Are you going?

To Art Bliss, that is? I am. And I am very very excited. What? You want to know what that naked clay unfired bead has to do with Art Bliss? Well I'm taking a workshop that will need a pair of side drilled beads. Search my stash and I couldn't find a thing that appealed to me for this particular project. Then the light bulb clicked on and I said, hey I make beads, couldn't I just make a pair, or two, or three? So obvious I know but sometimes it's matter of forest for the trees kind of vision. I just didn't like any of the ones I was currently making for this project and middle of the night (I have my best ideas at 4 am) I figured a flattish mellon bead would work perfectly. So yesterday I made approximately  164 of the little guys. (Sometimes I exaggerate, but trust me it was a lot).

Kind of cool even on top view down. Bit like a patty pan squash which is, I think, technically in the mellon family.  I might be making that up for the sake of continuity with the melon bead idea. I have a million ideas or at least two more ways that I'd like to use these.  And a rainbow of colors that I can see them in.

Ahh, the class, now we get down to the meat of things. I'm taking an earring class with Stacie Florer. I have drooled over her work for some time now. See that earring at the bottom? That's what I needed a pair of beads for. Gorgeous stuff, eh?

There are some terrific instructors on board for the weekend retreat. It was really hard to choose. It's September 21-23, Washinton DC. Just click that photo down there and you can see what's up. Still time to register and from the skinny I've heard, this is a lovely weekend and organized by two fantastic hosts, Cindy Wimmer and Jeanette Blix. I'd love to see you! I'll even bring some patty pan squash beads for you too.

Happy weekend all. I'm off to the garden to wrestle with the weeds and pick a peck of tomatoes.

BTW - The old porcelain is back

It's Bead Table Wednesday and here's a little peak at mine.

This might be a bit of cheat because you are not really going to see my bead table. Every surface of my studio is currently covered with porcelain pieces in various states of undoneness. I went a wee bit off track of the schedule this week and immersed myself in the new/old porcelain clay. When we moved here a year ago, I decided to go with a more local porcelain. Why ship clay so far. It's heavy. It's good to support local. I tried to love this new porcelain. I tried for a year. But you know, when you have had many dates over a years time and you haven't fallen head over heals in love, well, it's time to say good bye. So bye bye.

My new porcelain, which is the old one I started out with, is back. I love you. I am sorry I flirted with the other one. I don't mind your gooey-ness. I forgive for your penchant for warping and cracking in ways that I don't anticipate. I crack a mental now and again myself. You are beautiful in your own unique way and I'll never leave you.

OK, enough of the lovey dovey stuff. You can't see my work tables because it's a wicked hot mess in there. Piles of stuff. That photo up there is just a tiny glimpse of the gazillion pendants and such I made over the last couple of days. There's a new design in there at the top. A happy looking variation on a traditional Korean design of a chrysanthemum. I've got happy colors in mind for these. Maybe some moody ones too.

And along with the new/old porcelain the old owls have come back. Look at that. There is always one joker in the crowd that wants to go it's own way. Sheesh, I have never been able to get these little guys to behave. There's a largish pile of birds who are not really behaving much better.

They'll all be much better behaved when they grow up to be versions of these guys. Hey, couldn't leave you without one colorful photo, could I? Because really, naked clay is not that interesting to look at so the birdies and owls are a little color treat.

What's on your bead table? Any tawdry secrets that you'd care to share?

New Stuff, An Invitation, and Thank You

There haven't been nearly enough beads on this blog lately. Well, really since we moved to North Carolina there haven't been enough beads. Settling in and all has distracted me.  I've been working away on some new things. Like the little bronze acorn and pine cone. The oak leaf is a re-work of an old design. It's modeled on the pin oak that line the street I live in. They are protected in my street because I live in a historic preservation neighborhood and these pin oaks were part of the original landscape design. Thank goodness! Pin oaks are one of the most beautiful of all the oaks, at least I've always thought so. I'm so happy you can't chop them down willy nilly.

I've been working on setting little gemstones into some of my bronze pieces. A bit fiddly, but I love the sparkle that these add to designs that feel so comfortable and familiar to me.

