Spring Watermelon

With a teeny tiny Yucca paintbrush that I made myself, I painted green stripes and pink dots all over this 20 mm porcelain bead that I also hand-formed and had bisque-fired. I re-fired it and as I turned it over and over in my hand I thought, "Wow! It's like Spring has arrived in this Watermelon!"

Stoneware Periwinkle Disks

This periwinkle glaze practically dances over these stoneware disks. I impressed these with a handmade mold, bisque fired them, then glazed and re-fired them. There are 7 in this set. Approx. 8 mm hole to hole, 16-18 mm wide. Find there here.

Photos on a Dreary Day

I had a bunch of beads come out of the kiln yesterday and I was looking forward to photographing them. However, it was extremely overcast today and the lighting was terrible. I have a light tent, but I haven't played around with that yet. Right now I take my pictures on a piece of typing paper that is on the table right beside the window while sunlight streams in ....

The reason is that I get extremely accurate color out of the beads. However, in overcast light I still get an accurate color but there is not light white background ... so I got playing with the fill gradient light tool in the photo program I use and these came out looking really fun!

I would have listed them today but like I just finished explaining .... the light is just not up to par to show them off to their highest potential. But I thought I'd share the fun photo anyway.

New Banner and Beads

This is the newest banner for my NKP Etsy story. I keep getting bored and changing it out. I think I like this one though.


Here's the latest addtion. Go see it here. These
Mustard Eggplant Stoneware Beads
were hand-formed and pressed into handmade textures. The purple tablets are all 16-18 mm and the mustard 15-17 mm from hole to hole.

Speckled Celadon Textured Rounds

These 13 mm Porcelain Rounds were hand-rolled, then imprinted with a zipper-like texture before being glazed with this speckled celadon, sea-green, glaze. I like the small specks of yellow and green which give it an added depth. Find them here.

Rose Tinged Porcelain Beads

These are some beads that I pressed a rose stamp on both ends. When it came time to glaze I used the lightest of pink for a delicate effect. These will be going in my Etsy store. Perhaps they might be used for buttons on a bulky sweater.

Joining the Etsy Mud Team

I'm a member of the Etsy Mud Team, which is a group of potters who network together to learn not only how to become better potters, but who help market each other's work. The link below is this week's thread:

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5412770

Get to know us and our art better. Each week we start a new thread in the Forum area under the section "Esty Teams". I believe at the moment there are over 80 members.

If you are a potter (meaning you work in ceramic clay no matter how small, including beads, buttons, and pendants), and have an Etsy Store, you are eligible to join. Convo montezumamudd for details on joining the Etsy Mud Team.

For those who are new to Etsy 'convo' is short for "conversation', which is basically an email which is sent from your Etsy account to their Etsy account. When you are logged in to your Etsy account, at the very top of your screen there is a link called "Conversations" ... click on that and then on the page provided, click "Start New Conversation". It is located in the upper right corner. Then just fill in the 'to' section and ask how to join the Etsy Mud Team.

Greenish Tan Porcelain Rounds

I love how these have just the teeniest bit of olive green tinge to them. And the splashes of turquoise is an added bonus. 13 mm hole to hole.

Cappuccino Mint Porcelain Rounds

Funny story about this Cappuccino Mint glaze. I misplaced it for a while. And then I used what I considered a 'mystery' glaze and voile! There it was! I was beyond thrilled. So I am going to upload a batch of four , 13 mm tomorrow to my NKP Beads Etsy Store.

Yay! More Beads!

There is nothing better than lifting the lid to a cooled down kiln and seeing the newest batch of goodies. These pictured are some new fun ones that made it through the glaze firing. Some don't. Some slide to and fro on the rods they are hanging on and get glued to a neighbor. Others stick to the rods and refuse to let loose. A hammer is usually the only way to get a stubborn bead to let go!

... but that's a sad ending for a bead, don't you think?

Hand-Painted Daisies

I have really enjoyed making these. After hand-forming and piercing the hole and putting it in for a bisque firing, I put a light pastel underglaze this bead before painting on tiny daisy petals. This reminds me very much of watercolors. Last I apply a coat of clear gloss glaze. Then each bead is put on a firing rod and goes into the kiln for its final firing.