Showcasing the Kiln Load

Firing Beads on Rods - Kiln Demo

I have had a lot of people ask me, "How do you fire those beads?"  I have decided it would be good to post a picture of how I do this.

The glaze is only on the outside of the bead. If I dipped the entire bead into the glaze, it would fire and become hard like glass and not come off of the rod. So each bead has the glaze brushed onto it individually.

I have found a webpage that shows what these look like stacked up in a kiln (CLICK HERE).

Thanks for stopping by! 
- Natalie

Brrr .... Cold Day in Texas

We're having our winter here in North Central Texas.  Each morning the temperature is in the 30s, and for some of those who live up north, why, that isn't very cold at all, but for me it is very cold.  I prefer the 80s, the 90s, and even the 100s.  Why am I not living in Arizona? Florida? Hawaii?

These two beads in the picture have served me well the past few years. I had thought to 'brand' them for my website and profile icons/avatar, but I think I will be retiring this soon in favor of something else. I don't know what, yet, but something.

I have another small load of beads firing, with the same two glazes as the other day.  I suppose this is the week I have spent glazing more beads than I have in the last several months. 

I have so many different ideas I want to try out in 2015.  But first I have to finish up some old projects.

 Currently I am making up some slabs to fashion into a dollhouse/carport for the grandchildren. I have three floors and a stairway in greenware. Now onto the walls and other sets of stairs.  After that project, I have in mind to make some fermenting pots for sauerkraut and the like.  And then I still have some mugs that are awaiting their 'first' firing. 

This year I am replacing my big kiln, and right before Jan 1, I ordered one. It should be here in another week or so. It is the same brand/size as my last except it is digital. I also ordered it so that it would have a kiln setter.  After I ordered it, I thought, "Well, that old kiln isn't so bad. It will be fine to bisque fire in."  I think that's what I will do, as long as it lasts. After that, I'll set it on the sidewalk and put on Craiglist:  "Free kiln.  To the first person who will come and get it.  Not working well."

And if no one comes for it, I will put a sign on it that says, "$25" and in no time at all, some enterprising soul will come along and put it in the back of their truck and drive away. That person will think he/she is 'stealing' it, but no, it would not be stealing it. That person will be doing me a favor.

Have a great day,
Natalie

First Kiln Firing of 2015

I started my small (test) kiln yesterday morning with a small load of beads. Inside were white stoneware, porcelain, mixed porcelain/stoneware, and brown stoneware clay beads.  I used a bright blue under-glaze on some and others I coated with a light green celedon.

I'm pleased with the results.  What do you think? Tonight or tomorrow I am going to put some on my website and some in my Etsy store. 

I also wanted to fire my kiln up today but since the plug is shared with the dryer and laundry demands to be done, I will have to wait until tomorrow.

In the meantime I have on my studio table all my re-hydrated glazes to choose color combinations, and hopefully I will make some good choices.

I am doing my business taxes, so it is a good time to evaluate costs.  I'm sorry to say I had to raise Etsy shipping by .30. I was seriously hoping to keep initial USA shipping at $2.  International shipping prices, however, have remained the same.

In other news ... I continue to be baffled by SEO requirements. I did get a plug-in for the Wordpress theme I am using that urges me to add SEO stuff, and I am hoping that other than filling in the required blanks and attempting to generate interest with good content, that it will be a good 2015.

I took lots of pictures of these, went to upload to my computer and found my memory card was corrupt.  After some investigation it was the card reader which had gone corrupt.  There are many ways to feed a cow, so I finally took a couple of pictures with my phone.  I will be buying a new card reader this afternoon to be able to list these properly.

So here's to you, 2015 ...cheers!

Cooler Shades of Pink

Dark Strawberry Ice Ceramic Beads

The current color forecast for Spring 2015 tends toward cooler colors and not warmer colors.  I have been searching for some cooler shades of pink, and such, and attempting to add them to my website.

These on the left are some that have a cooler temperature of pink, leaning on the blue side rather than the yellow side.