Since we moved here, I've changed the porcelain that I use. I'm using one by High Water Clay which is in Asheville. It's almost local. Well it's only a couple hours away and it's oh so nice to have an excuse to go to Asheville.  I'm quite smitten with the glaze on these pieces. It's a formerly poopy glaze on the old porcelain. Unfortuntely,  two really spectacular glazes on the old porcelain are now poopy. But I'm working on it.

Now for the invitation. I've thought about this for some time and am just now getting around to doing it. I've opened up a Facebook page to let you all know when I've got new things available. Because I recognize that I am frankly quite dreadful about letting anyone know when things become available. Some of you have even asked if I have an email list or some such thing so that you could know about shop updates. No email list (yet). So here's a link to my Facebook Page, Summers Studio Beads.

There are even some previews of work that's going to be available this week. I'll let you know when I list things in my shop. There's a bunch of stuff ready to go and I like being able to just list it all at once. Sometime this week, at an undisclosed time, I will be listing a bunch of stuff. Undisclosed because not even I know when that will be. I'm still working on getting things ready.

And thank you all for your very generous support regarding my mother's passing. It's been an emotional upheaval but we are all coping in our own ways. I haven't been able to get back to each of you. But please know that I feel deep gratitude to each of you for your warmth and oh, so generous caring.

A woe filled tale of two hearts

Ok, this is the tale of many hearts that came out of my last firing. But a tale of two hearts just sounded so much better. Kind of like the title of some gothic romance novel.

But not these hearts up there in the sweet circle. I am perfectly happy with these. They are made of a chocolately stone ware clay that I found in my studio the other day. The clay is lots of years old and left over from an ancient tile project. I pressed and cut these hearts from a scaled up version of the photo polymer plates that I showed you here.

But these hearts in porcelain? I am not so happy. Love the glaze. It's actually a very ugly glaze that I've given a little twist. But that twist is entirely off topic and I like to be on track. See those arrows up there? There are flaws in the porcelain. Teeny, tiny little surface cracks. Nothing structural. Doesn't show up until after final kiln firing. I don't like them.

But I can fix it (I think :-). Not these hearts. They are done. They are toast. It all has to do with how these hearts get made. And I kinda stuffed up. There's another step that needs to happen in making these. I say this with great confidence but it's really just another step in the process of working with a new method of making. It's entirely possible the whole thing could get scrapped. But if I can fix this up I will be mighty happy because I really like the impressions these photopolymer plates make.

And here is a totally unrelated error in the porcelain hearts. It's a little tiny blister in the glaze. These reds are so prone to it. It annoys me because I really, really like this colour. Which is weird because I am not a red/pink kind of girl. If you look very closely I think you will find some of those tiny little cracks in these hearts too.

And this one too, has those bitty cracks. This is like having the gauntlet thrown down. There's a problem here. How do I fix that? It's a challenge. How do I solve this problem. It's a bit of what keeps me coming back to the studio. If it were all easy and worked out perfectly each time, I'd get sooooo bored.

I'm curious. What do you do when you have a set back when you try something new?

Finished! well almost

Remember the little peek from back here?  Well I am almost finished with the batch. Now I am testing out my patience waiting for the resin the porcelain pieces are set in. You know, watching resin cure is even more interesting than watching paint dry. Obviously, I had a little trouble in the patience department because I could not resist making one of the pendants up into a necklace.

Do you see what I see up there? There is one bead that does not match the others. I was sure I had 4 glass beads that matched. I'm leaving it. I'm calling it design perogative. The lesson here is match beads twice, wire wrap once.

This one is going off to someone special. It's not really a surprise so I can show it to you here. I'm pretty fond of this one. In fact I'm pretty fond of this whole idea but I've got a few things that I want to work out yet. Not the least of which is beefing up my patience with resin.

I really like the etched backs on these pendants. It's like a little surprise. I had a ceramics instructor once who insisted that the bottom of a pot should be just as special as the top. He did all of these amazing designs inside the foot ring of his pots. His thinking was that as you are washing up, you should enjoy looking at the bottom of a bowl or plate just as much as you enjoy the top. I think that's a sort of sweet idea.

Happy Weekend!!!!!

Almost like a plan

A flower here

 A bird there

Look a butterfly!

I am in the final days of getting ready for my biggest show of the year. My mind is a little like it is filled with butterflies flitting here and there.  I am a little on auto pilot when it comes to design right now. Just kind of doing what feels right at the moment.

