Jewelry Shop: ceramics

Home » Posts filed under ceramics

Showing posts with label ceramics. Show all posts

The Morning After...

by MaryAnn Carroll

can be tough with any kind of addiction... Well... not ALL addictions! The morning after a kiln firing when you have a "BEAD addiction" can be quite exciting. It's the part of the addiction that keeps you wanting more. It's like this one time, when Bill and I were in Saugatuck, Michigan, and went into this very cool bead store with LOADS of beads on sale! It is a similiar thrill! When it comes to beads, my second love next to art beads is turquoise... and that store was loaded with it.....

Okay, I'm heading off course...

Back to the morning after: For all of you out there who are part of the "Supporting All Bead Addicts" group, you can imagine what it might feel like to open a kiln first thing in the morning and see this....

Lookin' Good!

Next, it is time to get them out and see if any minor collisions took place like 2 beads becoming 1 because they were placed too close in the kiln and the glaze fused them together or..... one dropped from a wire because I balanced it too far to the end.

Out they come.... Beads covering both sides of the bead trees....

Still Lookin' Good....

Time to remove them from the wires. Here is when the the jury is called in....

Will they be good enough to put through to the next round?

And....we have all, but one survivor... Not bad! And that was just a little stray that I found and didn't want to throw out! You can see it there still hanging on! I guess that little bead was never really destined to be made into something special.

Now....I sort a little further. Since I started up my jewelry venture again just a few months ago, I have been finding that I'm having a hard time parting with so many beads. Instead of looking at them and thinking about what might look good together for sale in my Etsy shop, I've been looking at them and wondering what might look good in a piece of jewelry. So, with this firing I decided to solve that problem and glaze extras of the beads that I covet the most.

So, there you have it. The beads that are in a little group in the upper right are the ones that I'm keeping to add to my own collection (well...truthfully, since this picture was taken the other day, I've grabbed a couple of others.... but mostly, what you see here will eventually make it to my shop).

I have to say that clay is so fun to work with. What you can do with it is endless. An example of one difference are the beads shown above. I used the exact same glaze and applied with the same amount of thickness. The clay body used on the beads shown on the left is a stoneware mix and on the right is the porcelain, the clay that I use most often. I gravitate toward porcelain because I can 'mostly' control the results because of its whiteness and translucence. Lately, however, I have stepped outside of my little clay box and I'm experimenting with other clay bodies. I have to say that it has been fun and the results surprising.

And lastly, I'm going to be redundant.....what I love the most are the endless creations. You can create VERY small pieces of art like these little 5 mm beads (that is as small as I can get) .....

to these cute little guys and gals that my husband Bill has been working on....

These will be headed to the next wood-firing.

to very large sculptures created by clay artists around the world.

Thanks for stopping by to see a little of what goes on in my little part of the world in Homer, NY.

The questions I would like to leave you thinking about today are...

"What art beads are your favorites?"

"Do you make your own art beads, if so, what do you make?"

"If not, do you perhaps see yourself making art beads in your future?"

We would love to hear from you.... and stay tuned tomorrow for our next

EXCITING giveaway offered by Mary Jane Dodd.

Who is that woman?

Hi, I'm LeAnn. I'm not strictly brand new to LMAJ. I've been operating a little behind the scenes with the Call to Create Flickr site and other odd jobs. I'm primarily a maker of jewelry components. I started out as a potter and then became enthralled with all things small. But let me back up a little.

When I was a young girl, my father taught me how to silver solder and do lapidary work. He made all of his own equipment and I loved the smell of oil on a grinding wheel while I turned slices of stone into cabachons to be set in silver. I loved the torch too. Watching solder flow into a mercury like stream as it melts is just something I really couldn't get enough of.

But I grew up and did other things. Then nearly 20 years ago I picked clay again after not touching it since my high school art classes. Another love affair and a potter was born. A couple of years ago I started making buttons and then beads and pendants. A new obsession.

