Chinook Jewelry Blog

Back with a Bang!

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:00:00 +0000

I feel like this is a recurring theme where I come back after a month plus of no blogging and make a comment about how long it's been since my last post... What this means for you is a hodgepodge of topics that have been sitting in mental storage for a month! The upside is there's a reward in it for you if you're still following my blog so stick around until the end...

I mentioned my Heffalump like running style a few posts back as I was training for my very first half marathon back in January. I'm happy to say that I completed it and I was able to finish in a respectable time for my first attempt, particularly after the two week illness leading up to the race! The highlight of the ridiculous distance of 13.1 miles was this lovely pit stop with a sign reading "Pet us you'll run faster!". I must say that it worked! Of course as you can see in the photo I appear to be using him as support to avoid collapsing more than petting him!

With that event out of the way, I've been able to go back to my happy little running jaunts of a few miles...much more pleasant!

What else? Ahhh, way back in February I mentioned that we had our home visit scheduled to adopt a rescue Golden Retriever to add to our furry family... I made the comment (in jest) that it might be easier to adopt a non-furrry, aka human, child...It would seem that what I thought was a joke is actually reality! We passed our home visit and interview and were approved to adopt from the group. So, I should be able to show you our new addition, right? Nope, not so fast speed racer, we've now applied for eight (yes that's 8) different dogs and there is still only the one we started with in our home! Two are pending right now as the fosters review applications, but I was told that there were over 25 applications for the one dog in just 24 hours! Crazy, right?! So, here's the only child all by her lonesome, taken with my new phone's camera as a test...

I finally had a chance to sit down in the studio and make more of my little trinket dishes that sold so well in Tucson.

The little ring dishes and rectangular trinket dishes that also work great as soap dishes are listed in my Etsy shop already.

I have some slightly larger dishes that are great for holding keys and those little bits and bobs that collect on the counter or the entry table and I'll be working on listing them this week as well.

They would make great Mother's Day gifts...hint hint...

So if you're still reading, I want to send out a twisty bead for some fun and adventure to a randomly selected blog commenter as well as my blog partners Cindy Cima, Sue Kennedy, and Jean Yates who I selected via random.org. These are such fun little components but I definitely think that people are going to need to see some ideas to get the creativity flowing so that's where you come in!

A version of the purply blue twisty above will go to the preselected blog partners and this matte peach twisty will go to a blog commenter who enters the rafflecopter draw at the end of this post.

If you have an active blog and can commit to a post on May 31st with a finished piece featuring your twisty, I'd love to have you enter! Hurry, I'm going to draw the name of the winner on Friday!

a Rafflecopter giveaway Good luck!

Home From Tucson...

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 08:30:00 +0000

Well, I'm back from my three days at "The Tucson Bead Show" and it was an experience, although not what I'd call a profitable experience, it was a pleasant one overall. I liked the way my table turned out, not too cluttered or fussy and nice and bright. The risers and hanging rack for my beads strands that my friend's dad made for me was just what I wanted to maximize my little 6 foot table space.

Frankly, this little fluffernutter snufferpuffer was the highlight of the weekend for me...Gypsy, the lovely little Golden Retriever pup belonging to the delightful Carter Seibels Singh of Woman Shops World/the Gypsy Temple was my smushface break each day when things got slow. Don't you just want to smoosh his little snout and kiss his forehead?

I had the pleasure of meeting Joan and Lana of Off Center Productions and Fred (and his very sweet wife, Debbie) of Clay River Designs among other talented ceramic and glass artists at the show.

Much to my surprise, my little porcelain trinket dishes were my biggest hit at the show! Not only did I sell all that I had, we also sold my lovely assistant Katrina's dish that I had given her!

My fun twisty beads made their debut at the show...I have lots of goodies left so they're making their debut here before I have a chance to put them up on the website. See anything you like? Just send me an email or leave a comment with the items you want! Single twisties are $4 each...

Twisty pairs are $8 a pair...

A whole batch of big focal pendants at $12 a pop...

And some new fancy porcelain poppies at $10 each!

The best part was coming home to this...have you ever seen such bliss basking in the sunlight? We're scheduled for our home visit with the rescue group on Wednesday to adopt a brother for her...pretty sure it would be easier to adopt a brother of the human variety! Cross your fingers for us that they realize that people who actually have doggie Godparents lined up are a good bet!

What about you...did you go to Tucson? Do you have a different fave bead show that I should consider for next year instead?

Cold Weather, Cold Bugs

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:48:00 +0000

In an attempt to rejoin society today I figured that I would at least get a post up in between coughing fits... Unfortunately I'm starting off the new year with a heck of an upper respiratory bug and today is my first day out of bed since New Year's Day.

My first instinct was to blame my trip to the frosty North for feeling this crummy but I'm pretty sure it was the woman sitting next to me on my final leg of the trip who sneezed, sniffled and snuffled beside me for over 2 hours.

