The Owls Are Back!

Gosh, it's been a year since I made any of these. Where did the time go? But some of you asked and I could not refuse. Besides I like these little guys. Six colors including a purple tummy owl that I really love. Of course, I love just about anything purple. Not lavender. Just a nice dark purple. Ok, I like lavender in spring. I'm quite seasonal (fickle?) about my color favorites.

Sometimes when I'm making beads, a new shape sort of spontaneously appears. I don't think too much about it. They just happen. These are a cross between a lentil and a coin bead with fluted edges. Or maybe they are squashed melon beads with holes in a different direction? Or maybe they are a new bead shape called the amoeba. I might start naming all of my beads after micro-organisms. Next up the paramecium followed by the spirochete.

This was a glaze experiment. I don't usually use this glaze on this clay because in the past it's gone all drippy and weird. But I like it now. Kind of reminds me of winter with that frosty blue.  I have no idea if I will get this result again because I can't remember just what I did to get it in the first place. Notes might be a good idea but then that seems way to organized.

Have I ever told you how much I like making bead sets?  It's a sort of sophisticated form of procrastination. I don't generally glaze them with any particular sets in mind. I could (and sometime do) spend ours mixing up different shapes and colors of beads. I tell myself it is work all in the name of getting that Etsy shop updated. But the truth is I like playing with beads.

Speaking of updating the Etsy shop, I'll be putting the owls and beads up tomorrow night.

Thursday, 4 October, 8 pm EST

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.

Almost like Christmas

Opening a kiln after it has fired for more than 9 hours and then cooled for 12,  is a little like gifts on Christmas morning. There's all that anticipation. You remember when you were a kid looking at the bounty under the tree, all wrapped up with its mysteries inside? Even when you've rattled and poked you never know exactly what might be in there. Unless of course you are one of those naughty children who've peeked before things got all wrapped up. I've only heard about this. I've never actually done the peeking :-)

There's no peeking when it comes to firing ceramic goodies. You just have to wait it out till things are cooked and cool enough to look at. This is what I looked at yesterday morning as I opened the lid of the kiln.  For the most part, the kiln gods smiled on this firing. Which is a really good thing because this was a totally mixed up firing. New clay, new glaze, no testing. Just kind of went for it. Liberating!

And just like Christmas, there are those gifts that maybe aren't just what you expected. See that up there? Two beads perfectly and forever fused together. And then there are the truly hideous that went straight to the bin without ever making it into the studio. Nope, you are not seeing those. I've spared you the sight of them. It happens and I am totally over them. Mostly.

And I think I can let those failures pass me by because I've got so much more to look forward to. That cheeky monkey is coming to visit Nana and PaPa this weekend. Oh, and she's even bringing her daddy and mama. She's so special and not just because she loves to go fishing and will even bait her own hook. Wowser, I won't even do that. Actually, I don't go fishing.

Miss Alyssa is turning 4 at the end of the month. We'll be partying away here at Summers Studio. We've got bubbles, we've got side walk chalk. We've even got beads! I haven't seen her for a few months. I haven't seen her and Mama and Daddy together since Daddy got back from Afghanistan.

So we'll be taking a bit of a blog siesta over the weekend to eat cake and make merry.

Happy weekend all!

Is it worth it?

6 jars of cinnamon peach jam

12 quarts of tomato sauce

10 pints of chopped tomatoes

8 pints of tomato soup

20 pints of corn

8 pints of green beans

And I've only just started.

I like preserving my own food. The peach jam is even sugar free just sweetened with apple juice and honey. It tastes so fresh. Yes, it is time consuming and no, I'm  pretty sure there is no money saved doing this. But I find it satisfying to know exactly what's in my food and where it came from. Pretty much all of our food comes from the local farmers market directly from the people who grow it. Of, course there is tomatozilla out in the back garden so a few of those tomatoes were grown by us.

But is it worth it to put up your own food? I seriously question this sometimes. Especially when I've spent hours on my feet over a hot kettle of water. But then I think that if I had a choice between Mac Donalds or a really fine restaraunt

(somebody else is paying for this :-), I'd probably choose the fine restaraunt. That's kind of how I feel about store bought canned tomatoes. They are the Maccers of my world.

But the really, very most special worthwhile of this is sharing this food with my family. My son and his family will be here this weekend and I know absolutely that homemade peach jam will be a hit and that jars of preserves will go home with them. I know my son will recall counting of "pops" as jar lids seal. The licking of spoons when jam is finished. Preserving food is family tradition and it is full of wonderful memories. Pretty worthwhile just for that.

