Through The Eyes Of A Child (To Dream...)

Sometimes life keeps throwing you curve balls.

Our recent family curve since August of last year is 7 people have passed away.

A few more are dealing with life changing medical diagnosis (cancer, disease, and such).

It is getting a bit crazy.

But there is hope. There is love. There is laughter...

 And there is imagination...

The drawing above is from my daughter (4 years old).

It is a picture she drew of me. With colored spirals in my hair.

I adore her vision. Her imagination. Her view on life.

The other day my son (2 years old) stopped and laid down in the grass in our front yard,

While we were busy with fixing up some parts of the garden that needed tending.

Mind you, he is not quite graceful as he is only 2, and we at first were unsure at what he was doing.

Dave to Riley: "What's wrong buddy, are you ok?"

Riley to Dave: "Yook Daddy. Yook at the Clouds. Up Dere!"

Made me think more about stopping and looking around a bit more.

I've gotten out of that habit recently - and I'm not thrilled with it.

 My garden has been such a work in progress.

A propagation garden. Trying to grow as many plants as possible, see what makes it garden.

Mostly natives. Mostly with insects and birds in mind.

Also - enough hostsa and day lilies to keep the deer from dead heading all else (not working that well though - but not hurting either).

So I've now planted some cucumbers, sugar snap peas, and two blueberry bushes in hopes of having some fresh food again this year. The deer eat mostly everything - so until we have formal raised beds (next year perhaps?) I'm just throwing some seeds in and seeing what we get.

 And at the garden center, I couldn't pass up on some color and texture in the garden now that my cone flowers are out again for this year's growing season (although there are some growing. I will pull them soon).

These two photos are annual Osteospermum's (African Daisy).

Above is the Zion Copper Amethyst.

Below is the Serenity White Bliss.

And in the studio...

What few hours I've had to spend there recently...

I have been working on glazing bead pairs.

 All of these bead pairs will be photographed first for color and shape.

I've got plans on adding these to my Marsha Neal Studio website shopping cart where anyone can go in and order a specific set of beads.

 There will of course be parameters.

I have to set limits.

Not only for the sake of actually being able to follow through with something like this undertaking,

Because computer applications are based on set parameters.

And to be able to keep my sanity, I must limit what I offer...

 So there will be "general" parameters:

1. Bead size.

2. Bead shape.

3. Bead hole diameter.

4. Bead color.

I am not one for measuring out the size of clay by extruding a coil of clay, measuring lengths, cutting exactly, rolling a perfect shape, and making sure the hole is exactly perfectly round.

That is what machines are for. 

I am not a machine. 

I am a person.

I like going into the studio and rolling out clay, cutting out lengths, making beads in whatever texture and shape suits me at the moment...

Then when it comes to glazing - that is when I need direction limits.

Because without them, I would be lost for hours upon hours (days actually) just glazing away with any color I wanted in lots of quantities... 

Then would run out of beads and have to make more beads, to glaze in more colors...

Wait. That is what I have been doing.

Oh - and I have another glaze shipment arriving today with "more new colors".

Somebody stop me. I'm obsessed!!!

So for now I'm slowly working on beads.

And photographing beads.

And making and glazing more beads...

Then sorting beads into a website shopping cart...

All in amongst all the other things in life.

And hopefully catching a few days here and there to look at things around me and do some cloud watching with the little ones...

So that's what's going on with me.

I'm letting go of all the guilt of not being able to do everything.

Just trying to eek out things here and there.

Riding this wave of life into the shore (still can't quite see the coast line yet - but I know it is there...).

Thank you for continuing to support me and my work.

Don't forget to add your photos or listings by direct URL of the work you are making with any of my clay or silks I sell through my Etsy shop or Website to my "Creations" page of this blog!

I love to see what you are making and will hopefully help you sell some of it too...

Hope you are keeping your head up & looking at some clouds too!

Finding Some Holiday Cheer...

Friday evening our little family of four ventured out for dinner and some Christmas Cheer.

And around here, the place to go for some awesome Christmas Light displays is Longwood Gardens.

It is an annual tradition since I can remember.

I love how this fountain display doesn't change every year.

Insert your favorite Holiday Song (instrumental version) and fountains moving to it and you're there!

It is magical seeing something with your kids, that you remember as a child...

And that every year there is a new theme and the trees are all just a bit different…

I love the red and white lights (they remind me of peppermint - which I love!)

