Marsha's Porcelain Art

The Choctaw Labor Day Celebration and Art Show

2011-09-12T09:37:00.001-07:00

Each year the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma has a big celebration over the Labor Day Weekend. There are many interesting events that take place over the course of the weekend and they have several musical artists entertaining along with traditional dance, food, and an Art Show.

One of the highlights of the event is the selection of the princesses for the coming year. The winners for 2011 are shown to the right with the assistant chief in the traditional ceremonial dress. You can find out more about this part of the festival on the Choctaw Website

Another of the traditional events is the stickball tournament. Stickball is a traditional sport that has been handed down from ancient times. You can read a bit about the history of stickball in an article that I wrote some time ago on my Art Gallery page. The Game Of Stickball

Along with all of the traditional activities and entertainment fun there is also an Art Show that is open to all Choctaw artists. They offer everyone an opportunity to participate by allowing artists like myself that live a long way from Oklahoma to mail in 3 pieces for entry into the show. This year I was fortunate enough to win some very nice prizes with the pieces that I sent in.

First off I sent in this miniature Mother and Child Bottle which is a reproduction of an ancient bottle made by the mound builders. The Choctaw descend from the mound builders so I look to the rich culture of the mound builders for my traditional inspirations. I really like the effigy type pottery and I like to make many of them in miniature. This piece won a Heritage Award at the Labor Day show. The Heritage award is defined as a work, regardless of category or other awards which exemplifies specific, traditional Choctaw culture. Those items that promote and educate those practices that are specific to our Choctaw culture. I am very honored to have won this award. But there was more to come.

I also sent in one my Swift Creek Pipestone and Copper necklace. This piece incorporates a traditional design from the paddles that a group of potters from the mound builders known as the Swift Creek potters used to paddle clay into pots. Their paddles were wooden paddles that they carved with these designs. They then put the clay over a gourd or rock and paddled it to create a bow or pot which would then have those designs overlapping over the outside of the pot. I find these designs to be very interesting and thought that they would make wonderful pendants. For this particular necklace I took a piece of catlinite which is the traditional indian pipestone used for making ceremonial pipes and I carved it with one of the swift creek paddle designs. I then used copper wire to make a setting and chain for the piece that also incorporates the circles and spirals of the piece. I used copper for two reasons. First it is a metal that was used extensively by the ancient ancestors for their jewelry. They used it because it was a metal that was found in a workable state and it is soft and easy to make into beautiful pieces even with their limited tools. I also chose it for the beautiful warm color and how it matches well with the stone. This piece won second place in the Jewelry category.

As I didn't attend the show I didn't even know I had won until I emailed a friend about a different subject. When she replied to me she told me congratulations on the win, so it was a rather unexpected but wonderful revelation. My thanks to Theresa Renegar of Chahta Nueska whom I have just discovered also won some prizes. Looks like between us we swept the Jewelry category. She won first place with this lovely repousse spirit horse on hand woven chain. Again utilizing copper. She has done a great job of creating the horse. She also won 3rd prize with a beaded piece which can be seen in the gallery on her website Chahta Nueska.

Bead & Button Giveaway and Musings

2011-06-21T12:30:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone Happy first day of summer to you all. I am finally more or less caught up on the mundane chores that piled up while I was off to Bead and Button. I fully intended to post the winner of my giveaway sooner but I kept running out of time doing those exciting things like bills and taxes and the like. But I woke up today and said to myself the first thing I'm going to do is get that announcement out there. But first a bit about the show.

This was the first year I have gone to Bead and Button and it was a great time. Lots of fun with friends some good sales activity and new places to visit as well. We drove to the show as the displays plus all the beads are a bit much to fly with and besides with the two of us the cost is less than flying. But it is a long trip and a grueling one to do in two days. But we survived. On the right you can see a shot of Vlad's side of the booth after we got all set up.

After setting up for the show we had the Thursday evening preview time. It was very busy and we met several of our online friends in person for the first time. Here in the photo to the left you can see Linda and Petra, two of the online friends we have met on facebook. Thursday was the busiest of the days at the show but Friday and Saturday were also very busy and there were more new friends that stopped by and said hi. Unfortunately we didn't get photos of everyone but we did get a chance to chat with most of them for at least a few minutes. These photos were shot by Vladislav Ivanov of Golem Studio, my booth partner.

Saturday night we went to a very interesting restaurant called the Safe House. It is a restaurant with a spy theme and there are lots of fun things going on there. To get in you first have to pass the door keeper she first asks you for a password and if you can't guess the password you have to do some odd behaviour for a few minutes to get in. Our group of about 16 had to waddle around like penguins and make penguin noises. Finally when you get in there are all sorts of spy like things. Old fashioned phone booths that are not exactly phone booths, secret passages, stools that slowly sink into the floor, interactive pictures on the wall, etc. I had seen a special on tv about this place and recognized the interior immediately so I knew it would be a fun evening. Here on the left you can see a rather dim shot of our group table with one of the interactive walls on the right of the photo behind us. The top of the wall moves back and forth to change the tops of the figures. Thanks to Marianne Kasparian of Maku Studio for this photo.

Here is another photo from the Safe House taken by Vlad. In the background here you can see Lisa Peters and her mother who arrived a bit late and were not able to join the rest of the group but did stop by to chat for a bit. In the foreground is Melanie Brooks of Earthenwood and Heather Powers of Humble Bead, Diane Hawkey with her back to us and a couple more of our group that I can't quite identify. Vlad and I were sitting next to Marianne Kasparian on one side of us and the Vintage gals were on the other side. Across the table was Loreli Erto whom we finally met at this show after knowing her online for quite some time. This was a great evening outing and really finished of the Saturday evening beautifully.

So now to the original subject of this post to give away the $100 gift certificate to one lucky winner that was selected by random selection from all of the people that entered the giveaway by answering my survey questions. First off thank you to you all for answering my survey questions and entering the giveaway. Now!

Congratulations to Howard Sawhill of North Carolina, you are the winner of the $100

Happy New Year

2010-12-31T09:35:00.000-07:00

Just a quick little post to wish you all a very Happy New Year.

I would like to take this opportunity to send out a big Thank You to all of you that like my work.

Thanks for all your purchases over the course of 2010 and before.

Thank You for your encouragements, comments and support.

I truly appreciate all of you and the friendships I've managed to build online.

I hope you will all have a very Happy and prosperous 2011.

I am looking forward to another year of exciting interactions and conversations with you all.

Don't forget if you are coming to Tucson for the Big Bead Shows and Gem Shows be sure to stop in and see us at The Best Bead Show in the side hall booth H21-22 My good friend Vladislav Ivanov of Golem Design Studio and I will again be sharing.

All the best to everyone for the New Year.

Crystal and Blue almost icy

2010-12-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

Finally I got the time to actually make up one of my new Slide sets myself. This one is the one I call Fancy. I just love the design on this set. This set as well as a couple of the others in the collection were created using architectural accents as a starting point. As is frequently the case when developing new designs and ideas a few adjustments must be made. Currently I am in the process of refining and re-shaping some of the cone ends for these sets to give a greater variety which will better accommodate more types of cords. I may also make somewhat smaller holes in the slides available as and option. These refinements will serve to make the collection much more versatile.

The pale blue with palladium accents really gives this one a sparkly icy winter look to it I think. I used a variety of strands for the Kumihimo braid on this one.

I used a 'silver yarn', blue and white braiding cords and 4 strands with 4 different types of beads for a total of 10 strands.

I used two types of large 'e' beads or size 6 in pale blue and a clear silver lined. Also some small round silver beads and clear silver lined seed beads.

I was quite pleased with the look this combination gave me. I added a large clear crystal to the bottom of the slide completing the icy look.

This style of slide is available in my Bead Shop Currently in the 'NEW' category.

And Don't Forget that EVERYTHING in the Bead Shop is on SALE at 25% through Christmas.

Red is for Christmas Right?

2010-12-03T18:10:00.002-07:00

Check out this beautiful Red Flower Necklace that Linda Roberts of Beads for Ever on Etsy has made. She used of one of my New Sliders and a pair of end caps that I made to match the slider along with a beaded Kumihimo rope.

There are a variety of different designs of sliders, most with end caps available in the New Section of my Bead Shop

This one is made up in a length that is just slightly longer than a choker but still riding high up on the chest.

The beaded Kumihimo rope matches perfectly and this is yet another illustration of how you can really make a lovely necklace in a pretty short period of time with these sliders and a Kumihimo Cord.

It is my experience that Kumihimo is one of the quickest ways to work up a beautiful beaded cord. With the ability to also include a variety of fibers you can make an almost infinite variety of looks with the combination of Kumihimo and my new sliders.

As you can see in the photo to the left the matching porcelain end caps make for a very neat looking and matching way to finish off the ends of a Kumihimo braid or a viking knit or even a crocheted or bead woven cord. With holes in both ends you can secure the rope to the clasp with thread or wire and do not have to depend on glue to hold it all. Furthermore you can seal up the ends of fibers with glue to prevent any loosening or fraying without worry of it showing.

If you don't see one you like right now be sure to check the Bead Shop frequently. As I will be adding more colors and designs regularly. Also I will have more cones/end caps that are available separately as well as sets.

Still Crazy After All These Years

2010-11-10T07:00:00.011-07:00

Hey most people agree that I'm crazy. Usually they say in a good kinda way, so I can live with that. I've always thought that Different was good. But perhaps you wonder how did I come to do little stuff, how long have I been doing beads and jewelry type things. So for any of you folks that might wonder any of these things I decided I would make this post and remove all doubt. Yes I'm crazy and no its not a recent occurrence. I've pretty much always liked little things. I've done beads and small things pretty much forever. And included in this blog are some photos of some really old things. These items were all made back in the early 70's or maybe a bit earlier. Some of them I remember exactly when others not exactly just sort of.

This belt was one of the first beaded projects I ever did. It is a belt that I loomed around 1970. Did anyone show me how? Well not really my mom basically said you put thread between the coils of the spring and string the beads on a thread go under the threads on the loom, push up the beads between those threads and then take the needle back through. That was it. I figured the rest out on my own. How to do a 30 inch beaded project on a 10-12 inch loom, how to finish it off, attach it to leather, the pattern. It took awhile but I had fun with it.

As I recall this was the second thing I did on the loom. As you can see from this piece I've had an interest in my Native American Heritage pretty much forever.

Then about a year later or there abouts my dad and I took a lapidary and silver smithing class that was sponsored by the Gem and Mineral Club that he belonged to.

This star piece was the first piece I did in this class. The cab is the first cab that I ever cut and polished. It is a mexican lace agate. It is also the first sterling silver bezel setting I ever made. I remember the teacher trying to talk me out of the star points in the wire saying they would be very difficult to get soldered on right, but I was not deterred.

This turtle was the second of the projects that I did in the class with my dad. The stone is a jasper.