As usual, it was inexcusably cold in Saskatchewan upon our arrival...the upside being that the trees maintained their frosty coating for the duration of our stay. I made my sister pull over so I could jump out of the car and trek across the street to the riverbank park to get photos of the river and bridge.

Then I got smarter and had her jump out of the car to take pictures of the trees near my grandmother's apartment while I filled some paperwork in from the comfort of a heated car seat.

At least there's that pretty blue sky most of the time...

I only had the chance to enjoy one day out when we returned back home before being zapped with this bug so I haven't yet been able to appreciate the weather now that I'm back! I'm mostly upset that I've missed out on four full days of bead making when the clock to Tucson is ticking down so quickly.

Hopefully I can pull myself together enough today to do some glazing... at least I managed to take a shower and put some concealer on the worst of the big red splotchy blotches on my face as a public service to the Fedex guy who will be coming by today. The truth is that if the hubster weren't expecting delivery of a computer thingy that requires a signature today I would be wearing flannel pj pants...not that the yoga pants I'm wearing instead are that much of a step up I admit.

Ok, coughing just hit me again full force so I'm going to go make another cup of something hot and tea-like... Hope you are all having a healthy start to 2013 and didn't have the misfortune of being seated next to Typhoid Mary!

Older...

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 21:28:00 +0000

Yes, I am. Older that is, at least in comparison to last week...I had a lovely week of birthday with little gifts from the hubster each day leading up to Thursday.

To top it all off, I saw this wonderful fold up table project from the Bubblewrapp'd blog that had been pinned (of course, where else?!) and I put in a request with my friend's dad who is a woodworker extraordinaire. He started work on it weeks ago then they packed it in the trunk of their car for their trip here. He put the finishing touches on it and came over while I was at work on Thursday to install it for me...just in time for a birthday reveal!

Here it is all closed up...mine is a bit deeper than the one from the Bubblewrapp'd plans, we made some tweaks to the measurements. I may put a photo in the center of the cabinet since it looks so much like a frame.

My table is also about a foot or so longer than the original plans. I wanted a bit more work space than the square would allow. He also put a couple of handy little wooden arms to lock the legs in place even though we weren't really concerned about the table stability since it's on carpet. All of the shelves are adjustable as well so I can move things to fit in sewing supplies or whatever I decide to cram in there!

Right now it's open and holding the beads that just came out of a quick firing of the little kiln this week in order to get a couple of special requests made in time for the holidays. I really like that we decided to make the table counter height as I was standing at it to wrap gifts on Friday and it was perfect. I also have a stool that is nice and tall and will work well to sit at the table when I'm sewing. The best thing about it is how it folds right up and leaves space for us to squish our Aero bed in the room for guests.

The challenge will be keeping the table top clean enough that I can have it folded up most of the time!

Want one for yourself? The plans are over at Bubblewrapp'd! Last I saw they are even able to build one for you and ship it, but if you have a handy spouse or neighbor (or are better than me with a saw!) you could absolutely make one yourself.

Next post I'll share some of the goodies that came out of the kiln this week!

Random Running Related Ruminations...

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Where is time going? I can't believe we're already creeping up on Christmas (which means my birthday week is almost here too!) and I feel woefully unprepared. Add on top of that the looming deadline of Tucson and a bit of an emergency trip to see family scheduled for right after Christmas and I'm feeling like a frazzled Fraggle (anyone else remember Fraggle Rock??).

If only I could run and glaze simultaneously my problems would be solved...you see I've signed up to run a half marathon in January...what was I thinking?? First, I am NOT a runner by nature...I hate/love it though...I'm miserable the first mile or two, feel ok for a mile or two, then feel exhausted for the remaining miles until I get home and my face returns to it's usual color (as opposed to beet red...which incidentally happens at other non-running random times since I'm an uncontrolled blusher). Then I spend an agonizing 30 minutes or so using a foam roller (don't let the cushy word "foam" trick you...it's more like a rock hard piece of styrofoam) to bust up the knots in my legs. Once all that's done I'm glad I did it. However, the love part (even though I can't glaze and run) is that it is the ONLY and I really do mean ONLY time that my brain shuts off...I truly can't think and run...apparently I'm just focused on sustaining life and not falling on my face (did I mention I run like a Heffalump? more on that later) so tonight it let me avoid thinking about a particularly crummy conversation with a colleague that happened earlier in the day that basically involved me being told that my suggestions (the ones that are in my area of expertise and that I'm supposed to be providing as the main component of my job) were neither welcomed nor would be acted upon. The only word I have to describe it is disheartened... By the end of my run I was too tired to feel anything other than pooped!

Tonight I wore calf compression sleeves (glorified leg warmers), full pants, a long sleeved top that zipped up the neck, gloves and a fleece ear band. Yes, I live in Southern California...yes, I'm a transplanted Canadian...I'm not proud (and I'm highly concerned about my upcoming trip to the frosty North).

