In the Clay

The last few days I've made some new things, but the weather is so bad, with worse weather coming, that I cannot fire the kiln.  Maybe, hopefully, by the middle of next week I can fire.  I have a waiting order and I hate not to be able to get it finished and sent!

Today is the second day I haven't had sugar.  This is a new thing for me and I'm going slow to get myself under better control.  I have always been spoiled rotten and very self indulgent, but I am giving it a go, to try to make myself more healthy, I hope it's not too little too late.

In a little more than a month I'm going to be 58 years old!  Who would have guessed?  Not me, for sure!  You know the old line, if I thought I would have lived this long, I would have taken better care of myself…yeah, that's me!

I'm glad I have this blog where I can write and on occasion get a reply.  I usually have something to show, but today I'm just rambling.

thanks for stopping by and take care!

I'm Baaaccckkk!

I'm back in the clay…it's been months.  Tomorrow I am starting a new thing and I am wondering about how it will go.

I have missed you.  Sorry for not keeping up for so long.  Please hang in there with me and come back to see what's going on.

Take care and thanks for stopping by…be blessed!

HAPPY NEW YEAR--2014

Welcome 2014!  I pray each of you health, happiness, and love!  I'll be back!

take care and thanks for stopping by

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!