Recently, I've picked up the torch again, throw in a bit of etching and metal clay, and am happily combing all of my loves into one. Dad would be shocked to see me working in brass and copper. But times change and I am excited to be creating jewelry components with my own two hands. And I am super excited to be part of Love My Art Jewelry!

new additions...soon, so very soon!

marsha neal has an etsy shop set up in honor of her mother which serves the purpose of fundraising... is is called the my mom pattie shop - think of it as a boutique, for the work found there is made by a number of people who wish to participate in this most worthy cause...

it has been too long since i have made special pieces for the shop... i love marsha's shards - she is a ceramic artist who creates wonderful shapes, textures and patterns covered in gorgeous glazes...

i am always on the lookout for what i feel is a great design to set off these shards... and then i got 'wrap, stitch, fold & rivet' by mary hettmansperger... and i knew that within these pages were olympic sized spring boards for me... and so for a couple of days, i was cutting, filing, bending/shaping, texturing, enameling, patinating, sealing & finishing, etc etc etc...

(marsha will often share pics of her mom from the 60s & 70s so i chose the 1960s setting for photoediting)

an order of sheet metal and wire is on its way - these are not quite finished... but they will be soon! i love the versatility of the designs in the book...

possibly my favorite from the group - these earrings have marsha's shards set with torched copper and beautiful fibers from lisa jurist...

marsha's flowers set against etched copper discs...

patinated metal discs, marsha's ceramics, my enamel or resin... the one on the right will be wrapped in fiber...

be watching marsha's shop - or check on my blog if any of these interest you... i hope to have them listed by monday -

and thank you for supporting such a worthy cause...

there will be more photos on flickr - the color here isn't optimal...

Warwickshire Arts Week - Part 3

After visiting some artists/designers in various mediums last week I have been feeling really inspired. There is a an incredibly talented bunch around Warwickshire.

Below are three people myself and my friend went to visit.

Andrew Flint makes gorgeous human scale forms and vessels from ceramics. He had them displayed in his garden and they looked absolutely amazing.

www.andrew-flint.com

Jane and Neil Moore were both exhibiting their work in their beautiful home. Such friendly people, we had a chat with Neil about his large figurative paintings and Jane was so helpful with her advice for me and Sam and our jewellery careers as well as making us a teeny bit jealous of her fab studio space!

Jane's work is enamelled silver jewellery. She is incredibly talented and uses a really unique way to make her pieces.

www.janemoore.co.uk

Neil is a very talented painter, they were all really large and he framed them himself as well. He had a real way of making the eyes on the paintings look so alive and bright. They really captured your attention

www.neilmoore.co.uk

Warwickshire Arts Week - Part 2

Following my blog from yesterday I am including some more people that I went to visit on Saturdays trip out to see some artists.

These lovely people were all exhibiting in the same location and were just fantastic.

Bren Boardman works with screen printed fabrics and stitching which is then melted to create the most amazing pieces of art.

She is a very talented lady and gave me a lot of inspiration and help on getting my ideas down on paper.

www.brenboardman.com

Tom Hare uses willow to create stunning outdoor art pieces and sculptures.

www.tomhare.net

Nicola Richards is a ceramicist. She makes her items by using a variety of smoke firing techniques. She gave us a quick demo and made it look a lot easier than I know it would be!

www.nicolarichardscermics.co.uk

More very inspirational people to be featured tomorrow.

Mixed Media Project

Now I'm well aware that you guys, my family and friends, are probably looking at the time stamp on this one and going, "Ruthie you dear goober...what on EARTH are you doing up and writing a blog at this time of the morning?" Well, at least some variation of that. The answer is two fold. 1. I've been sleeping weird do to meds anyway. 2. I spent about an hour and a half lying in bed developing this idea in my head and I simply had to get up and draw it out, and then write it out! There will be no rest until I do :P I actually got up and drew it out and then laid in bed for another half an hour or so developing it more in my head!

So what are you looking at? This is going to be a mixed-media piece that's based in cross-stitch. I'll go through and explain what I'm thinking for each of the elements. I did try to label each of the elements so you can decipher my drawings, but you'll need more than that to really know what I'm thinking!

~ First: This will be done on cross-stitch fabric. I don't know what count yet...I'll figure that out as I evaluate the project more. I thought about doing embroidery, but I just don't have the talent/experience for that and I DO have the experience to do this in cross stitch!