Again I didn't choose a simple structure for this piece. Not only is it a pin requiring pin components be soldered on but again a bunch of separate pieces to be attached to the edge of the bezel. I've always sort of liked this turtle I think he came out cute.

I also made a ring with a jade cab but don't know where it is so no picture of that.

Later on perhaps that same year or maybe the following year I decided to make earrings to sell for Christmas money.

These I decided to made from Bread Dough. This was way before Fimo or polymer clay came on the market and bread dough was the craft clay of the time. These earrings were painted with acrylic paints.

The photos shown here are the ones that I had left. I also made bears, mice and a few other things that I sold all of. Here we have Hot Dogs 'n Sun, magic mushrooms, Baby Birds in nests, snails, light bulbs, woodchucks, and penguins.

The light bulbs are 75 watt as you can almost see. I had lots of fun with these and I did make a bit of money for Christmas with them. Yes tiny detailed pieces go figure I've been doing it forever.

As a sophomore in High School I took another jewelry class this time in school. This Belt Buckle was one of the first projects I did in that class.

It is a pierced copper piece on a brass base. The copper part was sweat soldered onto the brass base then the piece was curved. As you can see from this piece I've liked scrolly bits forever too.

This piece was a project where we had to texture the piece and dome it. There are also earrings that match. After I was out of school and no longer had the tools to mess with it I decided that it sort of needed something a bit extra on it and my good friend Patty added the beaded drop to the bottom of it.

This piece and the next one were part of a rebellion that I pretty much led in the jewelry class. The teacher we had never liked any of the designs we came up with. This was supposed to be one of those nice red mushrooms with the white spots. But the teacher said that design was too trite and that I couldn't do it. She also had told one of the other students a similar thing. So I still did a mushroom but had to alter the design. This is copper enamel and as you can see by the chipped off places it hasn't held up so well.

The last photo was one that me and the other gal in the class brainstormed on to come up with something so weird that the teacher couldn't possibly say it was trite. Something that was just strange enough that she would like it. Can you guess the teacher loved the modern art type of things. This one was designed based on cracked eggs because we both thought the teachers ideas were pretty cracked.

Ok there you have it a collection of Jewelry and beading from my past... the far far distant past. Yes I've always been a bit odd a bit out there and definitely different. I've always said "if unique is what you seek"

Kumihimo Slider Necklace

2010-11-02T17:45:00.000-07:00

Today I have another example of a necklace utilizing the New Porcelain Slide and Cone sets available in my Bead Shop I have designed these new slides and cones for use with kumihimo, viking knits, beaded cords and other cord type necklaces.

This lovely necklace was made by Linda Roberts of Beads Forever on Etsy.

The previous examples showed the slides with bead woven ropes. This necklace, however, utilizes a beaded kumihimo cord with the frilly fibers showing throughout. This gives the cord some added interest and shows you how they work well with the kumihimo. This elegant necklace is finished off with a lovely green crystal drop from the small leafy slider. Such an easy to make but elegant necklace. This is a perfect combination for some of your holiday gift projects. The kumihimo cords work up quickly and the necklace ends up very elegant. Wouldn't this one look great at a holiday party? I think this is yet another beautiful example of what you can do with these slider and cone sets. Please view Small Leafy Slide Necklace in the gallery on my website to see more photos of this necklace including shots of the whole necklace showing the cones.

Dragonfly Slide Necklace

2010-10-29T10:27:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone here we are with installment two of my New Slide Designs. This gorgeous necklace is the second of the samples that Jennifer Van Benschoten of Van Beads has done. You can see more photos of this wonderful necklace on my website in the gallery Dragonfly Slide Necklace This one has got to be my favorite so far. I can hardly wait to see what she does with the cab she has and the other slide too. I really like the golden colors and they are so perfect for fall too. The seed beads she chose to go with this slide are just totally perfect. This is a perfect example of how these pieces can go together with a nice rope and result in a fabulous necklace.

Here is another of these slides. This one has head pin loops added across the bottom for a fringe. This is an option that I may include on several of the designs if people like it. Let me know what you think. I also have a couple more of these that I still have to photograph.

I have also added views of the sides of most of these slides now so you can see the holes in the sides of each style. There are a few more designs and styles that I still have to finish so I will be adding those as they are finished as well as the new samples that are still to come.

I hope you will all visit the Bead Shop frequently.

Exciting New Designs

2010-10-27T11:38:00.001-07:00

Hello Everyone as some of you may know I've been busy for the last few weeks creating some new designs which I hope you will all find as exciting as I do.

First a little background. In the past couple of years the popularity of Kumihimo, Viking Knit, and various other rope type necklaces has become increasingly popular.

The size of these ropes means that you either have to make a bail out of beads or find something with a very large hole. As there doesn't seem too be many choices with large holes I decided to make a selection of slides and pendants to accommodate these large cords.

So today I would like to announce my new line of slides, pendants and cones that are made specifically for these large cord designs.

I have the first of them all listed in the shop on my website in the 'New Items' category

For a limited time I am offering an introductory sale price of 10% off the regular price. You will see the sale price in RED under the regular price and the discount will be applied when you check out. This way you can see what the regular price is and your savings for jumping in early to try out these new pieces.

I have made several that are focal pendants on their own, such as the first photo shown here, as well as some slides that are decorative but also have a hole to make it easy to attach your own pendant to the cord. The first photo shown to the right shows you one of these new designs from the front. In the second photo you can see the large hole that goes through the back of the design.

I also recruited a couple of people to be guinea pigs for this project so I could make sure that they worked the way I envisioned and so that I could show you some beautiful finished pieces. I would like to send out special a Thank You to Jennifer Van Benschoten of Van Beads and Linda Roberts of BeadsForever on Etsy for all their time, help and suggestions in this project.

Here is the first of those pieces I have to show you made by Jennifer Van Benschoten. It is a lovely dutch spiral rope utilizing one of the slide sets that I call the 'Long Leafy Slide Set'. She has hung a bead and a Peruvian ceramic leaf off the bottom of it accenting it perfectly. This particular set has the largest hole in the slider of any of the sets and would easily accommodate multi strand designs as well as large ropes such as this one. You can see more shots of this beautiful piece in the gallery on my website. It is the Leafy Slider Necklace and it will be available for purchase from Van Beads
This is just one example of the beautiful things you can make with these slides. I will be showing you more project photos as they become available.

Any of you that know me know that I love large bold designs but really hate jewelry that it heavy. So you will find that these slides and pendants while rather large are very lightweight and easy to wear.

Another problem with these large cords are how to finish them off at the end before you attach a clasp. Most of the cones available are too small for the larger cords. So I have also made a variety of cones. Some of the cones will be sold separately in pairs others will be included with a matching slide as part of a complete necklace set. Such as this beautiful round flower set.

One of the problems we encountered in this project was that some of the cones have a very large opening and they don't work as well with the smaller cord types. So I am making all of the fancy cones in an additional smaller size that will work better with the smaller kumihimo cords and other smaller diameter cords. This will make all of these designs even more flexible allowing for greater choices in the types of cords and sizes that you can use with them. I'm anxious to see some multi strand designs in these as well. I guess I'm a bit partial to multi strand pieces but I think they have lots of interest and movement making them lots of fun both to do and to wear.

I have made up a variety of these designs in various colors and styles and I hope that you will embrace them and use them for your holiday necklace designs. Visit the BEAD SHOP to get your introductory discount.

Santa Fe Indian Market Report

2010-08-23T14:13:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. My first appearance at Santa Fe Indian Market as a vendor has been a wonderful experience. The drive to Santa Fe, although rather long was enjoyable. The Santa Fe Indian Market is one of the largest juried Indian Markets in the country with 1400 artists artists this year. It truly is the place to see the best Indian art and people from all over the world come to this market. I met people from France and Luxembourg, heard a couple of Germans, and another whose language I didn't recognize. Expected attendance was around 80,000 each day. By all accounts the attendance was down perhaps as much as 40% off that figure but still 40,000 people is darn good attendance to a show each day, in my opinion at least. Of course, attendance means nothing unless they buy art, but more on that in a bit.

We arrived in plenty of time on Wednesday to find the location and get art work turned in for the big competition. I was a bit worried when they moved the Birdman Dancer Effigy Bottle out of the pottery division and into the sculpture/clay division. I wasn't sure if that would be a more difficult place for it since it is a bottle and there limitations in how you can sculpt a bottle. Consequently the waiting to find out the results of the competition were that much more difficult.

On Thursday we went up to Santa Clara Pueblo and visited my new friend Judy Tafoya of Santa Clara Pueblo Pottery. We helped her with some computer issues and had a good visit. Hopefully she will now be able to get some more info out on her website. One of the things that I do is to help other artists with their websites.

Friday morning we went to the El Dorado Hotel where there were two more art shows going on. The shows in the Hotel ran from Friday through Sunday, whereas the SWAIA Indian Market was only on Saturday and Sunday. This gave us time to have a good look around and chat with some of the artists from those shows.

After a short break back at the hotel and some dinner we were off to the artists reception to see the results of the competition. As we waited in line to get into the reception we chatted with another of our artist friends Argus Dowdy of Four Winds Indian Art. Argus is a fantastic pipe maker and stone sculptor. His pipes are the best I have ever seen and I know several people that agree with me on that point. He has won numerous prizes at Santa Fe Indian Market and other shows across the nation, so there was little doubt but what he would win a prize.

Once we got into the reception I had to find the pottery and sculpture sections to see if I had won a prize. I found the pottery and the miniatures first and discovered that my Mother and Child Effigy Bottle did not win any prize. She was beat out by a set of three playing bears. Ok, well you can't win 'em all. So off to find the dancer and see if he had any better luck. Low and behold he had won a second place. So once again I had managed to get a ribbon and this in on of the stiffest competitions in the country. Needless to say I was very happy with this result.

Next we went to locate pieces the other artists we know had entered. As expected Argus won both 1st and 2nd place in the pipe category. A couple of the other artists that we know slightly were not quite as lucky, although they often do win big prizes. We continued to look at all the wonderful artwork that had been entered into competition and chat with some of the other artists. One of the really nice things about this reception as compared to some other competitions, is that they show all the work that was entered rather than just the prize winners. This is great because you get to see lots more art plus you get to see what all you were up against. We left the reception at bit early so we could get a good night's sleep before the big event started.

Set up started at 6:00 am for us and we were in the second group to set up. At the beginning we were doing it by flashlight. Apparently there were customers waiting at some booths as early as 5:00 am. We had some early bird customers coming by as soon as it began to get light. Saturday went very well for us, although everyone was saying it was way down. Since this was my first year at market I had no reference for that, but I was reasonably happy with the results. Usually at shows Sundays are slower so a reasonable result on Saturday does not mean its time to celebrate.