I mentally cursed the guy who ran past me in the opposite direction bounding along at twice my speed wearing shorts and a t-shirt covering more ground in one step than I do in four...see earlier comment regarding Heffalumpness...I'm not petite (5'10" to be precise with big clunky size 10 feet) and I still recall high school when someone made a comment about my tendency toward limp floppy wrists when I ran...let me tell you that I'm particularly aware of not flapping when I run now (although of course the only photo of me in a 5k was with floppy looking wrists).

My hands got too hot by mile two so I shoved my gloves in the back of my pants...ran the rest of the way home looking like the hunchbooty of Notre Dame...

All right, if you made this far I think you deserve to see some bead pics! I finally managed to get some fun little poppies in my last firing...

And since I'm freezing my tush off, snowflakes seemed appropriate...

And it's been a while since I've made stars so a few of those made it in too...

I have a bunch of new shapes and patterns and old shapes that I haven't made in ages bisqued and just waiting for me to get them glazed so I have a busy weekend ahead! Maybe I can even get myself coordinated enough to get another blog post up before Monday...a girl can dream...

In the meantime, cross your fingers for my attempt at something more than 8 miles this weekend...ouch!

Hibernating or Shopping?

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 05:58:00 +0000

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Have you gone out to brave post turkey shopping crowds or been like me and just hunkered down at home?

We spent a lovely few days in Napa and Sonoma leading up to Thanksgiving, lots of rain, lots of food and a moderate bit of really good wine!

My favorite new winery stop this trip was Hop Kiln in Sonoma (get it, kiln...ceramics...ironic right?!). The building was a very old, very cool place where hops were processed until the 1950s. On top of the beautiful location, everything they poured was fantastic (although I'm partial to Pinot Noir and that's their specialty so the odds were ever in their favor).

We discovered that Healdsburg is a very dog friendly town...the pupper learned that many of the shops had a bowl of biscuits and/or water right inside the door. The result was essentially a canine directed treasure hunt around the square!

Here she is posing in front of the knitted tree cozy by the yarn shop...

We always end up at the Round Pond olive oil mill and winery when we're in the area... The colors and scenery there are gorgeous regardless of the season and it's always a wonderful and relaxing experience to visit there.

Other than our little road trip, I've been spending hours each day in the studio working on creating new pieces like crazy! If you haven't noticed, I have a big 40% off bead, button and pendant sale going on over at my website if you use the code: ARTBEADS40. I don't offer a discount like this EVER so this would be the time to jump on it!

Go grab them while they're still available, the sale ends Monday!

Super Sneaky Sale!

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 16:42:00 +0000

In preparation for Cyber Monday I'm giving my faithful blog readers a jump on my big sale! I'll be participating in the Love My Art Jewelry Art Bead sale on Monday the 26th (also my niece Madison's birthday!) but I thought I'd give you all a shot at things you might have had your eye on before the big day...

I've gone crazy and I'm offering 40% off all beads, buttons and pendants starting NOW!

Use code: ARTBEADS40 when you checkout.

Here's the catch though...no made to order pieces, I'm not going to say when the sale ends but it's not going to last long, and I will not be restocking my site before Cyber Monday so if you see something you like...GRAB IT!!

Knitty Goodness!

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 16:06:00 +0000

My friend Katrina has been in a whirlwind of knitting and crocheting the past week! I sent her some buttons in a care package to play with and she promptly went to work stitching up a storm to put them to use. I love the cowls and wraps she's been whipping up!

Not only wearables but also a cute little cell phone cozy!

We're working out our plan for our accessory wardrobes for Tucson, Katrina is going to be my lovely booth assistant so I don't have to man the table alone...I suspect it will make for a much more enjoyable show! Hopefully it's cool enough there to justify wearing a lovely cowl adorned with some of my buttons!

And just because, here's a picture of the pupper enjoying one of her favorite things...pumpkin guts!

Happy Halloween!

Winner Winner!

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 08:00:00 +0000

This time around #14 was the lucky number and Genea has a whole chain of art bead loveliness headed her way!

Congrats Genea, can't wait to see what you take and add!

More Bloggy Partnerness

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 15:45:00 +0000

I've been driving all over Southern California for the past two days so I didn't have access to my computer until now to post the photos that Alice and Lisa sent me while I was on the road of their blog partner creations!

The hubster has been riding in the (rainy) 2 day, 150 mile bike ride for the MS Society (and for the second year in a row, raised over $1000 as well!) so we had to head up to Irvine Friday night for the early morning start Saturday. I then got to drive back down to Carlsbad and do some delightful outlet mall shopping in the misty rain while I killed some time before he crossed the day one finish line. Of course after his text saying that he was at the last aid station and only 7 miles away we then proceeded to wait...and wait...and wait...and get concerned...only to learn when he rolled in 45 minutes later than expected that he had been the recipient of TWO flat tires in the last leg of the ride. Fingers crossed that today is less eventful for him!