And this is my favorite light wrapping technique.

I hate doing it (frustrating & too many lights & branches to deal with)...

But I love seeing the tree structure like this at night!

Oh, and in the Conservatory - how grand this inside garden is!

Pretty formal for my garden taste - but I can admire the design that goes into it.

I love the visual layering of the lines, texture & color...

The smell of paper-whites is everywhere inside this building.

It is not the most pleasant smell - reminds Dave and I of a Sharpie marker…

But is is a scent that brings back memories of Christmas Time here with family from years ago...

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The theme this year is Gingerbread…

There were gingerbread decorations everywhere...

And this - the Conservatory in Gingerbread…

And huge jars filled with so much candy!

Wish it smelled more like Gingerbread than Paper-whites…

But there were gingerbread scents here and there..

And the trees were dripping with decorations…

Seriously… dripping with SO many decorations!

We always save the Children's water garden for last.

We have learned to bring a change of clothes due to it being - well. Wet...

If we time it right, the change of clothes is feety pajamas.

Perfect so the little ones can be ready for a sleepy car ride home...

Then all bundled up with hats, gloves, scarves…

The kids in their pj's snuggled in blankets with their jackets, hats, gloves & scarves on…

We venture back out through the gardens to admire the outside lights one more time…

This was our favorite tree there - it was immense!

I especially loved snapping this photo of a man taking a photo of three of his girl friends posing in front of the big tree… 

Their silhouettes posing were so much fun to watch against the bright lights…

An family night out was exactly what we all needed!

With my dad through a successful surgery (went as the doctor expected) and now on the hopefully normal slightly bumpy road to recovery...

We were all able to actually enjoy this outing just that much more & we were able to exhale a bit too.

Hope this brings you some cheer as well.

Thank you for all the well wishes & prayers!

It means so much more than you will ever know… 

Thank You!!!

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

Happy Holidays to you!

I Heart Macro… Grasshopper

This week for Lori's I Heart Macro event,

I give you a picture of a grasshopper that I snapped with my iPhone & hand lens…

If I had the time I would spend hours peering into my garden and capturing these fleeting moments on digital media.

Stop on by and see what everyone else is posting on the Studio Waterstone Blog.

New Silk Color Palettes Inspired By Nature

Nature through the lens of my iPhone Hipstamatic app inspires my color palettes…

The different combinations of "lenses and film"can give you rich colors that vary from the exact spectrum as we see it with our naked human eye.

Marsha Neal Studio iPhone Hipstamatic Image.

Marsha Neal Studio iPhone Hipstamatic Image.

Marsha Neal Studio iPhone Hipstamatic Image.

Marsha Neal Studio iPhone Hipstamatic Image.

Marsha Neal Studio iPhone Hipstamatic Image.

Marsha Neal Studio iPhone Hipstamatic Image.

Marsha Neal Studio iPhone Hipstamatic Image.

Looking at these photos - is it any wonder that I have a lot of blue-green-purple palette variations?

I'll take these photos with my iPhone Hipstamatic app.

Then the photos get opened in the ColorSchemer app.

From my photo I can pick out all kinds of color palettes and save them to my file.

This is what a screen shot of my iPhone looks like from a bunch of the above photos:

From this point, I can go down to my studio and pull out a bunch of silks that I think go with these palettes.

Colors are not always an exact match, but I like to pull the silks and see what works...

I prefer to see color palettes by using a bit of a the squinting blurry eye technique anyway, so I am ok with working from photos that are not quite perfectly in focus.

And here is a sampling of the new color palettes that are starting to show up in my Etsy Shop:

You can buy these silks from me through my Etsy shop.
Pricing is per strand:
2mm Silk Strands Retail at $3 ea.
4 for $10 ($2.50 each)
*10 for $20 ($2 each)
30 for $54 ($1.80 each)
50 for $85 ($1.70 each)
100 for $160 ($1.60 each)


The Silks as "Knot Bundles" sell as
10 individual 2mm silks in a bundle for $20


I've got a few bundles that only have 5 silks in them for $12.50 each.
This way you can get a sampling without dropping a fast $20.


However, if you want to mix and match a bunch of knots, I will price them out for you according to the price list above for the total quantity your are purchasing.


You can do this easily too by just figuring out your silk quantity total, then selecting one of the "pick your own color palette" listings with the correct total number of silks, then just list the ones you want (including individual colors, OOAK palettes in the shop, named color palettes, etc).


