Rosemary's Granddaughters

My cousin Paula has been making jewelry with some of my pottery pieces and I wanted to share what she has done with my pottery.  We live more than a 100 miles away and we both got our creative gift from our dear grandmother Rosemary.  She was an avid crafter, seamstress, florist, and fixer of things.  She was also one of the best cooks I have ever know, lucky for me she taught my mom who how to cook who then taught me. 

Sweet Rosemary

 
Paula makes beautiful earring with leather (she has a face book page, leather to leather) she has wonderful colors and textures, and she has recently made some leather cuffs with my large focal beads.  I know that Paula stays really busy with her job and family but finds that creating is in our DNA and is a great way to express yourself and make beautiful objects to enjoy.  Paula and I don't get to see each other often but it has been fun partnering with her on these projects from a distance.   

One of my favorite quote beads I make

This is one of my essential oil beads she made into a pendant

New Colors

I have several new glazes, fun colors with a hint of sparkle.  The colors have a lot of dimension and texture even though the glaze is smooth.  Rich tones of green, blue and a tomato red.  I have a few more but I haven't had time to fire those pieces yet.  Listed in my shop with lots more options.

This shade sure looks great with turquoise

Also two new this purple shades.  The first is more of a cranberry and the second a true deep purple.

Please send me photos of your finished products using my beads and I will post them on a upcoming blog.

The Tale of Two Texas Gals

Another Texas gal, Kerry Best with Kerry Best Designs is from Allen Texas about three hours North of me.  She has been making some great wrapped designs with my cuff beads.  Kerry commented on using my Captured Moments Pottery Beads " I'm also in Texas and love making all kinds of jewelry, but beaded wraps are probably my favorite. Your cuff beads really add a unique look, and everyone loves the quotes. The last set was so popular, I sold them before they were finished."   Well you can see why they sold so quickly as they really are cute.  Kerry has other fun wraps in her shop at Etsy.  If you have photos of designs you have made using my pieces send them to me so I can showcase them on the blog.  If you have sent photos in the past and I haven't used them please send them again.  Enjoy!

This one is in Stormy Blue

Malachite Green

Copper Brown

New Designs

This is the last day of Summer in Texas as school officially starts tomorrow.  It is 100 plus degrees outside most days and the ground is parched from the heat.  Road trips to visit family and friends and to explore the great state of Texas are done for this Summer.  With a new school year comes the promise of new discoveries and mixed emotions.  The opportunity for my girls to discover new knowledge and friends, but more rigid schedules and no sleeping in.  Fall will bring cooler weather and a welcome relief from the Texas heat.  School sports will begin and be added to my busy schedule.  All in the great circle of life that I live as a mom and artist.   

Sometime I have a million ideas, but not enough hours to explore them.  Yet, I am thankful for the moments I spend in my roles and I am thankful when an idea becomes tangible.  I am always excited to open the kiln, to see what was earth is now art.  I love the art of pottery for its inconsistencies and variety.  That a glaze is never the same, and that it has a free nature about it.  It amazes me that mud can be manipulated and made so beautiful.  Each bead I make is made entirely by hand, from forming and cutting the mud or clay.  To texturing and shaping it, with molds that were once mud and now they become press molds to recreate a design that has been etched into them.  The kiln is the only item that requires electricity, it takes me weeks to be able to produce enough to fire the kiln and it takes approx. 9 hours to fire and more that 24 additional hours to cool before I can lift the door and see the fruit of my labor. From the day I pull the mud out and start a bead until the day it comes from the last fire of the kiln is a 6-8 week process.  So in the spirit of new discoveries, here are some of my latest designs that began at the start of summer and are just now ready to share at the end.

 These beautiful beads have a large dimensional; flower in vibrant orange and yellow.  I made this set for myself using some agate beads and cord for the pendant and one of my distressed leather cuffs and cord to assemble the cuff.  It is a beautiful set to wear.  I have these beads available in my shop.

 This Elli bead features a horse head with a leather texture background.  It is curved and would be a great start to a western bracelet.  A different type of horse below, a seahorse.  This one is flat for a pendant but I made some curved for cuffs, this is a larger version of my ELLI bead.

 

 

 

This is a set I made for a friend using the last of a glaze that I had (This color is no longer available) 

I mixed my beads with Azurite stones and it is a great combo of blues and greens.  I made 2 pair of earring to give her some variety. 

The above great design was made with my art washes bead by Christina Hosford.  She made the bracelet as a gift for her favorite artist friend Brandi Dayton She made her a double strand bracelet with Labradorite, Phantom Quartz, Garnets, Kiwi Jasper, Mookaite and Turquoise.   She states that "It was a really fun piece to make, and I really enjoyed working with your pottery piece."

I hope you enjoy the new designs, I will have them in my shop soon.  If you don't see them in the shop send me a message and I will send you the link.  Thanks, Cindy

New designer spotlight

Laura Rendall states that creating art with her hands has always been her passion. She is new to Etsy and has recently opened Korále Art because she wanted to create unique jewelry pieces that incorporated different forms of art. The beads she uses come from places such as Austria and the Czech Republic and have a historic past.  The pendants and focal pieces she uses are created by artists here in the USA who use everything from wood to porcelain to clay. See below designs using Captured Moments pottery beads .  Also check out and follow my Pinterest Board with lots of designs using Captured Moments pottery beads.

Antique white with leaf design

In Blueberry

Rosemary bead in Seagreen

Washer bead in the color Worldly Mix

Introducing Belle

Belle is a new shape in my line of pottery cuff beads.  Why Belle? Much like a Southern Belle, this shape of pottery cuff bead is beautiful, with a flirtatious curve to hug your wrist.  She is also flamboyant in size much like the Southern Belles' hooped skirts and wide brimmed hats.  The bead is approx. 1 inch by 2 and 1/2 inches.  Available in many colors and textures. 

