February Artisan Clay Design Team Reveal!

Can you feel the spring coming?  I can feel it on my skin and in the light and in the mud. The kids and I visited my Dad and family in Kansas City last weekend.  The travel is on.  I catch it every spring.

My birthday was last week. I usually make a point to have a February picnic and announce the ending of winter and pronounce it officially spring.  Some years I have found myself at a frozen lake, clearing snow from picnic tables and allowing the strengthening sun to warm the bits of my face that peek out between my hood and scarf.  This year, winter never seemed to come.  I usually enjoy a few "snow ins" with my work.... I was looking for it.  I suppose we did get a few "flood ins" in the late summer and early fall though... I enjoy the times that mother nature holds me in from my wondering.  I need it sometimes. Left on my own, I think I could blow anywhere the wind will take me.... following the breeze and the season...

The past year has been a crazy ride.  Many of you have told me how happy you find me. I have been happy.  I seem to be on some kind of high, and I hope to not fall too hard when I come down.  I have found myself wondering how I could possibly be so lucky.  Job, family, friends, support, challenge, comfort... I feel like I have it all. Sometimes I don't want to believe it and I arm myself for the fall... but it hasn't come yet.  I choose my reality. ?Right?  I choose happy.  I want to remember to keep choosing happy.....I seems "unhappy" got more beads made :-)  But the priority had to be mine and my children's mental health, so bead business slacker, happy Kristie, happy babies, it has been.

Having recently separated from my husband, (I don't think I have said those words here before-I know my husband reads the blog as well as members of his family) my family was been amazing at showing me love on my birthday this year. My brother made sure that I had company to go out dancing on the weekend and then took me and the kids, my parents and his girlfriend and her son out to Hibachi Show. The kids love that place.... their laughs warmed me so much...the egg tricks and the onion mountain get them rolling every time.... I felt so warm throughout the whole weekend.

Enough with my annual, birthday, life flashing before me, post.(which historically has had it's very own entry--did I mention the slacking?)..

it's design team day..... 

The picture above shows my necklace project. As soon as I went to photograph it, I realized that it matched one of the new dresses I picked up for myself for my birthday... I am pushing summer along and a $20 bill got me a few new sundresses at the Salvation Amy... I will wear them with cardigans and tights until the temperature in my super heated office allows me to wear dresses everyday.

Here is the necklace long.  I intended to make a long necklace, one to play with....dangle in my hands when I talk and swing from side to side....don't you play with your jewelry?  Isn't that the point of wearing it?.... anyway, most of the jewelry I make these days is for myself and I tend to wear really short @15"necklaces... so I made this one so that I can pinch it short close to my neck or wear it long.  I am always doing that... making things with dual purpose....

The frosted glass ring is from Glass Garden Beads and I picked it up at Bead Fest Philly last August.  I really love them!  I have a few more and I can't get enough.  I love how they are glass colored, bright candy colors yet frosted and slightly mis-shapen which to me takes the manufactured edge off and gives me a more natural feeling.  I love how the colors and the circle shapes work with the glass fused beads that I make.

I used a jumbo chain link, a flower cap and a upwards flying bird to make a simple and playful piece.  Every part moves and I can turn the glass ring around the chain link and admire the bird and the flower as I wear it....

I forgot to take a picture of the charm sets before I sent them out to the design team, but here are some examples of charm sets made into simple earrings.  I really love the versatility of the two sizes of charms that I make. 

I am only 4 sales away from my 800th etsy sale... wow!  I am always shocked at the awesomeness of ----->  YOU!  my wonderful customers and friends... How do we do this?  I love it.  I make the things, you like the things, I mail them to you, I make more.  It's a great deal.  I certainly can't stop making them, and I am so glad that you like them and take them and love them.... So  THANK YOU!  yet again for another 100 sales and as always, whomever purchases the item that makes my little counter hit the even 100, will get a super special surprise of my choice in the mail... and those of you who have received super special surprises from me in the past, know that it could be nearly anything... but typically something I have made myself.

I am participating in the Bead Soup Blog Hop..next week?  so stop back for that!

And now----- Drum roll please!!!!

Follow the links below to check out what the design team has made with their challenge beads!



January Artisan Clay Design Team Reveal!

Today is the day where the Artisan Clay Design team reveals what they have made with the mystery beads which I have sent them!

I can't wait to see what everyone has made.  I sent each designer a different kind of bead, so we should be treated to some very different styles of jewelry.

I took the day off from work today to have an Artisan Clay/Mental Health day and I am really excited about that.... The kids are headed to school in an hour and then I get to be alone.... well not entirely alone, because I live with other people, but more alone than I've been in a long time.

The big plan is
1) kids to school
2) find the sun on this rainy day and get my design team projects photographed and posted.
3) pick up my jewelry and pottery from a store that will no longer be selling it
4) go to a wholesale button appointment
5) find a better shop to sell my jewelry while still visiting the same town

So---- I will blog again once I get good photos of my project, but for the meantime, please visit the design team's blogs and see what they have created.