Oh you were wondering about beads? There is a kiln chockers full of beads firing right now.

39 beads

20 acorns

23 owls

25 birds

32 pendants

I like counting things.

Plentiful Sunshine

That's what the weather report for today said. We're not having just any old ordinary sunny day. We are having plentiful sunshine. That makes me smile. A day abundant and plentiful with sunshine.

What also makes me smile is that autumn seems just around the corner. When I went out with the dogs early this morning it was a mere 62F degrees. I actually shivered and thought about putting on a hoody. I love autumn. And over the last few days I have been making beads like a squirrel gathering nuts for winter. Hundreds of beads. I am not entirely sure what got into me.

There are beads in sassy new shapes and textures. I can't wait to glaze these up. I am seeing corals, and pumpkin, and toasty rust colours. Maybe some blues too because I still like blue even in autumn.

And there old familiar beads. Lots of birds. I love making birds. I feel peaceful when I make them.

Now I think I will head out and enjoy some more of that plentiful sunshine before Hurricaine Irene heads into the Carolinas. Because when that happens it will be plentiful rain and wind.

Shhh, I'm going to say the S word

Nope, not the other S word. I've said plenty of those and some colourful variations over the last few weeks.

So it is time. We're moving 1500 miles in a few weeks and some of the bead goodies have just got to go. I spent yesterday taking stock, putting stuff up on Etsy, and I am ready to bid it all good bye until June.

So here's your chance. A SALE! I never do sales but I am now. Everything listed in my Etsy shop is 25% off. You just need to use the "Take25" promotion code at checkout and your order will be discounted by 25%.  I've put a flat rate shipping of $2.50 for all orders to the USA and Canada and $3 everywhere else on this lovely planet of ours.

My goodness, I feel so much like a game show host right now. But the bottom line is this little Etsy shop is closing next week until sometime in June. There won't be any relisting. This is it. I gotta start packing the studio up.

BTW, that little daisy pendant on the beige background up there is my favourite. I've hung onto it for months :-)

BTW - A nearly clean slate!

Heather Powers of Humble Beads, created this wonderful idea of showing what's on your bead table on Wednesdays.  These are bronze pieces I just pulled out of the kiln late last night. They've been tumbled and are patiently waiting for me to come in and put patina and other goodness on them to make them all shiny and pretty.

Often late to the party, this is my first time posting my bead table. But I have a very good excuse. Until Sunday night I couldn't actually see my bead table because it was shockingly buried in piles of things that the chaos creator in me refused to acknowledge as an unsightly disgraceful mess.

I spent much of Saturday and all day Sunday sorting, organizing, cleaning and generally grumbling to myself that I should do this more often. Like clean up after myself every day. Look at that would you. Vast expanses of useable space! A virtual paradise of tidiness. It's a clean slate and I vow to keep it this way. I've even picked up after myself 2 days in a row. Mum would be so proud.

This is the piece that came out of the kiln that I am most pleased about. (Never mind the carbon buried under my thumb nail) It's a bead that did not collapse. Yeah! Now if I could just get the shot from the tumbler out of it so it's more of bead than a rattle, life would be nearly complete.

Happy Wednesday!

What's on your bead table?

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.

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!

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.

I'm so ready for spring!

I don't know about you, but this winter thing is getting old. And my mind has turned to little tastes of spring. These beads were made thinking of cherry blossoms (sakura), an image I love because often they are among the first trees to bloom. I don't actually have any cherry trees but I do have pear, peach, and apple. I love the whites, pale pinks, against the branches of the trees. Oh spring! Where are you?

I couldn't resist glazing a few of these beads in a spring alternative. Mostly, because I love this glaze and have this need to glaze everything in sight like this.

These have been on my to do list for a long time now. I've been wanting to make ceramic clasps with bronze or copper toggles for a while now. Well the toggles are yet to come. I made these and looked at them and said to my self, you know these have some potential as small pendants or connectors. I have some ideas of putting a small dangle off the bottom and making them into pendants on simple snake chain or leather. We'll see.

And what could be more spring and Easter than an egg? These were very fun. The brown that is in there is a spatter painted glaze. Remember using a paint loaded brush and spraying it across your paper? Very messy but very satisfying. That's the base for these eggs and then they are over coated with another of my favourite glazes.

