Beads of Clay Site Updated and Renovated...

Beads of Clay has redesigned and launched its site. Melanie Brooks Lukacs owner of Earthenwood Studio did a fabulous job! I've been a member of this group for a number of years and highly recommend it to others who are interested in beads made of clay.

Beads-of-clay.org is home to ceramic bead artists who are interested in working together to promote artisan ceramic beads. With members from all over the country and the world, the styles and techniques that we use vary greatly from artist to artist, giving us a rich and imaginative visual library from which we can inspire one another.

Porcelain, stoneware, earthenware, terra cotta, raku, Egyptian paste, and clay slip are among the varied materials our members use to make beads, buttons, and jewelry components.

If you are interested in learning about making or collecting ceramic beads, please check out the Beads of Clay website which is full of information and artwork.

Earth clay is the common ceramic material used by all these beadmakers. The areas of expertise for these ceramic bead artists range from bright colored low fired clay all the way to high fired porcelain. Included in the beadmakers' skills are the handling of earthenware, stoneware, raku, porcelain and Egyptian Paste. The handmade beads and pendants may be glazed, unglazed or tumbled polished. Firing methods used include electric and gas kilns as well as raku and pit fired techniques. The variety and richness of these miniature works of art is a delight for the collector and jeweler.

Please visit the Beads of Clay to learn more about this medium of artwork:

http://beads-of-clay.org

San Diego Inspired Necklace

Our our recent trip to San Diego I fell in love with this particular tree. Upon returning home I googled "Trees in California" until I found it. It is an erythrina coralloides, otherwise known as the Naked Coral Tree. That's because the leaves don't grow until all the flowering is finished.

It's a spectacular tree and I found myself gasping every time we drove or walked by one.

After arriving home I dug out the few precious red nuggets still in my possession and purely by chance happened upon the porcelain rose round. This necklace was the result.

At 36" long, it's a bold necklace! Look for it in my Etsy store in the next day or so!

http://nkpdesigns.etsy.com

New Beads at ETSY Store

These are for sale at: http://nkpdesigns.etsy.com


The yucca brush used to apply this glaze is incredibly tiny.
You can take a look at it by going: http://nkpdesignsbeads.blogspot.com/2007/05/cat-tongue-yucca-brush.html









To make the brush, I soaked the frond in water for a few days, then scraped off the pulp with knife. This was an experiment that I wanted to try since reading a book called, "Talking With The Clay", The Art of Pueblo Pottery by Stephen Trimble. I didn't want to chew on the plant, because I'm positive that "yuck" in any language means the same thing. In any event, I googled, "How to make a yucca paintbrush".Google had the answer. Google ALWAYS has the answer! And so a brush (and a bead) was born.

Fresh Out of the Kiln

The pattern off this pot was derived from an old Swedish pattern that I found in a book. If the pot is held from the bottom the 'petals' would look like petals, well, sorta. As it is they look like highly decorated surfboards. Holds 16 oz.









This is a randomly decorated pot. There are a few brushstrokes that were made with the yucca brush I described in previous posts.

Holds 14 oz.

Kiln Opening

These two lovelies came out of the kiln yesterday. My family agreed they were both keepers and so I'm keeping them. I love this glaze combination and how it interacts on this particular clay body. About an hour after the kiln shut off, I plugged the holes in the kiln and allowed the pots to soak. It made for some interesting crystallization on the lid and a couple of places on the body.

I'd read about this technique before and ideally I would want to unplug the holes after an hour or so and let it cool down faster ... but I didn't feel like getting up at 3 am so I left the plugs in and went to sleep. Experimenting is fun!










The history of this particular pot can be found here: http://nkpdesigns.blogspot.com/2007/03/whole-batch.html . It's just the right size for a couple of medium sized onions and a few bulbs of garlic. This is the first time I've combined a couple of pieces I've thrown on the wheel. I'm finally finding time to experiment a bit more.

Handpainted Bead

This is a bead that I painted with the Yucca Brush I made. The bead is fired to Cone 6 and came out of the kiln this morning with a few others which I will post soon. This particular bead is 20 mm.

Textured Pendant

I'd like y'all to meet my maine coon cat, Harvey. Harvey was in one of those cat cuddle moods and kept crawling on my back, up my shoulders, and around my lap as I was attempting to photo some of my newest beads and pendants. Maine Coons are quite demanding and if you've ever had one or have one you know what I mean. I was lucky to get this one pendant shot before he noticed me sitting in the patch of sun near the window.

This is a cone 6 glaze on a stoneware clay body. It's been stamped for texture. The hole is quite small as the glaze settled into the hole during the firing.

And here is the back.