Sunday started off a bit slow but lots more customers than I am used to seeing at the previous shows I have done. As the day went on it became apparent that it was going to be a good day as well. In the end we did just about the same $ amount on Sunday as we did on Saturday. Overall I was very happy with the results of the show. Now for the long drive home.

A successful show like this is so satisfying. If only they were all so good. I am very thankful for a good result and feel very fortunate as well for there were many other artists who did not fair so well this weekend. It is good to be one of the fortunate ones.

Now to switch gears. Its time to make beads and minis.

Going Native

2010-06-28T09:15:00.006-07:00

As a Native American artist attending Native American shows and selling Native American pottery one must pursue the ancient methods if one wants to enter the competitions. At most Native American shows there are competitions where you have the potential opportunity to win significant sums of money, at least as much as part of your booth fee. It is also a good opportunity to become better known in the Indian art community. These shows are all juried and quite competitive. I am a rather late comer to the Native American art market. Many of the artists I compete against have been doing their art since they were practically babies.

So far I have only made it into the pottery categories at these markets. I have been doing one sort of ceramics or another for more than 20 years but I've always bought my clay at the ceramic shop and fired things in an electric kiln in the past. For Native American show competitions this severely limits my prospects for prizes as most pottery categories in the pottery competition require that the items be made from Native materials and Traditionally fired. This means you have to dig and refine your own clay and fire it outside in a wood fire. Furthermore many of the traditional pots are black.

Scientifically getting black pottery from red clay is a simple result of having the pottery in an oxygen starved atmosphere, known in the pottery industry as reduction, at a specific temperature when the iron oxide that makes the clay red is somewhat unstable. At this point it will give up oxygen to the starved fire and in doing so changed from iron oxide to iron magnetite (Fe3O4 which has only 1.33 oxygen atoms for each iron atom) If it is fired and cooled in an oxygen rich atmosphere the iron oxide in the clay becomes red hematite (Fe2O3 with 1.5 oxygen atoms for each iron atom). The black clay can be made red again by once again raising the temperature to that point in an oxygen rich atmosphere. You may have seen some native pots that are mostly black but have streaks of red here and there. They accomplish that with a torch on the surface of the pot, thus bringing that area of the pot to temperature in an oxygen rich atmosphere.

Now this all sounds very simple and straightforward sort of like the way those glasses will get dark in the sun and clear again in the shade. But in a wood fire it is a bit more complex as I have discovered. Some of the information I have is empirical and not as scientifically defined as the basic process above. If you have a fire that is somewhat starved for oxygen but is still burning you tend to achieve partial reduction which turns the clay a sort of gray-tan color like the pot in the photo to the right. How it ends up tan I'm not sure perhaps is it an optical illusion. You can see streaks and areas that are more gray. I would have expected to see it more of a red with gray areas but that is not what we ended up with here. But I am not a chemist so I don't know what the iron did in this pot except that it didn't turn all the way black and it didn't really stay red. So I know empirically that the fired had too much oxygen through that critical temperature range to turn black but not enough to be red. Now these colors are 'in' the clay not on the surface. This is not a residue that sits on the surface of the clay.

Ok so this should be pretty simple starve the fire and it will go tan starve it to the point of extinguishing it and it will go black. But sealing up a fire even one in an enclosed area such as a barrel, kiln, or pit is harder than it sounds because there is oxygen everywhere and you have to seal it up pretty good. The tan pot was from the first firing that I made in my artificial 'pit' enclosure. Due to fire regulations I can't just dig a pit in the ground and start fires in the open during wildfire season so I have to have the fire enclosed. Some people do this in 55 gal steel drums I built a brick enclosure. Logic says when you get the fire as hot as you want add extra fuel and then seal up the enclosure. The additional combustable should burn up all the available oxygen and you should have black pottery. Well that might be true if you could just hermetically seal up the enclosure but as I found this is not very likely. We plugged the opening where we were feeding the fuel in and plugged the opening that was acting as a chimney. It did start smoking but the fire pushed its way out around the plugs. We put dirt over it and kept putting dirt here and there over every little place that we could see smoke and fire emerging. Thought we did a pretty good job of sealing it up but in the morning I still had live coals which means that somewhere there was air still getting in.

For the second firing we sealed up the enclosure a bit better and tightened up the plugging methods. Also we added a common combustible/smothering agent that is used by many Native American potters to smother their fires, cow dung. We added this through the chimney hole right on top of the pottery. At the same time we plugged the fire hole and then plugged the top as well. Well we produced more smoke than you can imagine and still had smoke pouring out in numerous places. Places you can't imagine even like out from under neath the enclosure which is sitting on concrete bricks. More dirt over everything and as you can see most everything ended up pretty black. But there are a few anomalies for example the tiny pot shown on the left. As you can see his head is tan while his body is black. How in the heck did that happen? I'm not totally sure but the only thing I can guess is that the cow which was covering him continued to burn with enough oxygen through the cooling period and he somehow just didn't go all black. Some of the pots that were on the edges of the enclosure such as the bowl and ones that were totally covered with the cow also have small areas that aren't totally black. And again I still had coals in the morning so air is getting in somewhere.

So the quest goes on. You can see photos of all the pieces in these two firings in my Facebook photo album Wild Clay Fired Previous Native pieces are on my Native American Art page at Natika's Native American Art Most can bee seen in the gallery or in the pottery shop.

Bead Giveaway

2010-06-21T15:45:00.002-07:00

WOW WOW WOW this is just too good to believe.

If you love beads and you like Free you can't pass this up. Denise is giving away $350 + worth of beads. Yes you read it right $350 worth of beads. This is a totally incredible stash. All sorts of wonderful beads. Silver, gemstones, ceramic, you name it it is included. All the colors of the rainbow.

But there isn't much time left to enter the giveaway. The winners are to be announced on Friday. So hurry on over to her blog, Bling it on, and get entered!

Looking Back at the Heard Museum Indian Market

2010-03-10T12:54:00.003-07:00

Now that all the excitement of the show is winding down and I've begun to catch up on some of the things that I need to get done, I would like to give you a bit of a follow up on the Show. As you may already know I was lucky in the competition and won 1st Place in the Pottery Miniatures category for my little Human Effigy Water Bottle. Which is shown here. I was really excited to win 1st place in this show. The competition is very stiff and the artwork is all wonderful. The Heard Museum Guild has put together a page with photos of all the winners. I invite you to take a look at all of the other wonderful pieces that were winners in this show. Heard Museum Indian Market Juried Competition Winners 2010

Not only did the artwork and the other artist's company make for a lovely weekend, but the sales were good too. I think that a show where there are ample customers with ample money and a willingness to spend it is one of the most exciting and fun things you can do. It really makes all the hard work worth it and gives me the motivation to work hard for the next show. I'm hoping that this is a trend that will build over the course of this year and that the economy as a whole is on an upswing finally.

Back to the show here are a few photos of some of the artwork that was available at the show from some of the artists that were happy to allow us to photograph their booths.

First we have a nice shot of some lovely silver jewelry.

Next is a booth with some flutes, masks and drums.

And another interesting mask. I've put a few more photos on my facebook page as well so come on over there and have a look too. More Photos

Happy New Year

2010-01-10T08:29:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone and a very Happy New Year. I hope you all had wonderful holiday seasons filled with family and friends and lots of good activities to remember.

Looking forward into 2010 it is looking like a great year from here. I've been busy working on the Native pottery for the Heard Show which is a show I've tried to get into several times without success but now for 2010 I am in the show. I think sales maybe picking up a bit as well which is always a good thing. I hope the rest of you have wonderful things to look forward to in this new year as well. I have finally put up some new photos of the finished pieces of Native pottery in the gallery on my Native American website at http://choctawart.com I've posted one of my favorite pieces here but do go have a look at the other terracotta pieces on the website. This is a water bottle reproduction. In the book it is listed as an owl but I really think it is a parrot. The shape of the head and the beak are just not right for an owl. In the southeast where these pots originated there are many small native parrots, so I am pretty sure it is a parrot. I think this piece came out exceptionally good and I am very pleased with it.

I am now working on porcelain murrinis which I plan to fire the samples of today. I usually cut off the ends for a sample of the design and fire them up separately for reference on the colors and design. I hope to start making pots using the murrini this coming week.

Native Pottery so far

2009-12-14T19:51:00.000-07:00

Just a quick little update here. I fired the pots I have finished so far last night. Here is a quickie picture of them. This isn't the best pic in the world I'll have to take better ones but I just wanted to get a little of a look at them for everyone. Thanks for looking.

Big Fat Momma

2009-12-08T07:54:00.000-07:00

Ok so she is not really 'Big Fat Momma' She is known as the 'Old Woman who never dies', but I call her my Big Fat Momma because she is huge for me. Any of you that know me know that I do tiny things. But I figured for the Heard Show it would be good to have a variety of sizes and types of pottery. This is the largest pot I've done in ages I've left the work table background so you can see just how big she is. She isn't quite done in this photo I still need to work on the burnish a bit and put her tattoos on her. I am pleased with how she has come out. I find it amusing that this form is identified as an old woman. I'll let you guess why. I'll just say that some of the features are just not typical of an old woman and let you figure out the rest. Another thing I find interesting about this form is the fact that although she is very fat she has this backbone showing. Almost like a dragon spine down her back.

Tempe Art Festival

2009-12-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I attended the Tempe Art Festival Winter edition. There seemed to be a pretty good crowd there. I saw lots of pretty beaded things. One gal that had lots of peyote and had some that was ruffled that was really pretty and sort of unusual. There were at least three or four bead embroidery people. Their offerings varied from simple beaded cabs to elaborate embroidered neck pieces. One lady had some really nice crocheted wire and bead things. She had purses, headbands, necklaces, barrettes, etc. With delicate crocheted and beaded flowers. Lots of work there.

There were lots of silver jewelry people some that were forged, some with original castings some that were apparently pmc. There was a guy there from Hawaii, he was probably freezing his patooti off, that had some interesting organic vines, flowers an various delicate cast shapes. One lady had all sorts of jewelry with little sayings and words on it. One that caught my eye was a simple metal plate with a cross stitched square that said 'a stitch in time saves 9' around the edge. Also several variations on pottery.

One guy had some fabulous crystal glazed pottery. One booth with some very interesting gourds. Lots of glass. Overall it was a lovely show with a nice mix of interesting art. The weather ended up not too terrible as it warmed up toward noon. I had a good time but in the end I was sort of glad that I missed the deadline to get into that show I would have been freezing standing in a booth. Kim who I had gone down to see specifically looked a bit cold and said she was cold the day before too. But she reported that her sales were pretty good and that is always a good thing to hear.

Native American Pottery Time

2009-11-30T09:44:00.003-07:00

Hello everyone, time for my monthly post. It seems that is about as frequently as I can manage to post.

