Second Trumpet Whistle

This is one of the ideas I had about how to make the extension finger holes more ergonomic.

I bisque fired some of the whistles I made earlier this week last night. The little Trumpet Whistle in the last post made it in there. I am going to try to glaze enough for a firing this weekend.

Clay is very drying and I had no idea that making so many whistles would suck all the moisture out of my lips. When I make beads, I use lots of lotion on my hands, but I think I will have to stock up on some chap-stick next time I decide to make these fun musical toys.

Trumpet Whistle

I've been making whistles all week and playing with making additional holes. I had put the clay up for the day yesterday and I had an idea.  What if I made one big hole and then attached another piece of clay with three differently sized holes. Would it make a fun sound?  Would it make a sound?

Well, it did! It made a most marvelous sound(s).  This prototype has opened up possibilities in my mind that are so exciting.

I started thinking of different ways to arrange the three hole attachment to make it more holdable.  I'll be playing around with this idea a bit more.

I've moved five more of my whistles from my NKPBEADS store to my new NKPWHISTLES store.  I also dropped the price. When I started making whistles, each one took a long time. I've gotten to where I understand the process much better and I can make them in about half the time it used to take. So I'm dropping the price accordingly.  I'm hoping that making them more affordable will make them more desirable.

Thanks for dropping by!

Glass Glass Beautiful Glass Embedded in Clay

This is a white stoneware clay in which I embedded car windshield glass.  It was an idea I had several years ago but I never followed through with the idea.

Car windshield glass is a type of safety glass so it can be handled without shredding your skin.  It also crumbles apart nicely into smaller bits and pieces.

I originally had a ton of this glass several years ago after our car was mutilated in the middle of the night. They took the stereo but left some beautiful glass that I thought I would eventually use. 

After a couple of years I had not done much with it and I tossed it away during one of my studio cleans. Buh Bye

A few weeks ago I ran across this bead in a bowl full of beads waiting to be glazed. It is made from a terra cotta stoneware clay. I decided to glaze it with a transparent green glaze.  After it was fired and off the rod, I kicked myself until I was black and blue! What had I done? What!? Had!? I!? Done!?

I began asking friends to look around and scoop up any broken windshield glass that they might come across in their travels. I flirted with the idea of parking my car on the street instead of the driveway so that perhaps some kind thug might whack away at my windows whilst we were asleep. 

BUT I realized I could go to the car windshield fix-it shop and plead for some broken glass. The only question I was asked was, "Do you want regular or tempered?"

What he did was empty out his vacuum cleaner and not only did I score some free glass, but 55 cents in change and a bobby pin too!

Here They Are

I spent Saturday night separating my batch of beads (see last post) into sets. These are not all of them, but represent the entire batch quite well. When I had a lot of 'orphan' beads, I glazed them all the same color, even if they were from different clay bodies. So here they are ...

New Batch

I took these out of the kiln this morning then had to run off to ceramic's class.  That means that I get to take the off the rod right now.  SO I'm going to go do that right now!  Click on this photo to see the beads more clearly!  Do you see the whistle on the far left end?  It has a really good sound. 

Into The Fire

 The last few weeks I've been glazing a small amount of beads each night.  Most of these beads I've made over the years as experiments that never got glazed. instead they've been sitting in bowls on my shelves in my studio, just sitting there, taking up space.

Beads do not hold or generate emotions, but if they did, I would say this particular batch has been extremely patient with me. 

Yesterday I decided I had enough to fill my big kiln and put them on rods. It took a lot longer than I thought it would take.

In fact, it took so long that I decided not to load the kiln but thought I would load the kiln today, this morning.

However, it is raining outside so it will have to wait a few hours. My porch is covered (on top) but the wind and the spray of the rain does reach through the sides.  If not today, tomorrow, or the next day.  No hurry. They've waited this long after all. They can wait a bit more. 

Blue Jean Beads

I used a blue glaze on these and they remind me of the same color as my favorite blue jeans.

Sprigs have been added to each round bead and textured in this geometrical pattern.

I am feeling incredibly indecisive today. I can't decide whether to sell these individually, by pairs, or lump the entire batch into a single listing with the Caption: WHILE SUPPLIES LAST and sell them one by one or in groups as specified by the interested customer.

Any suggestions?  Oh, these are about 14-15 mm.

Newbies from the Kiln

 The next few days I will be showcasing some beads I have taken out of the kiln the last few weeks. I've been negligent about getting them online and in my store, but I'm trying to rectify that somewhat. 

I have been sorting through some of my bisque beads the last few weeks as I have been glazing and I found this adorable piggy head in the bottom of a bowl that was stashed high up on my bisque bead shelves (yes, shelves).

So I glazed him in a clear gloss glaze and included him in one of the recent firings.

He's a cute little piggy.  Apparently the brown stoneware clay I used had some white clay in it, making for an unique ear.

I wish I could sculpt at will but that just doesn't happen for me. I will have a bit of clay in my hands and decide to sculpt something and pphhhbbbb nothing happens.

