Latest porcelain creations..

Carol Dekle-Foss

Hi Everyone! I hope you have had a chance to enjoy some wonderful summer activities! I have stayed home most of the time, which isn't like me. This time of year, I'm usually camping, visiting the beach, or hiking in our amazing Sierra Foothills. After the accident though, I felt like I had lost three months so I have been really focused on catching up and working on new designs. 

 Lately, I've been influenced by affirmations and positive quotes, so I've been incorporating some of my favorites into a new line. Below are a few I've made so far. 

My first batch of "it is well with my soul." I just love this quote. I made them into pendants so they can be worn close to the heart. They need a different glaze for sure, one that highlights the font better.  I changed the design to include a cute border.

These pendants are in their greenware state, I'm so excited to see them glazed! I plan on making more designs like this. If there is an affirmation or quote that you think would be a great addition, please let me know!

Latest designs fresh out of the kiln...

A new petal shape.

More yummy cherry blossoms.

Mandala, lotus and swirl charms and pendants.

First try at the "just breathe" quote. 

A large flourish pendant.

These beads are supposed to be carved with lotus petals. Ugh...not quite as I had envisioned!

Also, I've been working on some porcelain cone ring holders. I like the swirl leaf base and the shape is good, but I wasn't going for little brown turds. Lol! I think spaced in my booth they won't look like turds in a toilet. Hahaha! I'm working on the glaze color. Any suggestions? 

Alright ya'll, give it up for the husband!

Ronnie's beads...

and his very first pendant!!! Isn't it adorable?? It's so much fun watching him play with clay.

All of the above will be listed by the end of this week to our Etsy store here. Minus the turds. Haha! 

Thank you for reading. I hope your were inspired to create!

Follow Up: Steel Clay

by Staci Louise Smith

I did a post on my playtime with steel clay not long ago.  You can read that here

http://lovemyartjewelry.blogspot.com/2015/12/steel-clay-peek-into-my-playtime-with.html

I had purchased some back in August, but then realized my kiln wasn't hot enough to fire it.  I finally got around to playing with it near the end of the year, and realized, wow, it really rusts quite easily.  To be expected of course, it's steel.

This is the follow up post to see how the sealer holds us- and see how the steel rusts, or doesn't.  I am pretty nutty when it comes to making sure things stay the way I make them, either with or without a patina.  So, sealing things is a really important step to me, and hopefully should be for anyone who works with things that rust, or have a patina on them, ect...

So, this first picture is actually two pieces, that I clean up with the a sanding pad.  They were NOT sealed at all.  I sprayed some water on them each day for a week and just let them sit for a few weeks.  This is all the rust they got.  Not too bad really.

The other pieces got sealed with Clear Guard (you can find that at Sculpt Nouveau).  I did 2 coats of that on each side, AND just to be sure, I waxed them with Renaissance Wax as well.  

After that, I took a few pieces and also sprayed them with water on and off for a week.  The only thing that happened was this, a tiny speck here and there rusted.  All I can think is those spots got missed with sealer or something.

You can see the piece on the right, on the lower right corner has a bit of rust.

It was cold when I went outside to seal them, and there is a good possibility that they overlapped a bit and I was bringing them in and out to spray and then to dry.  

Anyhow, I am really liking the steel a lot and plan to sell some tomorrow during my little Facebook bead update.  They are light, and have a great antique pewter look to them.  

I can't wait to make more!  

Have any of you played with the steel clays?  What have you found that you like / dislike about them?

Steel Clay: A Peek into my Playtime with a new (to me) Metal Clay

by Staci Louise Smith

I have been playing in metal clay for almost 13 years now.  I just dabble really.  I started out using PMC and have moved to copper and bronze clay with the rise of silver prices (and the size of my pieces growing each year!)

I found that when I started PMC there was a world of books and tutorials and information on the clay- how to use it and fire it.

However, when the base metal clays began to take stage, there was barely anything out there on them.  I think because there are so many, and some of them, like bronze, can be finicky, there is just no sure fire way to get it right each time (pun intended!)  Firing bronze takes some real trial and error to figure out how to properly fire your pieces.

(one of my bronze moons below)

In the process, I have tried white copper clay, because I wanted a silver substitute.  I didn't like it.  It tarnishes a bit like silver plate pieces do, and I didn't like the look of that (sort of a brown tarnish).

So I finally took the plunge and bought some steel clay.  I have been checking into Hadar Jacobson's steel clay on and off for years, but it always was a deal breaker for me, because it said it was brittle after being fired.  To me, steel should be strong, and I want my metal clays coming out of the kiln with all the qualities of the metals they are. 

http://www.cooltools.us/Hadar-s-Clay-Quick-Fire-Steel-XT-50-gram-p/stl-011.htm

Well, I checked recently to see what is new in the steel clay world, and found she made low shrinkage XT steel clay now, and it says its sturdy enough to stand on its own as a base.  So I bought some- back in August.  I was hoping to have some NEW steel pieces to sell at Beadfest, and jumped right into making a batch.  However, when I went to fire it in my kiln, I realized it fires WAY higher then bronze and my kiln wouldn't go that high.

(Steel clay low shrinkage XT fires around 1700-1750 degrees F).

So, after Beadfest I invested in a new kiln for myself.  Not only can it do steel clay, but it can also do ceramic.  (I bought ceramic clay as well, I can't wait to play with that!)  

Last week I finally hooked up the new kiln, made some more steel clay components, and tried out my new ceramic firing vessel at the same time! 

I must say, I LOVE how they turned out.  

Now, I know that steel rusts.  So, I wasn't sure how quickly this would rust, or how much I would have to seal it to prevent it from rusting.  