So, before heading down to the final day finish line to cheer him on, let's see what Alice and Lisa came up with for the challenge!

Alice created a colorful combination using some adorable little lampwork spacers...

Lisa went earthy with more ceramic and some jasper and agate...

I love how all three of my bloggy partners used a little accent with the pendant, if you remember from my last post, Amy did as well!

Inspired by their creations and want your own Pond Leaf to play with? I have more on my website just waiting for good homes!

Blog Partner Reveal!

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 08:00:00 +0000

A few weeks ago I brushed the dust off my list of blog partners, asked who's still up for the fun, and drew a few names...I found three willing participants in Alice, Lucid Moon Studio and CopperDiem.

so each received a Pond Leaf pendant to create with.

Amy Freeland of CopperDiem created this gorgeous knotted necklace...

I love her choice of the pretty little mermaid...she really brings out the aquatic traits of the Pond glaze!

Go check out her blog to see more!

The Art Bead Love Tour Giveaway Time!!

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 19:00:00 +0000

So after ever so carefully going through the Art Bead Love chain (a gazillion times!), I've made my selections and additions and it's ready for you to have a shot at it!!

Here's what it looked like when it arrived:

Here's what I snagged for my collection:

I'm sorry I don't know the work of specific lampwork artists to say who made them...and apparently lampwork was calling my name as I made my selections! Other than the itty bitty little Mary Harding charms and the Golem heart bead, everything I chose was glass.

As for what I added back on... of my own ceramic pieces, a porcelain magnolia leaf pendant in seaweed, a pair of porcelain abstract butterfly charms in a pretty deep green, a green stoneware stamped charm, a little porcelain rootbeer circle charm, and a porcelain matte turquoise butterfly pendant. It's hard to make out in the photo but there's a pewter Green Girl Studio ball of frogs bead too!

Then because I took so much lampwork I figured I should add some back (although there's lots on the chain still)... The metallic bronzey colored tube bead and the yellow black and white bead are from The Orange Bell. That Keith O'Connor raku ceramic bead on the right snuck in as well...

I clearly have a tendency toward blues and greens so it seems that a lot of what I added fall in that color category! Here's a Summer's Studio pendant and charms and a leaf pendant by Erin Siegel. I can't remember which Beads of Clay member the stripey porcelain beads came from. I just added the stripey beads as a group (more out of the sake of space on the chain...it's so full it's hard to find empty links!) so someone could either choose a color or two that they like or take the whole strand as multiple items.

So if you have a blog and you'd like your chance to choose up to 30 items from the chain, just read the instructions below and leave a comment for your different entry modes (be sure your email address is linked up or leave it in your comment). Entries close at midnight PST Friday, October 19th.

The Art Bead Love Tour is an ongoing project to spread the love of handmade to new and exciting places. It's a way to reach people who may have never stumbled upon your blog on their own, and give them a chance to share the love of handmade. A chain was chosen to link beads as a symbol of how this project links us all together ~ in our unity to stand behind handmade.

The winner of the chain will be allowed to take up to 30 beads from this chain. They will then replace each bead they took with another handmade bead, charm or pendant of equal Quality.

(SO Remember-----You're NOT winning the ENTIRE CHAIN---Just a chance to take some beads from it.)

PLEASE READ THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW

I know there's a lot to read, but it's really important!!!

It is so important that the quality of the beads be maintained, so we can keep the Art Bead Love Tour alive. We want to share consistent quality with the next winner. If you make your own handmade beads or components, it's a great way to get your beads into the world for people to try them out, or, if you hoard collect art beads it's a great way to share your collection and get some new additions as well.

(Art Beads should be handmade by an artist, and not mass produced, such as Hill Tribe Silver beads or others like them.)

Remember, the focus is on creating handmade with handmade and beads/components taken should be replaced with beads/components that are made by an indivdual artist not an organization.

Here's where the chain has been:

My Life Under The Bus

Ex Post Facto Jewelry

ferrarioriginalbeads

Devine Designs Jewelry

Chinook Jewelry Designs

Here's how it works:

(Please read the entire post before entering.)

1. The winner of the chain will be allowed to take up to 30 beads from this chain. They will then replace each bead they took with another handmade bead, charm or pendant of equal quality.

2. The winner will post pictures of what was taken and what was added, in order to keep an account of the chain's progress and to keep our followers drooling. Please be sure to give credit to the bead artists as well (if you know them).

3. The winner will then have a giveaway, just like this one,to keep passing the chain on and on. Rules can be copied and pasted from here.

4. When you repost your giveaway (remember you can copy and paste from here)-a list should be added to show where the chain has gone, with links to each previous blog.Ultimately, this will end up a very long list!

5. Chain must be shipped to its new home via Priority Small Flat Rate box with delivery confirmation. Please package it carefully.

