Time's Up!

I finally finished my wet clay portion of my production for the Bead & Button show! I finished yesterday, and today was spent sanding and detailing. I loaded up the big kiln and it is firing a bisque now. I packed that kiln FULL. My hands are tired and sore, and I am pretty exhausted from all of the clay work. I am taking tonight to have a little hand and foot spa treatment, and to take care of my puppy, who had some dental work done today, and is feeling very needy.

Next up, is a week full of glazing and firing kilns, packaging and labelling display items, and making brass pendants. Its still a pretty overwhelming amount of work. I may enlist the help of my friends this week, if I can lure them over here with energy drinks and snacks! I will likely be pretty sparse for the next few days while I do all of this work, but don't worry, I am hanging in here! I do hope I can get a picture of all of the bisque when it is done, and some pictures of the display dry runs. YAY! Only one week left!!!

Extra Extra

Close up of one of the new Toolbox Treasures. There will be many, many more of these making their debut at the Bead & Button show! My heavy work schedule and the holiday weekend made me late for last week's Extra links, so I will share them with you today...

About.com Jewelry Making
Want to try bead weaving but not sure where to start? Consider one of these amazing kits for 1 Bead Weaver.

Art Bead Scene
Beads made from nuts are all the rage. Go nuts and add some to your bead stash!

Jewelry & Beading
Repurpose old beads and charms into a wicked fun treasure necklace!

Katie's Beading Blog
Exposed Gets Exposure! Learn more about Katie's latest beading book, Bead & Wire Jewelry Exposed.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean reveals the cover of an upcoming wonderful new jewelry design book by Jean Campbell all about the fabulous Victorian-fantasy style of jewelry, Steampunk!

Strands of Beads
Melissa shows off a new necklace design inspired by a beautiful, Russian hand-painted focal pendant

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Andrew shares the NEW cover of his sister's new book, Enchanted Adornments: Creating Mixed Media Jewelry with Metal, Clay, Wire, Resin & More! Pre-order it today!

Toolbox Treasures Three!

I have been working SO hard lately. I decided I need to just hunker down and make as many beads as possible in the next few days. I have given myself until Memorial Day to do all my wet clay work, and have a schedule of what I want to get done by then. I made a huge pile of the new large Toolbox Treasures yesterday and this morning, and now I am making the small links like the ones shown above. I have about an hour left to work before going out to have a fun break (Road Rally!) tonight, but I wanted to post and let you all know that I am still here, just working and working! The Bead & Button Show countdown will start soon... and I am feeling like I am in a really good place at this point. Next week, glazing and firing and display and everything else. eep!

New Toolbox Treasures, Two

Wow, thank you all for the comments and support over these new pendants! I think this is a good direction, based on those responses. Here are three more of the large pendants, like the ones I posted yesterday. A bit less colorful; this is how I originally imagined them. But I really love the extra colors that I added in the ones I showed yesterday, so I think there will be a mix. That is the fun thing about these... they are all different and very unique, and I can play and experiment with them. They are all going to be around the same size, in the 1.5 to 2 inch range, and all with a top hole and large gunmetal jump ring, but otherwise, I want to make them all very different. I need some variety and playtime in the clay, and this helps me do that. It's very refreshing!

Ok, back to the clay for another full day of work ahead of me. This morning, I am making birds and Terra Trinkets for stock, but tonight I hope to play more in the Toolbox.

New Toolbox Treasures

Ack! Another day full of work! And how did it get to be 10 pm already? I had a productive day, shipped out all the Bound Hearts and made a lot of beads this morning. I got the first batch of Toolbox Treasures out of the kiln too! Three of the six big ones are shown above. I love these, and am itching to make more! I am really pleased with this new direction. I have taken individual pictures, but don't know if I will have time to edit and list them on Etsy. I did want to at least show them on the blog to give a sneak peek of what's new with me. That's all the time and energy I can muster tonight... off to more claywork now!