Cat Tongue Yucca Brush

Yesterday I glazed using a teensy tiny 'cat tongue' shaped brush that I made out of a small yucca frond (I soaked the frond in water for a few days, then scraped off the pulp with knife ). This was an experiment that I wanted to try since reading a book called, "Talking With The Clay", The Art of Pueblo Pottery by Stephen Trimble. I felt like jumping up and down, "It Works It Works". I didn't want to chew on the yucca as suggested in the book but I googled "making a brush out of yucca plant" and found the suggestion on soaking it instead of chewing it. (ick)

After some are fired, I'll post a photo here. I'll have to take a better photo of this brush, too.

1200 Bisqued Beads

Ever wonder what 1200 beads all piled up looked like? I've been working steadily getting up the inventory and these go in the kiln on Friday. Here are 12 textures, 4 sizes ... I did about 50 a day for almost a month.

My goal is to get 200 of each texture and size into stock. That will be almost 10,000 beads! Right now I have about 25 of each texture in every size in stock. Rolling Rolling Rolling!

Just Playing Around

I had fun making examples of what can be done with bisqued beads, but I am left with some beads. So I made a couple more beads and strung a couple of bracelets. The pinks have three mother-of-pearls disks between each.












The golds have Faceted Austrian Lemon Crystals between each.

Ceramic Bisque Art Bead Examples

I updated my Bisqued Beads webpage today (http://nkpdesigns.com/bisquedbeads.html) because I wanted to show some more examples of what can be done with bisqued beads.




Foam Paint is amazing. It comes with an application tip. This bead was first coated with rings of pink foam paint then smoothed with an index finger. Next raised dots were applied. Afterwards, small googly eyes were easily attached. This stuff adheres better things than glue, yet it is non-toxic.











I covered this bead with a blue watercolor, then took Scotch tape and lightly dabbed the surface. Then I covered it with a glossy sealer. It ended up with an attractive blue jean texture.












Apply small stickers of any type. Apply 1-3 coats of clear sealer.















This is also an example of colorful stickers that have been covered with clear sealer.









I used candy wrapper foil on these beads. It is thin and, of course, first you get to eat the candy bar. Put glue on bead and a bit on the foil. Wrap around bead until smooth. Let dry for 1-2 minutes. Apply 1 to 3 coats of clear sealer. This takes a while to dry between coats. I prefer 3 coats.

Lesson for the Day

Today I sat down at the wheel to begin trimming. About a week ago I had wrapped up some of the pots I had thrown with plastic. Two days ago I had noticed they had dried out almost past the leather hard stage so I wrapped them with damp paper towels. Today they are just right for trimming.

I just finished and the room is still swirling around me. It's like when you go to the beach and you look down at the incoming foamy waves and the outgoing foamy waves and suddenly you are zooming backward. Yeah, that's what it's like when you forget to look up from the wheel for such a long time.

I turned off the wheel and thought, "Wait ... I just turned off the wheel." The wheel still looked like it was spinning but soon I realized the pot was was not moving ... just the room.

It's just a minor annoyance in the wonderful life as a potter -- one I'm willing to deal with from time to time. I'll remember to look up more often next time I'm trimming. Usually I do, but one particular pot kept giving me problems.

Isn't that just like a pot?

Plain Carved Bead

I am fiddling around with a few leather hard porcelain beads, carving them in random patterns. I think this one is good for some inlay of some sort or another. I'm thinking art clay silver for the groove and a gemstone for the round holes. There's three more round holes on the other side of this.

Examples of what can be done with Bisqued Beads

I updated my Bisqued Beads webpage today (http://nkpdesigns.com/bisquedbeads.html) because I wanted to show some examples of what can be done with bisqued beads. So I decided to include them here as well. Enjoy!




A blue watercolor was applied and while wet, salt was sprinkled on it. This is a trick many watercolor artists use to gain texture onto a color. Then a clear glossy sealer was applied after the salt sprinkles were rubbed off.










This Stone colored nailpolish was brushed over, then wiped off. Next a Crystal Lime nailpolish was applied for a glittery effect. A clear overglaze of nailpolish was the last coat.












This was a purple acrylic paint which was covered with a thick coat of clear glossy sealer. While it was still wet, Swarouski Crystal components were pressed into the sealer. Surprisingly, it is quite durable.











These markings are made with a Sharpie Permanant Marker. Then it is covered lightly with a yellow & green mix of watercolor. Last it is glazed with a clear glossy sealer.












These markings were made with a Sharpie Permanant Marker. Then it is simply coated with a clear glossy sealer.










This is covered with a Garnet Red nailpolish. Then it is sealed with clear nailpolish.

Pendant Video

These are some simple pendants I have made recently. Enjoy.