Hello December!

December!  Really?  I'm not ready for you.  Way too much to do.  Haven't made a single Christmas purchase yet.  Have no idea what I'm going to be purchasing.  I'm getting stressed and it's only December 4th.  Not good.  I'm meeting my friend at the mall at noon for lunch and some shopping today - hope I can find some sales.  We'll see.

As for clay...I've been carving carving carving....

and my kiln has been running almost every day!  I really love this glaze!

 I think I need to re-carve this one. 

And I thought I was going to like this reindeer - kinda folk arty and all that, but Kellie said it looks like a diaper so now I'm not so sure about it.  What do you think?

 and this glaze I wasn't sure I was going to like but I made some pieces in it anyway....

and I've gotta say - I really love it on these link things...

speaking of link things, I've been making a lot of them recently...

and this house is for sale near me for commercial use... 

It was a ceramic doll studio and then it was a ceramic art studio.  Ryan actually had his fifth birthday party there years ago.  Anyway, I've been looking for a studio space near my home because, quite frankly, I need to get the hell outta here!  I need more space!  I'm squeezed into a tiny space and I'm starting to fall over myself!  I also need a big kiln and I don't have room for that at my house.  Plus, there are way too many distractions here.  The phone, the kids coming and going, the computer, and the regular day to day stuff of the house.  So, I can't afford to buy it right now, and I can't afford the rent on the entire building, but my real estate agent is trying to work out a deal where I can rent part of the building.  It would be great since it is all set up for kilns already!  Crossing my fingers that he calls me this week with good news.

First Friday Art Walk Sale

Please visit my Etsy today for the Etsy First Friday Art Walk and receive 10% off everything in my shop with coupon code: BOCFFAW at checkout!  Please visit the Beads Of Clay blog for all the participating Shops!

CYBER SALE Starts Today!

I'm having a sale in my Etsy shop!  It starts today, Monday 11/28 and runs till 11:59PM EST Wednesday 11/30!  Save 20% off your total purchase (excluding shipping and tax) by entering coupon code: CYBERSALE at checkout!

Who Doesn't Love Glaze...

These didn't turn out the way I had expected.  When I first opened the kiln I was like eeek! but as I pulled each piece out I realized that I like them a lot more now that I can really see the colors.

I'm really not a fan of matte glaze, but I do like these.  I had expected them to have a lot more of that gold-ish color on them, but after looking at them for awhile, I really kind of like this glaze.

Here are some of the other colors that were in this batch. 

I'm really happy with the buttons 

When They Say It Looks Better On Dark Clay...They aren't kidding.

Now granted, the lighting is horrendous here both inside and out but you can still see how different this glaze looks on these two clays!

 I bought three new colors of this low fire glaze last week and I really love how they look on the earthenware clay.  These are glazed right from the jars.  I can't wait to start mixing them with other glazes to see how they change.  They are Amaco glazes - I think they were called stone effects or something like that.

The New Patterns Are Glazed...

I unloaded the kiln this morning and I must say that I really love how this heart pendant came out!

Here are some of the other patterns...

 

 I'll be loading some of these on Etsy later today and all weekend.  I have a lot of other new patterns coming next week.  Have a great weekend!

Big Cartel

Good Morning! Did you have a nice Halloween?  It wasn't as busy this year as it normally is - even Kellie didn't get as much candy as she normally does.  I'm not sure if less people were giving out candy or what.  It was cold but they were still out for 2 hours.

Molly and her friends like to dress up and take Kellie.  It's their excuse to go trick or treating.  Even Howard got dressed up this year!

We girls in this house thought he looked very handsome with his fabulous Halloween collar from Clippers Canine Cafe.  I love this store! Clippers is owned by my sister and niece.  Clipper is my niece Kate's dog -  he's a very funny dog and is usually there when Kate is working.  The store is in the historic Savage Mill.  It's an awesome location.  There are places to eat and a lot of really cool shops - antiques too!  There is also a section of artist studios.  I wish it were closer to me - I would love to have a studio space there.  Plus it's haunted and who doesn't love haunted places?!  Molly and I met my sister and niece there and went on the ghost tour a few weeks ago.  Had a great time!

I opened a store on the Big Cartel site here today.  I'm not really sure how I'm going to use it yet.  I just added a few pieces to have something listed while I decide what to use it for.

Went to bed last night with my heart racing and woke up this morning with the same thing.  I don't like this feeling - makes me sick to my stomach.  This week is flying by and I feel like I'm losing control of my schedule so I think it might be stress.  I don't feel stressed - just busy - but I guess my heart has decided to kick it up a few notches anyway.

So, I'm off to work on glazing some pendants for a custom order today.  I'm going to throw a few other pieces in the kiln with them so hopefully I'll have something to show tomorrow.  Have a great Wednesday!