayPal. I’ll email you a revised invoice through PayPal with your discount.

Be sure to check the tours and specials of the other Beads of Clay artists. Just click the photo in the top right and it will lead you to the links.

Thanks so much for coming by! I hope you’ve enjoyed the tour. I’ve certainly enjoyed myself.

And a really big thank you to Mary and Marsha for organizing this wonderful event!

Beads of Clay Open Studio - And the Winner Is!

Comentor number 8. That would be Summer. Summer would you please email me with your address? SummersStudioPottery@yahoo.com

I'll be back in a few minutes to share some family secrets! So please, stop back.

BOC Open Studio – Second Give Away!

An eclectic collection of porcelain beads with one of my newest glaze combinations, just right for autumn with all of that chocolate brown goodness up there.

To enter, leave a comment on this post. The winner will be randomly chosen and announced at 3:20 pm EST. A few extra minutes, here, as I know this is a hectic pace we’re setting here!

Remember there are 18 of us simultaneously giving away little bits of beady art. So click on that photo up there on the right and check out what the other goodies are.

BOC Open Studio – Come on in to my Studio

See those pinkish doors up there? That's my studio. Well if that looks a little like we put doors into the side of a 1920’s garage, you’d be right. It’s just across a small deck from my dining room. BTW, that rams head is range found. You don’t get magnificent horns like that unless you’ve lived to a ripe old age. And, no, I don’t normally collect skeletal remains. I just happen to really like the horns on this guy.

Come on in and let’s have a look around. But I’m warning you, it is a huge mess in here. I’m getting ready for a few shows over the next 2 weeks and cleaning wasn’t high on my list of priorities. OK, truth is cleaning is never on my list of priorities, but it is more chaotic than usual in here.

This is my main wet clay work area. It’s an inexpensive 6 foot folding table from the office supply store, covered with canvas wrapped particle board work surfaces. I make a lot of molds and texture plates for my work and these get stored in set of cheapo plastic drawers. Theoretically, every thing here has a home. But often things are not at home. The wine bottle I’ve just noticed on the right gets used as a mold, just in case you are wondering. This is where all of my beads, pendants, and components are made by own two little hands.

This is my glaze table, at the moment filled with things that need to get glazed and into the kiln straight away. This is where I glaze all of my pendants, beads, and sometimes pots. It’s also where I make glazes and plaster molds for some of my work. This is actually pretty darned tidy right now. Notice those arrows?

Exhibit A: Juice pitcher, last seen July 2009 in the refrigerator, Lubbock, TX
Exhibit B: Small sieve, last seen February 2004 in the kitchen utensil drawer, Kansas City, KS
Exhibit C: Butter knife, last seen May 1999 in the cutlery drawer, Melbourne, AU

I have no idea how these things end up out here. But there is a saying in my house that if you can’t find it, look in the studio.

These are my kilns. There are 4 and each has its own purpose and have been acquired over time. The big one in the back came with me from Australia. I use it only 2-3 times a year now to fire larger non-beady work. The medium sized one on the left is where my beads and buttons get fired. The blue one on the cart is my new metal clay kiln. I also use it occasionally for a bisque firing of beads. The tiny kiln on the top is for slumping glass. I hardly ever do that anymore, but once I’ve got a kiln I just can not part with it. By far and away the most expensive part of setting up a ceramic studio is the kilns. Not just the kilns, but there is all the kiln furniture (shelves, posts, bead racks, mandrels) and the wiring.

So that’s where all the dirty clay work gets done. But come inside with me. There is a whole other aspect to studio work. Much cleaner, much tidier.

This is the business end of Summers Studio. It is also where metal clay and wire work get done. The rolling plastic bins are used to store shipping and packaging materials. It’s on wheels so that it can be moved into the dining room when the table is too messy to use. In fact this table to is too messy to use right now. This is an old photo. It may never look like this again.

This is the most important part of my studio space and where I am right now. This is my thinking corner. This is where I sketch out ideas, write blog posts, and sometimes nap. It is almost as tidy as this right now.