----UPDATE time--
I looked everywhere for my tripod and I have decided myself an expert tidy-upper... because it is so tucked away in such a perfect spot that it has made itself invisible to me.

So-- here is what I made this month.

It's not a new design for me, but it is new work and I really needed to break back in with some production type making time.... and I have been itching to get out and contact new stores to carry my work and this is what I want someone to carry. 

These necklaces are so fun to wear and I have made quite a few for friends/customers in the past few years.... and they have been loved, really really loved.  It is just a really simple natural style that suits my breezy spirit and seems to suit quite a few other natural breezy spirits too.

Now I'm off into the world-- new necklaces and buttons in hand and adventuring into the shopping district.  Wish me luck!

Don't forget to check out everyone in the design team's blogs.

This month Staci is auctioning off her necklace to help out a friend who is going through a tough time.  SO!  Check it out!

Thanks for coming!

It's Back!!! Artisan Clay Design team.....The beads

Happy New Year!
I hope 2011 was good to you!   Here's to an even better 2012!
These little treats are being mailed out to the Artisan Clay Design team today.....  no one knows which piece they are getting.... and I still didn't pick one for myself.

Stop back on the last Friday of the month to see what everyone comes up with!

New work, new studio

I was able to fire for the first time in the new space this weekend.  I fired tiles and I tried to get all the lingering custom orders finished.  Some of the orders lingered longer than I liked.  I am glad to get new work made and I am glad to get the space into working order.  We found an old door to use as a big counter and I found some high metal spinning stools for sale for $10 each down the street from the house.  The stools are the perfect height for the counters and have a nice adjustable back to them... and they spin!  Whoot!  That's a bonus.

tidy :-)

Along the back wall are more shelves made into counter space and my tiles molds and clay is all along the bottom shelf across the entire room.....I am so glad that my fellas helped me move all that clay!

My mom made that sculpture for me when I was pregnant with Lydia ;-)

I really like how the colors turned out on my tiles.  I love when I have multiples of the same tile in the studio.  I look forward to the day when I have a space to tile with my own handmade tiles.  For now, these will go to the Tile Gallery.... I live very close to the Moravian Tile works in Doylestown, PA

That's a town known for handmade tile.

Yeah.... I LOVE how they turn out!  I need to make more....

I made some beads too.... The long buttons are an order to be used on a cape.  Isn't that cool?  I love being able to work with other artists :-)

Most of my paintings are still at my old house, but I did find a few painted glass panels that I had started years ago around the garage to decorate the studio and make it feel more like home.

New donuts! 

And last but not least here is the finished glazed fairy sculpture that Sonya gave to my mom for her birthday...  She loves it! 

September Design team reveal-- Better late than never

It's been a while, hasn't it?  My life is changing.....hopefully for the better.
I just moved.... and man!  my schedule is crazy.  I went from working at my day job 3 days a week to 5 and school starting and moving and yikes!  it is really a tricky time for me. 

This month the design team worked with buttons.  I had been sewing recently and I really wanted to work on a few things that were not jewelry.  I found this great beaded bag at the thrift store and I found a fun fabric/lace/feather flower at the farmer's market.  At first I tried a bronze button....  but it blended a bit to much for my taste.

So.... I took it apart and tried it with a large size turquoise button.

I like it much better. 

I hope to get back in the swing of things around blogland... and etsy.... but I know I shouldn't make any promises.  I miss you guys and I will soon share my days with you once again.  One day I plan to  add mixed lots of older style beads to the etsy shop at quite a deal..... because upon moving them, I realize what a hoarder I have become.

September Design Team Reveal Day!

Today is reveal day for the Artisan Clay Design team!
This month we all used buttons for our challenge pieces.

I am running late on my projects as I am scheduled to move my studio across town tomorrow.  Please check out the design teams projects below--- and check back for my project.... as soon as I can get it finished, photographed and blogged ;-)   yikes!

August Artisan Clay Design Team Reveal!

Today is the day.... It comes so fast.  Design Team Reveal Day! 
This month, our guest designer is Amy Blevins.  Amy has had an Artisan Clay Trunk show at her Bead Store, Bead and Glass Boutique.  Make sure to check out her necklace and blog... I love what she has done.  Imagine the fun of having an entire bead shop to work from when designing your jewelry!

This month I did the bead selection a little differently.  Staci suggested that I send out some of the half and quarter round Art Deco beads this month.  I was really happy for the suggestion, since I have started to feel like most of my bead types have already been used.  
     I found just enough pieces for all the designers and packed them up in boxes.  I shuffled the boxes and packed them in envelopes blindly.  I have no idea what beads ended up where...  It turns out that I was left with the largest bead, a crescent in my minty green glaze and made with a clay body that shows a manganese fleck when fired. 

I started making this style of pendant a long time ago and have never finished a piece of jewelry with them until now.  I have imagined them used so many ways;
highly stylized and playing on the Art Deco theme,
strung in a tribal theme,
used in a Native American design....
I tried to mix a bit of a natural, southwestern and native look?  Ha! 
The stacking a knotting of the red beads on waxed linen gave me a feeling of the southwest.  I played around with the idea of adding beads in a bead loom, bead weaving style, but decided I really wanted to open up the body of the necklace into multiple strands as I often do.