Big News to report though. I have been accepted to the Heard Indian Market this year in the category of Pottery. This is very exciting for me. I've tried to get into this show several times without success. This time I submitted in both jewelry and pottery and was accepted for pottery. Now this is wonderful except for one tiny detail. I have no pots. I do have two months before the show, however, so guess what I'll be doing for the next two months. You guessed it, making Native pots.

I've already been working at it. The photo to the right is the first of my native pots. It is unfired in this photo. The photo shows you the pot from the side, front, and back so you can see the whole thing. As usual for me this is a small pot he is only 3 inches tall, big for me. He is a replica in miniature of an urn found in one of the moundbuilder archeological digs. I would be happy to hear what you think of him.

Good Monday Morning to you all.

2009-10-26T09:37:00.001-07:00

Good Monday morning. Just a bit of recovering and catching up after the weekend show. I would like to thank everyone that visited my blog during the Open Studio Event. I hope you enjoyed the event with all the various blogs. I finally had the opportunity to visit everyone's blogs and see all the fun stuff that everyone in the Open Blog event had contributed. It was a wonderful array of interesting photos, recipes, and studio shots. If you you missed the actual event you should go back and have a look at all the wonderful photos everyone posted. Even though the actual event with the discounts and give-aways is over you can still see all the lovely gifts, recipes, and wonderful photos everyone shared.

As promised here are the two winners of my giveaways. As it wasn't possible for me to get online during the actual event the announcements are a little bit delayed but better late than not at all right? Summer Alyssa won the first give-away and Kristie Roeder won the second one. Congratulations to you both.

The weekend show that I was at was also a lot of fun. We had lots of good snacks and wine tasting to go along with a lovely selection of art. Several of my online friends stopped by and said hi. It was so great to get to see and meet people that you have talked to online. I always love to meet my online friends at actual live events. It is so much fun to show them special pieces that are my favorites and to see what things they like the best from my selection of goodies. Thanks to everyone that attended the show and stopped by for a chat.

I hope to be doing more active blogging and some more giveaways in the future.

Giveaway #2

2009-10-25T15:00:00.012-07:00

The Winner of the Second Giveaway is:

Kristie Roeder
Artisan Clay Jewelry

Thank you Kristie for participating.

The Studio Evolution

2009-10-25T14:15:00.003-07:00

Hello for those of you that like to see the work areas we present a raw look at the studio. My current studio is still evolving it has been under construction for the last 5 years or so. When we moved out to our current location we decided to build my studio over the garage. This is the first piece of floor that we built. The stairway is to the left of the photo. This shot is taken looking from the door of my kiln room across the back of my studio. This area has only recently been 'finished' (well nearly finished) ironic since it was the first area to be built. As you can see on the far wall we have foam insulation in the building. The first year that I worked in the studio I didn't have this foam insulation and nearly cooked while working in this very area on tables made up of plywood over saw horses. The steel building would get very hot in our phoenix summers. So much so in fact that if you happened to touch it by accident you would actually burn yourself. Sitting here working felt much like being under the grill of your oven. One day in particular I remember that I came out to the studio to work and by 10:30 am it was 114 degrees in here. Needless to say I didn't work long that day. Now with the nice insulation and an evaporative cooler it is quite comfortable.

This is a shot of the same area now, looking from the other side over toward my kiln room. In the foreground you can see my china painting table with several pieces in process and a book that I was using for reference. The next table over I use for building hand built pieces with both porcelain and PMC it currently is covered with PMC projects. The far table against the wall of the kiln room I use for cleaning cast greenware, sanding, drilling and polishing things.

This is a shot of my kiln room. You can see the exhaust fan on the wall and my two larger kilns. I now have a steel table above the kiln on the left with my smallest kiln on it. The door is a pocket door that slides into the wall keeping it out of the way. I can close the door and turn on the fan to keep all the bad fumes out of my studio area.

This is a shot of my pouring area. This is a rather old photo and there are shelves against the left and far walls now as well. To the left you can see my cooler. On the right you see the table where I pour all of the slip cast pieces that I make. Above the table is a cabinet that holds all of my tiny mold for my dollhouse miniatures and some of the jewelry pieces. Most of the over 500 molds that I have I have made myself. I make molds from a variety of things including found objects, antique pieces, buttons, and original sculptures that I have made specifically for a given purpose.

This shot is of a table area that is located on the other side of the stairway. The table you see is against the wall of the stairway and you are looking back toward the first area I showed you. It is very bright because of the lovely windows that are across the back of the building. To the right of this area behind a wall is the pour area. This is where I was doing my china painting while we were working on the area next to the windows that I showed you first and you can see the painting materials on this table. They have since been moved to the new tables which I showed you first. This area is now cleared out and is ready to be finished. We have to finish the ceiling (cover up the insulation), paint and texture the walls, and tile the floor. Then this area will be used for the assembly of jewelry and other pieces. This completes the tour of my studio. I hope you have enjoyed it.

Return to the BOC BLOG

The First Gift of the Day

2009-10-25T13:45:00.035-07:00

And the Winner of the First GiveAway is:

Summer Alyssa.

Thank you Summer for participating.

Welcome to the Open Studio Blog Event

2009-10-25T13:00:00.030-07:00

Hello Everyone and welcome to the Open Studio Blog Event. During this event and until midnight tonight I am offering a 25% discount on any purchase (product only not including shipping) from either my Etsy Shop or the Bead Shop on my website or the Jewelry Shop on my website As both Etsy and my website utilize paypal I will refund the 25% when I process and ship your order. Just leave 'instructions to the seller' on paypal when you check out and say 'BOC Blog Event'

I am primarily a porcelain artist, however, I do some PMC (precious metal clay) work, some wire wrapping, and I've also done silver smithing, silver casting, and copper enameling in the past. I like a variety of styles, materials, and processes and my work reflects that. I've been a porcelain artist for the past 20+ years. I am continually trying new things, combining processes, techniques, and ideas in an attempt to keep it all fresh and interesting not only for my potential customer but for myself. I enjoy the variety that porcelain offers me. I enjoy fine detail and creating things that wow people. My biggest inspirations come from antique porcelain, ceramics, jewelry, and designs. I really love the Art Nouveau period's flow of design and smooth sensuous lines. I love the Victorian era's glitz, romance, and floral designs. I love to combine those aspects and create new products with a taste of the old. Most recently I've been doing some whimsical beads with elves, fairies and other fantasy type themes. Here are a couple of examples of the latest porcelain beads. The one at the top is an example of one of the whimsical designs it is titled 'Sometimes the Dragon Wins' The idea came from an old cartoon that I have loved for years. If you look closely you will see the bones and armor of the poor knight that met this dragon on the day the dragon won. The dragon is picking his teeth with the knights lance. And the fate of the poor knight hardly needs more explanation. The second bead has a design that was inspired by Roseville pottery. These beads are available in my Bead Shop on my website.

To Return to The BOC Blog so you can visit all the other participants in the Open Studio Blog Event Click the BOC BLOG links in each post.

Halloween Approaches

2009-10-23T13:00:00.004-07:00

I don't know if any of you readers remember the project from last year with the faces that was supposed to be combined with pmc. You can see the complete collection of faces in the archives for October of 2008 Originally these were to be a collaboration between myself and another artist. However, as the other artist never got around to working on them I finally requested that they be returned so that I could complete them. Since Halloween is approaching rapidly I chose to start with this piece. The coffin and the ghoul are made with colored porcelains. The top coffin lid, hinges and catch are made with PMC. I would love to hear what you think of this project.

Steam Punk Skull

2009-10-23T11:35:00.003-07:00

With the popularity of steam punk designs and the fact that Halloween was approaching I thought I would try to create something steam punk. This is what I ended up with. It is a sort of steam punk ghoul. This poor soul is somewhere between a cyborg a ghoul and a skull. Sort of darth vader meets steam punk. The flesh on his skull is peeled away on one side exposing the bare skull. You can see where it is folded over at the top of his head. He has really had a rough life but he is pressing on. He has a respirator and hearing device which both look to be adjustable with a sort of geared knob. He also has a monocular goggle protecting the eye on the side of his skull that is missing the flesh. All of these devices are finished in simulated brass and held on with simulated leather straps with brass buckles. Here's looking forward to Halloween everyone.

Decisions Decisions

2009-10-21T09:13:00.001-07:00

Gearing up for Sunday's open studio blog event. Hope you will join us all here for the big day. Just drop by Sunday afternoon the big event starts at 1pm and there will be lots of fun. Give Aways...Big decisions here. What to put in the giveaways. Should it be this set of beads or that focal or perhaps some finished jewelry. So many styles and techniques to choose from. Does anyone have any suggestions? I always hate this sort of decisions. I want to include something that you will all want but what could it be. We have extremes. We could pick one of them. Or there are all the lovely flowers and organics.

Perhaps a nice leaf shape organic celebrating the fall season would be good. But what about the lovely hand painted things there are lots of pretty beads to choose from. Oh the decisions to be made. I'll get my thinking hat on. Any suggestions are welcome.

Beautiful necklace with a vintage feel

2009-09-24T12:18:00.005-07:00

This lovely beaded necklace has a very vintage look and feel. It illustrates how a lovely hand painted porcelain cab can be utilized with seed beads and crystals to create a lovely necklace with a very dainty dressy look to it. This necklace would be a wonderful addition to a dressy outfit or a great way to dress up a simple casual one. You can see the close up of the cab in the necklace displayed in the center of the circle of the necklace. More cabs that would work well in a similar design can be found in my Bead Shop There are also cab sets that would be great for a complete set with earrings and necklace to match. This necklace was made by Chris Neit of Good Quill Hunting. using one of my hand painted cabs.
Below are some of the cabs that are currently available in my Bead Shop that would work well in a vintage style necklace. These feature transfers of actual vintage photos. Some have been colored just like the old colored sepia photos others are just the sepia color like the uncolored photos.

2009-09-04T15:30:00.006-07:00

With the Best Bead Fall show fast approaching I thought I would give you all a little sneak peak of what I'm bringing to the show. Click the pic to see it better. Sorry for the link out I tried 3 times to upload the picture here but blogger was not cooperating.

This is a small vessel pendant. It is 1 1/6" long (27mm) by 5/8" wide (17mm)

The dragon decoration is completely built by slip trailing. For more information on this technique see this Slip Trailing tutorial. His neck and tail create the attach points for the necklace where they come away from the base vessel.

The underlying bead/vessel is white porcelain. The dragon is done with various colored porcelain slips. It was then finished with mother of pearl over the top of the glaze.