Heart Filled Day

Another busy day, and it is not nearly done yet. Above is what I did this evening: worked on the pre-ordered Bound Hearts until my fingers were raw and I could barely stand to look at them anymore. I am waiting for tomorrow's shipment of square crystals to finish these and the other two that I had to abandon. So I should be able to ship them all out tomorrow, as promised.

This morning I also finished glazing new work and stuff for orders and loaded and am firing TWO kilns! Whee! I planned badly though, as I meant to fire them last night and ran out of time. I had to miss going out to see the new Trek movie tonight with friends so I could stay and work. *pout* Ah well, I knew that I would not have a lot of time before the Bead & Button show to socialize much. I have all summer for that sort of fun. *sigh*

Tonight, after dinner, I am making MORE hearts, of the punky Memento Mori variety. I set up a schedule for all the rest of my clay days until Memorial Day, and today is the day of hearts. That's all I have to write for now, its time to finish the pasta and get cracking on the clay work.

Warm Fuzzies

Very, very busy around here. The Bead & Button show is coming up so quickly! I have no time to spend writing very thoughtful posts, as I am making beads all day long, as much as I can. Last week was a rather hard week, but the weekend was full of friends and warm fuzzies, and it was just what I needed to push me ahead into this crunch time!

Speaking of warm fuzzies, I would like to share a necklace I made a couple of weeks ago, The round beads with my Gear Nut pendants are really fun. They are velvet flocked beads, and they are so elegant and soft feeling. Ok,thats about all I have time for tonight! Back to work for a little bit before I hit the warm fuzziness that is my BED! mmm sleep.

Extra Extra

Today, I have another picture of the Clockwork Scarab Slave Chain, and this week's Extra Links:
About.com Jewelry Making
Take another look at this UK beading and jewelry magazine that has had a recent jewelry face lift.

Art Bead Scene
Be inspired by Impressionism. Monet's Waterlillies are this month's challenge.

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts
Bronze pendant inspires a nature themed necklace

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi makes a cute summer necklace with cell phone dangles.

Jewelry & Beading
Spring cleaning tips to get your jewelry business in tip-top shape this season!

Strands of Beads
Melissa looks back on two years of making beads and designing jewelry

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Taking advantage of the ten hour drive to Bead Fest Wire in Philadelphia, Andrew created three new necklace designs in the car!

Taking Time Out

Working from home, and creating my own schedule (which can often consist of: work-all-the-time except for eating and sleeping) creates days that can vary wildly from what I try to plan when I start my day. Today I woke up planning to glaze all day and then fire a big kiln. As I was glazing, I started to get distracted by two jars of Raku glaze that I bought, and started to plan a trip to the supply store to get some items I need to start this new process. I even thought for a few fleeting moments about setting up the kiln outside and giving it a test this afternoon!

Well, things changed rapidly as the morning evolved, as they sometimes do for me, and a dear friend needed some help, so I ended up spending most of the day at the hospital, helping her get patched up from a fractured ankle. She was in amazingly good spirits and we had just about as much fun as you can have in an emergency room. Of course, I kept her entertained by describing details of the Raku firing process (wha? what do you mean "captive audience"? hehe)

If I have learned anything in the past year, it is the value of friendship, and the importance of taking time out whenever possible, to reach out to good friends, especially in times of need. I know I had my friends picking me up when I was down at some of my lowest points over the last several months, and it is something I had not experienced so strongly before. It is quite an awesome thing. And today did not go as planned, by any stretch of the imagination, but it was time very well spent.

Oh, and the pictures today are of the new watch I made, using a leather cuff kit from Tandy Leather, a watch face, two of my small square gear Steam Stone links, and a few beads. I really love this watch, its super chunky and a bit steamy and masculine. Get the correlation? Time Out... wrist watch.. get it? Oh I am so clever when I am sleepy, huh?

