It's Will Be Spring Again, Really!

Hey it's almost spring, right?  I had these lovely leafy green beads and thought I'd group them together. They will make a wonderful nature themed piece of jewelry.

Click here to see them in my Etsy Store

Buttery Yellow Ceramic Nuggets

   I had fun making these nuggets. I impressed a flower texture on each sprig and when it came time to glaze, added a light blue underglaze. To see them in my Etsy store:  Click Here  

From My Heart To Yours

Found these sweet heart beads in my stash, decided to photograph them.  I wonder if I have more? I don't think so .... I believe this was a combination of two glazes (one with blue crystals) because I had a bit left in each jar and was curious as to how they would turn out.  I wonder what the name of those two glazes are?  I wonder if I was smart enough to record it in my glazes book. Hmmmmmm 

Here's the link to see them in my store:  Click here

Marbled Sprig Beads

This is one of my favorite things to do: take porcelain and stoneware clay and marble them together, then add sprigs and coat with a single glaze.  The mix of clays end up shining in a variety of colors.  Find this one here.

Handpainted with Iron Oxice Designs

After I scrolled thick black lines on this bead, I applied my hand-drawn lacy iron oxide decal and re-fired.  I found it in a bowlful of beads which was sitting in my living room and thought I'd offer it for sale. Find it here.

Button Pattern on a Ceramic Bead

One of my favorite ways to add texture to a bead is to impress it with a patterned button.  That's what I did with this bead, and the glaze settled in the recesses in a wonderful glazy way. 

Ginger Ceramic Nugget Bead

I'm thinking of renaming this to 'golden' nugget, but it's more brown than gold. This glaze came out unexpected on this bead. I was expecting more of a caramel color...it might have something to do with how I dipped the bead into a watery mixture of black undergaze before the caramel glaze I applied. If it was that ... my memory is poor.  I think if I wanted to make another bead that color I would fail because now that I think about it, I'm not really sure which glaze I used.

On the other hand, my granddaughter toddled into the room where I keep my beads to photograph and she squealed, "BEADS!"  Because yes, there was a whole bucket full of beads that I had gathered from every area of my house (trying to get organized you know...).  Ironic that I think I have just as many in my studio, but at least those are sorted in containers. These just got bagged (well, some of them) and placed in this bucket for later. And this, my fellow bead hoarders, is what happens when I take beads out of the kiln and decide to keep them around a while so I can stare at them a bit longer.

.... and yet I still have some beads half-glazed ready to fire in my studio....

My sweet granddaughter scooped out some choice beads and petted them, "Pretty," she cooed, then ran to show them to her mama.

Can't wait until she's old enough to help me around the studio. Maybe she will be a whiz at photography and help me to get all of these online, lol

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by. 

Winter Bead

Is it cold and wintery where you are?  Well, it is very cold and wintery here in North Central Texas.  Right now the snow outside from yesterday is slowly melting, but not much because it is so incredibly cold.  It is in that vein that I offer this snowflake bead, to honor those who are going through this winter of 2014.  See it in my store here.

Stoneware Sprig Rose Decal Mug

I handthrew this mug and added small curved feet to the bottom, ribbon sprigs with pressed roses, glazed them, fired the mug in a clear glossy glaze and later added small rose decals to further make it girly.  It's comfortable to hold.  I just renewed it in my Etsy shop.

Owl Ceramic Bead

I had to play around and make a ceramic owl. I actually made a few, so if you want more than one, let me know.  I put this one in my etsy store this morning.

Iron Oxide Orchid Nugget Beads

I was surprised to find these had 26 views since uploading them late last week.  They were originally this lovely purple shade and I added some original homemade iron oxide decals of my own drawings and refired them.  The decals came out perfectly and I am very happy with them.  I wasn't expecting to get so many views and so many folk 'favort-ing' them either. What a nice surprise.  Find them here.

Blue Foam

I will be surprised if this stays in my store for any length of time. The blue crystal that was on this teal blue glaze looks like lovely blue foam, almost like an ocean wave. So pretty. See it here.

Orchid Geometric Porcelain Ceramic Beade

This orchid glazed bead has pierced clay to resemble lava and geometrical circles and squares to represent civilization.  Yes, those are the things that go through my mind as I'm designing. I have it in my etsy store right now. 

Rustic Turquoise Ceramic Bead

I added this bead to my store today. I realized I didn't have any of my lentil shape 'ocean wave' beads in my store because they have all sold.  I went hunting in my stash and found this one in a turquoise glaze, which I had also applied an under-glaze onto in order to achieve this somewhat rustic look.  Click here to see it in my store.

1000 Beads Book out for Preorder on Amazon

I got the acceptance letter a few months ago, the last day of October actually.  I didn't really believe it until I saw the index where my name is listed on Amazon.com.  Many of the beads are available to preview. Mine are not included in the preview but I'm on pages 294 and 352.  Here's a link: click here to preview and/or preorder.