Next up----2nd give away at 3pm!

BOC Open Studio – First Give Away Winner

And the winner is comment number 7 of 15 on the 2 posts. That would be Erin of Every Heart. Erin, email me please with your address so I can send your pendant.

Be sure to come back. Next up, the studio!

BOC Open Studio – First Give Away!

Brand new work! A pendant that combines a porcelain bead and my new found love of wire working. The brass work is hand forged, given a patina, and tumbled to harden. The bead combines my all time favourite deep chocolate glaze with a deep teal glaze.

To enter, leave a comment on this post. Any old comment will do. I'll be counting comments on the previous post as well, except mine of course. The winner will be randomly chosen and announced at 2 pm EST.

Be sure to check out the other BOC blogger give-aways! 18 artists, simultaneously, how great is that? Just click the photo in the top right corner to get to the links.

Welcome to the Beads of Clay Bloggers First Ever Open Studio!

Hi there. I’m LeAnn. I’m so happy you’ve stopped by for the first ever Beads of Clay Bloggers Open Studio. We’re about as live as you can get here in blog land. So feel free to ask questions or make comments. I’m going to be here till 4pm EST and I’d love to chat.

Welcome to my studio. But shhhhhh! There’s a really big mess in there. Yep, that’s me, covered in clay. Is my hair really that gray? But first up, meet my crew.

This is Alice (aka Ms Wiggle Bottom). She’s my main studio assistant. Can’t you just see how much help she is? And that big brown boy is Bob, our security here at Summers Studio. He would like you to know that he is not napping. He is working undercover fooling those squirrels out there. One day he will catch one. It’s good to have aspirations, no?

And this is Peter. Much of what happens here at Summers Studio would not be possible without him. He schleps my clay, sets up my market table, charms my customers, rubs my shoulders after a long day, and best of all, patiently listens to me blather on about the exciting stuff happening in the studio. Truly a great guy!


So just what do I do?


I started out as a potter and still make pots as well as metal clay jewelry components. But mostly I make porcelain pendants, beads, and buttons. Somewhere along the line I became enamored of small tiny pieces of art and there you have it…. beads! I love texture and most of my designs have some textural element to them. I think most of that has to do with how much I love seeing glazes pool and puddle in the low spots and break across the ridges. Making glaze appeals to the mad scientist in me.

Here’s a few photos of some of my recent work

One of my greatest joys as a bead maker is seeing how people use my work in their own designs. So many wonderful people have shared photos with me of their beautiful designs it is hard to choose work to show you. In the end I settled on just a few pieces that use some of my favourite components.

These pieces, “treasures from the sea” cuff and pendant, are by Bev at No Easy Beads. She used my “sea things” as cabachons in these amazing beaded pieces. When I was looking at them earlier, I thought to myself that these are just perfect autumn colours. And quite honestly, I am in awe of her work and all of that painstaking, tiny detail, and stunning design. By the way she’s teaching the pendant design on this year’s Bead Cruise

I’m always fascinated how two people can take similar things and make completely different pieces. This necklace, “mermaid’s tears,” is by Rosanne at 2nd Hand Rose. I am completely smitten with those matt beads and how they echo the colours in the pendant.

I have this Victorian lock from the home where I lived in Melbourne. For a while now I’ve been working with the pattern on it to create pendants, charms, and connectors. “Loyalty” and “tranquility” were made by Sharon at Live Wire using some of those components. The necklace shouts autumn, I think, and the earrings are so classic any season.

“Coy” by Lorelei incorporates one of my barnacle buttons with silk ribbon and organic wooden beads. And to think that I’ve only ever thought of buttons as just buttons. Lorelei always surprises me with her creative and clever use of buttons in her designs.



I nearly forgot! There’s a 20% discount on everything in my Etsy shop from now until midnight EST. And I loaded up the shop with heaps of new things yesterday. Whoo Hoo!!!!

Just make your purchases as usual, proceed all the way through checkout, but don’t complete your PayPal payment. I’ll email you a revised invoice with your discount.