6. There will be a button on the Love My Art Jewelry website that links to the current blog and giveaway-so if you have the chain, it will link to your blog, that way our followers can have another chance to win it.

7. You MUST exchange your beads and have your giveaway completed within two weeks of receiving the chain.

(Please, please, please, if you can not adhere to the above rules, do not enter the giveaway at this time. It will go on and on and you can always enter at a later date.) There will be a button on the side bar of our blog so that you can track where the chain currently is.

Here's How to Enter:

1. You must have an active blog to enter.

2. Leave a comment below (make sure your email is linked to your blog or leave it in the comment. Entries without emails will not qualify)

3. Share on Facebook, Twitter or your blog for extra chances to win. Leave a comment for each way you share, with a link if possible.

4. Winner will pay shipping and will be billed through Paypal-small priority flat rate box with delivery confirmation, $6.00.

5. Open only to our readers in the United States-due to problems with tracking and shipping overseas (sorry).

Good luck!

Art Bead Love Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 09:00:00 +0000

How excited was I to learn that I was chosen as the recipient of the Art Bead Love Tour this go around?! This is what it looked like when it started the tour...

This great chain was started by the folks over at the Love My Art Jewelry blog and it's already been all over the place...it looks like I'm the 15th stop! There are so many great things on this chain...lampwork, metal, seed bead, polymer and ceramic. It's HEAVY!!

I'm going to take my time this weekend going over the chain and picking out what I want to add to my collection and take pictures of the new things I'll put on the chain to replace them.

Be sure to come back next week, I'll have the giveaway post up and ready for entries soon!

Big Destash on Now!

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 17:54:00 +0000

I'm clearing out a bunch of my Mykonos Greek metal and ceramic beads. I'm posting as many as I can on my Facebook page in the next hour then will finish up this evening. I'd prefer to clear them out in big lots so I'm offering them this way first before breaking them up into smaller groups.

Brass metal spacers...

Neutral ceramic spacer beads...

Antique silver dipped ceramic beads..

silver metal spacers...

That's what's listed so far but I have a TON to post! Please check them out and share with others, I need to clear this stuff out!

Blog Partner Goodies!

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Glad to see that a few blog partners are up for the challenge!

The Random Number Generator selected comments # 3, 6,and 1 so that means that Alice, Lucid Moon Studio and CopperDiem will be receiving one of these Pond glazed leaf pendants for their challenge participating enjoyment! Ladies, can you send me a quick email with your mailing addresses?

What do you guys have in mind? Layering, playing off the colors in the glaze or something completely different?

As promised, for those of you who would like to play along with a Pond glazed goodie of your own, head on over to the website and scoop up one the pieces for 20% off. I had grand plans to have a coupon code for specific items but apparently my website doesn't want to play that game so I've just marked them down automatically...but you'll have to move quick, the sale price will only be available through the weekend.

Just to widen your choices, I'll include the Pond Butterflies...

and Pond Bracelet Bars...

Reveal date is October 20th, please share your photos!

Any Blog Partners Still Out There?

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 11:00:00 +0000

So I've sadly neglected my blog partner program over the summer...it seemed as though people were super busy with challenges and other blog partner endeavors and I didn't want to overload my partners or have their pieces just get lost in the shuffle so I hibernated things for a bit. That said, I'm bored and want to get it moving again but with a bit of a twist!

So I'm thinking to simplify things I'll just post the blog partner goodies here and if you're on the blog partner list here (with the link back button on your blog) and want a chance to join in the challenge for the month, leave a comment on this post. I'll randomly select three blog partners to receive the goodies for the month. That way I avoid randomly selecting someone who has already committed to a bunch of things for the month or someone who no longer wants to participate.

If you're not selected (or not on the blog partner list) and would still like to participate in the challenge, I'll have the item(s) available for purchase at a 20% discount for the month of the challenge with the coupon code: SeptChallenge

What do you think? If you're in, I'll reveal the item for the month on Thursday!

Too Hot...

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 18:34:00 +0000

It's been waaaaay too hot to fire the kiln this week so I've been trying to just keep working on pieces to pack into the firing when it finally cools off! Excessive heat isn't usually something we complain about in San Diego, it's one of the biggest advantages of living here...a 10 degree variation in temperature for pretty much the whole year! However Friday and Saturday this week surpassed 100 degrees at our place, not something I'm accustomed to while at home!

As a part of my frenzied (despite having over 4 months to prep) Tucson preparations, I've been working on beefing up my button and bead stock so that I have more variety than just pendants. I'll probably also have a little supply of the cute spoon rest/tea light holders that I made last year around the holidays (just for my open house, they didn't make it to the website).

Anyone have suggestions for anything else that I should think about making for the show?

I finally ended up tinkering with my application of a few new glazes and wow, did I get amazing results from a few of them! Check out this metallic finish although the photo doesn't quite do it justice...

