Blogging Events and Open House...

Hello Everyone...

Have you heard about the Open Studio Beads-of-Clay Bloggers Event?

During this event, 16+ Earth Clay Bead Makers will be hosting an open studio through their blogs to give you a bit of an insight into their creative, and often messy (we work with clay!) lives. During the event, they will be present to answer questions as time allows...

You will see pictures of their spaces,

Works in progress,

Their inspirations,

Something "fall" related from traditions, events, a recipe, or whatever comes to mind.

They have been asked to participate in two giveaways for blog commenters during the event, and to consider hosting some sort of "special" through their Etsy shops for that day as well.

That means that there will be chances to get your hands on over 32 different treasures that day if you stop by during 1-4pm EST and comment on the appropriate posting on each blog.

If you can't stop by that day, make sure to catch up that night. Many of the Artists will be hosting their Etsy shop specials through Midnight that night... And the blog postings will remain, so you will have a lot of time to go back and spend some time in cyberspace, in their studios.

I thought I would take some time to quick post some links to some other Blogging Events and Studio Open House Blogging Events to help give the participating artists and the visitors a little insight into what to expect. Not saying the blogs will duplicate these, but talk about being inspired by the creativity of these Artists Blogging Events...

Vanessa Valencia's Blog:

She throws magnificent Blog Halloween Events

2009

And Vanessa's 2008 Halloween Event (Click Here)

Jennifer of Jangles hosted an Open Studio Blog Event Last Year...

Heather of Humble Beads hosted an Open Studio Event not too long ago...

Artists, you've got a week to go now to pull this all together. I would highly suggest having everything ready to go before the open house so you can sit with a warm cup of cocoa and a fall treat of your own while viewing the other blogs and responding to comments and giveaways on your own blog...

Don't be overwhelmed... Have Fun!!!

Short checklist:

1. BOC recommended guidelines for open studio?

Contact Mary Harding if you need a copy

2. Are you advertising for the open studio on your blog right now?

I've created some images for you to copy and paste for use on your side bar of your blog or in a blog posting or your website... If you have a newsletter, have you sent any info out about this event?

3. Have pictures taken, and blogs written, ready to be uploaded during the event.

4. Decide what your giveaways are going to be, and maybe post some pictures ahead of time to entice viewers to comment so they can have a chance to win the little treasures...

5. Decide on what your Etsy shop special will be for that day, and please run through midnight so people that can't make it to the open house will still have a chance to participate by purchasing your wonderful items...

6. Have links in each blog posting for the following

(for ease of visitor navigation):

Beads-of-Clay.Blogspot.com

(so visitors can click to other participating artists blogs)

Your Etsy Shop

(which should also have a link back to your blog)

If this event goes well, we will plan on doing more of them in the future...

So don't stress about having everything done and perfect for this one event.

People want to see into the lives of artists - and we know that often artist studios are in shambles during our most creative times.

Be yourself, be interesting, and add a touch of humor...

Everyone likes to be entertained and feel human once and a while...

Email me if you feel overwhelmed or have questions...

Beads-of-Clay Bloggers Open Studio Event Pictures

Beads-Of-Clay.Blogspot

Bloggers Fall Open Studio Event

On Sunday, October 25, 2009

1-4pm EST

Keep checking out the Beads-of-Clay Blog for a list of participating artists (deadline for signing up is Wednesday, Oct. 14) and a schedule of events for the Open Studio...

I spent some time this evening trying to figure out how to put some images together for this event to make it stand out a bit...

And so some of the participating artists can easily create their own to help promote the event on their blogs...

Here is one "mosaic" version...

Which I discovered how to do it by coming across a post on one of my garden blog links:

Little Red House

This particular link is to her tutorial on how to make a photo mosaic - and it's WONDERFUL!!!

I took 2 recent pictures of my new glaze fall glaze colored pieces, then used one of my photograph images of something "fall-ish"...

I quick created this info block, and with those 4 images, created the mosaic...

Before figuring out the mosaic technique, I used my fall photo to add this block of orange and black type to make a small floating ad for the side of my blog...