Enclosed

Today has been a full day of work, hands in the clay all day long, chilling on the couch. I am not feeling so well and am achey, and it has been kinda gloomy and rainy most of the day, so it was a good day to stay in and work. I am starting to make some progress on my inventory for the Bead & Button show. ooh, one highlight of my day was getting my shipment of Vintaj Brass! whee. I am looking forward to working with it, and making more of the new Filigree Moon Face pendants, like the one shown above, along with the rest of my favorite designs. I am also now able to offer the popular Bound Heart pendant that I blogged about the other day. I have listed several of them as pre-orders on Etsy, I have just about everything I need, I just need to make the time to work them up, so this is a good time to order if you would like one! Well thats all i have to ramble on about tonight. I hope to feel better tomorrow and have more motivation to do other things, but today was at least a pretty productive sick day. bleh.

Toolbox Treasures

Wow, thank you all so much for the name suggestions! There were SO many great ones, I am really impressed by all of them. Geez, there are some great ones that you came up with that are still bouncing around in my head, and the names alone could inspire even more new beads and jewelry for me, so thanks!

I have chosen Toolbox Treasures, and I would like to thank Debbie for that suggestion! She was reminded of her grandfather, just as I am, and she said "They make me think of my grandfather's woodshop which is always a happy memory". Debbie, send me an email at earthenwood at gmail.com with your address and I will send you some of these goodies!

I chose the name because I fell in love with the thought of the toolbox as a treasure chest. That's sort of how I see this big dusty toolbox in my basement... its grimy and old and dirty, but full of treasures if you look deep enough. I am also a sucker for alliteration! I also think I can make it look nice, word wise, with a neat font., and I like the way it sounds when I say it (and I will have to say it many times at the show) Oh the many things I consider about when figuring out a name, hehe.

Thanks again everyone, for your suggestions. To answer some of yesterday's questions... Yes I will be bringing these to the Bead & Button show. I plan to have a big portion of my display devoted to these new works, actually. And yes, they will eventually end up on the etsy too, and in jewelry, after the June show. For now, here is just a little taste...the first few finished pairs...listed in the Earthenwood Etsy shop.

Work in Progress

I had a long day of doing paperwork, filling orders, and cleaning up. I really wanted to play in clay instead. I am energized by my new pieces and thus distracted from the other work that I have to do. But I finally got to spend an hour or so playing and squishing stuff into clay tonight, so I am feeling pretty good now. Above, a picture of some of the new pieces I made yesterday. Below, a picture of some of the tools that I used to make them. I keep wandering around the house, finding new things to play with, and bringing them to my work tray. Whee! much fun. So, I need a name for these new pieces. Something about toolboxes or hardware or something like that. Any suggestions? If I choose your suggested name, I will send you a selection of these goodies to thank you, as soon as they are glazed and finished. Leave me a comment with your ideas!

Extra Extra and new charms

Here is a little sneak peek at my new tiny charms that I made last night. These were fun and very much an *immediate satisfaction* sort of thing, which is a refreshing change of pace. So much of what I am working on lately relies on stamps and molds and waiting. These were made by stamping patterns into tiny balls of clay with common found hardware items found in my basement. I have an old wooden tool trunk that my grandfather owned, full of odd bits of metal like screws, saw blades, gears, and files. The immediacy of this process and my ability to make smaller series of similar yet varied items is very exciting to me... I think it is a fun new direction. I can also make lots of beads really fast, which is much fun too! I am really looking forward to exploring this more, and seeing these little guys glazed up!

And now, the Sunday Extra Links:

About.com Jewelry Making
Hook up with a cute little fiber flower charm and necklace project! Combine your crochet and jewelry making skills.

Art Bead Scene
Hello Spring! Goodbye self-control!

Art Jewelry magazine
It's video madness at Art Jewelry and Addie gives you a peek behind-the-scenes.

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts
Cindy's Beads & Barbe's Creativity add up to some great necklaces!

Carmi's Art
Carmi sews crocheted flowered into a soft new collar.

Jewelry & Beading
Combine wirework with seed beads for a one-of-a-kind necklace!