Well, let me tell you, it rusts pretty fast!

After tumbling the steel, I took it out and set it on a paper plate and paper towel to dry out a bit.  I didn't get in to sand and polish it right away.  By the time I got in here, about an hour later, it was already rusting.  It didn't rust much on the pieces, but the water that was draining off was rusty.  You can see here on the plate the rust that was left.

So I put them back into the water in hopes they would stop rusting.  I pulled each one out as I was ready to sand and polish it and dried it off really good.

Then I used a fine sanding pad to buff the high spots

.

Then I used a polish cloth to shine it up a bit

then they looked like these

After that I used Clear Guard to seal them.  I left two unsealed, and lightly sprayed them with water.  After a couple days, they look like this.  There is some slight rust in the unsanded recessed areas.

 I need to put another coat of sealer on the others before I test them.  Once I have sealed them a few times, I want to spray them, and put some in water, and see how it holds up to rust.  

In the meantime, here are my thoughts so far on the Low Shrinkage Steel XT:

1.  It is easy to mix and work with.

2.  It fires in one stage at full ramp, so that is a perk for me

3.  It does require a kiln that fires up to 1750 F

4.  It must be fired in carbon

5.  I really like the antique look of the metal once cleaned up and can see it fitting in with my work

6.  My only hesitation about it is rust.  So, I will work on making sure I find a way to create with it and not have it change over time.  (I will do a follow up on the post once I experiment some more)

For more information on Hadar's clays and how to fire them, check here

http://www.cooltools.us/v/vspfiles/assets/images/hadars_clay_instructions1.pdf

Stay tuned for a follow up post about how the steel clay holds up once sealed!  

We are All Made to Create

Carol Dekle-Foss

To my fellow creative souls,

Do you ever beat yourself up and think that you are not talented enough? 

Or that you don't have what it takes to make beautiful art?

Do you compare your work to that of others and feel yours doesn't measure up?

I'm guilty of this from time to time. If I'm feeling down and depressed, I think why am I creating? Who do I think I am? There is so much talent out there, let others be the creators. 

But then, I step into my studio and just create. I quit judging myself and just have fun.

So what I want to say is this, lets forget about what others are doing and be patient with ourselves. Everyone has to start at the beginning. Sometimes it takes years to hone a craft, and when we are learning, we should only compare our work to OUR OWN. When we practice and experiment we develop a stronger sense of our creative self, and our craft becomes a part of who we are.

Last month, my creative journey took me down a new path. Ceramics! I blame MaryAnn for my love of ceramic beads, I just can't resist her little wood-fired gems!

It took me awhile to figure out the basics, and I am especially grateful for all the talented ladies over at the Beads of Clay Blog. Our very own Marsha did a post here where she shows how she loads her kiln with bead trees. I was quite impressed with how she made all those beads fit so nice and organized. Thank you Marsha for sharing!

Here is my very first kiln opening!

There was squealing involved. I was shocked that none of the beads fell off or that there wasn't drips of glaze everywhere.

My loot. All these pieces were just experiments, and I have a lot to learn about clay and glazes. But that's ok, this is the fun part, the learning and honing of a craft. I have to be patient with this process, and take my time.

 My favorite piece.This little guy has been SANDBLASTED. Who would have thought you could sandblast bisque? Not me. But I experimented and this little odd thing evolved. It's sure ugly, but nonetheless, my favorite piece. I plan to expand on this and maybe even sandblast after glazing. My head is spinning with creative ideas!

We are each on our own creative journey. We should focus on crushing our own limitations, so we can develop into the creative person we were meant to be. 

Thank you for reading!

All of this for Wood-Fired Beads?

MaryAnn Carroll

I must say that I am pretty lucky to be able to include beads in regular wood-firings. It is definitely a rare happening, since, who would build a 34 cubic foot kiln to fire beads in? My husband, of course. I think he does this just to keep my happy! Yes, I am SURE he does this to keep me happy!!

The truth is that there is quite a process that goes into wood-firing. The first part of the process is the same for all ceramic artists who use a wheel and fire with methods such as electric or gas. You start off with clay...... and a wheel....

Then, a few steps follow.... like skill, knowledge, artistry, practice, more practice and more practice, until you get it just right. Nothing can replace the time to perfect an art like practice.

This is Bill at a recent "throwing" event near our home.

Once the piece is thrown, it is left to dry until leather hard. At this time, the thrown piece gets trimmed.... Well, MANY pieces get trimmed. To fill his wood-fire kiln, it takes about 300-350 pieces depending on the size of the pieces.

A leather hard bowl that has been trimmed.

Now, it takes about a week or two for the piece to dry completely. At this point, they go into his electric kiln to be bisque fired. A bisque firing basically prepares a piece so that it can be handled without breaking during the glaze process.

This is one shelf prepared for a bisque firing inside of the electric kiln. Typically, 4-5 shelves similar to this are stacked.

A grouping ready to be removed for glazing.

 After they are bisque fired, it's time for the glazing....

As you see, he has a little of the female appeal going as strongly encouraged by me....

This group shows the wadding on the bottom of some pieces. I will explain that more when I post Part II of the process.

Look at the picture below. Do you see where the arrow is pointing? That is one small rack of my beads. You might be able to see why wood-fired beads are rare. These kilns are not built for beads and most who go through the labor of building a wood-fire kiln are doing so for the love of this form of pottery making, as well as for larger works of art.

Bill is preparing for another firing now. I will keep you posted for the 2nd half of the process. It's even more involved that the first half. You can learn a little more in advance by visiting his website and/or his shop.

Here are some beads from some past firings.

 

 

Thanks so much for reading and for supporting artists who create handmade with handmade.

MaryAnn