I have added them to my website for your viewing pleasure.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Natalie

Bead Measurer Demo

Take some clay and make a ball. If you want a big beads, use more clay. I suggest making a lot of these and doing a bit of experimenting. At the very least, make five balls and have five sizes in mind: ex-small, small, medium, large, and ex-large.

Push it flat with your hand and turn it over so the flat side is on top.


Make an indention. If you want a precise measurements (say 10 mm, 12 mm, 14 mm, 16 mm and so on, my suggestion would to make about 20+ balls and start making different sized indentions.

Guestimate Guestimate Guestimate. These will be your sizes of beads. Make as many of these as you feel like making. Let it dry and bisque-fire it to Cone 06. This is your OWN personal Bead Measurer!

This is a porcelain bead measurer that I've already bisque-fired. Using your thumb, push in some clay and scrape the rest off. This is why it is important to have a flat top. Use the same pressure with every bead.

Pull it out. In order to pull it out, you'll have to really push in with your finger and then pull. If your clay is too wet, forget it. If your clay is too dry, it cracks when you try to roll it. But when the clay is moist and plastic, the beads are easy to pull out.

Because my clay is not too wet, I don't have to wait before poking the holes. Put them under plastic if you are making a lot of beads so they won't dry out too quickly.

After you have glaze-fired your bead, measure it with a pair of calipers. Those will be your sizes of beads.

Daisy with a Dress Ceramic Bead

Daisy with a Dress

Gotta love Pantone with its wide selection of fashion colors. I have been meaning to take out some of my beads that correspond with this Spring's selection.

 I found a couple of beads which sport a background of the Glacier Gray and a few elements of the Toasted Almond in the foreground.  What do you think? Close enough?

The Daisy with two legs and a dress is a special drawing of mine that I adapted into decal form and added onto the front of this bead.

The back of this bead has a completely different design, but the picture of that is on my website.

Take the CAPTION link (Daisy with a Dress) below the bead picture to view it and hey, thanks for stopping by -- Natalie

Apple Green Geometric Circles with Spirals Ceramic Bead

Apple Green Geometric Circles with Spirals Ceramic Bead

Are you looking for a focal bead to use for a St. Patrick's day necklace? This may be just the bead you are looking for ...

Or maybe you are looking for a 'spring' or 'summer' bead because warm weather is just around the corner ... this may be just the bead you are looking for ...

Or maybe you just like the color green, and this is exactly the color of bead you are looking for ...

Well, if so, click on the caption of the picture to purchase this bead from my website.

Thanks for stopping by!  -- Natalie

Valentine Beads?

Red and White Porcelain Bead Set

This bead set could be used for a necklace to celebrate Valentine's Day, or even Christmas Day or any day at all. You decide.

The red scroll focal bead is 19 mm hole to hole and 20 mm at its widest.  The stringing hole is 2 mm.  The scrolling pattern is one of my favorites to impress onto ceramic beads.

 The 6 square-ish white beads have been textured with a honeycomb pattern and have a stringing hole of 1 mm.  They range from 11-12 mm from hole to hole.

The honeycomb pattern reflects the light nicely with small sparkles of light that dance about in happy manner.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful week!  -- Natalie

Scripture Bead

Scripture Bead

I created this bead with a small Bible verse from 1st Corinthians 13.  It is one of my favorite passages. The 'love' passage is what it is usually called.

This bead says Love ... suffers long and is kind.

This bead is 20 mm and has a stringing hole of 2 mm.

Thanks for stopping by!  -- Natalie

Tangerine Lime Ceramic Beads

Tangerine Lime Ceramic Beads

I remember when I glazed these, I used a green glaze that I thought didn't cover the bead well.  So I searched for a contrasting color and found this fun tangerine glaze which I swirled on top of the green, refired, and they turned out lovely.

It is amazing how an initial disappointment can turn out so pleasing at times.  This set consists of 6 smaller beads (14-15 mm hole to hole) and 1 slightly larger focal (17 mm hole to hole), with stringing holes of 2 mm.