Katie's Beading Blog
Try your hand at tubular peyote stitch with Katie's free beading pattern, Delicious Donut Lariat.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Like Art Nouveau? See this lovely book by Judith Durant and Jean Campbell who explore great works from that period in jewelry projects!

Strands of Beads
Melissa shows off a few beautiful fossilized coral beads.

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Andrew shares the new additions to his bead stash.

Simplified

Today I had a burst of energy focused on cleaning up the studio. This is a rare thing, so I took advantage as much as I could. It was a beautiful day, and I opened the windows and got some brisk breeze, and set to work! I also walked the dog after the rain, and sat on the front porch for several hours sanding beads in the sunshine. Then I spent the evening chatting online with some of my favorite people, watching a movie, and making brand new charms! I am looking forward to showing them soon. Above, a new heart pendant I made yesterday...this one very simple and clean. It was the first one I made, and they got more and more complicated as I progressed, but there is something to be said for the simplicity of this one.

Bound Heart

I am really pleased with this new pendant which I finished this morning. I have been playing with my new Vintaj brass order and my porcelain heart pendants. This one, Bound Heart, was a bit of a feat in engineering, but it worked out really well and I might possibly be able to reproduce it. Heh, good thing too, because I think someone might have already claimed it, before even seeing it. I suppose that should teach me to edit my new work photos while sitting next to one of my best friends (and biggest fans). hehe. I think this one had a really great, romantic feel, but with a little edge to it.

Drooly Day

Today I am partaking in two things I have been craving since last week before Penguicon. The first is diving into the order of Vintaj brass that I ordered and received over the weekend. ooh, it was so hard to play catch up with work and not just take these up to the studio to play with! Yeah, I drool about metal, so what? hee. These are mostly pieces that I haven't used before, so they will take some fussing and creativity to use. The possibilities are endless! I am excited to work with them. I want to wrap a few of the metallic hearts in new ways, because they seem to be a really great finished item, and if I get enough distinct styles, I think I can present it as a class. *bounce bounce* its playtime now!

The other craving I have had is for sushi. Now, I am a newbie to sushi, really. I am not really into fish at all, but I love the rice and nori and wasabi and ginger. I really have enjoyed the roll-your-own parties we have had because I can pick what else I want, but I have never really seen kinds at the stores that I will eat the way they are packaged. I have also been a bit intimidated by going to the sushi bar and asking questions and ordering on my own. But the craving was too much today! I headed to Noble Fish, and a very helpful young man asked me what I liked and made some suggestions. I had a carrot, cucumber and avacado roll, and a tofu and green onion roll. OMG they were so good! Now I feel a little more comfortable and will definately order again. (any suggestions for non fishy ingredient combinations? I like the idea of cream cheese and colored peppers as well) I think I would have liked something else in the tofu and onion one, maybe some more carrot? Ooh and the fresh ginger and wasabi was so good! wow that stuff can be spicy! mmm. Also I bought some sushi rice to make my own, along with some Miso soup base (need a recipe there too). So I may be experimenting with that soon.

ok, thats enough babbling for today, time to play with metal! whee!

Beads 2009!

With all the running around I have been doing, I almost forgot to post about my newest piece of press! I am in the special issue of Interweave's Beads 2009, out on bookshelves now! I have some beads in the editors' picks for Steampunk, and a full project as well! The piece above, Gears of Elegance, is in this issue, and it looks amazing. The photo is gorgeous (not the one above... that is the one I took) and I am very pleased with it. I created this necklace for myself for a very special event last fall... an elegant chocolate party which just happened to be on my birthday. I am very pleased that it made it in print, and it makes it extra special to have my personal memories intertwined with it, for all to see. It is always an honor to be apart of this special issue, and this year it is especially touching.