You know, I never think of myself as nature inspired. But I looked around at the things I've made and by golly, virtually every piece has some sort of nature theme. It's almost like I planned it that way. This show is either going to look like I had a concept or it's going to look really really boring. But it will be done and over and I will clean up the mess next week.

This is what the mess looks like. This isn't even my studio. This is a folding table set up in the dining room. I am not sure where the dining room table is. I haven't really seen much of it for a month. And the studio? Well it's bad, very bad.

Guess what? That little piece in the center up there, it's a dragonfly. Yep, I am definitely nature girl this autumn.

Two pounds of clay, four ounces of M&Ms, and one storm

That's 65 buttons I made today. I think I hate buttons now. They are part of a large order and all nestled in the kiln. Initially, I amused myself by counting the number of times I jabbed the centers with a wooden tool. 28 on average. By the 25th button I was rewarding myself with a third cup of coffee. By the 35th button, it was one peanut M&M every 5 buttons.  By the 42nd button, it was eat as many of those M&Ms as you like, LeAnn, just get those danged buttons done. By the 60th button I was dreaming of a gin and tonic, which I am rewarding myself with right now.

During the midst of this button making session, we had an awful storm come up, hail, high winds. Not too many big branches down, but lots of little ones. But the saddest thing about this storm is realizing how deaf my old dog Bob is getting. He used to be my early warning system. He could hear a storm hours before it got here.  Not now. He laid out on the deck right up until the rain started even though it had started thundering a good half hour before. The young dog, Alice, was laying under my work table panting away. But not old Bob. But then he is over 10 now, and for a big dog that translates into something like 88 years old. Something is bound to break down on him at this age. He still can run like a pup though!

We are off tomorrow for Wichita to do the final wedding things. I can hardly believe my son's wedding is only 15 days away! Everything has fallen into place in such a beautiful way. We have the dress, we have a place, we have an officiant, we have bridesmaids, we have groomsmen, we have a wedding liscence, flowers, cake, and food. We have just about everything except the groom.

I talked to my son this morning. Hearing your child so excited and happy about his wedding is one of the most wonderful things a mother can experience. He talks about family, his own family, what they want to do, plans they have. It's even more remarkable given that he's in the middle of a war zone. He's counting down the days until he leaves Afghanistan for mid tour leave. As of now that will be September 8th. It's a kind of complicated trip and takes 3-4 days to get home. All of us are excited to see him, but no one more than Tammy.

Have a great and wonderful weekend everyone!

It's so good to be home

I've been home for 10 days straight, which is something of a record this summer. I've been able to follow through on a few ideas that have been percolating in my mind. Those pendants up there are glazed and ready to go into the kiln tomorrow night, along with a lot of other bits and pieces.

Remember these?

Those pendants are tiny versions of these small plates. Only the pendants are made in porcelain and the plates are stoneware. I have no idea how most of the glazes will turn out. I'm using a mix of my own glazes and some commercial ones. I just don't have the time to do glaze development anymore. But it is kind of exciting to learn how to make my own someone else's glaze formula. Hopefully, some of these are going to come out in the autumn colours I see in my mind. I know, butterflies are more of a summer theme. But many butterflies migrate like the monarch that this design is based on. So heck, I can have autumn butterflies, right?

 That sky up there is what I looked at just a few minutes ago as I sat on my deck and relaxed for a few moments. Isn't it glorious against the green leaves of the pecan? I love that green and blue. And the best of all thing is we are under 100F right now.  Autumn is on the way and I am ready for my favourite season!

Come back Friday and I'll give you a peek at those pendants when they are finished. I'll even throw in some pics of the uglies. Hopefully there won't be any uglies. But I never know when I'm doing new things.

Favors & A Mystery

My job, and a happy one at that, is to make wedding favors for the guests attending my son and dauter-in-laws wedding.  Goodness, did  I really just write that. Yes, indeed, I am getting another daughter and even a grand daughter. So I'm making little porcelain birds to put on the goody box. I think they are quite sweet looking. I hope they like them.

The mystery is this. How can it be that I can wire wrap tiny little beads reasonably well but not tie a bow? This bow tying business is tough. I think it took me longer to tie that bow than it did to make the bird. I'm not even going to tell you how many pieces of ribbon I went through. Is there some kind of bow tying school out there that I missed out on?  Is nice bow tying skill something you only get if you belong to a secret society?