...and then a bunch of layered glazes with some neat effects. There's a layer or two of the base glaze around the hole at the top and on the back then a couple thick layers of the top glaze to interact with the base. This one was really runny when it interacted with the base...

I don't usually have to deal with glaze drips on my kiln floor since I brush my glaze on rather than dipping but the thickness of the layers caused a bit of a mess this time around with a few pendants...

Luckily I have a kiln shelf lining the bottom of the kiln! The beads were cooperative, even with thick layers to get the right finish. I was worried about them having drippy gobs of glaze but they were all fine...

Of course I'm lousy at taking notes when I play around like this which means there's no chance of me replicating anything. I did learn my lesson since there were a couple of fantastic results that I'll share another time...I made some test tiles to fire along with my next load so I can be a bit more methodical in my results when it comes to the combos. I don't trust the predictability of the combos so they will definitely always be "grab 'em while you see 'em" pieces rather than something I'll offer to replicate but I'd like to try to use them a bit more frequently to mix things up.

So, any requests for particular items while I'm madly working on new pieces? More connectors, charms, beads, buttons, links, weird shaped pendants? My ears are open!

Beaches and Mugs...

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Last weekend was warm and beautiful but not crazy hot so we took the afternoon to head to Torrey Pines State Reserve, a cliff side network of trails that lead to a lovely little section of beach. The water temperature was supposed to be over 70 degrees and I managed to go all summer without dipping my toes in the ocean so I took my opportunity while I had it (for the record, it didn't feel like it was over 70 degrees, I'm a cold water wimp)...

It meant a hike back up the hillside with sandy socks but it was worth it! We learned that when the water recedes there are a gazillion little sand crab critters just under the surface of the sand. 13 years living in San Diego and our friend, a So Cal native, can still show us new things! We have a long promised beach bonfire in the works, this year we're going to hold him to it!

I've been absolutely horrible about remembering to take photos of my ceramic class pieces...maybe it's sheer embarrassment over the quality of what I'm bringing home but I'm happy to say that at least my pieces are showing improvement (i.e. getting larger and less lopsided!).

Love the way this green glaze ran into the white base...

I can at least say that I've been overjoyed with all of my glaze results on my pieces...with the exception of the (not photographed) mug that was supposed to be blue and ended up a yicky brownish color...apparently one of the glaze batches was mixed up incorrectly and a rather critical component was omitted by the student responsible. I now know to avoid that one until unwitting newbies use it all up!

Another great glaze interaction with a wonderful semi-matte (but smooth) bronze finish...

This is definitely a good representation of my progress so far...momma bear, papa bear and baby bear mugs! (note the ugly old tile bar that was the "before" of my kitchen!) The little guy only holds about 8oz but the largest one can hold over 16 oz and has actually made it into my regular coffee mug rotation. There's still a lot to be desired as far as the trimming and thickness of these mugs but at least the big one is functional!

Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the mug I sent off to Dallas to live with K, but I will have another piece to show soon that has the same yummilicious purpley red glaze. It's a finicky one but it seems to like me.

Sadly the studio will be closed until October for tree removal and cleaning so I'll have to be disciplined about using my wheel at home to keep practicing. I'll miss having access to those lovely huge buckets of glaze though!

So, should I keep showing my little misfit wheel pieces or would you prefer I stick to beads and pendants?

The Kitchen...

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 19:43:00 +0000

You may recall way back when I said I was refinishing my kitchen cabinets that I would show off the finished product once it was done... Turns out that I opened a bit of a can of worms by starting the project and I didn't want to show the photos until I had finished everything!

So here we go with the tour!

The original kitchen cabinets in all their pale oaky glory...please note the off white laminate counter tops...(the glass mosaic backsplash went in a few years ago to cover up ceramic tiles that had been painted white by the previous owners).

The refinished cabinets which took me 5 weeks instead of the couple of weekends that I anticipated... Love the brushed nickel hardware, got a huge bargain at Overstock.com. It's hard to tell because of the florescent lighting but the cabinets have a nice overglaze finish that gives them more depth.

The problem with redoing the cabinets was that it made the counter top and florescent lighting look even worse so I decided I had no choice but to keep going! We had led lights put in and I found granite that I fell in love with. The added bonus was that I got to put in a new sink that's double the depth of my old one and we were able to extend out the counter ledge so it's wide enough for big platters or even barstools if we were ever so inclined.

I just love how it turned out! Even with my itty-bitty kitchen it makes a big difference. There may be a couple more projects in the fall (including a built in bookshelf along my staircase) if my friend's father is particularly bored during their visit in November!

In beady news, I finished the big update of new items to my website...including these...

and these...

and this...

and then went and fired my big daddy kiln loaded to the brim with more pieces! Of course halfway through loading the kiln I realized that I didn't have as many pieces glazed as I needed in order to fill the kiln, so I had to stop loading it in order to make a bunch more pieces to single fire and cross my fingers that they wouldn't warp. Luckily almost everything decided to cooperate and other than some interesting glaze results that weren't quite what I was going for, it was a good batch overall.