Clockwork Scarab Slave Chain

I am still recovering from Penguicon, and trying hard to get back to work. I actually got some important stuff done today, including some shipping, some legal/copyright stuff, and glazing and firing a kiln. So that's pretty good! But I still don't have enough energy to post much, so here's another picture of some new work. This is a slave bracelet made for my new friend, the fabulous author Catherynne Valente! You may remember that her new novel and her character description were the inspiration for the Clockwork Scarab carving, and this is what I made for her with it. I had the pleasure of presenting it to her personally, when I met her for the first time at Penguicon last weekend, which was a real treat! Oh, and also, today is her BIRTHDAY! Happy birthday, Cat! *hugs*

Amused!

I have returned from Penguicon! I am so very tired. Trying to get cleaned up and back to work today, but its going slowly. I don't have much to say yet, but I will show you a pretty picture of a necklace I made for my friends' wedding, which was at the convention. It is made from a pewter and bare clay glazed Openwork Escutcheon and Round Gear Link, an old key, some white glass pearls, brass chain, large gunmetal rings, and a found coin. The coin appears to be a game token of some sort and says "for amusement only" on it. That seems to be fitting for the fun time I had at Pengicon. *cheers!*

Extra Extra

About.com Jewelry Making
Tammy has some knotting jewelry tutorials for you, as in making jewelry with fiber. It's an often inexpensive media that can add a unique twist to your jewelry designs.

Art Bead Scene
Wings are the backdrop for a visual treatise on creativity.

Carmi's Art
Carmi turns a dried crab apple into something wearable.

Jewelry & Beading
Use antique optical lenses to make wonderful mixed media jewelry!

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Kim Miles is on the road and she is giving away beads as she blogs! Check it out!

Penguicon!

Yay! The time has come for Penguicon! Its a bit like a vacation, but I am doing a bunch of demos and panels and work for it. But it is work filled with friends and fun, so its all good! I don't plan to post again the rest of the week, so I will leave you with a picture of a new necklace and a list of some of my panels that I am doing tomorrow and Sunday. Enjoy your weekend!

Yep, That's Steampunk

So what is this thing called Steampunk, and how does it relate to fashion, costuming, and art? Steampunk can incorporate many mashups of fashion styles from Victorian and other historical periods, military and uniforms from the past and present, punk and goth elements, and futuristic and fantasy motifs. Join us to discuss some of the concepts and trends that we have seen as object, fashion, and art styles and gather ideas about how to incorporate a little steam into your wardrobe and life.

Prop Weapons, Nerf Modifications

Ready. Aim. Fire! Join us for a show and tell and discussion group centered around handcrafted prop weapons created for costume and staged events. The panelists will bring a variety of weapons that they have made, and will answer questions and talk about the various methods used to create them. Examples will include everything from basic steampunk Nerf Gun mods to hand carved wood and metal Old West style guns to hand forged Samurai style swords and steel knives. Bring your own handcrafted weaponry (peace tied at Ops beforehand, please) to show off and your works in progress and ideas to discuss and brainstorm too.

Metalwork Demo and Discussion

Have you ever seen something made of metal and wonder how it's made? Ever see a pewter or brass or steel accessory for a costume and dream about adding it to your costuming closet? Come hear about some basic metalsmithing techniques that can be used for improving your costumes. Discussion and demonstration by a professional metalworker and artist in the jewelry field.

and of course, the Masquerade!~

Come! Participate in an evening of costuming, entertainment, and showmanship! This years special category is Steampunk to delight and inspire one and all to board their airships and travel to an alternate world of high Victorian culture and steam power! (Or you can just bask in the awesomeness of all the cool goggles and rayguns.) The Masquerade begins in the Ballroom Saturday night. If you are daring enough to participate, your devoted and brilliant team of crafty costume geeks collectively known as the Whizbang Theatre Federation will expertly guide you through this year's Masquerade. The Whizbangers are excited to show you a jolly good time! We have a variety of categories, for young and old, beginner and expert alike! We are also proud to present a pile of great prizes for the best costumes including gift memberships and other cool Penguicon Swag.