What do you think?  I don't have any more of these Art deco beads left here in the studio, but I do have quite a few in the dried mud stage waiting to be wet sanded and fired... Depending on how they are glazed, they have such a different feel.

So... are you ready to see what the team has made?


Have you made something with an Artisan Clay bead?-- then add your link below!

July Artisan Clay Design Team Reveal!

Check out the beads that the design team had to work with this month!

Recycled Glass fused Donuts-- The ones available made to order in standard sizing and colors to be exact.

Everyone picked one piece from this photo.

Except me that is.... for some reason I was dead set on green this month.

Could it get more simple?  Really? 
I had my mind set on furthering my ideas from last month and weaving another collar inspired by the ribbon of seaweed I saw on the beach in Oregon, but--- I couldn't do it.  It was just too much. Too much color, too much action, too hard to wear.   Life for me these days has been so complicated and difficult to figure out and I just long for simplicity.  If only life were more simple.... If only there was a clear yes or no....and people-- the wild card.   So~~ this is what you get, simpler than simple, easy to wear and no competition for the bead. 

When I decided on donuts, one of the design team members mentioned not using donuts in her work before.  They can be kind of tricky to work into a design, but some people seem to be able to find endless ways to do it.  I decided to go through my old photos and show examples of my use of donuts in the past.

I like to chain them up.

This one has a wire loop fired into the clay itself making it easy to string as you would a pendant.

This one also has a wire loop and I made it into a Christmas ornament.

Here I have used one of my cast donut bails in Bronze....

And this piece was chained up like the first few examples.

This last piece was made by Design team member, Carol Dean Sharpe, Sandfibers.  She is dealing with health issues this month and was unable to blog for this month's reveal. 

Carol made this piece for me to show at last year's Bead Fest Philly.  Carol has been so kind to make gorgeous display pieces for every one of my Bead show booths.  Carol has such skilled hands and a magic way with color and I am so lucky to have an Artisan Clay fan in her.  She is an awesome friend too!

So... are you ready to see what the team has made?

Have you made something with an Artisan Clay bead?-- then add your link below!

Artisan Clay Trunk Show and Staci Louise Originals Drilling Demo this weekend! Be there!

Look at us!  Aren't we cute?

We are wearing each other's work :-)  Staci is wearing a necklace that she made as one of the Artisan Clay Design team challenges and I am wearing a necklace that Staci made for me YEARS ago!

Today was the day that I set up my Trunk Show at Bead of a Feather in East Greenville, PA..... That is just a 20 minute drive from my home and just a few miles from Staci's. 

Staci is doing a couple of demonstrations at the shop tomorrow.  I love the subject, drilling your beach finds, sea glass, shells.... for your jewelry making.  So.... be there!  Staci is your girl for tips on making jewelry that will LAST!  BE WEARABLE!  Hang straight!  Not be junk!..... which we happened to discuss while setting up the show ;-)

Thanks for coming by and setting up the show with me today Staci!   You rock!

After this weekend my work will travel to Beads of a Feather's Kutztown location..... SO..... if you are in the area, this is YOUR chance to see a larger selection of my work than is available online.... after this, my work heads to New Jersey before stopping in Virginia :-)

In other news.... I am super famous now  ;-)  .... My bead is featured in a new E-Mag put out by Interweave called Live Wire..... I downloaded my copy last night and I am really impressed!  I hope to work up the project and show it off soon!  So there you go!  I'll say I knew you when ;-)

Don't miss our Artisan Clay Design team reveal next Friday!  This month we are working with my glass fused donuts.... It should be fun. 

I hope you are having a great summer!  Mine has been a blur of choices and people and hope for the future...... and this weekend.... camping with my girl scout troop.....in 100 degree weather.... but I think we will figure it out.
(and I even get to hang out with my Clay Bead and metal buddy Melinda Orr at THE BEACH on Monday!  OH my gosh!  What fun!)

Week in pictures

July 4th firing, Design team beads

Don't you show everyone your messy desk on Wednesdays?  Today is Friday, that's not so bad....  All kinds of beads are piled up from making earrings for my friend Debra... Pictures follow. 

sunshine

The kids put on a play today at summer camp. 

She's acting

She's a great dog!  She's very good, she has a blast.

She's so fancy.  Had me curl her hair ;-) 

remember the throwing last post... all this still needs to be cleaned and painted

I inherited a new red plastic necklace last thursday....It broke while I was roller skating... I was pretty thankful that I took that picture.

I hope I eat my grapes this year.

Debra's earrings-- I had to wear them around for a day, and get my well wishes on them and make sure that they work, you know~~ test them out.  I'm a nice friend like that.

new to etsy shop soon

and this

and this

and this

I made these earrings too...

They might be for me.

I wear this necklace every week for years.  I love it.