Other times, I am able to make something like this piggy head.  Voila!

The hole is going through the top of his head to the bottom of his head.

More Beads?

I love making beads.  It is relaxing to sit with clay in a bag on my lap and create.  I wish I loved the act of brushing on the glaze as much as I like the clay in my hands.  I love opening up the kiln full of glazed beads, though.  I will try to concentrate on that as I begin the process of glazing these newbies.

Dragonfly Ceramic Bead

I am back from taking pictures of my pottery to taking pictures of the beads that have come forth from my kiln the last couple of months.

This picture to the left is a handformed nugget with endcaps that I impressed a stamp of a dragonfly upon.  The dragonfly impression comes from a very tiny base metal post stud earring that I bought at the dollar store.   

I have about 15 different nugget beads with this glaze, all with different patterns and impressions and sprig techniques.

I do have this listed in my store, click here to read its dimensions and to see more pictures from various angles: http://www.etsy.com/listing/90380057/dragonfly-nugget

What About Those Beads?

... in case you are wondering ... I have been renewing 4-5 expired bead listings daily (deja vu) whilst I take pictures of pottery for my pottery etsy store.

The hardware lights are covered with a piece of paper and sport sunlight natural bulbs to keep the color true.  They are pointed upward and the light bounces up and off of the piece of white foamboard which is carefully balanced on stacks of books.

If I pointed the light directly at the pottery, it would reflect two eyeballs staring back at me.   A bit creepy?  I think so! 

The background was bought from B&H . It is actually taped to the curtain to keep it from slumping. Yes taped.  I am resourcefully determined.  The piece of white foam board which is sitting on top of the books was bought at the dollar store.  I turn off all the lights in the room and shoot with my macro lens on the camera, no flash.  Other than to sharpen the image with picasa, no other photo editing manipulation is needed.

I think I will only need another week to finish this process up. I fired two loads of beads in my big kiln in December. The result is that I have an entire ziplock bag (large) of new beads that need photographing as well (they're so shiny and pretty!).  The sooner I get finished with this the sooner I can get busy with that.

Oh, in case you are wondering, that bright pink thing beside the light is my umbrella. It is placed there to keep the light from rolling.  Whatever works, right?  LOL!

Amber Ceramic Beads with Endcaps

I like making this style of bead. It's simple but distinct in its shape.  I have been concentrating on textures and patterns and thought it was time to return to a nice smooth glaze on a smooth bead.

Glazing Beads

I've been glazing in the spare time I've had.  These beads to your left have been dipped in a watery black underglaze, left to dry, then wiped off with a sponge.

I love this effect, though it is very time consuming. 

Here are some rounds in which I combined two glazes of green. One is a sage green and the other is an apple green.  I don't know how they will turn out. You are in as much suspense as I am.

I love how the beads look on the skewers, kinda like a bouquet of flowers.

Here are some beads that I added a sprig of clay on top of a texture, then textured the sprig.

The blue-green glaze had some blue crystals in it and they melted nicely in the firing.

It's been a fun year experimenting with beads: glazes, textures, iron oxide decals, etc ....











I didn't expect to be diagnosed with cancer earlier this year but it is nice to be past cancer treatments and getting my strength back.  In case you are wondering, the cancer is in remission and my doctor's don't expect it to reoccur. I'm having regular tests and biopsies the next few years to make certain of all this, though.   

Thank you to everyone who wished me well and prayed for me.  That touched my heart greatly.  It's been a wonderful year and this next year my daughter and her husband are making me a grandma. I'm so looking forward to meeting little Ruby Makayla who will be born near the end of April, perhaps May.

But most of all I'm thankful to God who got me through some very tough months, and my mother who sacrificed her time and energy and took care of me. My husband was incredible too, as he always is and has been.  Thank you to my friends who stuck with me and by me ... May God bless you everyone!  See you next year!

Popsicle Stick Bead Textures

I went searching around my studio for simple geometrical textures and stumbled across this Popsicle stick (or is it a coffee stirrer?) which caught my interest.

There are not many of these beads in my stash because I was experimenting.  I do like how the glaze turned out.  This particular celadon glaze below is one that was discontinued by the manufacturer last year. I had about 1/4 of a jar left and these are some that I did glaze.

I used this glaze on a few other beads made from different clay bodies and on each one, the glaze performs differently. 

 I like this texture and will probably end up using it again.  I hope to find another glaze that does as nicely as this one does. 

I have some of these beads in my shop for sale. Click Here and Here to check them out.

Bossy Bead Necklace by Jean A. Wells

I created this bead in a whimsical fashion, adding texture and sprigs of clay to the stringing holes to form this very fun 'bossy' buttery yellow nugget bead.

Jean took this bead and fashioned it into a most gorgeous necklace.  She hung it from a hand formed bail made from square copper wire and added faceted yellow and purple Czech beads for emphasis.

The whole effect works wonderfully.  The necklace is 20" long but if you prefer it shorter, she'll be happy to change the length just for you.

 Definitely take a moment to check out Jean's blog, her store, and also a more detailed description of this necklace.