If you are a participating Beads-of-Clay Blog, Fall Open Studio Artist, you are welcome to use these pictures to help promote the event on your blog. And please, add pictures of your own beads! Hopefully this will help you save some time and get you excited about the event...

I welcome comments about the photos and mosaics if you care to leave some input for me...

I am by no means a professional at this kind of thing and am just giving it a try...

Thanks!

HERE IS THE UPDATED LIST OF PARTICIPATING ARTISTS IN THIS EVENT AS OF 10/15/09:

MarshaNealStudio http://www.marshanealstudioblog.blogspot.com
MaryHardingJewleryhttp://www.maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com
Chinook Jewelry http://chinookdesigns.blogspot.com
Diane Hawkey http://dianehawkey.blogspot.com
Marsha Hedrick http://porcelainart.blogspot.com
Joan Tucker http://offcenterproductions.blogspot.com
Indian Creek Studios http://pampots.blogspot.com
Lisa Peters http://lisa-petersart.blogspot.com
Kristie Roeder http://artisanclay.blogspot.com

Tracy Isley http://tracyisley.blogspot.com
Melanie Earthenwood Studio http://earthenwood-beads.blogspot.com
Winchell Clay Works http://www.winchell-clayworks.com
Summers Studio http://summersstudio.blogspot.com
Jessica Sharrah http://jessicasharrah.blogspot.com
Creative Impressions in Clay http://www.claybuttons.blogspot.com
EveryHeartCrafts http://everyheartcrafts.blogspot.com
Donna Kornegay http://blingbeadsandjewelry.blogspot.com

Round Belly...

I've been offline for over a bit of a week really...

Due to a family visit (my dad and step-mom up from FL) which was quite long overdue...

So for those of you wondering how my round belly is coming along,

I thought I'd post a quick picture that I just took from my photobooth on my Mac:

Here is my round baby belly:

It's funny how once your belly starts to stick out farther than your boobs,

You actually feel like you are looking pregnant, and not just fat...

And so far, this second pregnancy of mine has been so much harder on me than my first with Chloe...

I thought that it was because it's a 2nd pregnancy and that my muscles are different than they were before, and that maybe I've been having such breathing issues because I'm only 5' 1" and everything in there is really pushing up on my lungs (out of breath going up or down a flight of stairs... forget going up 2 flights without taking a break to seriously catch my breath).

It's got me a little freaked out thinking about all this Swine Flu crap and that it's being reported how women in their third trimester are more prone to getting pneumonia and dying (due to compressed lungs because baby is taking up so much room). But really - is it any different with Swine Flu vs the regular Flu. I don't think so... Well, I hope not anyway... I'm just trying to keep my sinuses clear and keep healthy really... I am planning looking into the regular Flu Vaccine and possibly a Pneumonia vaccine before considering the H1N1 Vaccine.

Anyway... Sorry to vent about some things that have been on my brain recently...

Back to what I started to say...

Well, Riley (baby #2) finally gave me a bit of a break in the last couple of days. He must've flipped or rotated into a new position that makes me feel SO much better! I can now feel his swimming antics on both sides of my belly and from top to bottom of my growing belly - not just all on my right side. THANK GOD!!!

Let's just hope that he stays where he is for the next three months, just wiggling around and growing... No more flips in there little boy, or mommy is going to put you in a time out (or just deprive him of the little treats of chocolate he's been getting via mommy)! Not sure yet...

Hope all is well with you all!

Thanks for stopping by...

9 New Glaze Colors for Fall

So here they are...

Some quick pictures of the new glaze colors that I'm planning on adding to the line of Marsha Neal Studio Glaze Colors sometime this fall 2009.

If you like any of these glazes, you can use their numbers and names (the ones that have names) to order them, just make a note of it in the "message" part of the order via Marsha Neal Studio Online Shopping Cart...

The four letter code after the name will be my catalog code for that particular glaze.

#1 New Glaze: Rhubarb "RHUB"

Pinkish Red background breaking Blueish Purple:

UPDATED 10/14/09:

#2 New Glaze: Torched Copper "TOCO"

Thanks to Marie Dodd for naming this new glaze!