This will be available on my website if it does not sell at next week's show. Hope to see you at the show. If you want more information on the show visit the Website for the Show Here

New Cabs

2009-07-22T20:58:00.005-07:00

Last month I showed you one of the samples that Good Quill Hunting's Chris Neit made using one of my new cabs. Now I actually have some cabs available in my Bead Shop. I hope you will all come and have a look. I have tried to make a variety of styles and designs. I have some more that I am working on and will have those available in a week or so as well, but most of them are up now. This photo shows you a little sample of what is in the Bead Shop Cabs now. I will be posting more of the examples that Chris is doing here soon as well, so you can see more things that you can do with these cabs.

Green Dragon

2009-06-18T18:07:00.002-07:00

Announcing new cabs. This is the first of the sample pieces made from my new cabs. These new cabs will be available on my website in the very near future. They will feature a variety of design styles and themes. I am open to any suggestions for designs that you would like to see on these cabs. They are all hand painted, however, I have transferred the design outlines on most of them which allows me to offer you a beautiful hand painted cab for much less than if I were to hand draw the design. Hand drawing the complicated designs can take anywhere from 2-4 hours or more depending on the design. By transferring the computer aided design I can reduce the time required to complete the piece. Each design is carefully hand painted with china paints after the design has been transferred. Shading and multiple layers of color are added just as they would be if I had not transferred the design. All of the colors and highlights (this particular cab has gold highlights) are durable fired on colors.

This wonderful necklace is the work of Christine Neit of Good Quill Hunting and is available for sale from her. I think she has done a magnificent job on this piece. The beads and stones she chose to use in this piece compliment the cab wonderfully and shows exactly what I was looking for, that combining porcelain, stones and beads make for a wonderful piece of jewelry.

Miniatures on Etsy

2009-06-07T12:40:00.004-07:00

Hello everyone.

I've just put up some of my extreme porcelain charms/pendants on my Etsy shop.
These are the really intricate over the top little scenes in pendants that I have been working on lately.

Each component in these are carefully hand sculpted with colored porcelains and then assembled into tiny pendant/charm cases. They are then fired and glazed and fired again. After the glaze firing I put in some final details with china paint and fire them again. Finally I cut a piece of glass and epoxy it to the front of the charm/pendant to protect the fragile scene and grind the edge of the glass to a smooth beveled surface.

Mushroom Scene
Aquarium

I have also put up most all of the dollhouse miniatures that I currently have in stock onto my Etsy shop.

Hope you will all pop over and have a look Amazing Porcelain Etsy Shop

Pit Fired

2009-03-30T18:42:00.005-07:00

Well after months of intending to pit fire a group of Native American pieces that I had done over a year ago, I finally did it and actually got them pit fired. There were a combination of miniature pots made in the style of the ancient mound builders of the late Woodland and Mississippian periods. These tiny pots are all hand built, hand burnished, and then pit fired. The two tallest pots in the back are just 1.5 inches tall.

Still Alive Here

2009-03-03T21:06:00.003-07:00

Well the hectic month of February is finally over and things are beginning to settle down just a bit. February was a great month. My good friend Vladislav was here from Bulgaria for most of the month. He came over again to do the Big Tucson Bead Show. We were at the Manning House Bead Show again and it went well. Even with the slow economy and the effects of the show splitting last year it turned out to be a good show. There was plenty of room for people to browse and tables and chairs available for them to sit down and take a break to regain the energy to continue shopping. I think this was a big plus for the show. So many times at a show you get so exhausted walking around shopping and there is usually no place to rest so you end up leaving the show or rushing through it. Many people were taking advantage of the places available to rest and relax. We will be returning to the Manning House again next year in anticipation of another great show filled with lots and lots of interesting artists. If you are interested in the great art beads and don't want to have to wade through a bunch of other stuff to see them be sure to put the Manning House Bead show on your list of places to visit in Tucson next year. We will be looking forward to seeing you there.

Now back to getting it out there. After encouragement from many people I have decided to open an Etsy Shop. I will be putting in a variety of things many of which will not be on my regular website. So for a look at some different things come have a look at my etsy shop. Amazing Porcelain Etsy

In anticipation of Halloween

2008-10-29T19:20:00.003-07:00

Happy Halloween everyone. Here are my spooky faces tucked into their coffins. First we have the vampire. A formidable foe indeed, But is he more scary than the Scull or perhaps not. What do you think?

Another witch and a goofy guy

2008-10-27T16:10:00.002-07:00

Here is another witch and a goofy looking guy. He must be some backwoods hic or something. The witch was an idea given to me by my bulgarian friend and fellow bead maker Vladislav. Her name is Baba Yaga and according to him she lives in a house that is perched on a chicken leg. Sounded pretty goofy to me and the photo he sent was similar to this and looked like it would be a pretty funny face so here she is.

The Witch and the Pirate

2008-10-24T17:13:00.003-07:00

The Witch and the Pirate. Sounds like a good name for some fairy tale doesn't it? Here are today's installment of the faces in the window. I hope you all like them. Ya gotta tell me which ones are your favorites and why. I like to know these things. I think this witch has a lovely sneer on her face. And the squinty eye makes her look nice and mean. I had so much fun doing these.

The pirate. He has a gold tooth you know. Though he needed one. His ears are pierced as well as his nose so he'll end up with some gold rings here and there as well as the gold tooth. After I finished him up I looked at him and said I think he looks like Gomez from the original Addams family TV series. What do you think? Do you agree?

Funny Faces part 2

2008-10-23T05:56:00.004-07:00

Well I've finally finished my income taxes and got them filed for 2007. Nothing like waiting 'till the last minute. I've now gotten my funny faces all painted and they are on their way to Christi for the silver. I'm really anxious to see them with the silver roofs and doors. I think these will be a fun product. I'd really like to hear from you folks how you like them, what you think and any related things that you can think of. Its always fun to brainstorm and this is how I come up with new products so please comment.

I managed to complete 11 different faces. I'll post a few every day until I get them all posted up here so be sure to check back and let me know which ones are your favorites. Today I've put up the ones that I teased you with when I started this project. The Kilroy and the Kissy Face elf. Tomorrow perhaps a witch or the pirate.

By Popular Demand.....

2008-09-27T16:15:00.004-07:00

More crazy and funny faces. After posting the 'Wild and Crazy Guy' lots of people have commented that they would like to see more of this sort of thing. Also I was chatting to another artist at a recent show and we came up with a plan. This plan is going to be where the next funny faces will be appearing.

She does wonderful PMC and we decided to do some of the funny faces that will be looking out of windows. She will be doing PMC roofs, doors/shutters on the windows. You'll open up the cute little houses and be confronted with my funny faces.

So here's a sneak peek at the first of the faces. These I just finished building. They haven't been fired yet so there will be more details painted on after they are fired and the colors will be much more vibrant. I just wanted to let you all know that they will be available later on. I would love to hear your comments on these guys and any suggestions for more faces are always welcome. I love to hear what you like, what you are looking for.

New Goodies

2008-09-17T09:26:00.004-07:00

Hello Everyone I'm back from my show and I've updated my website. I've put all the new things on you can find them in the Bead Shop New Category I've done some new whimsical animal beads, and several new focals. Also the Porcelain canvass pieces that I discussed in the previous post are all done now and are also in the shop. You can find them with this link Porcelain Canvass

New Photo

2008-08-29T08:34:00.006-07:00

Ok as promised here is a shot of some of the little porcelain canvass' I've been working on. These are sitting ready to be fired after being painted. I would love to hear from some of you that do PMC if you agree with me that these would be great framed with PMC. I have a bunch more of these to complete before my show including more oriental designs. There are about 3 or 4 oriental ladies in kimonos standing in various poses and maybe another oriental floral still. Also more fairies. It would also be good to hear from you which designs you folks like best. I always like to hear what people are looking for and what they like the best. Oh the photo is not the best it is a phone photo. I'll put up good photos of them once they are all done.

What's New

2008-08-25T09:01:00.003-07:00

With a show coming up in less than two weeks I'm madly working to get some new things ready for the show. One thing I'm doing are some 'porcelain canvass' paintings. Porcelain canvass are very thin, very white industrial strength porcelain. Although these are now somewhat difficult to find they used to be easy to get at china painting shows. They come in a variety of sizes and are sold for painting portraits and scenes on for framing as they are much thinner than a tile. They are very translucent and lovely to paint on. I have managed to cut some down to sizes that will be suitable for pendants and I'm painting some oriental designs an some fairies on some. I think these will be wonderful for pendants with PMC frames made around them. I should have some of the paintings finished in a day or two and will post some photos then.

So I'll be in Tucson September 5,6,7 at the Fall Best Bead Show. I will have the paintings available for sale at the show so stop by and see me. I'll be in booth 69 just across from the registration table.

Christmas is coming

2008-06-23T16:17:00.005-07:00

Hello everyone. I know that summer has just barely arrived and that people rarely think about Christmas before thanksgiving but here we go. I've been madly pouring snowbabies and a few of some little Christmas charms and it occurred to me that I should let people know. I've been having a flurry of inquiries about these things by those fore-thinking people that are nothing like me and they have spurred me into action. Thus the pouring. Since I am a glutton for punishment and I figure its only fair that everyone have a chance at these guys I figured I'd put it on the blog.

Since its just me, one artist, doing all the work the quantities of them is very very limited. I've poured around 200 snowbabies and significantly less of the little charms and I'm about at the limit of what I can accomplish by fall. (I also have orders for other things that I need to work on at the same time) So here's the scoop. Around half of the snowbabies are already spoken for and its looking more and more like I'm not likely to have any left to put on the website. So if you want snowbabies this year you need to contact me asap and get on the list. Same goes for the little Christmas charms.

Snowbabies are $15 each and as long as I have all the poses available retail buyers can choose individual snowbabies. You can see all the poses here: Snow Baby beads Photo Also four posts down on this page. The christmas charms I will be selling in sets there are five in each set as can be seen in the photo to the right. The cost of the set is $40. These charms are tiny so the detail on them is very fine they are less than 1/2 inch tall, so in the photo they are greatly enlarged. I will be starting a list for them on a first come first served basis as well. There will also be available 'snowballs' These are just round beads that match the snowbabies. They are available in 12,14,16,18,20, and 22mm. They are $2 each for 12&14mm, $4 each for 16&18mm, and $5 each for 20 or 22mm.

Thanks to everyone for all their interest in my work. I look forward to hearing from you all.

Flower Fairy part 2

2008-05-10T08:30:00.004-07:00

Here is the Flower Fairy from the April 6th post after firing. I've painted her face, added a bit of color to her clothes and mother of pearl to the flower. So how do you like her now that she is finished? She is available for sale in the Amazing Porcelain Bead Shop

A wild and crazy guy

2008-04-17T08:45:00.004-07:00

For all of you that like the wild and crazy guys I've got a new creation to show you. He is a woodland spirt of some sort. I think he has been hiding in the bushes and under bridges too long. I've seen lots of images that are similar to this and decided I finally needed to put one in porcelain. He is made of colored porcelains and all hand built. He is mostly light and dark brown colors. I think he is cute in a wild and crazy sort of way. For some reason this sort of thing really appeals to me. He is another of the new pieces I am trying to get done for the Phoenix Bead Expo which is May 2-4 here in Phoenix. You can get more information about the Bead Expo on my website Amazing Porcelain in the calendar section. I would love to hear what you think about him.

