Friday, August 28, 2009

Website and Garden Update

Ok, so my website is still down...
It "has been migrated" but for some reason, it's still not working...
And once it does start to work, Dave and I are going to put it down for a few more days...

Why might you ask?
Well, many, many reasons why...
Basically we feel the need to try to find a better, cheaper for what we are getting website hosting company.

So I apologize for the delay... once again..

It's a "great" feeling: seeming unprofessional for not having a working website and email with a long list of "issues" over the last few years.

While we're working that out, check out this blog as well as my other 2 blogs.


I have all sorts of stuff planned for September...
Well, I guess possibly delayed September in some ways since my website is down for now...

Basically September is the month my mom was born and the month she died,
So I will be making some announcements and having some giveaways and such through my blog for her...

Hope all is well with you all!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

MNS Website Being Migrated - May Not Work...

Hi All!
I apologize, but if you are trying to get to my main website:
it may not work right now (this weekend...).

My hosting company is migrating servers (upgrading) and they say my website and email may be down for a day or two....

Here is a picture of some of my NEW chocolate clay shards...
They have almost all sold this weekend at Bead Fest - so I'll have to make more to put up on Etsy for my September Shard Challenge I'm going to host here on my blog...


Hopefully my site will be up and running without issues ASAP...
Again - sorry for the inconvenience!

For now, check out my blog(s) and Etsy shop!

***Last day of Bead Fest Philly is today - and we're having a blast! Stop by if you can!***

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Bead Fest Philadelphia Weekend!!!

Here we come!!!

Marsha Neal Studio Booth #806
(Back left corner on main upper floor of show)

Ok, I'm on my way out the door to get setup today...
So just a quick blog post to show you some of the goodies that should be in my booth...

Chocolate & Porcelain Shards above...
Just out of the kiln last night!

Above is some detail of some of the Chocolate Shards with my "glacier" glaze color...

On Porcelain clay, this color is an icy, turquoise blue (see bottom right of picture below)
Below are some of my more satin glazes: Tangarine, *New - yet to be named greenish one, Ruby, and one of my oldest glazes... Autumn...

I've been wanting to get back into doing more drawings instead of using clip art for my decal pieces. This Butterfly fluttered out onto the paper late Tuesday night when I was trying to fall asleep.


So Yesterday I worked on getting her put into the computer, cleaned up, resized and then printed out onto the decal paper. Then last night I spent hours getting all these done in hopes of having just 1 more firing done before Bead Fest...

So we'll see tonight if any of these made it...
Fingers crossed...

And now some cute pictures of Chloe...
I'm going to miss seeing her this weekend, but she and Dave will have a great time spending some one-on-one time together...
Wonder what they will get into?


Very cute picture above...
Followed by mommy saying...
"Ewwww... Don't Lick The Bubble!!!! No, Yucky, Dirty!!!"
Then laughing.... because this kid puts her tongue on EVERYTHING!


We were filling bird feeders and spreading some seed on the ground for the mourning doves...
She has hot sticky hands like any kid running around in the summer which the seed stuck to...
Which meant a break for mommy while she sat and picked each little one off...

I hope to see you at Bead Fest!
My 19 week baby bump is starting to show a bit and I'm at the point of having to squat to pick things up... no more bending over easily for me with this huge "liquid and baby filled thing" in my belly...
And no, I don't mind people rubbing or softly patting my baby belly and sending good vibes to the new little one... Chloe got it a lot at Bead Fest 2007 when she was in my belly...

Monday, August 17, 2009

Chocolate Clay Shards Glazed!

Here is a quick snapshot of the chocolate clay shards glazed...

Sorry for the not so great picture quality....
I was having a bit of a rough weekend (must've really been working on something internally with the new baby - like brain development or something because I surely had no energy and wanted to sleep all weekend...)

