Fall Tradition I'd Like To Share

Second Blog Commenter Winner is SueBeads! Congratulations!!!

Days are getting shorter...

A chill is in the air...

Leafs have started to change color and are falling to the ground...

And a spark of new excitement enters our lives...

The Fall Holidays are upon us...

In our house that means we break into monthly decorating, including Pumpkin Carving...

Dave and I have been the Halloween Pumpkin Carving ring leaders in the last couple of years... Probably because we are the most child-like, holiday loving, big kids in the family (on his side anyway). We get together with everyone right before Halloween night, scoop out pumpkins, toast the pumpkin seeds, and spend hours with all the kids (adults included) carving out pumpkins.

Here are some funny pictures from when we first started dating and getting "our" holiday traditions underway...

To get ready for the family pumpkin carving event we put the word out to pick the date, pick the carving themes, get the pumpkins, and of course, bring out all of the cool tools (clay carving tools are especially handy!)

Dave usually starts the pumpkin carving and I finish up with the details...

One of the sites we use for templates for the pumpkins is Zombie Pumpkins.

Here are some images of pumpkins past...

We also have made it a fall tradition to go to a local farm to pick out our pumpkins. My friend Natalie has a small farm right up the road from us... how convenient!

I think I've found someone else that will actually like scooping out the pumpkins and getting seeds... Yay Chloe!!!

Last year Dave thought it would be cool to take a picture of Chloe and put it into grayscale then attempt carving the image out...

Kind of creepy, but yet, kind of cool...

We've got a bit more practicing to do with this technique...

Some tips I'd like to share with you about pumpkin carving...

1. Pick out your theme ahead of time so you can find the design and the right shaped pumpkin to work with that picture.

2. When carving a pumpkin with multiple layers, play with thickness of pumpkin (scoop out more or less from the inside) to give shadowing more depth.

3. Use a stapler to attach the template to the outside of the pumpkin in order to outline the design without moving it.

4. Try different tools! There are electric pumpkin carving tools out in a lot of the stores - Dave and the other boys love those... I prefer the hand held saws for more control, but have to admit... when your hand gets tired, that little electric cutter is awesome!

5. Have a couple of extra pumpkins, just incase you have little ones that don't have the patience to carve in detail like this. Painting pumpkins is a lot of fun for them too!

Tips on Roasting The Pumpkin Seeds:

I separate out the seeds from the guts, but don't rinse them. In a bowl, coat with a little bit of vegetable oil, salt to taste (try different flavors by using garlic salt or other seasonings in separate batches), mix in bowl, put on parchment paper on a baking sheet, and bake for about 20 minutes in an oven around 350 until they are toasty brown. I have yet to perfect this, and think I may attempt to stir the seeds mid-way, and bake a little longer. I like my seeds crunchy toasty brown...

Thanks for stopping by for this Blog Open Studio Event!

Remember to check out my Etsy Shop and other Beads of Clay Artists Blogs...

Open Studio Blog Giveaway #2

Giveaway Number 2 is one of my oval large pendants in my Wallpaper Flower Design in my Asian Green Red Glaze.

Just make a comment on this post and you will be entered into a random drawing to win this pendant! Good Luck!!!

Step Into My Studio Space...

Congratulations Lorelei on winning the 2pm giveaway!!!

Here are some pictures of my physical studio space...

It is purely functional at this time as the place where I go to make stuff...

Not the place where I go to find inspiration...

I mentally block out the "basement" surroundings when I'm working by listening to music, drinking hot tea (or coffee when not pregnant) and just zoning out and getting to work...

I am in the process of moving all of my business, studio and bead stuff all into one space...

Seems like that will never end!

And as my good friend Kelly of Beadfuddled often says with a laugh, of those of us with studio spaces in the basement: "We're all a bunch of cellar dwellers..."

This is the area where I sit and create pieces or glaze...

When you first walk into my studio area this is what you currently see on your left. And what you may notice if you were physically here: under that counter space sits 2 Kitty Litter Boxes. They've got to be somewhere in the house...

Down at the end, some of my storage shelving that holds tools, older test glazes, my texture plates, clay and plaster storage on the bottom shelves, and a place for a number of oddities...

Contents of one of the shelves with a lot of my pottery and carving tools...

Here are where I keep my hand carved texture plates that I use to make my textured porcelain pendants. Have a lot more than this too, these are just the ones I commonly use...

As you turn a little to your right, you run into the space where I can usually be found working. Complete with Peeves the cat chewing on some of my carving tools. Bad Kitty... time to move those tools back onto their shelf...

Here is a closer look of my working space. I use the end of my slab roller to work. It's the perfect height and area - and my favorite and most used piece of equipment in the studio...

This is where I've started to sort all of the pieces for my new line of decal pendants...

Sticking with my new studio "creative place" mantra:

All in one place, neat and organized so I can spend more time creating and less time searching...

Below is a quick shot of my clay wedging table and clay storage underneath...

And as you keep turning to your right, here is the kiln room we built so we could have proper ventilation and a safe place to run them without kitties, kids and myself running into hot kilns.

And Peeves knows she isn't allowed into that kiln room, so she usually sits outside waiting for me to finish loading a kiln to get some attention...