(And THANKS to everyone for the name suggestions!!!)

This glaze breaks blue/purple where it hits the texture and the background can have a brown/purple tone to it. Here is looks a little more brown...

#3 New Glaze: Midnight "MIDN"

Black breaking slight Blue and Brown:

#4 New Glaze: Blue Green "BLGR"

Blue puddling of glaze and Green background:

#5 New Glaze: Oceanarium "OCEA"

Metallic Spots of Blue, Green and some Purple

(darker green/blue shade of my older color: ASGR)

#6 New Glaze: Rusty Blue "RUBL"

Foamy Blue/Green glaze that breaks brown:

#7 New Glaze: Green Sea Glass "GRSG"

Pale to mid tones of green, more satin finish:

#8 New Glaze: Dusty Denim "DUDE"

Frothy Blue that breaks brown:

One of my favorites of the new colors!

#9 New Glaze: Pomegranate "POME"

Red/Pink/Purple-ish colors:

*changed PLUM to POME... more pink than purple to me, and just makes more sense...

Hope you like the new colors!!!

They are available now at shows run through D7 Studio (run by my friend Darlene).

Or you can purchase them via my online shopping cart by using the color codes above in the message part of the order. You can always do a follow up email to make sure things are as they should be... Will put them on there sometime soon...

Glaze Mixing Combinations and Kiln Firings

I would like to introduce some of my new fall colors here very soon...

But first, here is a bit of background of how I use commercial glazes to mix them to get special color combinations...

Above is the first step: line blending of 5 glazes.

Basically you take a test tile (this one is a 4" square) with my CS texture in my Porcelain Clay.

And you run each glaze vertically down the tile, then horizontally across.

About 2-3 coats of each glaze in each direction.

Fire in kiln to maturing temperature, let cool, then take notes on which combinations have potential for use...

NOTE: Horizontal vs Vertical positioning of tile will give different glaze results due to glaze movement down the tile and interaction with texture. Use this to your advantage!

Here I've got my test tile, my notes, measuring cups, marked for even ratios of glazes (I use water to fill and measure each one), rubber gloves, sharpie marker, and of course: glazes.

Here I've used my Sharpie to mark the cups with the glaze codes I'm mixing, then I make up a code of my own: such as 1A, 1B, 1C, etc and take notes. You can see in the picture above how some glazes just sit in layers.

So you've got to mix them up thoroughly...

Make sure to wipe excess glaze off into it's container, then clean your brush thoroughly.

NOTE: if you constantly wash your glaze brush off in your sink, you are going to clog your sink. So I recommend a cup of water to rinse your brushes in. Then in a day or two after the water has separated from the heavier glaze particles, you can slowly pour off the water, and let the glaze particles dry, then dispose of properly (I've got a friend that uses the dried glaze for a liner glaze, so it doesn't go to waste). These glazes all fire to the same temperature range!!!

So here are all my new glazes waiting to be put onto pendants to see how they interact with my textures and being fired on a vertical surface (see kiln loaded pictures below).

I work in batches. One glaze and a bunch of pendants. And small plastic food container cups (not ever used for food in my studio) to sort the pieces for each glaze.

Above is how I like to work - paint the front of the pieces with multiple coats - work according to shape and size, then flip over and glaze the backs. I then clean out each bead hole and go back to touch it up. So it is important to keep the pieces grouped within their glaze group until they are absolutely ready for the kiln.

This glazing part is where I can zone out for hours...

I think I must've been a painter in a former life, if that actually happens, because I love to paint!

This is my kiln room set up with rolling tables and temporary iPod for glaze kiln loading.

It can take upwards of three hours to load a kiln with all the pieces you see in the black tray to the right of this photo.

Ok - better shot of the black tray with "to be loaded" pieces. And my nichrome wire hooks - three gauges of wire, multiple size hooks all on my rolling table (which according to my Grandma Neal was the old butcher block used in my grandfather's restaurant to wheel out and serve and slice the prime rib at table side). Don't worry though - that was like 35+ years ago... and it sat in her garage or barn in her old farmhouse for most of that time... That was until I got my hands on it... It's a perfect fit between the kiln, wall, and myself when I'm loading the kiln. Then it wheels out when I clear the room for a firing...