Which meant that I photographed, cropped and resized over 140 pictures yesterday...whew! We'll see how many of those I can get on the website tomorrow, which sadly is my last day of summer break.

How about you? Is your summer winding down or are you still going strong? Is there anything you wanted to do this summer but didn't get around to or did you have one of those wonderful summers where you're completely relaxed and rejuvenated?

Frenzy of Baking...

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 16:22:00 +0000

I've logged some serious time in the kitchen the past two days in an attempt to outdo my birthday cake creation from last year for the hubster. This year it's a Smore's Cake that I found (where else?) on Pinterest in an effort to one up another cake that I think I also found there originally, this one. All I can say is...be very careful who you give slices of these cakes to...I think I was responsible for dramatic declines in work productivity for the hubster's coworkers and there may have been some hallucinogenic reactions to all that chocolate and sugar!

Unfortunately my cake is not looking nearly as pretty as the one pictured with the recipe (although I still expect the sugar Ka-Pow!-ness to be in full force)...perhaps it's a result of my significant modifications to the layers (i.e. eliminating the cheesecake sections in favor of chocolate cake) but I think it's more due to the ridiculous heat in my kitchen yesterday as I had the carpets cleaned and everything was open to get them dry rather than happily closed up with the A/C blasting as I've been enjoying for the past week! So the plan is to apply frosting in copious amounts in order to cover all the flaws!

Between gift wrapping (I'm terrible, left it until the last minute this year although the gifts were purchased weeks ago at least) and final cake touches I will be adding to my website the new pieces that have been lounging around my bead table for waaaaay too long! You'll know they're the newbies since I'm also changing out my background for the beads and taking a leap to photographing them rather than scanning them.

I thought scanning was the easy way out to speed up my listing process but after the time to color correct in Photoshop, etc I think it's actually easier to just photograph the beads. I still have to Photoshop them to re-size the giant files and crop but it's relatively quick (if 2 hours of just Photoshop yesterday can be considered "quick"...). The slow part is putting them on the website so you'll see a trickle throughout the day...at least until the hubster gets home from work and the birthday celebrations begin!

I suspect after that cake there will be no more additions to the website...I probably won't be able to type :)

So, off to frost and a BIG Happy Birthday to my wonderful hubster!

Get To Work!

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 13:00:00 +0000

So I finally post after months of absentia then I disappear again! Definitely need to get into a routine and back on track!

I've been holding out on big news and was waiting for a nice regular blog posting roll to slip it in but apparently my randomness isn't going to allow that so time to spill the beans...

Tucson or bust baby! Not sure if I'm excited or scared to death but I'll have a table at The Tucson Bead Show February 9-11! Who's going to come join me? I'll need visitors and giggles and people to go out to dinner with (hopefully I'll have shoppers too)! You can pre-register for the show right here to save time at the door. There are still hotel rooms in Tucson available now too so this is a great time to make plans (and it won't be 134 degrees there like it is right now!).

All this means is that I need to start kicking up my production...and no procrastinating! So even though I'm going to try to start hoarding some pieces specifically for the show, I will try to be better about scheduling regular updates to my website with new pieces.

I pulled all the accent beads I had on my website and some others that have come out of the past few firings but that I haven't gotten around to photographing...I thought they would look better bundled up rather than just loose as I've had them in the past so I pulled out the raffia I have for my packaging and starting stringing them in batches. The question I have though is what do you prefer for bundles? Do you like groups of beads that are done in the same glaze or do you prefer a mish mash of coordinating colors? I love this pile of bead colors all together but I'm also more likely to purchase monochromatic strands myself...

Also on that note, I finally took photos of pieces I've had kicking around for quite a while. There are a few new glazes for reveal as well as some exciting color experiments that I'm messing around with.

There's this pretty green and brown that I am calling "kelp"...

and then this pretty rutile glaze...still chewing on a name for it...

and buttons! So many buttons!

So what would YOU like to see me make? Sets, coordinating beads, colors...?

Fun stuff and a Giveaway!

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 15:42:00 +0000

So a couple of weeks ago I was contacted by the nice folks over at My Memories Suite to see if I would like to try out their scrapbooking software and offer a giveaway on my blog.

At first I was thinking "Well it sounds great but I'm a bead maker, not a scrapbooker, how will this be useful to me?" Then I started thinking how nice it would be to make albums of my pieces that I could link up on my blog or website...or just make individual page layouts to include in posts...so many possibilities!

I put this page together in just a few minutes then it was a piece of cake to export it as a .jpg file:

On top of it, you can set your albums to music, add web links and even embed videos! There are tons of YouTube video tutorials on how to use the software but I really found it easy to put things together without needing additional instructions. They also have tons of ideas, projects and challenges on their blog too.

