On The Loom

Here is what I am working on ..on the loom. It is almost at the length I want...which makes me excited because that means I can soon start another!

BTW..Watercolor Impressions Art Beads

My Wednesday was very productive! I was working on a few of my new line of hand painted pendants which I call the Watercolor Impressions. They are very much inspired by the Impressionist style of painting. Last week I sculpted out a dozen or so of them and today, I set out to do my favorite part...the painting... Here's one in the works... you can see all the globs of paint on my palette

It takes a few layers of paint to get to this...almost finished...

Just a touch of magic (gold) and we're done painting...

I did a lot of picture taking today too..I had to finish a current assignment in a local guild that I just joined...more on that on my next blog... Although a day late (for some reason, blogger didn't want to upload yesterday)...happy Wednesday...

You can also check out what everyone has on their bead table this Wednesday by visiting the Flickr group - click here.

I'm happy its June and I'm brewing up a giveaway sometime soon (check back later or maybe tomorrow)....

That's all for now...have a great day!

BTW...Ocean Spray Pendant

Today I'm working on a pendant which I cal Ocean Spray made of clay. It is inspired by different artists like Christie Friesen and Chris Kapono... Here, I first drew out a general idea of what I want the pendant to look like. I chose a plain grey colored clay and added the turquoise stones. The swirls remind me of the ocean and the small circles are bubbles from the spray....

I start playing with the clay and have the general look here... 

Here's the finished piece without the color. I've added more detail with the little circles and antique spacer beads... I also added the brass  hook on top to hang the pendant from...I think it might be better to add that before starting to add the details of the pendant so as not to destroy any of the forms made on the pendant. 

A closeup with the initial drawing...it has taken a more involved form... 

I wanted to make some matching beads...maybe add as part of the necklace or maybe to make separate earrings for it...

Here's the completed piece....all in a day's work... You can't really see the color to well, but I finished it with Pearl-ex powder in a turquoise color. It gives it a wonderful shine. I'm still deciding if I should antique it with acrylic and maybe gloss? I'm liking it the way it is already... 

Thanks for joining me on this btw...you can check out what other btw-ers are working on by visiting the flickr group - here.

That's all for now...Have a good day!!!

Glazing

These are some of the pendants from my btw...I fired them up in the oven yesterday and spent today  working on "glazing" them. I tried several ways of coloring the focals which includes using TLS with oil pastels as well as using Future Polish (actually the local version we have which is Pledge Wipe & Shine) and acrylic paint.

Here are my results....I like how they turned out. I was going for a faux ceramic look...and I think, I'm almost there.  I do need a high gloss finish, however. I'm wondering what to use. The Future polish finish here was just not glossy enough to get that ceramic look. I wonder what would be a better gloss. 

These beads will eventually go into my Etsy shop (Earthly Jewels Beads) once I have coated it with a high gloss.

This leaf pendant was glazed with oil pastel mixed in  with TLS . I'm thinking it needs a bit more color...but I am liking it. It matches the colors of the current ABS jewelry challenge. Hmmm...

This set is perfect for a pair of earrings or as a smaller sized pendant. It has a sort of steampunk style because of the impressions which were made from small screws.

This is a lovely heart pendant that I first "glazed" with a purple and then sprinkled with Pearlex. It gives it a slight antiqued look.

And a series of rectangular pendants...a floral with different colors and antiqued with acrylics.....

This one I really liked because its really looking a lot like ceramics...

and so is this...very cute colors...

Finally my blue pendant...I added a metal ring on top instead of putting a hole (to hang the pendant from)...I quite like the brass ring on top. It doesn't take away any part of the design on the bead. 

I liked every one of these and plan to do them in different colors. Still searching for a good gloss for it...either that or maybe I can cover it with resin on top....I'll have to give it a try too.

Which one did you like from above? Do you think they look like they could be ceramics? (faux ceramic) Thanks for stopping by!

BTW...A Tray Full of Beads

It's kind of a day late...but I only got a chance to take a picture now. Here's what I was working on yesterday...a wonderful tray full of new bead designs. This should be fun to paint and glaze. I'm planning to work on my faux ceramics and faux raku technique with these. But...still a few more slots open for more pendants there on the right before it goes under fire (or in the oven)....

I am totally enamoured with ceramics and porcelain. I'm hoping one day I will get to take a class on it. I've researched in my area and there is one place in the University that offers it but, I'm not quite sure if it is only a summer workshop. I missed the one that started in April. I'll have to give them a call to find out when the next is. For now, I will have to use polymer clay to get the look of ceramic...which polymer clay can do really well!