Sweet Little Birds

I've been making teeny, tiny little birds for earings and to put inside etched and domed pendants. These little guys are only about half an inch wide. They are headed off to the Downtown Art Market tomorrow. I've been a busy little bee here. I've made a million pairs of earings. No kidding, a million. OK, maybe it just feels like a million. I've etched a bazillion pendants and little earing pieces. I've wire wrapped a katrillion beads. I've got all sorts of new things for tomorrow. So if you are in Lubbock, you should come see us. Even if you are not in Lubbock, you should come see us. Even if that means getting in your own personal jet, you should come see us. It will be fun!

Now for your viewing pleasure I present you with a rare glimpse into my studio. Unfortunately, the unsightly mess you see on my work table is not rare. This photo was taken at 1pm today. It is much worse now.

Have a great weekend!

Quietly soothing

I find wire wrapping quietly soothing. Each wrap, tight against the next, three times, three layers of wrapping. Quietly thinking about what the pieces might become. It's a little like meditation. I can empty my mind just by focussing on my hands. It is soothing.

I woke up to the pleasure of an email from my son. His package arrived! Only 12 days. There was a photo of a ring he is having made for his girl friend, an engagement ring. I am smiling.

There are few words in this email about what is happening in his life. Just facts really. Two more soldiers gone this week. One a medic like my son, caught in small arms fire on the FOB, a 'safe' place. Eight gone in five weeks. It's getting hard to stay positive. I don't listen to the news anymore. It all seems so impersonal. I go back to wire wrapping.

I'll be on a bit of break from my blog over the next week. I'm leaving for Portland in the middle of the week to visit with one of my dearest friends. The timing couldn't be better. Except that I have my monthly market 3 days after I come back. Lots to do before leaving. So I'll be a busy girl all week. That's good, keeps me from thinking too much about things I can not change.

Have a lovely week end and a great week. 

Happy Happy

These are a few of the goodies that came out of the kiln this afternoon. I recklessly glazed away with glazes that I have never used before. I threw caution to the wind. I am happy! There are no true stinkers in there. And fortunately I even know what these glazes are as the clearly labled test pieces are in the bottom of the kiln. BTW, I would normally test the glazes then use the good ones in the next go round of glazing. But I was open to a surprise, even a bad surprise.

Now I am off to unload a U-Haul chockers full of antiques, art supplies, and art work collected (umm hoarded?) over something like 20 years. My friend is down sizing to a condo in a move to Austin. Lovely person that she is, she is holding a silent auction to benefit the Womens Protective Services. How could I say no to such a generous gesture as this one. It's only 97F and I love to sweat. Really.

Have a great weekend!

It's hotter than blazes here!

Which means that my studio/garage was miserable when I unloaded the kiln this morning.  But it was worth going out there  just to get this one particuar little blossom pendant out.  I love blue and brown together. I know it's not a very summery combination. But heck it's 98F height here today. I would like to ignore summer for the time being and think about autumn.

And guess what? We are under a severe weather alert. It could be even hotter tomorrow, 100-107 degrees. We are warned that outdoor activity may induce serious heat related illness. I believe that means I have been given carte blanche to ignore the embarrasing state of my back garden. I believe that means that I am to lie in bed in the air conditioning with the ceiling fan on, with a good book.

Have a great weekend. I'll be in bed with Richard Jury as we solve the mystery of who killed Dorcas. 

Inspiration & Magic

Last week when I got home this lovely flower by Renate was waiting for be. I fell in love with it when I saw it in her new Etsy shop, Artefacts by Stregata.  Filigree, brass, and copper. What more could I ask for?

I am completely in love with the form. When I told Renate that it had inspired me to create something new in porcelain, she replied that it is magical when we can inspire each other. I quite agree. One of the things I love about blogging and being a part of the blogging community is the creativity and beauty that I am exposed to. I love the generous spirit of the community and the warm support that I receive.

Thank you, everyone! And especially thank you for the well wishes and prayers you have so generously given my son and our family as we cope with his deployment. It means so much to me.