If you'd like to try out the software right away, they've given me a coupon code to share for anyone to use that gives $10 off your purchase: STMMMS95030

On top of it, they've offered one free copy for me to give away ($39.97 value)!

Lots of ways to earn entries on this one...
1. Stop by My Memories then come back here and leave a comment telling me which of the digital scrapbooking kits you like the best or what creative ideas you have for using the software.
2. Follow the My Memories blog.
3. Follow My Memories on Facebook.
4. Follow My Memories on Twitter.
5. Tweet or blog about this giveaway with a link back to this post.
6. Hopefully you already follow my blog but I'll give another entry to all my followers too!

Giveaway ends Friday, July 27th!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Talk About Time Off!

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 15:28:00 +0000

Quite a gap in my blogging lately huh? Hopefully you haven't forgotten about me after all this time!

Not really much of an excuse for my absence, I've had lots of little projects to take care of around the house (ugh, scraping out old caulking and re-doing two tub/showers) as well as a couple of little trips and lots of good friend time.

We took a trip out to Dallas, TX to visit our friends M and K again, we hadn't seen them since our trip before Christmas. The difference this time is that Dallas is NOT a place to be in the summer!! I swear it was 110 degrees and 150% humidity while we were there! Luckily K is the hostess with the mostest and had frosty beverage cups waiting upon our arrival which we took everywhere with us.

Frosty beverages were of little use on our trip to the Dallas Arboretum though since we had all sucked back our K made icy berry lemonades during the walk from the car to the entrance of the park! Despite being literally dripping with sweat (not kidding, I think my earlobes were perspiring) it was so worth it to see the Chihuly exhibit...

All of the pieces were incredibly striking...mind officially blown when I saw this enormous 30 foot spiky sculpture. The "Yellow Icicle Tower" is made of 1800 individual pieces.

Of course given the heat all I wanted to do was hop in the water next to those lovely glass orbs!

It was really just spectacular to see what can be done with glass.

We hit some really good barbeque places in TX and then managed a personal best of visiting 3 grocery stores in one day...yep, get the four of us together and we do a grocery tour! For those of you not in TX, I realize this may sound crazy, but the Whole Foods Markets there actually have wine bars in the store...you can get your glass and stroll the store doing your shopping. I would say that the percentage of grocery shopping men was considerably higher than any other stores I've been in...they can shop with beer glass in hand. No arm twisting in the least to have hubster and M come shopping with us!

The biggest problem with such a long blogging hiatus is not knowing what to share after the fact! I'll cut this off now and just plan more posts for the week to catch up.

Hope you're all still checking in and having a wonderful summer!

15 years...

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 07:00:00 +0000

and still going!

Today is the hubster and my 15th anniversary so I figured that this pseudo-macro shot was most fitting. We actually renew our vows each year (typically in a fairly low key manner, although there was a trip to the Little White Chapel Drive Through Tunnel of Love in Vegas one year), and have since our first anniversary. Without going all mushcake, I'll just say that I am very very lucky!

I can't believe it's been weeks since my last post...or maybe I'm really not that surprised at all. I took on what turned out to be a much more involved project than I anticipated...refinishing our kitchen cabinets. It took 5 weeks of 6-10 hour weekend days but I'm finally done and my stress level has decreased exponentially! I didn't realize how much it would bother me to have everything in the kitchen cabinets open and visible while I worked on the doors, but the clutter drove me crazy!

For the past 9 weeks I've also been taking a terrific ceramics class at a local university...it's my first time throwing on a wheel so I am definitely still very much in the beginner stages but at least things that I've made are worth hanging on to or gifting instead of smashing!

This gorgeous color came from a fortuitous mix of two red glazes (although the second red is actually more purple in my opinion) but unfortunately there's a little pinhole at the bottom of the bowl where the glaze didn't flow back in after it bubbled.

I seem to be most effective at making little jars/pots like these...

of course the only thing I really wanted to make is a giant coffee mug! Maybe after the next round of 9 weeks I'll come away with one!

Now head on over to Studio Waterstone and check out all of the lovely close up shots from this week!

Check it out...

noreply@blogger.com (Mellisa) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 09:00:00 +0000

So if you didn't get to wander over to my blog partners' blogs yesterday I have a peek of their creations to show you today. Follow the links to their blogs to see more photos and a description of their design thoughts...

Patty started off with a beachy combination that mixed some pretty little charms and sari silk...

Cilla threw tangerine ribbon into the mix for her bracelet...

Hope busted out of her comfort zone with a mix of fun fibers...

and Linda mixed a little golden glow in with her frosty focal.

The thing that just blew me away (beyond the amazing talent and designs these lovely ladies showed off) was that they all incorporated fiber into their pieces! Didn't they do a great job?

What about you? How would you work one of these buttons into a design? Or would you do something other than jewelry with it?