Like always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
I'll get back to you as soon as possible…


Wholesale inquiries must be willing to meet 100 silk minimum for each purchase consisting of at least 5 of any one particular color and silk type. 
Must have a valid business license.
Email me if you are interested & I'll send you a pdf of the details:
Marsha {at} MarshaNealStudio.com
*remove spacing and brackets in my email address*

State of Your Studio Saturday...

Over on BOC I create a monthly post on the 2nd saturday where artists that blog can link up their post about the current State of your Studio.

The state of my clay studio right now - well, I couldn't even tell you what it looks like. I have some porcelain rolled out into slabs from about a month ago, covered in plastic - waiting to be made into cutout flowers. And I just came across my glaze tests on the dining room table (the place where I put the tray last month after photographing the test tiles for my monthly glaze post).

My mind and hands have been in the garden. I have been dividing plants and donating a number of them to non-profit organization plant sales in the last month. My interests in gardening with sustainability in mind is at the forefront.

August 2010 Main Hill Garden

The lack of an overall "design" in my garden is bugging the crap out of me. Maybe it is just impatience and lack of funds to buy more plants (Yes - I have a plant addiction, much like my bead addiction). Wish the plant center would trade beads or jewelry with my beads for plants… Maybe they will - hmmm…

For now, I continue to divide my perennials and plant more plants to help increase the availability of pollen, nectar, seed, and habitat for the wildlife. But it is getting to be too much of the same thing repeated around in the different garden areas. So it need to focus more on design to be balanced for that human aspect that is incorporated within the idea of garden sustainability.

Blood-root in amongst vines. These were transplanted after flowering.

I'm irked at all the vines growing at the edge of my garden and woods. I am strongly considering having a contractor come in and clear that area, leaving only one oak tree in place. Just to get a bit of control back and to make sense of that area and to get rid of those invasive vines that are choking out the trees and fragmented woodland understory plants. 

Some early vines and plants that will soon take over this area.

So little by little, I am digging up the native plants that I can get to and moving them to a better location so when we have the funds, and it is the right time of the year (fall I believe - after bird nesting season), I can say - take it all, except that oak, out…

Oh, and one project that I am working on for my Native Teaching Garden for Master Gardeners is a list of native plants for shade gardens that can actually be found at local nurseries around here. There is already a list of native plants for the demonstration garden. Not that it will be used, but I think a list of native plants, that are usually available to the general public is quite helpful to have. At this point of my education, I get so confused with all the names being thrown about.

So the next step will be me taking my camera and photographing the plant in prime growth season, with a label in front of it so I can get some things straight in my head. Learning a whole new language here…

I wonder if I'll get into the studio (other than for orders) between now and next month's post for the BOC State of Your Studio Saturday… 

Somehow, I doubt it. I'll be back in there once we arrive at 80 degree days and I can't stand to be outside in the heat...

A New Week (Already?)...

Wow - Spring is here! This week temperatures are supposed to stay above freezing at night, and get up into the 50-60's (today is a freak day - 73 degrees possible?!).

I have been meaning to keep up with my blog a bit more, but honestly, I have been overwhelmed with what I want to post, so I just don't because it would be super huge long posts…

So here is the current State of My Studio (part of the Beads of Clay Blog Series - late I know…)

So here is my Jewelry Making Table (for Bead Table Wednesday)

I broke into my huge stash of artists beads and Love using Joanne Zekowski's glass beads.

I sure hope she comes back to BeadFest this year so I can get more!

I do randomly throw up pics on my MNS FB page as I work. If you "like" my MNS FB page you can see those pics as I post them and use the 10% off code for my Marsha Neal Studio Etsy shop for my Facebook Fans: "FaceBookFan10".

Here is one of my earring pairs in hand. I really love the way this Autumn glaze puddles purple blue and some hints of copper in it… 

I am still struggling with photography of my pieces for Etsy.

A lot of photos that are up there were taken with my iPhone because I could get it to work better than the digital SLR. Less frustrating… Or so I thought because now that I look at the pieces up in my Etsy shop… the darn pictures are blurry. So I need to re-photograph a lot of them.

Luckily I think I may have an idea about what I am doing. Not 100% yet, but I'm getting there…

But this means that I need to go through all the pieces in that photo above (there are layers of trays btw) I need to figure what is actually listed in my shop, of those: what I need to rephotograph. 