It’s coming up time for the first give-away! It’ll be posted at 1:45 and the winner will be announced at 2pm. How’s that for instant gratification! All you need to do is comment during that time. I’ve got random.org on speed dial.

Be sure to check out the 17 other Beads of Clay artists participating in this open studio event. We’re all doing give-aways. Just click that photo up there in the top right and it’ll take you to the BOC blog and links to the other artistis. But do come back!

BOC open studio tour!!!!

Just a little sampler of the things that came out of my kiln this morning. I'm busy getting ready for our Beads of Clay Open Studio. In fact I'm getting pretty darned excited about this event. So just in case you haven't marked your calendar, Sunday 1-4 EST right here on my blog and the blogs of a lot of talented Beads of Clay members. Just click that image up on the right and see who's going to be here. Give-aways, discounts, hooray! Hope to see you!!!!

Have a great weekend!

Burning the midnight oil

Things are churning along here at Summers Studio. I've loaded all the lentils into the small kiln, plus some new things, on their way to the glazing. Frankly, I am just a wee bit bleary eyed right now. I'm finishing up a few more things that are going to get piled in there and tomorrow will be a marathon glaze day. Oh and remember that summer weather we had yesterday? Well today we have autumn. It's 20 degrees cooler. Firing that little kiln tonight will be the thing that makes it a little more bearable climate wise in my studio tomorrow morning.

But most importantly, I have to say thanks so much for all of the comments on the Christmas ornament prototype. I must say that I am a little overwhelmed. I had no idea that such a simple idea might be so well received. This sort of support really is what keeps me grounded and going it what I do. Many thanks to all of you!

Holiday Sneak Peak

It's hot here today, 85 F and windy. It's kind of hard for me to get into the spirit of the winter holidays when it feels like summer. But now's the time to get that winter spirit out and get my holiday act organized. Particularly given I've got 10 day till the first of the 'holiday' shows. A while back I snagged these vintage chandelier crystals from an estate sale, a set of 10 each. While I wasn't immediately overwhelmed with love, I had a vague idea that they might be transformed into something with some holiday spirit.

I spent part of today creating these large porcelain 'lentil' beads, 18 in all. Completed, these will be about 2" in diameter. Yep, those are styrofoam balls up there, split in half, being used as drape molds. I haven't touched a piece of styrofoam in many years but it is truly amazing what the craft store will yeild up in terms pottery tools.

And voila! This is what those beads will become (hopefully). This is the prototype ornament. I think of it as a little jewelry for your tree. I disassembled those chandelier crystals and brass wire wrapped them back together in a combination of clear and red. Frankly, those chandelier connections are just about as ugly as they come. This was clearly an exercise in honing my rosary bead, briolette wire wrapping skills. I've got 18 sets done, and even though my hands ached, it really made me want to work more with wire. It really is addictive. Maybe there is a jewelry maker buried deep inside me? And for those of you who were counting, there is no number 20 set. One of the crystals was chipped so that left me with 18. Just as well. I haven't the time right now to do 2 more.

Happy Weekend!

Guess what I'll be doing. This is actually happy work. In the midst of this getting ready for shows, I've decided I simply must make beads. You know, you head where the inspiration takes you sometimes. And it beats the heck outa cleaning the house. Oh, wait, dinner guests on Saturday. Guess there will be some of that too.

Anyhoooo, have a lovely weekend everyone!

Dirty Little Secret, Shhhhh

All potters have a foot fetish. It’s true. Some may not admit it. But this is a universal truth. Just go to any event with pottery and play spot the potter. The potter will be the one who looks furtively from side to side and just when she thinks no one is looking, she’ll lift that pot ever so slightly and have a look at the bottom. Oh, and just do not get me started on bottoms…..

So at this point you might well ask “what exactly does this have to do with the price of tea in China?” Well, over the past couple of days I have been consumed with making pots. And those feet have been an ever present concern of mine. See those pots up there in the top left? Just not quite right. There is no lift to them. They end abruptly. The list of deficiencies goes on and on.