~ "To Live is to Create." I love this quote! This is where it all started. I was originally going to do a book mark with the words and then maybe a butterfly (and I still might) but then I started thinking about how it was more appropriate to include crafty type things with this quote. I thought of a couple of elements and next thing I knew it was starting to get too big to be a book mark. That's when my brain jumped to this multi-media piece. (I should mention here that I've always been fascinated with multi-media). For the main quote it will be cross stitch. I'm thinking the words "To," "is," and "to," will be done in a base color like black, and then "Live" and "Create" will be in a rich, vibrant color.

~ Butterfly - Since this was part of my original idea, and I love butterfly's, I wanted to include it! Besides, I've always thought that the butterfly is one of God's most creative and beautiful creations :) I also like how it helps to space the words out.

~ Journal - I'll make this out of construction paper or scrap booking paper. I'll make 3 rectangles (different colors?) and glue them together at the center seam using a toothpick to apply the glue. I'm toying with the idea of using a gel pen to write inspirational words on the inside pages like, "Live, Love, Laugh, Dream, Dance, Dare." Then I'll stitch along the back seam to attach it to the fabric and to create a finished journal look. This is to represent both paper crafts and writing.

~ Flowers - These are to represent all sorts of growing things and the art involved in nourishing them. Don't know what type of flowers I'll use, but something basic :P These will be done in cross stitch.

~ Quilt - I'm going to hand quilt a couple pieces of fabric (no actually batting) together in a 2"x1" square. I'll have a single color for the fabric and then use some fancy thread to quilt it. Tack it down on the corners to the fabric maybe? This is to represent all of the sewing crafts :)

~ Vase - Can't forget the clay and ceramic artists! I'm hoping to have one of my etsy friends to make a half vase with little holes along the edges so I can tack it down. I have a friend here in town who's a clay artist so she's first on my list :)

~ Easel - I'll do the easel in cross stitch and then I'm planning on getting some fabric paint and using toothpicks to make a small impressionist painting out of two or three colors. Yay for all the artists who draw and paint! NOT my specialty - hence - the impressionism :P

~ Bracelet - This IS my specialty :) I'll do bead embroidering to make a band of sorts. I'm thinking I'll put either a very small dichroic cab or a lampwork bead in the center to represent the glass artists. The majority of the bracelet will be completely sewn onto the fabric, but I'm thinking the toggle and the loop that would go around it will be "popping off" of the fabric to add to the 3d effects being created in this piece.

~ Baby Photo and Frame - Having children and raising them is a form of creation as far as I'm concerned! I'm hoping that my brother will let me use a picture of his twin boys. I'll probably get some small pieces of balsa wood to make a small frame, glue the picture to the frame, and then tack the frame down.

~ Guitar - I've always wanted to play guitar so I figured it's the best instrument to use to represent the musical arts! This one will be another cross stitch piece.

~ I'm going to put a plain backing on it and frame it with the same hoop that I make it on. That will add to the crafty/kitschy look. I'm thinking add the backing, tack it down to the back of the hoop using first glue and then some staples to secure it. It's probably going to take two sets of hands to glue it right....and maybe some clothes pins to hold it while it's drying... The outer piece of the hoops I'm going to wrap in ribbon (probably purple) then I'll use the fastener for the hoop to create a ribbon hanger for it and cover it up with a bow or something like that.

I plan on using blues, purples, and greens in jewel tones for the projects (my favorites!) I'll probably put it up for sale, but I'm making it more for me and I'll hang it in my crafty area until it sells, or never sells. At the very least, it'll be a great show piece!

I have a lot of projects that really need to come first, and my bad wrist is acting up, so I don't expect to complete this for at least 6 months. It should take me that long to find the time to do the actual design and assemble all the pieces and do all the cross stitch.

My plan is to see if I can find paper online that is the actual size of cross stitch squares to help me to do the design work. Or maybe they'll carry it in the craft store. There have to be some good tools to do stuff like this. I can use graph paper or my bead program to create a lot of things, but it will be much simpler to create the elements to size since this is as complicated as it is. Then I can create a representation of each element, put some sticky tape on the back, and move the elements around until I'm happy with it. If anyone knows where to find the right type of paper for that, let me know!

Also - if anyone can think of any really important creative things that I should be representing - please give me your ideas!

ACK! I just realized I missed the fiber arts! Like crochet or knitting. Hmmm....I'll make a note that I need to figure out how I want to include those...