Check out the flickr group to take a peek at what some great artist and crafters are working on this Wednesday... - VISIT FLICKR GROUP HERE.

That's all for now..Have a great day!

BTW ... Floral Cabochon

Here's the state of my Bead Table today (actually yesterday...but I was able to post it just today)...working with my polymer clay again. Making some floral cabochons....

I also have an ancient tree cabochon and a few "blank" ones, which I plan to paint on using acrylics. Still not enough for a batch in the oven so, the work is to be continued today.

Check out what everybody has on their table this Wednesday at the flickr group here....

That's all for now...Have a nice day!

BTW...Working on ABS Challenge

I've got a couple things going on the work table today..multi-tasking....

On the right side, I am finishing up with the beads I made last week....adding Future to seal and give it a good shine....

And on the left, I'm putting together my piece for the ABS challenge. I finally get to enter this month since I have created my very own art bead from polymer clay as seen in the lower left. I made it just in time...I only have until tomorrow to enter...so now...I need to get back to the table....

That's all for now...have a Happy Wednesday!

BTW ... I am a Bead Maker!!!

Posted a day late...but anyways..here's what I was working on....

It's my first try at making beads. I got some clay yesterday. I wanted to use an air dry type of clay....

Unfortunately, i think the clay is too brittle...thus the broken one on the right side. Maybe i made it too thin? I don't know a lot about making beads from clay yet and I think its going to take a lot of experimenting. I may have to try a different type of clay...I've read about cold clay (and it being air dry too). You can even make your own but I don't think I have the patience to make it myself. I want to get to the "making" of the beads itself right away.

My favorite part is painting and decorating the beads....

I chose gold, pink and white paints...mostly because those were the ones I had on hand.

And here are the ones that survived.... the 2 rectangular ones crumbled...perhaps they weren't quite dry yet when I started painting them....see how impatient I am...

I really enjoyed my foray into clay bead making... 

What's on your bead table today?

Bead Table Wednesday ... aka BTW

I joined the flickr group (click here to go to the flickr group) created by Heather from Humblebeads (see the post here). So, every Wednesday, I'll let you take a peak at what I'm working on...

Today, I'm working on the necklace for my Margie and Me challenge (which is to be revealed on the 19th). Here's my table...

I can't show you the piece yet (we're supposed to reveal it on the 19th) but you can kind of see the pendant way in the background behind the wire....I'm liking how its turning out but, I'm thinking of making a maybe another one for the challenge. That is, if time permits....

Thanks for stopping by!

Color Palette Inspirations...Sneak Previews...

Since I decided to join in a couple of jewelry challenges, I've been digging through my stash of beads. (which reminds me that I really need to start organizing and setting up the craft room). I've looked at the challenge inspirations several times already and tried picking out beads from my stash with the colors from the selected art.

Here's what I picked out....

For the Art Bead Scene inspiration, they chose John Singer Sargent's Carnation, Lily, Lily,Rose -

There's a lot of pretty colors there and I picked out a lot of colors from my stash. I initially chose these....

Although, I loved all the colors, it just seemed to be a jumbled mess. I wanted to cut down the colors and simplify but I loved all of them. So I decided to have two separate color themes..... and it seemed to work out better.

For the first color theme, I used the grape and oracle colors....but I also added a slightly different light pink/flesh color too....

And the second color theme uses logan, lily, blue zodiac, and wewak...

There! Much better, I think.... It looks better and more harmonious!

It's great to have the color palettes all ready. It's much easier to create this way.

And as for the Margie and Me challenge, The Modern Madrid....I've picked out a couple of beads for the first inspiration...a photo by JMDasso

Here are my color choices.....

I'm not quite sure about the center piece bead yet....but, I sure do love the color palette. I also love the second inspiration, however, I may not have enough in my stash to have a complete piece for it. Let's see...there's only about a week and a day left to get going....

Lastly, I posted this new necklace on Etsy today.

It's a simple cluster pendant necklace that's perfect to go with the "In the Ocean of Blue" charm bracelet....

I got the idea from an inquiry today about the bracelet for a wedding party. As I was raking through my stash, I found those beautiful deep blue and violet beads and thought...wouldn't these look lovely with a gorgeous blue gown....so I gave it a try.... check it out in my etsy listing - here.

Here are some gorgeous dresses that would look awesome with this necklace....

Picture Credits from left to right - (1) Adrianna Papell Flutter Sleeve Tiered Dress in dark blue.jpg  (2) ioffer.com (3) Dark blue Tadashi Tiered Ruffle Silk Gown image.jpg