Black Friday Weekend SALE!

There is a 20% discount on totals of $15.00 or more at Marti's Buttons-n-Beads Etsy shop beginning now thru Dec. 1, 2013.

My link is here:   https://www.etsy.com/shop/MartisButtonsnBeads

Thanks to Marsha for having these sales and keeping me as updated as possible!

Hope you find something you like, thanks for stopping by, take care!

From Beginning to End, the Making of a Ceramic Button

I just got some new clay last month and it comes pretty well ready to use. 

   But clay has a memory and can cause warping if it is not conditioned before use.  So, I roll it around in my hands, squeeze it and play with it for a bit.

  Then I get the mold ready to use.  This design was from an old piece of jewelry.  It was pressed into clay and fired to cone 06.  I spray it with vegetable oil before I press the clay into it.

The round of clay is pushed into the mold and pulled off then cut out.

 The holes are added and it is initialed on the back.

The piece is allowed to dry.  I then use a wet sponge to rub off imperfections, little nuggets of clay, I just try to get it as perfect as possible.   I bisque fire it to cone 06.  This process burns out some of the gasses in the clay that happens when it gets to 100's of degrees. 

Then it is under-glazed and glazed to cone six which is over 2000 degrees.  I think mine goes to 2260 degrees, but not exactly sure.

The finished buttons:

I hope you have enjoyed the making of a button, please let me know!

and as always, thanks for stopping by and take care

Here are the BEADS!

Here are the beads with the dog comb textures and all!  They turned out okay, kind of disappointed with a couple of the glazes...it sort of fell off the bead.

The first and second bead set on the bottom row, see how the glaze fell to the bottom of the bead?  I am no clay expert, I've said that many times, but I guess this is not a good "fit" of glaze on the clay?  Anyone out there that knows, please tell me...thanks! 

But, you can see the textures, right?  So much fun!  

thanks for stopping by, take care!

Always Looking for TEXTURES...

While looking around the house looking for textures for new beads, here is what I came up with.  Some are new, some are standbys.

Years ago when I quilted I saw old fabric stamps and fell in love with the idea of hand stamping with wood blocks.  I never had the opportunity to buy any until just a few weeks ago and I ran across what I thought was a great deal so I bought some old wooden hand stamps.  Here are a couple and the wet beads just impressed with them...

Here are a few of the textures around the house that I used on a few batch of beads this evening.

From my dog comb,

a glass coaster,

an old hair band,

the cat brush and a straw.

One thing that did not work out as well as I expected was from an old colander...

These beads will dry in a couple of days and then I will wet sand them, bisque fire, glaze, re-fire them to cone six and show them off later.  These were made with my new very dark clay and I can hardly wait to see them finished myself.  

Hope you enjoyed this time together, let me know, please leave a comment!  Check out my Etsy store where there are some things ready and let me know what you think!  If you are a Facebook fan, I have a page there called Marti's Buttons-n-Beads, please look it up...

and as always, thanks for stopping by, take care!

Bisque Firing Today and more...

Today I am running a bisque fire in the baby kiln, it has angels and new pendants in it.  Hope it turns out.

Also getting ready for the set up in Cairo next weekend.

I went to Zane Trace Button Club last week, first time I had been all year.  A couple of new faces and that is always nice, a beautiful trip and some great new buttons.

Here is a couple of pics of the new stash...

I love black glass buttons, the selection is unbelievable, finishes and designs are just remarkable.  My favorite of this stash is the bowling ball and pin that dangles from the ball.  It is a wooden button and I think it's adorable.  I think it will be a great feature on a wood tray!

The weather is so cool today, had to break out the sweats.  

So as always, thanks for stopping by and take care.

Major Fail

I had a major fail today and made a total a$$ out of myself.  Now mind you, years ago, I would have taken that in stride without so much as a shake of my head, but, as I grow older, I am trying so hard to also grow up...mature...become a gracious woman...that is, until I get behind the wheel of my car and become this crazy woman.  Where is this coming from???

The young man was flagging, poorly, like he had never done it before and he drove me to madness...I said things today I haven't said for a long time and it's so embarrassing to me.  Of course, nothing was said to him, just me acting up in front of my husband and then letting a few other people know how mad I became at the guy.

He was flagging traffic for a race inside a little town-why? I have no idea why-they would have had it in town, but they did and he let 20-30 cars come from one end of town and would not let but one car at a time go from our lane...I was incensed by the time we got where we were going, because, I could have thrown a rock and hit the place we were heading for...UGGGGHHHH, I hate acting like that.

So, once more, some where down the road, I will come onto another waiting situation and the next time, I'm going to try to remember today and take it in stride, not act like a crazy person...Lord, I've had to ask You to forgive me...again...and I'm just sorry that I acted like that and that for that reason You had to bother with me today...Thank You...I will try not to act like that again, I promise!

And even though some people will see this, it makes me feel better to confess it and hopefully, someone else will learn from my mistake and not act like I did today...


take care, and thanks for stopping by!

Wet Sanding

I am wet sanding today.  This is probably the messiest part of working in the clay for me.  Just after the pieces are dry to the touch, I use a damp sponge and rub off the sharp edges or little clay clumps...pretty them up a bit before the bisque fire.  After the bisque fire, they are so much harder to fine tune, so I do it now.  Here are some things I'm working on.  I still have a few things in the white stoneware to work up.

These are just a few of the pieces I have done.  The little kiln can be loaded with lots of these pieces, but after they are glazed, I have to be careful to have room between each piece because the glaze will stick to whatever it touches.  

Okay, I better get back to work, hope you all have a good day, and as always...

take care and thanks for stopping by!