Here is a close up of some of my favorite pieces that came out of the glaze firing.
Unfortunately, nobody will ever see these in person...
The glaze did not fit the clay body...
And what I mean by this is that at the final firing temperature of the glaze and clay,
which should be the point where they have the strongest bond and most durability...
The glaze decided to leave the clay (sad story, I know...)

When I had tried these two particular glazes on my porcelain clay body a few years ago,
the same thing happened...
So over the next year (hopefully in the sooner part of this next year) I can do some experimenting to see if I can get it to fit better...
I've got some ideas and will see what works and what doesn't and will share here to give you all some insight into the glazing process.

Ok, So this morning, before the sun came over our trees, I quick snapped these pics...
Sorry for the side view of the pieces - it was the only way to get them without glare from the sun (even though it was indirect sun)...
I made sure to get some multi hole pieces and some 6 hole pieces glazed up for Bead Fest.
I've just been into that mode of seeing things dangle from pieces (I think Jenny Davies-Reazor has gotten this implanted into my head - Thanks Jenny! It's a good thing!!!)

The Chocolate Clay pieces towards the top right (with the river rock texture) are all glazed on one side, and some have one hole, others have two. There are only so many of these...

Below is one of the nature series pieces.
This particular one is a *Blood Root leaf impression that my friend Kim Love of AspenWear helped me with a few years ago.

*I posted some images of the Blood Root growing in my garden to the Marsha Neal Studio Blog in March, April, May (when it is in bloom) right before I began my garden blog: Marsha's Garden Blog.
Have you discovered my garden blog yet? Lots of pictures there of stuff that is going on in the garden... Ok - mostly blooms and other textures I find...

Off to get some decals designed and printed out for a last firing for Bead Fest!
Stop by and see me in booth #806...

Oh, and make sure you are signed up for my e-newsletter mailing list...
I'm going to be finishing that up this week and it will have lots of information on upcoming giveaways and contests... and of course coupons for shopping with Marsha Neal Studio!

Hope you are all having fun!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Chocolate Clay Glaze Tests

I have been quite the glazing fiend in the last couple of days...

This first picture is a grouping of glazes I plan on using with the chocolate clay...

This next picture is a grouping of potential glazes for the future...

And there are some that didn't make the cut, they are just hard to see with the dark clay body, so why bother using them and just wasting the glaze...

So at the end of the day today, here is a try full of pieces that are going into the kiln for a glaze firing. Loading this amount of work will probably take a good 3 hours (and hopefully just one kiln load).

I got about 1/2 the kiln loaded before running out the door to get Chloe from school. The rest will get loaded tomorrow morning after she goes to school.

Then I get to pull the porcelain shards to get them glazed for Bead Fest.

I can't wait to see how this kiln load comes out!
Will keep you all posted...

Friday, August 7, 2009

Blog Drawing Winners from Porcelain Decal Drawing

Chloe has picked the winners of my very first blog drawing...
Thank you to everyone that commented...

The comments winner is...
Tari of Claybuttons.com


And from the 2nd drawing of people that commented and also posted a link to this blog from their blog or website...

The winner is...

Thanks for everyone that commented and posted links...

Tari and Jenny, send me your addresses and I'll put your goodies in the mail to you!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Yumm... Chocolate Clay (Finally!) as Shards

Peeves couldn't help herself...
What's this she asked?
It's a different color, smells different (is that aging?), and is in my space...
So it hit me today...
I've been working with Porcelain for so long...
But have always had boxes and boxes of different clay waiting to be tried...
Umm...
Let's just try one...
This is my Cone 6 Chocolate Clay Body.

And this is what I worked on today...
Chocolate Shards, River Rock Buttons & Pendants, and some textured pendants...

I think one of the things holding me back from trying this clay was something internal.
Something in my head (from my early days of working with clay in a communal studio) kept telling me: Don't mix colored clay bodies in the same work space...
If you use a dark clay in the porcelain area of the studio, your porcelain won't be as clean.