Gosh, I'd love to have a hand model. Look at those nasty cuticles, the pudgy fingers. Well when you work in clay, I'm afraid that a nice manicure is just a dream.

The perspective of this bird bowl is a little odd. But I am quite pleased with the bird bowls. All I need now is some Cadbury eggs to fill them with. That would be your original creme eggs, not the minis, not the caramel. I like my original and have a very well defined ritual for eating them.

Have a lovely weekend, all! And those of you who are buried in snow up there in the NE, I recommend sleeping in, having a cup or to of hot chocolate (don't forget the marshamallows) and snuggling up under a nice comforter. Meanwhile, I will be thinking warm and sunshine thoughts for you all.

Making Birds

I love making these little birds. So I thought I might just show you how they are made.

They start out as lumps of clay. See those out of focus pieces there in the back? I squish the clay into something that has a vaguely bird like shape. These little pre-birds get set aside for an hour or two, until the wet squishy clay sets up a bit.

Then I use modeling tools to shape the wings and make then stand out a bit from the body of the bird. Oh and I give them eyes. Because I think they'd look a bit funny without them and it helps you tell the beak from the ....., well, other end.

Holes get poked through the body with a needle tool and then this hole gets drilled out and enlarged with a tiny drill bit. You don't get to see the drill because I forgot to take a picture of it.

These birds then get set aside, usually over night until they are bone dry. But I confess, that sometimes, I am impatient. In those cases, the birds get put in a cold oven, heated to 170F, and held for 20 minutes. Hey, I can't make cookies, but I bake a mean bird.

Once the birds are dry, I sponge them until they are nice and smooth all over and all the nasty rough edges are gone.

These little birds are all ready to take their first trip to the kiln. I love seeing them all lined up like this. My little flock.

I started making these birds last November for personal reasons. They became like little talismen and I have one in particular that isn't a bead. It's just a bird that I sometimes hold in my hand just because it feels nice. Several of you who have these birds have mentioned how you like to touch them or just hold them. You know, that makes me happy. It's like getting a little hug. Thank you!

Birds and Drops

But not bird droppings! I unloaded the kiln this morning. And I really could not be more pleased. These are a couple of the new bird beads in an aqua glaze. Each little bird poked and prodded into a wee little bird. Coaxed into being from a little lump of clay. Very smooth and tactile. I like that. I like beads that just kind of beg to be touched. Is that weird? Well if it is, then I am definitely on the weird end of the spectrum.

And then there are the drops. Rain drops, tear drops, I am not entirely certain how you name these. It's new. I don't entirely know where these came from. I do know that one day this little drop shape just sort of begged to come into existence. Sometimes it just happens that way. And many times that is just a lot of alright.

And speaking of drops. Well, we are raining today. We are sleeting today. We are snowing today. Well, Madame Weather, please make up your mind. I need some just straight ole, same ole, same ole weather. Non of this wintry mix, please.

Butterflies

Do you remember way back when, I was working on drawing (doodles) based on Japanese fabric? Well that drawing has been modified, edited, pared down, and these are the first pressings of one of the finalists. Sometimes it takes me an incredibly long time settle on a final form. Actually, there are two contenders for this particular design and one of them failed in the molding. Oh, well. I'll make another one later.

I love butterflies. I love watching them hover over my flowers, flitting from one flower to the next. I am ready for spring and it is only mid January. Fortunately, for me, spring comes early here compared to where I grew up. We've been having warm weather over the past few days. I am ready for it to be consistently warm. Are you ready for spring? I am so wanting my iris to come into bloom. But that's a couple months off. Instead I'll just create a little artifical spring with butterfly pendants and other bits of garden lovlies.

And thank you all for such wonderful birthday wishes!

Puffy Hearts and Moist Clay

Every so often I need to feel moist clay in my hands. No molds, no stamps, just the feel of it as I gently push it into a little form. That happened to be how I was feeling this week. It’s cold. My studio is barely heated. It was gloomy. Much better to be inside where it is warm, with my dogs at my feet. So I brought in a bit of moist clay and sat at the dining room table and made these little hearts.

I like the feel of these. They are all rounded and plump, a little like river stones that have been tumbled in the current. Most of the time, I have a picture in my mind of how something will be finished. Not this time. My temptation is to leave them unglazed and tumble polish them. I do love the feel of bright white porcelain when it’s been polished. They are in the kiln now. I’ll decide tomorrow what they will become. For now, I am just happy with having quietly sat with a few little lumps of clay in my hands.