New Flower Fairy

2008-04-06T17:34:00.003-07:00

Ok Back again finally. Been really busy, no excuse I know but that is really all I had to say over the last few months it seems. Nothing interesting to post about. Well today and yesterday I finally got to do something fun. Well mostly today. Yesterday got ate up assembling all the necessary tools, materials etc. So today mostly I built a flower fairy pendant. The fairy itself is cast but the clothing, wings, and the flower its sitting in are all hand formed. It is made out of colored porcelains and hasn't been fired yet so the colors are not real apparent. I will paint her face and probably add some details here and there after it is fired. They take quite awhile to build so the price will not be cheap probably $50-75, so I'd really love to hear back from everyone on how you like her and if you think these are a good idea or am I wasting my time. If I get a good response I'm going to try to have at least a couple of them at the Phoenix Bead Expo next month. Thanks for looking and your comments.

2007-12-04T08:40:00.000-07:00

Well it looks like my hard work is paying off in lovely write ups. For the last month or so I've been working on snow baby beads and little children beads for an order. The order has been shipped and as you can see from this article at The Beadin Path the Customer really likes them.

No I haven't dropped off the face of the earth.

2007-11-06T13:05:00.000-07:00

Ok so I'm the worlds worst blogger. I admit it. Writing has never been one of my strong points. I'm an artist its the creating that is fun. I'm trying to improve this aspect so hang in there with me. I hope you will visit my New Jewelry & Bead website to find wonderful things to include in your jewelry projects. I've got it set up so the jewelry and the beads are in separate areas but you can purchase from either or both areas and check out in one easy step. I hope to have some exciting new pieces to put on their soon.

I've also been working on the Ceramic Bead Artists website This project is a sort of gallery to showcase all of the different styles of ceramic beads and bead artists that are out there and to raise the awareness in the market place of the time and effort that goes into these works of art. If you are a bead artist working in any of the fired ceramic type clays ie. earthenware, stoneware or porcelain think about joining us. There is a tutorial section to show people how things are done. To help out people that want to learn and to give the non artistic public a better understanding of the effort that goes into these pieces.

In between all that website work I've also been doing some porcelain and I've added a couple of quick little tutorials to the new tutorial section of the Ceramic Bead Artists site.

I hope you will stop by and have a look and let me know how you like all the improvements.

Confetti Heart Necklace

2007-07-13T07:59:00.000-07:00

This Necklace is created using one of my multi strand sets. There are multiple holes in the top on each side of the heart and corresponding holes in the lower edge of the small hearts. As you can see the idea is to help maintain the desired order of the multi strands allowing you to set up the way the necklace is going to hang. This gives the designer an advantage over simply putting multiple strand through a large hole bead in that they have some control over how the strands will lay. This necklace has five holes that can be used on each side of the necklace and additional strands were added as well. Two main strands on each side were strung with beadalon cable for strength. The additional beaded strands were strung using dandyline for flexibility. Then the decorative wire mesh was added just for show. I wanted this necklace to look a bit chaotic like confetti in the breeze so I used the multiple colors and added sequins to enhance the confetti look. For a larger image have a look at the Deviant Art Page

Apothecary in Miniature - the finished product

2007-06-12T18:17:00.000-07:00

Well the Apothecary Jars are finished. The photo here shows three of the finished jars which you may recognize from the previous post photos. To see all of the jars, some of which are still available visit my miniature shop
I also did some of these designs on small vessel pendants you can see a couple of those at the Ceramic Bead Artist site

Apothecary in miniature

2007-05-25T18:40:00.000-07:00

Over the last week I've been working on miniature apothecary jars. The first picture shows how I lay out the design with pencil on the little unfired pots. (Click the pictures to see larger ones) The other two photos show the pots that I have finished so far. These are all painted with underglazes and they haven't been fired yet so the colors will be a bit more intense once they have been fired. These pots have been done for several people that have asked me to make some. I'm not sure how many they will want so there may be some extras.

Check the website in the apothecary category for available jars.

Murrini

2007-05-15T14:55:00.000-07:00

For a long time I've wanted to do some murrini work with colored porcelains. This is a process similar to what many of the polymer clay artists do when they build canes. However, with porcelain it is a bit trickier. More attention has to be given to getting the various pieces to stick together and rolling the 'cane' to smaller and smaller forms doesn't really work. Some reduction can be done by careful pinching and pulling but in general the design must be built more or less the size you want it. You can enlarge it some by cutting thicker slices and rolling them to enlarge it but again care must be taken to avoid distorting the pattern. The accompanying photo shows the first murrini that I have done. The smaller slices shown are basically just cut from the piece and sanded a bit to smooth them out well. The larger ones were rolled to enlarge the design. There were several issues I encountered with this pattern that I think I can eliminate in future designs to make future ones better. However, for a first attempt I think this came out pretty good and for what I was making them for I think they will work out quite well. I will be using them for a component in some pendants that I will be working on in the next few weeks. When I get some done and fired I'll post the finished results as well.

Organic Dreams

2007-05-01T11:49:00.000-07:00

Last fall when I created these organic pieces I didn't have the time to do up any examples of what could be done with them. Finally I've been taking some time to dress some things out. Here is one example of the sort of thing that can be done with the organics. For this one I've strung in some swarovski crystals, seed beads and some hematite stars. To see more of the 'blank canvasas' look under 'free forms' in my shop.

Pipestone Pendant

2007-04-28T14:59:00.000-07:00

Ok I know its been three months. I've been busy but not on art. You know how it goes, there are taxes and websites and houses that need attention. Well finally back to art. Here is the latest pendant I've created. It is hand carved out of Minnesota pipestone(catlinite)and inlaid with PMC (precious metal clay). The underlying circle design is borrowed from the mound builders. Designs similar to this were found on carved shell gorgets (pendants) and on large stone circles called sun circles found in mound builder ruins. On one side there is a pipe superimposed over the snake design combining the tradition of the pipe with the ancient snake design. On the other side (below) you can see that the tail of the snake is over the protrusion of the pipestem from the first side. Let me know how you like this latest departure from porcelain.

Hot out of the Kiln

2007-01-22T14:26:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. This is one of the last pieces I will finish before the To Bead True Blue show in Tucson. This is probably my favorite piece of all the ones I have done leading up to this show. I could easily keep it for myself. I would be interested to know how the rest of you like it.

Cala Lily

2006-11-14T08:26:00.000-07:00

This is one of the cala lily pendants that I have done. They are all porcelain and finished with Mother of Pearl and a gold trim.

Organics

2006-11-14T08:14:00.000-07:00

These two items are examples of my new 'Organics' line. This is only two of the rather simple shapes that I have come up with for this line. Also included are some leaf shapes with little tendrils, shell shapes, flower shapes, and some more abstract shapes. The idea with the organics is that the designer who buys the item would include beads, a wire wrapped stone or some other object inside the 'Organic' component. These two are shown with a very simple inclusion of a stone or a few beads just to give you the idea. The 'Organic' is designed to be a sort of frame to set off a special stone, bead, charm, etc. and as such each comes with holes to attach the special piece. I can envision them with added wire spirals and curls or interesting groupings of crystals. The possibilities are limited only by the imagination of the designer. These are designed to add a focal point and greater interest to an otherwise simple design. A jumping off point to take a design to a higher level and give it more shape and interest than simple beads or stones alone. I hope you are as excited about the possibilities as I am.

Flower Cones

2006-11-12T07:57:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. Yes its been forever. Been working hard on getting some new things done and putting some new ideas into porcelain. Here is one of the things I came up with to add a little bit of interest and dimension to those multi strand necklaces that are so popular these days. Every one has seen the pretty silver cones but they are not terribly flashy and are mostly just findings to connect the strands into one. Very functional but they don't really add any pizazz to the design, at least that is how I look at them. I've seen filigree ones and shiny plain ones I've seen lots but I've never seen one that really adds some punch to the design. So I decided that I would try and come up with some that are in and of themselves design elements and really add some punch to the design. The first ones that I am presenting here today are flower shaped. As you can see in the photo the idea is to place them at about collar bone level or a bit lower and to continue on above them with a single strand. I will add another more abstract looking one another day. I would love to hear your reactions to these.

Potpourri Heart

2006-09-27T21:31:00.000-07:00

This is my most recently completed pendant. This is a new idea I had. I call it a potpourri heart. You will notice all the small holes around the edge. This pendant is hollow and there is a relatively large hole near the top at the back. The idea is to fill the pendant with cotton and then put a few drops of essential oil on the cotton through the large hole in the back. When the pendant is worn the fragrance will diffuse out of the small holes in the front. This will enable people that experience skin irritations from the contact with the oil to wear fragrances as the oil will not be in contact with the skin. Also people that find that certain fragrances that they like smell awful on them because of their body chemistry can now wear those fragrances.

For those of you that are interested in the process I have included a photo of the pendant after four of the five firings. There is one additional firing between the third and final photo. I forgot to take the fourth photo but this should give you an idea of how the design is built and how it progresses with china paint.

This pendant is porcelain hand painted with china paints.

Butterfly Pendant

2006-09-17T14:44:00.000-07:00

Another new pendant in the works. This one I painted up for a fall challenge. It is another of the new shapes I'm working on. Just got some more out of the kiln today so will be painting more soon. Again I welcome any comments.

Pendant: Hand painted porcelain.

Bracelet

2006-09-12T15:49:00.000-07:00

Ok well I finally finished the bracelet that was in my head to match the wire wrap pendant I did last month. It is copper wire with iridescent glass baubels. Do you like the set? Let me know.

New Pendant

2006-09-03T08:31:00.000-07:00

Been working hard through July and August on orders but I did manage to complete this new pendant. This is a new style that I hope to have several of available soon with different sorts of flowers on. Would love to hear your comments.

Just to quell any confusion this pendant is made from Porcelain which has been fired to approximately 1200 degrees centigrade (about 2300 degrees Farenheit) It has been glazed and fired again. Then the design was added using china paint. This required an additional 3 firings to about 800C. Then the palladium accents were added requiring 2 additional firings of around 750C.

Making a two piece mold part 10

2006-07-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

You have probably been asking yourself "How is she going to pour that mold she has forgotten to make pour holes?" Actually I find it much easier to make the molds without pour holes and to put them in at the end. They end up much more consistent and clean and the mold is easier to seal without funny lumps of clay around the edges. So that is what I will do now.

In the top photo you can see me marking the angle of the intended pour hole on one side of the mold. I use a sharp #11 X-acto knife to do this. Just score the shape of the pour hole at a nice angle.