And as true as that is...
Porcelain is a very white clay body - it's supposed to be super clean...
(to allow the glazes to come through not so muddled)...
I decided to pull out some old tools, not to be used on porcelain texture plates, and rubber stamps to fiddle with this Chocolate Clay Body.

Can you tell that I liked the Chocolate Clay?
It is SO plastic and easy to use...
It is so different than Porcelain...
Porcelain is so temperamental at times...

On a side note, somewhat related to this post and the previous one,
Because it is using the shard pieces...

Here are some images of some small pieces that I made a while back with some of the shards when I first started to work with them at this scale.
I say this scale because when I was going through my Masters degree in Ceramics,
I threw a lot of coils like this on the potters wheel that were around 8" up to 3' tall.
I did an installation with the pieces and if I can find the images in my backup files, I'll post some of them here.

These new small scale pieces are still trying to discover their potential.
They started out as tops for small scale pagodas for your indoor house plants and terrariums.
But I haven't worked on the bodies yet.

I think these will be fired then glazed and will sit on my windowsill or in some plants around here just as my starting point for a new body of work.

Oh, and by the way, I just stared an official Marsha Neal Studio Facebook Page (see side bar).
Also, In September I plan on having a challenge for anyone using my "shards" in their work to post pictures of. I've got to work on that detail and will post info here on this blog soon!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

How To Make Porcelain Shards

Ok, so I love teaching.
I haven't done it in a while and I really miss it sometimes.

At bead shows I would talk to anyone that would listen to explain my process and try my best to explain how to use the pieces in a finished jewelry piece.
I remember how people always said "Marsha your booth is always packed with customers".
And my reply: "I love to talk to people, and I try to answer every question in detail, and boy can I talk..."

So I want to do some tutorials through my blog to help others feel a bit inspired.
I know I LOVE to see how other artists work in their studio.
Not to be able to replicate what they are doing, but for a jumping point...

So here it goes...
My first blog tutorial on making my porcelain shards...

This picture is one of my glazed shards that I've made into earrings (with Vintaj charms & findings).
The picture below is my work space which includes:
1. Some pieces drying on plastic lid (tray)
2. Plastic bag where I keep my clay moist while working
3. Texture plates (these are wood)
4. Fettling knife
5. Stylus tool

Here is a close up of the finished pieces drying on the lid.
Sorry it's a bit blurry... These pictures are from my phone.
The pieces are about 2-3" long each (I like not having exact measurements with these)...

So I cut off some clay from my wet clay roll and cut it into portions then roll it into a little ball.

I begin to roll it in between the textured wood pieces.

If I angle the wood, I can make a textured cone shape.
If the wood is kept parallel, the overall shape is more straight.
(This picture shows the wood parallel because I had to put it down to use my hands to take the picture, while the piece I was making is a cone shape).
But you get the idea right?

This picture below shows how random the textures can be from the same plate depending on how the plate lines up, the amount of pressure you apply, the way you apply it, and the condition of your clay (moist clay vs clay that isn't so moist and crumbles easier).

After I have some made, I will put a hole through one end with my stylus tool.
I push the hole through on both sides to make it a little more clean and even (but not too perfect).

And here are those pieces added to the original batch waiting to dry and be loaded into the kiln for the bisque firing.
I find that by working in batches, I tend to have a better success rate of pieces making it through the initial drying phase (to achieve "bone dry" state).
If you let pieces set for too long, then try to handle them, you will have a lot more breakage.

You can find these shards for purchase at my Marsha Neal Studio Booth #806 at Bead Fest Philadelphia and through my friend Darlene's table: D7 Studio at some smaller bead shows here in the North East.

Check back here with me after Bead Fest to see about a Blog Contest I'm going to have for people that want to make things with these shards...
(guess I'm going to have to offer them for sale somewhere and in some sort of grouping through Etsy too...)

If you like this post (and or my blog in general), and you have a blog, I'd really appreciate any extra added links back to my blog. I feel like I'm a bit behind with technology and want to catch up and appreciate any help your links could provide!

Have fun playing with beads and clay!!!