See her mouth open? She talks like I do... A lot...

And with your last turn right again, you are facing some additional shelving that holds bisque pendant stock and you are at the door you came through in the first place...

CURRENTLY HAPPENING IN MY STUDIO:

Inspired by Almost-Ready-To-Open Morning Glory Flowers...

Picked from the garden...

Balls of clay, rolled in between the wooden texture plates

(in the opposite direction than the shards)

Clay Twirls with the tight flower petals...

In Chocolate Clay and Porcelain Clay...

Here is a bit of a close up before going into the bisque kiln...

Bisque fired, glazed, into the glaze firing, out of the kiln, and to be sorted for sale through my Etsy shop and bead shows...

OPEN STUDIO UP NEXT:

3 pm EST: Blog Commenters Giveaway #2

3:15 pm EST: Winner Announced

3:30 pm pm EST: Fall Tradition I'd Like To Share

First Commenter Giveaway

Here is a picture of the first giveaway for the day...

These are my brand new "Clay Twirls" that just came out of the glaze kiln last night.

You just have to leave a comment on this blog post to be entered to win, at random, these three sets of clay twirls...

The winner will be announced at 2pm!

Good Luck!!!

Marsha Neal Studio Open Studio Welcome...

Welcome to the Marsha Neal Studio Blog Open Studio!

Part of Beads-of-Clay Blog Fall Open Studio Event...

All day today I will be running a 40% off sale through my

Marsha Neal Studio Etsy Shop

All of the prices have been reduced already so the price you see will be the price you pay.

Shipping will happen on Tuesday, October 27 so I can have time to combine multiple items.

There will also be 2 commenters giveaways today through this blog

(and via the other participating artists: Click Here for a list).

On the giveaway blog posts, just comment and you will be entered to win the item pictured on that blog post.

The first at 1:45 pm EST.

The second at 3 pm EST.

The winners will be announced 15 minutes later.

If you are a winner, contact the artist with your address via email.

Ok, enough with those details...

On with the show... Part 1:

INTRODUCTION OF THE ARTIST

I've been working with ceramic clay since 1997 when I took a beginning ceramics class at the University of Delaware. After graduation in 2001 I spent some time trying to figure out how I could continue to work with clay, pay off school loan debt, and where the heck my life was going...

Here are some pictures of my work from my time at the University:

Studio space and early works (underwater sea scape tile and Raku box):

MA thesis work:

Basically small alien and organic forms that I created by throwing clay on a potters wheel and texturing press mold pieces, then joining them...

I felt pretty uncomfortable in the "art world" at the University coming from a background in Entomology as an undergraduate. I felt at home in the ceramics studio itself and spent most of my time there making things. But having to put meaning to those things... that was where I myself felt alien...

Installation at the Urban Environmental Center in Wilmington, DE

Since graduation in 2001, I started to work on smaller scale pieces, concentrating on mainly pendants and beads made from Porcelain clay (and recently, a chocolate clay as well).

To view my current line of porcelain pendants, you can visit my website:

MarshaNealStudio.com

or my MarshaNealStudio.Etsy.com Etsy Shop

On a personal note about me, and not my work...

Since graduation I have gotten married, had a baby, and currently am expecting baby #2 in January 2010. We've got 2 cats: Stinker and Peeves. And we just love spending time together as a family...

We moved into a larger house a few years ago which had a bit more room for my studio which had been taking over almost every inch of the townhouse from before and in preparation for the family we knew we wanted to have...

I've got lots of garden space, and we back up to a small patch of woods, right in the middle of a suburban setting. We have lots of critters around us from White Tailed Deer, Red Foxes, Racoons, Opossums, many, many birds, garter snakes, and so on... It's a great place to raise kids and expose them to nature...

Check out my garden blog for more on that...

Marsha's Garden Blog

OPEN STUDIO UP NEXT:

1:45 pm EST: Blog Commenters Giveaway #1

2 pm EST: Winner Announced

2:15 pm EST: Step Into My Studio

Peek At Fall Open Studio Blog Inspirations...

Here is a sneak peek into some of the stuff I've been working on as I am pulling together information and pictures to share with you all on Sunday, Oct. 25 (1-4pm EST) during the Beads-Of-Clay Bloggers Open Studio Event.

First there are some inspirational photos to look at that I've taken from my garden...

These first two are from late summer, the latter are quite recent...

There is something about the way flower petals open and close that captivate me...

The way that they delicately fold and curl...

The way that they are held in place,

On their "plant pedestal" to be held so delicately while growing and blooming...

Seed pods and flower petals...

Something I've always enjoyed...

Something I've always wanted to incorporate into my work - somehow...

And now that I am taking some time to refocus on my work...

And really draw from my inspirations...

To recreate not exactly what I see,

But to make my own components from what I see...

And from what my friend Laina of Artful Bead Studio & Workshop did with one of my shards...

And other artists as well (see Flickr site and add your own pictures)

I can see that I'm on the right path...

Wonder how they will look glazed...

And within other finished pieces too...

I'm thinking more beads...

And materials such as felt...

Make sure to stop back in a few days to see more...

I will be uploading new stuff to my Etsy shop for the open house as well!