Next use the x-acto knife over a trash can to carve out a half cone shape. (Middle photo) Pay attention to the tip of the knife while you are doing this so you don't cut into the cavity of the mold or poke it with the tip of the knife. Also be careful not to cut too close to the edge of the cavity. You should leave at least 1/16 of an inch that is flat on the end of straight pieces like vases or tube beads. Otherwise when you pour them removing the spare may cause some cracking down the side. This does not apply to round things like ball shaped beads.

When you have all the pour holes carved into one side of the mold put the mold together and use the cut side as a guide to mark the uncut side. You can see this process in the botom photo. (Again you should hold the mold with your opposite hand not as shown in the photo I had to use mine to hold the camera) I carefully stick the point of the x-acto knife into the hole and score the plaster on the uncut side by drawing it out along the edge of the cut side. Again be careful not to poke the end in too far and poke the actual cavity of the mold. Now take the mold apart and carve out the second side of the pour holes.

Put the mold back together after the second half has been cut. Now carefully take the x-acto knife and finish off the pour holes so they line up nicely on both sides and are nice and round. When you have finished open the mold and blow out any debris that has dropped into the mold. Then put it back together and put rubber bands on it to hold it tightly closed. Use a stylus to write on an edge of the mold what it is for. (After the first dozen or so it is helpful to know what a mold is for without having to open it.) Molds should always be stored with the parting lines horizontal and on un-sealed wooden shelves. This is recommended for several reasons. 1. rubber bands sometimes break and if you have the mold stored with the parting line vertical it may fall open and break. 2. Although not usually a big deal with small molds, storing a mold with the parting line vertically can lead to the mold warping and the parting line not fitting together as tightly as it did. 3. Un-sealed wooden shelves are recommended as they allow the mold to breathe and dry out between uses. A metal shelf may rust and that may transfer to the mold plus it will not allow the mold to breathe as well.

I hope you have all found this informative and useful.

Making a two piece mold part 9

2006-07-03T12:53:00.000-07:00

Once the heat has gone from the mold you can remove the boards and clay from the mold.
The top photo shows the mold after the boards have been removed.

Now you want to take the shaper tool again and file off the sharp edges of the mold. This makes it look nicer, its easier on the hands to handle it and it is easier on the rubber bands. You can see this process in the middle photo.

In the bottom photo you see me using a flat knife like tool (a butter knife works but don't use a sharp knife) to open the mold. Carefully push the tool into the V shape groove and gently twist it slightly. Do this again on the opposite corner. You may need to do it a few times and possibly on each corner before it will 'pop' loose. Be sure to hold the mold in your hand holding both pieces together when you do this so you don't accidently launch part of the mold. In the picture you see the mold on a table because I had to hold the camera. The photo only shows the angle and location to put the tool, it is easiest to hold the mold in your opposite hand (left if you are right handed) and use the knife with your right.

Once it has 'popped' loose put it on the table and carefully lift the top piece straight up off the bottom. Don't try to open it like a hinged box as this may result in chipping away bits at the edges of the cavities. If necessary you can hold it with one piece in each hand and gently rock it back an forth slightly to get it to slowly come off the model.

When you have it open carefully remove the model pieces and clean up the mold. Use the shaper to file the edge of the second half of the mold just as you did on the first half.

Making a two piece mold part 8

2006-07-03T12:43:00.000-07:00

The mold is now ready to pour the second half. But first we need to put the boards around it and seal it up. Be sure to use acrylic boards that are tall enough to allow 1/2 inch of plaster above the highest point on your model. You can see this by holding up the mold and looking through the side with the acrylic board in place in its groove.

In the top photo you can see how the acrylic boards are sealed on the outside both across the bottom edge and up the corners just as they were for the first half.

In the second photo you can see how the inside is sealed by pressing clay down into the little V shape groove between the mold and the acrylic that is created by filing off the corner of the mold previously. Be sure to pack the clay tightly into this crevice or the plaster will leak out. Pack it down and smooth it out to a nice smooth top surface. Also seal the corners the same as before.

In the third photo you can see the mold release being again applied to the mold and the side boards with a brush.

In the fourth photo you see that the mold release is being sponged off again just prior to pourin the plaster.

If your models are reasonably even front and back and you are pouring plaster into the same mold(s) as you did in for the first half there is no need to measure the molds again just use the same amount of plaster and water as you figured before. And again pour it in the same way.

Making a two piece mold part 7

2006-07-02T08:32:00.000-07:00

The next step is to carefully remove the clay from the plaster, clean up the mold, create the keys, and seal it. Carefully peal the clay off of the plaster. If you are molding several items that are virtually the same be sure that you keep track of which one goes in which hole, because although they look the same they may not be identical. This is especially true of hand made beads. Also pay attention to which side of the bead is in the plaster and which is out. Sometimes the pieces will come out in the clay as you remove it and you will have to clean them and replace them into the mold. If you don't get them back in the right direction you can introduce gaps which will allow the second pour of plaster to seep into the cavity of the first half of the mold ruining it. Carefully clean off all of the clay from both the plaster and the pieces. It is ok to wash the mold under running water at this point to remove the clay and dry it off with a towel. Don't soak it in water for any long period of time, however, just a quick rinse off.

In the first photo you can see me using an x-acto wood carving tool with a round end to cut the keys into the mold. You can also use the end of a spoon or the handle or a mellon baller to do this. What you want is a smooth rounded hole that has no undercuts.

In the second photo you can see me using a shaper to cut of the square corner on the edge of the mold. This eliminates the sharp edge and also makes it easier to seal the mold to the boards for the second half.

In the third photo you can see me brushing the mold release agent (murphy's oil soap) onto the plaster. At least two or three coats will be required. Let each soak in and dry before applying the next. Be careful not to let it run down into the mold cavity. Although this will not ruin the mold it will cause the first few castings to absorb unevenly and stick to the mold. The soap will come out after a few pours, however, so it is not a total disaster. Even if you are careful you will usually end up with a tiny bit right next to the seam line and the first few castings in a new mold are likely to stick in the first half of the mold.

Making a two piece mold part 6

2006-07-02T08:08:00.000-07:00

Now the mold is ready to pour the plaster. I use USG #1 pottery plaster. It is designed to absorb water at a rate that is good for slip casting which is what I normally do. Ultracal is another plaster that is available, however, it is much denser and will absorb water much more slowly. It is not generally considered acceptable for slip casting. It is a harder plaster and will maintain the mold characteristics a bit longer but it is not suitable for slip casting. If you are making a mold that you will use as a press mold it may be ok. The plaster commonly referred to as Plaster of Paris is also not a good choice for molds. This plaster is formulated for casting objects that will be painted and as such it contains ingredients to inhibit absorbtion. You may have noticed that plaster of paris objects seem to have a shiny surface somewhat harder than the interior, this is because of these additives.

In the previous step the mold was measured and the cups of water required for the plaster was determined. My apologies to those of you that use cm instead of inches my only suggestion is to measure in cm then convert to inches. 250ml is approximately one cup and if you consistantly use the formula in the same way the results should be satisfactory. For each cup of water that you came up with in the previous step you need to weigh out 11 ounces (298 grams) of plaster. You can use a simple kitchen scale or postage scale for this purpose. If you have less than one cup divide accordingly. (ie: 1/2 cup water 5.5 ounces of plaster)

Measure the water into a mixing bowl. I have a rubber investment bowl that I use and it is very convienient. Dump the plaster all at once into the water and let it sit/slake for a couple of minutes. You can see this in the first photo. If you don't have a scale you can approximate by dumping plaster into the water until it makes a little mountain out of the top of the water. For a cup of water the mountain should be no more than an inch or two. This method will work but will result in molds that absorb differently on each side and may create some problems. The main reason for weighing and measuring is to achieve consistency which results in better casting and molds that will wear better as well.

After the plaster has slaked for a couple of minutes (All the plaster has gotten wet) stir it well with a dowel or chopstick or other round stick. A round stick will help to reduce bubbles that are introduced into the plaster. The corners on flat or square sticks create a current around the edges of them that introduce bubbles into the mix. Slaking the plaster prior to stirring also helps to reduce bubbles. Once you have stirred it well tap the sides of the bowl and/or pick up the bowl and drop it from maybe 1/2 inch off the table. Just high enough to jar it you don't want it to cause the plaster to jump out of the bowl. Alternately you can vibrate the bowl on a vibrator for a few seconds. These actions bring bubble to the top.

Now carefully pour the plaster into the lowest point on the mold allowing the plaster to rise up over the model. This method of pouring the plaster will tend to pull bubbles to the top and off the model as well. Once the mold has been poured gently lift a corner at a time maybe 1/4 in and let it drop. Again this helps dislodge bubbles. Or if you have a vibrator available you can again vibrate it for a few seconds. The second photo shows the mold after it has been poured.

Plaster is a chemical reaction and it produces heat. As the plaster begins to set it will heat up. When the heat is completely gone from the mold you can remove the boards and take the mold off. The third photo shows me using the flat tool and running it between the clay and the mold board to loosen the clay from the board. You want to be careful so that you do not damage the fresh plaster. After you have loosened the clay you should be able to twist it off the board by twisting it. See the bottom photo.

Making a two piece mold part 5

2006-07-01T10:15:00.000-07:00

The next step is to determine the amount of plaster required for the mold and to apply the release agent.

In the top two photos you can see the measuring of the mold. You must measure the length, width, and depth of your mold. The depth should allow 1/2 inch of plaster above the top of the item you are making a mold of. Multiply the length times the width times the depth. Then multiply this number by 2 divide by 3 then divide by 15. This gives you the amount of plaster you need in cups of water required.

In the third photo you see the release agent being applied to all surfaces of the mold and the surrounding boards with a brush. I use a mixture of 1/2 murphy's oil soap and water. This is a cheap and very effective release agent. You can purchase special soap for mold making at ceramic stores but it is more expensive and doesn't work any better.

After the release agent has been applied you should take a damp sponge and sponge it off gently. Sponge off all of the surfaces that the release was applied to. Excess soap left on the surface of the clay or next to the model will cause the plaster to not set properly and will ruin the mold.

Making a two piece mold part 4

2006-07-01T10:09:00.000-07:00

The mold is now ready to place the acrylic sides on and seal it shut. The photo on the left at the top shows the outside of the mold with the acrylic pieces held in place with clay pressed into the corners and against the mold board and the acrylic at the bottom. When doing this insure that the acrylic pieces are standing vertically not tilted in or out.

The second photo from the top shows the sealing of the edge of the clay on the inside of the mold against the acrylic. The third photo shows the sealing of the inside corners.

The bottom photo shows a mold sealed and ready to go. Be sure that you carefully seal all of the edges in this step or when you pour the plaster over the mold it is likely to leak out. When it does it usually fills in the grooves on your mold board. This is difficult to clean out and makes a big mess.

