Beads and Bowls

How about some GOLD? Draped gold leaf pendant with coordinating triangular tube dangle earrings.

 Half Moon necklace with crystal beads and Full moon drop earrings.   $35 for either set, $4 shipping. Email me.

 And a new bowl, 9 inches in diameter, and this time I tried to maintain the same motif, with varying success. I still managed to run out of slices near the edge, which means adding pieces from previous canes. Let's agree that this is as close as I may ever get to consistent. 

 An example of the the filling-in additions. O well, proof I am not a robot.

 And my friend Mary had these triangular bead trays, and I went to Hobby Lobby and got some for myself. Great for used tea bag drip trays, which we all need. Ha! 3.25" per side. 

Mini-bowls and necklaces

Trying again to photograph the new pieces. Back to laying them flat on the table, and hoping to get the best view of the piece. 

This neck piece is a collection of rods, wrapped with black cotton cord, and strung on rubber cord.

 Gray and Gold big beads, filled with aluminum foil to make them lightweight. Strung on shiny black cord.

Two sides of the same neck piece. Strung on white satin cord. SOLD

Again, two sides of the same piece, slightly different aspect. Strung on satin cord.

 

A collection of beads with different surface decorations, including the silver leaf on white and silver leaf on black. Strung on black leather cord.

 A longer necklace, with a long silver leaf tube as the centerpiece.

All necklaces come with coordinating earrings for pierced ears. $35, free shipping. Email me.

And then some little bowls, just for fun.

Two views of the same bowl. Deeper than the others.

Dangling Bits

 #1 

I'm trying out new designs, and having a great time. This neck piece has several different surface effects. The dangling bead at the bottom is silver leafed. 

 #2  Two sides of the same neck piece. The bar at the top is black but looks lighter against the black velvet stand.
#3   A combo of different surface techniques, including a braided look. Silver leaf enhances both white and black beads.

  And here's a bunch of dangling earrings. Mix and match with the necklaces above. $35 for a set, free shipping. Email me.

Daughter of Superbowl

 I like this color scheme so much better and discovered a little heart shape appeared in the design.

 And I fired up a small bowl made from scraps too. I guess I am starting a small bowl collection. Hmm.

Son of Superbowl

 For my second bowl I wanted to make it all from one cane, one big cane, reduced to tiny detail, and then applied to a smaller bowl, insuring I wouldn't run out of slices. I chose a Corelle shallow soup bowl from our own set. 9 " wide by maybe 2" deep.
This one took only part of one day to make and while I accomplished my goal, I was disappointed in the color. I used wonderful colors, but the more I reduced the cane, the smaller the sample of each became and it lost its 'carnival' look and became merely cohesive. A good lesson.

 I am happy to say it was much easier to remove after curing, since the Corelle was super slick to begin with. 

The difference in the shine is obvious here. The inside which was made on the backside of the bowl is shining just right, and the back which is where I did the composing is matte and not nearly as slick as in the reverse. 

 No attempt was made to make each hexie the same, yet occasionally they did match. I am going to try again today to achieve a color set that remains joyous as planned.

And just for fun, a new Nautilus necklace with two matching pairs of earrings. $25+$4. Email me. SOLD.

Superbowl

 My newest bowl, bigger and better. It's about 12" in diameter and about 3 inches deep. I went to the local Salvation Army store looking for glass items to cover and hit the jackpot. Then I proceeded to make canes which I sliced and assembled directly onto the backside of this piepan. Because it is Pyrex, I could bake the clay right on it in the oven. 

 When it was cool I began looking for ways to remove it from the pan and settled on a plastic butter knife. It was slow work going around the edge loosening the clay gently, careful not to split or crack the piece. It was just flexible enough to allow me to wiggle it a bit. But I waited to pop it off until I was confident it would not break. Voila! Patience has worked.

 I ran out of my original cane, and had to make more, different of course, and you can see the variety of different hexies in this close-up.

 As it sits in the sun, the gaps are visible, and the thin walls allow the sun's glow to pass through. I am so excited to be able to make patterns like this millefiore design. My quilting friends have made quilts like this, which of course were way too much work for me. But I loved them and now I get to play with similar ideas.

 Here's the naked pie pan, cleaned up and ready to make another bowl.

Bowls: Round Two

 Picking up from where we left off yesterday, I began applying the slices to glasses, and a lightbulb. I think I am getting the hang of it now, smoothing as I go and filling in the gaps with small dots of clay. Covering the lightbulb was the easiest, because it is smaller of course and requires fewer slices, but this will still be a usable bowl. Use for what? Salt, earrings, paper clips, and around my workspace, little cutters. 

 Here's a closeup of where I filled in the gaps with a dot of clay. Invisible on the inside and not too bad on the outside.

And the cured (baked) results. Today is the birthday party for December girls at Knitwits, and two of these will become gifts. Hard to decide...you can see the newer ones are finer and thinner, but one does want to gift something that will not disintegrate quickly. Hmmm.