Which ones are photographed, but not listed and are those photographs ok or will they be blurry too?

And will the sunlight, camera battery, my patience, and computer - which is currently telling me I am dangerously low on available storage space where I am saving my pictures (time to clean that up as well) all cooperate? 

We'll see…

Oh, and I'm going to give Etsy Stalker a try for April

I am very curious about different ways of marketing and getting your work out there.

Then there is my garden and woods. Right now is the time to pull out the first emerging invasive plants (they like to get a head start on and suffocate out the natives) and the plants I just don't want around (poison ivy, sticker bushes, etc). So I'm getting in as much garden time on Tues & Thurs afternoons after my garden training is done…

Just me, a rake and a pair of rubber faced gloves…

Cleared about 80' by about 15' of the area where our neglected, invasive full woods meets our lawn (or the soon to be replanted wildlife habitat).

Christmas Rose Hellebore

But I'm not one of those gardeners that is "strictly native" when it comes to planting my garden. 

I've struggled with this for a while. 

Through confusion & guilt - but I'm figuring out some stuff and feel like I can stand my ground now. 

I'll post about native plant gardening over on my garden blog soon. 

These Hellebores are not a US native. They are from Europe (which is why they are often seen in the "deer resistant" part of the nursery - our local wildlife cannot digest them - I do believe most are poisonous as well). 

So this is a plant that I plant for myself in the garden.

I as caretaker of my garden want to have certain things in my garden. 

This is one of them. 

I love the way that they appear out of the snow in January into February. 

That they bloom when everything else is just tiny nubs… 

This was the plant that I was able to find for my mom to see out in her garden in the early spring when she was fighting Leukemia. 

So to support myself as part of the garden ecosystem (because without me, those invasive plants would take over and the natives I plant to support many levels of life, would get suffocated out), I plant these and a few others that I enjoy. 

Hopefully not causing another level of invasion… 

But really, who wins that argument?

It is about so much more than drawing a line and seeing which side you are on.

More over on my garden blog…

Not much clay work going on… 

Hmmm. 

I think I am going to hop into the studio for a bit right now!

Thanks for stopping by!

Spring Is Arriving Around Here...

Congrats Rosalynn for winning my Second Giveaway! (email me your shipping address).

I love that we live in Delaware, situated right in the nook and cranny of the Mid-Atlantic region of the Eastern United States. Not thrilled about the air quality and a few other things, but at least we experience fully all four seasons...

My 2011 Winter Garden (above) is no longer covered in white.

Small tips of green and purple are poking through the soil...

Soon my main side-hill garden will look like this (deer included).

The Dark Eyed Juncos that visited with us all winter will head north. 

These decaying seed husks will be cut back and replaced by new growth…

Speaking of new growth - this blog is about to grow some new appendages.

I will be making posts about my garden and helping to educate anyone that wants to learn a bit more about gardening as I am going through my Master Gardeners training from now through summer (one of the major life changing things going on for me).

 I am excited to see if any of the seeds from this spent cone flower will produce any new plants this year.

I added about 6 varieties of cone flowers to my garden last year.
Most scattered in the garden bed along the front walk where that annual brown grass is.
It is going to be fun to see how this photo will change this year.

And to use my images for new work.

Not just pendant related...

This is a photo of the little gray barn that sits vacant now for years here in Hockessin.

I looked into renting it before the economy went into the dump.

$16 a square foot at the time. No thanks. Not going to happen...

And this place - an old farmhouse and garden nursery - vacant for years.

Walking distance from my house.

Itching to become an artists studio - don't you think?

Maybe "captain tight pants" could help out there…

I was so delighted to see this in the Southwest Airlines Flight Magazine last April, I had to get a picture!

Oh, Mal… (Sorry for the detour from clay beads - would love to see Firefly take off again!)

And I think it would be awesome if someone as cool as Nathan could invest in a project like this artists studio. 

Just throwing it out there…

Ok - time to go back to Beads-of-Clay to check out other artists posts.

Stop back here for a closing from me.

And remember my clay pieces are marked down 20% on sale in my etsy shop.

My FB fans have an extra code to use (click like on my page and you are welcome to use it too).

And all items purchased through my Etsy shop through midnight get you entered to win a chance for up to 3 $25 MNS Etsy shop gift certificates!

As of 3pm - only 1 item sold, so it's like easy money if you buy something…

See you soon!