Aghhhhhh!

For the first time ever I have killed a batch of beads. :( I was baking about 2 dozen beads that I had been working on for a few days. Meanwhile I started making lunch. I don't know where my brain went during the next few minutes but without thinking I turned on the broiler to roast some peppers! I know I should have a separate clay oven but I don't at this point. When I opened my oven there were my new black beads. It had only been maybe 3 mins or so but they were toasted and smoking. The beads went outside and all the windows were opened. In all the years that I have been working with clay this is the only time I've ever burnt something. I really should get myself a clay oven

One more thing...

Here is my first batch of summer beads. Yeah for colors!!!!! They are not sanded yet but I just had to take a picture of the pretty colors. :) They look like candy. These will become bracelets and earrings. After looking at them yesterday I realized I need about twice this many...back to the clay table!

More Diversity Conference

I've finally loaded some of my pictures from the diversity conference this past month.

Pens and bracelets with faces and flowers. I took these pictures towards the end of the day, had I been thinking (and on time in the morning) I would have taken pictures in the morning when I had my full stock. This is what I had left at the end of the day. I made a bunch of ring bowls with face canes and they went fast.

My little section of table. I had to really condense my display since I usually have at least 2 tables.

Retreat!

I am officially register for the IPCG retreat in Chicago! Hooray! The whole family will be going to Chicago to visit family and I'll take a few days to play clay! If you are planning on going you should sign up soon, I think they are capping attendance at 75 (my application number was 61, though I don't know if that actually is the number that have registered so far). Here is the link to the registration page.

Many Faces

This past Friday I had a table set up at our local community college's Diversity Conference. The theme for the conference was "Many Faces, One Vision". A perfect opportunity to use my face canes! I had the good intentions of making beads and bracelets and earrings and ring bowls and even some new bookmarks all with faces. However when reality hit me I settled for a few bracelets and lots of ring bowls. I did make beads but I didn't have time to sand them. It turned out that the ring bowls with the faces were very popular. I even had a couple sales that someone was just walking by and saw the bowls, stopped and bought one. I didn't even have to tell them what it was, how it is made, "No, there is no paint on the bowl." :) It was a pretty good day.
Now my next project is to prepare for my next two shows. I have about 2 months but one of the shows will by far be my biggest one yet and I need LOTS of inventory. This week will be dedicated to cane making. The first step.

Necklace for Ada

This necklace will be one of the door prizes at the Christi Friesen workshop that will benefit Ada Silapiruti. Ada is the daughter of Ponsawan who made the mosaic I blogged about a few posts back. Just over a year ago Ada was in a terrible car accident involving a drunk driver. Read about Ponsawan's art here and all about Ada and her road to recovery here.

Warm Weather and Smooth Beads!

Yesterday the weather was so beautiful, 65 and Sunny! The kids played outside all afternoon, and I actually got some findings put onto a group of pendants while they played.
For the past several weeks I've been filling up a bag with beads and pendants that needed to be sanded. Since I hate sanding I had been putting it off and putting off, now I was left with this huge bag of unfinished stuff! I decided to buckle down and I told myself I could not work with raw clay until my beads were sanded. Now I know that a lot of people use a tumbler to sand their smaller beads, and I've tried that too, but I just don't feel like the quality is as good. So I do everything by hand. It took me forever but I finally finished the bag so now I need to put everything together into finished pieces. During the 13+ hours of sanding I did discover a new little trick! I generally shy away from round beads because mainly they are so hard to hold onto when I sand. But not any more! I discovered that I can use my needle tool to poke through the hole (I don't pierce all the way through so it fits tightly) and use it as a handle with the smaller beads! The saves time and my finger nails! I'm sure this idea is not original but it helped so much! Today should be another nice day so maybe I'll get some more work done. Happy Friday to everyone!