Thanks for stopping by!
Natalie

Earth Orbs Ceramic Beads

Earth Orb Ceramic Beads

I was browsing through my stash and came across these two beauties.  They are 19 mm x19 mm with stringing holes of 1 mm.  The base glaze is green with lovely blue crystals which exploded into these wonderful bursts of color in the kiln.

I love it when this type of thing happens in the kiln.  It makes for a very unique bead pairings.  These would look lovely with a variety of natural tones in wood, polymer, and copper metals.

I would love to see how these porcelain beads are incorporated into a jewelry piece.



Thanks for stopping by. Click on the caption under the picture if you are interested in purchasing these from my website.  -- Natalie

Sea Life in Beads

Happy New Year to one and all!  I sat on the couch last night and created beads and these are some that I have formed.

The theme is 'sea life' and I think I made 9 sets of these before the New Year actually began.  I know, I know.  I wrote an entire blog post yesterday about how I hate making duplicates, and then what do I do? I make a bunch of duplicates!  I'm an study in contrasts.

 I'm thinking of glazing them in three values of blue and two values of pastel orange/yellow.  Probably by the time I get around to glazing these, I will have changed my mind.

These greenware beads are sitting on small 1" tiles that a friend of mine created years ago.  She gifted me her extras and I made my own small tiled board, which sits on my coffee table. The cheerful colors and patterns brighten up living room and are an inspiration to my own creativity.

What inspires you this new year?

End of the Year Beads

It is the last day of 2014 and I have been enjoying looking back over the year and seeing all the changes that have happened.

My grandson was born in March and I have enjoyed getting to know him. My granddaughter turned 2 in April and I cannot believe how tall she is and how smart she is, but I am a Granny and Grannys usually have this opinion about their grandchildren.

I took up knitting again and so from September until just before Christmas I was busy knitting Christmas socks for my daughter. I am a slow knitter.  I knit left handed Continental style, except I still hold my yarn in my right hand...I don't think there is actually a name for this because it does cause me to knit a bit backwards.    I took a sock knitting class a few years ago and the ladies who taught me were a bit surprised at my knitting and actually taught me to knit correctly and I did ... for a while.

BUT this is a blog about ceramics and so you may be wondering about the picture of greenware beads above.   Since Christmas I have been making beads instead of knitting.  I have a short attention span so if you look you will not see many duplicate beads in the batch above.

I have a love/hate relationship with doing things the same way every time.  Many times I sit down to make a certain type of bead and by the time I'm finished I realize I haven't made any of the type I set out to make. This is why custom orders are so difficult for me.  I try to make something like I've been asked but some other design takes over and before I know it, I am forcing myself to pay attention and make the custom bead, but it is not fun.  This is the real reason I do not take on custom orders often. They are not fun.  There are many artists who enjoy custom orders.  I am not one of them.

Every so often a customer sends me an email or convo and it just so happens that I have been thinking of making a bead like the ones they have described and I make them and it is all easy and it is all fun. But that is rare.

So as the new year is about to begin, I wonder what sort of beads I will make in 2015.  I am beginning to tire of my 'sprig' beads and so I sense some sort of change beginning, but I do not yet know what.  I hope to work more with metals.  But I just ordered a new kiln so I know that ceramics is still definitely going to happen.

I hope whatever sort of year you are about to have is wonderful, too!

Thanks for stopping by!
Natalie

New Website Design Complete!

I'm having a sale to celebrate, both at my personal website AND at my etsy store.

Use the coupon code: take20 for 20% off at both stores. Hint:  My personal website also has free shipping over $50.

Personal Website (http://nkpdesigns.com) 
Etsy Store (http://nkpdesigns.etsy.com)

If you see something on my personal website and would rather purchase it through my etsy store, just shoot me a convo over there or send me an email at nkp at nkpdesigns dot com.

Thanks for visiting!  -- Natalie