Studio Time Is Amazing...

I love times like this...

Finally having time to work on new "work".

Thank You Bonnie for showing me how to weave beads like this!

A fun girls beading night - this project was an unexpected but I've been SO wanting to play with beads and all that greek leather and my buttons I've had for years...

Button stash from my days of selling at bead shows.

I'm thinking of putting some of these buttons into groups and selling them in my Etsy shop.

What do you think?

I finally finished glazing a bunch of work that was taking up "creative space" on my slab roller.

Ah - nice and clean - and just one container of pieces for one glaze put aside in the "to do" area.

Will have lots of glazing to do this next week...

I made a new variation of the Pagoda tops - or Ring Holders.

I wanted something a bit more substantial than these (which were my first experimentations).

They will be glazed up and added to my Etsy shop soon.

I've been working on making small beads with large holes.

You know - for those projects with leather and multiple strands...

I worked obsessively for a few days in the studio which I have not done for a very long time.

The creative rush was flowing and I just wish there was a way to capture all the thoughts and ideas that were busily tumbling through my head...

Here is the bisque kiln loaded - ready to get nice and hot so the pieces are hard enough to glaze without disturbing the texture...

Here are some test glazes that I'm working on.

I can see a lot of work being painted like this in the next couple of weeks!

And some of my pendants that I'm trying to glaze up and put aside for the next round of "pendant destash" which will be happening in early March.

Here is my kiln full of clay shards and "shard" bead cones and "shard" beads...

It feels good to have a whole series of work based upon my shard pieces.

Delighted is the word I would use to describe how I feel about it...

And after the firing - a peek into it when it was still a bit too hot to open.

At Cone 6 the nichrome wire sags, so you have to be sure to balance and spread out the beads & pendants so they don't touch in the firing and fuse permanently together.

Above are some of the shard bead cones.

The ones that are glazed white are for ideas that I've got for wedding type jewelry.

My step-sister is getting married in October 2012 and I've been inspired to play with ideas for brides.

Not necessarily for her wedding,

But for others that might be looking for something more unique and out of the norm.

And Shard Beads - Tube beads...

Small and Large holed pieces.

Oh, the ideas are flowing...

I need to really break out my sketch book and capture some before they are gone in the regular running around here in my life...

I plan on working for the next couple of weeks on glazing more pieces.

So keep an eye out for updates on how things are coming along and when my Etsy shop update is going to be...

And while I'm at it - blogging that is...
I'm throwing this post up on the Beads of Clay monthly blog hop for:
Second Saturday, State of Your Studio.

If you've got a creative space, you should join in by adding your blog post as a link...