So finally I have come up with a solution to this dilemma. (The life of a potter is a never ending search for the perfect foot.) I cut out little squares of clay with holes in the center. I cut them apart bevel the edges and glue them on with my super glue toilet paper clay paste. And that could be enough but I really wanted the feeling that these feet grew out of the body of the pot. So I added moist clay sculpted those feet into the bottom of the pot. After 16 of them I’ve gotten quite good at this exercise.

Much better don’t you think? You see the foot of the pot is like putting on the finishing touch for an evening out. After all you wouldn’t go to dinner in your very finest but in your bedroom slippers, would you? Maybe the grocery store, but certainly not to dinner. Not even I would do that. I have actually accidentally gone to the grocerey store in my slippers. It's OK. They know me at the local and no longer roll their eyes.

So what about that flat bottom pot I lured you into this blog post with? Well she’s gone off to the corner for unloved pots until I decide what to do with her. It’s a kind of purgatory for pots and she has a lot of company.

Mark your calender!

Come one, come all! Join us for the first ever Beads of Clay Bloggers Open Studio. This is a fantastic event with give-aways, insights into our creative processes, our studios. Get to know us and what we do.

I'll be giving you a little tour of my studio. And I'm pretty darned sure you'll get the unvarneshed truth of the chaos I create in. With 3 shows coming up in 3 weeks, I'm absolutely positive you will not get a pretty version. You'll get the down and dirty, the muddy reality of my creative process, totally uncensored, warts and all. Isn't that tempting?

If that's not enough I'll be doing some give aways and have in mind some things that you've never seen in the Etsy shop. Still not enough? Well last count I made, there are a whopping 16 artists participating in this blogtastic event, all with their own give-aways and exciting insights into the life of a ceramic bead maker. That's a whole lot a bead giving going on.

Curious who's going to be here? Just click that photo up there and head on over to the BOC blog and find out. While you are there just go ahead and click that follow button so you can get regular updates to what we're up to.

Playing with glaze

Autumn is defintely in the air here. Last week I played around with a few glaze combinations and this is what came out. I really like the rust undertones in these pieces with one of my favourtite blue green glazes. These feel very autumn, even winter to me.

But this is my favourite of all. I've used this pattern as a button time and again. I've never used it as a pendant. Who knows why? But I love the brown in this one. It reminds me of certain seed pods that go very deep brown in autumn. I have no idea if this one can be done in a similar way again. But I'm pretty sure I'll try.

I'm on a very tight schedule here. Three events in one week with only about 3 weeks to get ready for the first. So I'm a little tired tonight but I do see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Simple Table Top Display

Remember that table top display I was making? Well this is it. It’s made of a ceiling tile from Home Depot. It worked pretty well this weekend at market and for its very simple construction it was quite sturdy. I’m sure this is not a novel idea. In fact my friend Benna uses panels like this hung from a free standing wire frame work to pin up her glass pendants. That’s where I got the idea to make this into a table top display.The ceiling tile I used was a little over 23 inches square. I used a utility knife and a straight edge to cut a 12 inch wide panel. The remaining piece forms the second half of the display. I spray painted each panel front, back and sides. Then used upholstery tacks to finish the side and top edges with ribbon. I lined up the panels and applied Velcro strips to the back side of the panels. The Velcro mate is used to hinge the panels together when I stand them up with the narrower panel butted up against the 12 inch section. To keep the pieces from sliding outwards, I used a piece of ribbon stretched across the front bottom of the panels and tacked to the back side. It lies flush with the table and works like the chain that keeps a box lid from flipping open too far. And that’s it. The whole lot packs up flat and is super light weight. Both bonuses for portablility. Easy peasy, took about a half an hour, and cost less than $15 to assemble.

I’m sure there are more bells and whistles that could be added to this. I’ve got a few in mind. For example, you could apply fabric to the panels for a little dressier version. I’ve thought about making a Velcro attached hook system. I’d love to hear your ideas!