This is the bottom layer of my "papa bear" kiln being loaded. See what I mean about the Vertical surface? The pieces are all hung vertically in the kiln, so the glaze runs down the piece and interacts with the textures instead of just sitting on the piece and puddling on the Horizontal flat surface if it were glazed only on one side (like one of my buttons or cabochons).

Bottom shelf bead trees are full, next level of shelves are being loaded...

Bottom shelf ate up a bunch of the larger pieces, and some small ones... Still a lot to go though. The little ones take so much longer to load and they like to jump off hooks often. Temperamental little buggers they can be! Especially when they like to land on the shelf below.

Here is the upper shelves loaded to the max. It takes a VERY steady and patient hand to load a kiln like this. I find that I can only do this in the mornings without any distractions. So everyone in the family knows if they call, and Dave says I'm loading a kiln, they won't hear from me for hours... and no, I won't just quick get the phone... Gotta love that man for fielding calls and doorbell rings like that for me!

And here it is folks - my moment of pure delight - an empty black box!

Then it's up to the kiln and weather to decide the final outcome of the pieces.

Which is why opening up a glaze kiln is often described as "Christmas Day"...

It's like getting a ton of tiny little gifts all at once if all goes well...

The next posts will contain some of the fired results of these test glazes, the names some people have picked, and a chance for your input to name one or more of them (I get to pick which names I like the best, and which ones have a code that will work in my catalog system). If I pick your glaze name, you get $50 to spend via my online shopping cart!

And I'll announce the names of the people that suggested names via Bead Fest Wire (May 2009) and Bead Fest Philly (August 2009) that won $50 gift certificates to the Marsha Neal Studio online shopping cart.

I wanted to have a big to do on here, but have decided I liked the names I got already for the bulk of the glazes from these two shows, and there are a few I'm stumped on and would like extra input from you all...

And time is running out for me because I'm trying to update my 2010 pendant catalog, Marsha Neal Studio website and need names and codes for the new glazes ASAP...

So let's see how this week goes and if I can get the pictures posted of the new glazes!

Check back soon!!!

Bird Pendants and Glaze Mixing Finds...

I feel like I'm getting a lot done today...

And all while having allergies and a slight sinus infection which means I'm walking around feeling like my head is in a bubble...

I've glazed pieces...

I've loaded and am firing a kiln...

Taken pictures of the garden, cropped and posted them on my garden blog...

Updated Etsy with some of my Chickadee and Dark Eyed Junco Pendants...

Updated my FaceBook page, which has been "glitchy" today...

Eaten a Bobbie from Capriotti's along with a small bag of Salt and Vinegar Kettle Cooked Chips (oh, am I regretting those chips now - pregnancy indigestion is not fun!)

And now Riley is happy and fed and he is beckoning me to take a nap...

It's a lot of work to digest that thanksgiving meal on a roll...

So here are some images I've taken recently...

The above picture is when I was measuring and mixing 2 glazes to come up with a new glaze color palette for this fall.

I love that stuff like this just happens...

It's like a natural flow in the studio...

When you are in the zone...

My little drawing of a Chickadee (front side)...

on one of my porcelain decal pendants

(new porcelain blank from Bisque Bead Supply!!!)

And of course, the back side...

Can't leave off it's tail, poor thing!

This back side always makes the bead ladies giggle with delight...

And yes, all of the larger pendants with these birds have a back side tail...

Smaller ones may not (I usually double side the small ones with one of each bird).

And the Dark Eyed Junco...

We should be seeing them arrive at our feeders sometime in the next month or so...

They arrive just before the cold weather starts to settle in...

And the Chickadee again on a round pendant.

And with that...

I'm off for an afternoon nap before picking up Chloe from school...

I think we are going to have some outdoor activities this afternoon including filling up our bird feeders, collecting seeds, blowing bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and visits from the neighborhood kids (they like to hang out with us for some reason... must be fun or something!)