Aqua Fresca

Purple

Blueberry

TuTu Tango

Tamale Red

This design is by MagpieARTicles on Etsy, she used a 3 piece set for the pendant designs below. and added accent beads and antique brass chain.  Send me photos of what you create using my beads and I will post them on an upcoming blog. 

In the Hart of Dixie

Stephanie from Sassy Belle Wares on Etsy makes beautiful bracelets and one of her lovely designs was recently on Hart of Dixie a fun TV show that reminds me of allot of people I know down here in the South where I live in the great state of Texas.  Stephanie had the opportunity to gift the stylist of the hit CW Network series Hart of Dixie as part of a collaborative gift bag from The Artisan Group. Stephanie states that "Hart of Dixie is one of my absolute favorite shows so I was beyond thrilled when the bracelet was worn by actress Deborah Lacey as the character Madame Van Horn!"  The bracelet appeared in episode 22 entitled "Second Chances" which originally aired on May 16, 2014.

It features a Elli focal bead in a sunflower design in turquoise and orange made by me  and is accented with Swarovski pearls in coral, orange and turquoise and agate beads in a mix of yellow, orange, and aquas.  Stephanie has a lot of cute bracelets in her shop, stop by to see more great designs. 
Enjoy! Cindy

Deborah Lacey wearing bracelet on her left hand.

A close up of the finished piece.

Edgy bracelet tutorial using a pottery cuff focal bead and a bicycle tire

If you have been following my blog you know I like to recycle or up cycle items.   This hole project began when I spotted a old bike I had as a child up against the barn of my childhood home.  My daddy helped me take the chain off the old bike and I used it to press into the wet clay to make this super cool edgy pattern.  Then another crazy idea was to use a recycled bicycle inter-tube as the cuff of the bracelet.  The inter-tube was rescued from a bike my kids have recently out grown. I took the old bike inter-tube and fashioned this cool, edgy bracelet.  It was super quick to make and a fun accessory especially for bike lovers. 

I started by cutting off approx. 9 inches of the inter-tube, I then folded about a half inch of the tube inside itself to form a more finished edge.  I punched a hole with my leather punch and attached a metal button like one finds on their bluejeans. See post for details.
 

 

 

I then cut a button hole on the opposite side and curved the ends of the inter-tube using household scissors.  I glued the ends shut with household white glue.  To hold in place while drying I put clothes pins on the end.  Sorry I forgot to photograph that step. After it had dried overnight, I removed the clothes pins.

 

I held a 30x60 mm pottery cuff bead up to the center of my bracelet and punched holes to match the hole placement in the bead.  I then attached the bead to the inter-tube using micro screws.

 

This is the finished bracelet, ready to wear.  It should be a fun piece to wear with jeans and perfect for a bike or motorcycle enthusiast.  This piece was made with a stormy blue pottery bead but I have it in rusty truck also which is a brown with red rust spots.  Enjoy! Cindy

Note: that bike tubes have a natural curved shape so if you use a focal bead that has a top and bottom design you may consider adjusting that with the curve of the tube.

A Recycled Boot is Now Leather Cuffs Accented with Pottery Beads

     My family has always recycled items since I was a child.  Only when I was a child, it was not called recycling and it wasn't necessarily cool like it is now.  I wore recycled clothes (hand me downs).  My mom and dad re-purposed items daily (old stuff used again).  Daddy bought scrap metal at the salvage yard and made everything you can imagine from bar-b-q pits to cattle pens.  Mama recycled old jars and filled them with delicious canned goods; and she would even save every last piece of pie crust when she made a pie and roll it out and fill it with cinnamon, sugar and pecans for a tasty treat for us kids.  If it could be used again it did not get thrown away.
     My husband just bought a new pair of work boots and I spied them before they made the trash and I recycled one of the boots into two leather cuff bracelets.  I still have one boot and have plans to use it soon.  Here is a quick tutorial on how hand me down boots became two new bracelets.

    First I cut the leather into 1 1/2 to 2 inch leather strips about 9 inches long.  I added a metal button (see previous post for how to).  On this bracelet I wanted to use the leather piece that you hook your fingers into when pulling on the boot.  I took a pony tail holder in a brown shade to use as part of the connector.
 

      Regular everyday pony band for hair

     I cut the band in half and threaded it into the loop of the boot for my connector.

      I tied a knot in the pony band and put some glue on it to secure it, then I hid the knot under the leather loop.

      Here is the start of my first cuff, the leather came from the part of the boot that was the side at one time. 

      I choose one of my 30x60mm cuff beads in Sea Green and I held it up against the leather and marked the holes to match the holes in the bead, then I punched additional holes just outside those that matched the bead.  Using a leather punch makes this really easy (see previous post for how to).

      I then used waxed linen thread, available at your local craft store and I sewed the bead on using simple stitches and knotted the thread on the back of the leather. Below is the finished product.  I think it turned out cute and edgy.

     For the second cuff I put two of the metal buttons on it and cut holes for the button hole (see previous post for how to).  I determined the center of the leather and placed a key hole bead to the middle and marked the hole placement and then punched holes using my leather punch tool.  Then punch a hole just outside of the holes that match the beads so you can sew your key hole bead on to the leather.  I used simple stitches with the thread and since the holes in the leather are large and the thread is waxed you do not need a needle as it goes in easily.

  

     Gather some old keys and punch holes on either side of the keys and sew on to the leather using waxed linen thread.

 

 

    This is the back and you can see the stitching where the bead and keys are.

 

 The finished cuff, I really love this one. I wore it yesterday and received lots of compliments.

 

      I hope you enjoy the tutorial, have a great day! Cindy