We've had a couple of emails and text messages from him over the weekend. All is well and he's settling into his new Forward Operating Base. It's very basic. There is no PX, there is laundry, and the food is not too bad. Best of all there is an internet cafe so he can communicate with us regularly and he's able to call his girl friend everyday without breaking the bank.

Oh and right now - he's bored. This army mom thinks bored is good. The alternative to bored is what makes me worry.

I can't seem to stop!!!

I'm not OCD, really. But sometimes I get into this rut of making things over and over. And once I got the hang of it, I found I really enjoy making button clasps. This one is for a very simple necklace with picasso finish beads, that I also have a little obsession with.

To get it to lay right, I angled the clasp and eye pin ends upwards. It works pretty well. It just photographs ugly.

This necklace is heading off with me to art market tonight. We don't normally have a night market. But our first annivesary of this market opening last year happened to coincide with First Friday Art trail. So it's a bit of a celebration. I have loved this market and all of the wonderful people I've met there. It's kept me from being a complete and total hermit. So I'm off!

Have a great weekend!!!!

In the middle of it all I take a detour

Two bronze firings, one bisque firing, and a table of pieces sorted for glazing and I decided I absolutely, positively had to do something totally unrelated to the bead show I'm getting ready for. This is actually quite typical for me. It's part of the Procrastination Queen syndrome. This is sophisticated procrastination. I made something. Ever since I first made the little branch toggle bars I've wanted to make a branch pendant hanger. So I had to do it even though it isn't on the list. Out of the kiln, into the tumbler, and the bronze piece just screamed at me to drop everything and add a bitty bird. I feel better and I even got a lot on the list done today.

Now I'm back to tackling that load of bisque up there. There's two glaze kiln loads in that pile. I'm about half done. Oh and I think there is a copper firing in the near offing and I smell a bit of LOS in my future. Lots of work ahead for me this weekend.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Beads, birds, and branches. where did the time go?

One copper clay, one bronze clay, one porcelain glaze kiln. One tray of beads left behind on the glaze table. Where, oh where, did the time go? I am tired. I have a cold. Not a bad cold, just enough of a cold to make my head feel fuzzy. Hence, the left behind tray of beads.

I'm off again on Monday to my daughter's home in Wichita. I haven't been up there on my own for a while. I'll being seeing her and my son who will be there on block leave from Ft Cambell. I'll meet his girl friend and her daughter for the first time. Very exciting! Except in the background of all of this is my son's deployment to Afghanistan in a month or so. It only seems a few days since he came back from Iraq. But such is life of a soldier and his family.

My beads will go with me. Both for shipping and for making things with. I've a show coming up in mid April. Life goes on no matter what is going on around you. That is for me, one of the most wonderful parts of waking up in the morning. No matter what your troubles or worries might be. life will go on.

Have a lovely rest of the weekend, all! I'll catch up when I can over the next week.

The Experiment

So here's the results of yesterday's bronze experiment. Remember, a while back, I'd made some porcelain pieces that I wanted to make into toggel clasps? I just never got around to finding the inspiration for making the metal clay toggle bars. I was sitting in the sun on the deck, waiting for the spirit to move into a glazing mood. Actually, I wasn't waiting for anything at all. I was day dreaming and wasting time. Ms Alice brought me a stick. Ms Alice does not think that I should sit quietly and look at the sky. If we are outside we need to play. None of this sitting around stuff.



I looked at that stick and had one of those moments. A little cutting here, a bit of shaping there, a silicon mold, add bronze, and a toggle bar is born. I'm not sure how well it really works with the design of the porcelain pieces but I sort of like the little stick. Best part is it fits through the hole and doesn't slip out. A rather nice thing to have in a toggle clasp.

But there is a design issue. See that loop up there on the back? Well it is too big. I forgot to take into account that the bronze clay shrinks in all directions, not just length. Easy fix though (she says over confidently).

Just to make sure it works, I decided to make one of the toggles up into a bracelet. My thinking was that of all the pieces of jewelry you can wear, bracelets are the piece that get the roughest treatment. Well maybe some of you are more delicate than I am. I've had this on most of the afternoon and nothing has broken, the toggle has stayed toggled, and even though the loop is too long, it lays reasonably well. So now all I want to do is make toggle bars. But wait, is that a glaze jar I hear calling me? Nope, the glazing is still not done.

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!