Making a two part mold part 3

2006-06-30T07:30:00.000-07:00

Once the clay has been built up to the parting line and the clay is squared off all around, it is time to smooth it out. In the top photo to the right you can see me using a sponge to smooth out the clay around the pieces. In the middle photo you can see the result of this process.

Next is the final smoothing and filling to get the clay perfect up to the parting line and to make it come up to the edge of the pieces in a smooth line with no little gaps and no extra clay sticking to the piece. Do do this take a flat brush that has soft but reasonably stiff bristles and wet it. Squeeze off excess water between your fingers so that you don't leave a puddle of water on the clay. Then use the brush to clean the edge of the model and refine the line where the clay meets the model. You can see me doing this in the bottom photo. During this process you will find small areas that need a tiny bit more clay or where a bit should be removed. After adding tiny amounts you can smooth it out with the brush. Continue in this manner until the surface of the clay is smooth and the line where the clay meets the model is even and crisp.

Making a two part mold part 2

2006-06-30T07:24:00.000-07:00

The next step is to build up and fill in with clay to the parting line all around the models. The clay should be filled in carefully and should go straigh out from the parting line not slant downward to the edge of the mold. Keep the edges of the mold clean by frequently running a butter knife or similar tool along the grooves to shape the clay into a right angle at the edge of the groove. In the photo to the left you can see this process from several angles.

Making a two piece mold part 1

2006-06-30T06:51:00.000-07:00

Often I am asked how I make molds. So I have decided to go through it step by step. I will be putting up the steps that I use to make molds. This will not contain all the little tips and tricks but more of an overall view of mold making. I plan on putting together a more complete tutorial including details of the exact tools, special tricks and tips and about twice as many photos. This tutorial will be available on the website for a small fee.

Today I will begin with the basics. In the photo to the right at the top you can see the board that I use to build my molds on. This is simply a piece of 1 X 6 X 6 (actual dimensions are about 3/4 inch thick X 5 1/2 inches X 5 1/2 inches the nominal size for commercial board called 1 X 6) This board has grooves cut across in all four directions 1/2 inch from the edge and 1/2 inch apart in toward the center leaving about a 2 inch square in the middle without any grooves. The grooves were cut on a table saw to a depth of about 1/8 of an inch and are the width of the saw blade. Depending on the type of saw blade you use this might not be sufficient. They need to be wide enough that the acrylic pieces seen to the right of the board will stand up in the grooves. With my saw blade it was a perfect fit and the grooves are about 1/8 inch wide. After all the grooves are cut the board has been given a couple of coats of varathane on both the top and bottom and in the grooves. Be careful not to fill up the grooves just give them a coat of the sealer. This helps prevent the board from warping. This board set up makes it possible to make molds that are as large as 5 inches square or as small as 2 inches square it also makes it easy to handle and turn so you can see the build up for the mold and get it right. It is not the only way to make molds it is just my way. The four acrylic pieces you see to the right of the mold board are the side boards. These particular ones are about 2 inches by about 5 1/2 inches long. If you are making molds of thicker things you will need ones that are wider (more than 2 inches) These were made by cutting up a piece of acrylic that was purchased at a home improvement store. Be sure to get the thin sheets that are about 3/16 inch thick so they will fit into the mold board grooves or take your mold board with you so you can try the fit.

The second photo shows a pair of heads that I will be making molds from it is often useful to draw a line around the pieces you will be making a mold from to help in the clay buildup. This line should be at the widest point on the side of the item to prevent undercuts. When making molds of regular objects such as round beads or vases this is normally 1/2 way but with more complex shapes such as these heads it is a bit more difficult than that and care must be taken to draw the line on the area that the widest. It can be helpful to take a wooden pencil and shave away the wood on one side to reveal the lead along a long section. Then hold the piece you are going to mold on the table in the orientation that you plan to place it in the mold. Run the pencil around the piece holding the exposed lead against the side of the piece. This should put a line at the widest point. Personally I prefer to draw the line by looking at the piece carefully but this method works for some people. In the photo you can see the line that I have drawn.

The next step is to put a bed of clay on the mold board. I use what is generally referred to as school clay. It is an earthenware clay that is very smooth and has no grog or sand in it. I have been using the same clay for over 10 years and it originally cost me about $7 for 25 lbs so this is a pretty economical way of making molds. I keep my mold clay in a small tupperware box and use it just for making molds. The bed of clay should be about 1/4 inch thick and should be large enough to extend at least 1/4 to 1/2 inch out from the model in all directions. In this mold for heads the model is hollow so it must be filled with the clay. Fill it and flatten off the clay even with the bottom of the neck in this case. After you have the bed of clay on the mold board and a hollow model filled, position the piece(s) that you will be making a mold of on the clay. Pay careful attention that the parting lines that you drew in the previous step are horizontal and not slanted. Also that the pour hole end is vertical and not slanted. You can see this in the third (bottom) photo. Also notice that there is space under the neck of the closest head in the photo, this needs to be filled in with clay.

Anatomy of a China Painted Design part 5

2006-06-23T06:11:00.000-07:00

In this photo you can see the final result. The gold has been fired. It is a bit dull in places and will shine better with a bit of polishing. Burnished gold frequently comes out of the kiln with a very dull finish. This has come out pretty bright. To finish off I will polish it with a glass brush. Since the shine of the gold does not show up well in the photo anyway I am not adding another photo of this piece. This piece is now completed.

Anatomy of a China Painted Design part 4

2006-06-23T06:02:00.000-07:00

In the last installment I applied the gold underlay to the design. In the top photo here you can see that after firing it look nearly identical to what it did before firing in the previous post. It has flattened a bit and sunk into the glaze slightly although it is still raised there is less definition between it and the glaze at the edges. Now I will apply the gold. The gold I use for this design is a burnished gold. It is 18% pure 24K gold. In the bottom photo you can see the design after it has been applied. You can see that I have also applied white highlights to the roses for this firing. The white enamel that I use requires a lower temperature than does the gold underlay so it must be applied after the underlay is fired. On most china painted roses these highlights would have been wiped out with a rubber tool as the rose was painted, however, I find that in the very small roses I get a better result by using white enamel to put the highlights in at the end of the painting. If the gold covers well this will be the final firing for this piece. I have also put my name on the bottom of the piece for this firing combining what might have been two or more firings.

Anatomy of a China Painted design part 3

2006-06-20T12:33:00.000-07:00

Last time I covered how china paint is transcluscent and requires multiple applications giving it a depth not seen in underglazes or acrylic paints. By comparing the photos you can see some of this effect. The top photo is after the firing from the photo in the previous post. There was also an additional firing of just the blue since it was still not even. This time I am adding a design feature that is not exactly china paint. It is a raised product that allows me to add raised design features that are intended to be gilded. As you can see from the photo this really dresses up the design that I had before and it is now beginning to look fancy. This product is called underlay for gold. It is also mixed with the glycerine and water (or can be mixed with oils) but to a thicker consistency and although you can apply it with a brush for some types of designs the most common application and the one that I have used here, is with a stylus. The design is built with a series of comma shapes and dots. These will remain raised after firing giving a texture to the finished design. This product is available in both a yellow color and a white. The yellow color is good if you are going to put gold over it because if you miss a tiny spot it won't show. The cobalt blue that is a prominent feature in this particular design will 'eat' the gold so in order to get a good result from gold application something like the gold underlay is necessary as well as being a pleasing addition to the design.

Anatomy of a China Painted Design part 2

2006-06-13T18:18:00.000-07:00

Continuing with the bowl that was shown previously the photo to the left shows the bowl after the second firing (bottom) and ready for the third firing (top) As you can see by comparing the photo from the previous post with the bowl after the firing you can see that as the paint sinks into the glaze with the firing it also becomes transluscent and the true colors are revealed. Some colors are particularly difficult to obtain smooth even opaque coverage with than others. Cobalt blue is one such color. You will notice that even though the blue has been painted twice it is still pale in some areas. This is one aspect of china painting that makes it take a long time to complete an item, some colors require several coats of paint. This also makes it possible to achieve a lot of depth to a painting.

Before I mentioned that the china paint doesn't 'dry' or become permanent until it is fired. This provides us with some benefits and some drawbacks. There are two types of mediums that are used for china painting. The most common is a collection of various oils. When using oil based mediums turpentine is used to clean the brushes and in some cases to thin various products. The oils used are generally very aeromatic such as clove and lavender oils. This can be a problem for people with sensitivities and allergies. The other mediums that can be used are water based. I use a water based medium for china painting. This consists of glycerine and water. I use the water based mostly because the oils and turpentine annoy my allergies. Using this medium the paint will dry but it is not set or permanent until it is fired this is known as a closed medium (there are also 'closed' oil based mediums). Water based mediums have the benefit that they are not likely to run when fired like an oil based medium may if you apply the medium to heavily. The drawback is that the water based medium dries very quickly so that it is not easily worked and most oil based mediums even so called 'closed' mediums will remain workable for a longer period. An 'Open' oil medium will not dry and will remain workable to some extent until it is fired.

Because the paint is not set and it is applied to a glazed surface it can be changed it before it is fired. It can be wiped off or tiny sections of it can be wiped away to produce highlights or to straighten lines. This is true of both water based and oil based mediums used for china painting. Another benefit is that because it is fired after each painting session the previously applied paint is totally permanent and will not be damaged or removed in subsequent painting. This allows fine detail to be added after the base color has been painted and fired without changing the shading or shape of the previous painting and without smearing or mixing adjoining colors. The detail can be added and adjusted before it is fired. A pattern or line art design can also be applied and fired and subsequently colored without destroying the design. The drawbacks lie mainly in the fact that care must be taken in handling the unfired painting to prevent damaging the unfired painting. Another drawback is the longer time required to complete the artwork.

The anatomy of a china painted design

2006-06-11T09:08:00.000-07:00

Many people do not understand the time that goes into a china painted piece. Most people are familiar with acrylic paints where the entire design can be painted in one sitting. This is not the case with china paints. China paints are a transclucent paint and they do not 'dry' or become permanent until they are fired. To achieve depth and detail in a design it must be fired several times. Just how many depends on the design. So you can see what happens each time I am going to be posting photos of each firing of this bowl. The photos on this post show it after the first firing (top photo)and after the second painting has been applied but before it was fired the second time (bottom photo). I will be showing this after each firing so you can see how it progresses.

Current Work

2006-06-10T07:52:00.000-07:00

Many people ask how much I have to do or what am I working on so I have started this blog to sort of cover what's going on at my studio. I hope to cover what I'm doing and what is new and to answer questions interested parties may have about what I do. So if you have a question feel free to ask.

As many of you may know I'm pretty backed up on orders. Just how backed up am I well the photo to the right is a shot of all the china that I am currently working on for orders that I have. This is not for stock this is for orders.