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.

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

Sharing Cute Leather Cuffs

Anyone who has read my blog before knows that I refer to my beads as "the kids" well some of my kids have headed West.  These cute cuffs were made with my pottery focal beads by Emily Laurita, her shop is Rocking 27 Boutique.  Emily is a small town girl born and raised in Colorado, her fiancé and her work on a ranch based in New Mexico. She love to create jewelry and home decor when she has any free time.  I hope you enjoy seeing these cute cuffs.  I have lots of beads in my shop if your inspired to make a cuff yourself, or head over to Emily's shop for one ready to wear.

Stunning new set of four pottery beads, hot out of the kiln

 

I will admit that my favorite color is turquoise, so I may be biased about my love of these new beads.  The worldly mix of blues, greens and browns.  This is a combination of an experiment of glazes gone right.  I made one set for myself and loved them so much I have made a handful of sets and just posted them to my ETSY shop.  They are slightly different as I did not add the side holes on the earring beads.  The finished pieces were made by adding some copper wire to the beads by stitching it to the beads thru the set of two holes and I dangled some small glass seed beads from the set of three holes on the side.The cuff bead is 30X60 and has a  hole at each end, I attached it to a leather cuff using copper screws and nuts and a few daisy beads as washers.

 

 The earrings were made by adding small glass beads to the bottom using jump rings and I attaching to fish hook wires.  I also stitched some copper wire thru the bead. Please note the ones in my shop  do not have the additional side holes, I found they were not surviving productions due to their small size, so the ones in the shop are missing the additional holes.

 The pendant was made in a similar manner, I fashioned a simple bail by winding the wire around a small mandrel.  (don't have a mandrel just use a screwdriver as it is round piece of metal and will work fine)

 Here are the beads that are in the shop, BEAUTIFUL.  They cost a little more, being a supply item I really try to keep the cost as economical as possible, but these are much more labor intensive and I had to charge a tiny bit more.

Available at www.CapturedMoments.ETSY.com

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.

Thrift Store Find

I love going to the thrift store and looking at the cast offs that other people donate.  I am always on the look out for something to reuse.  This week I found a cool leather belt with a punched hole design, it was $1.50. I then went to the craft store and bought some turquoise braided ribbon and I was ready to create. 

 I cut 7 inches off the end of the belt, as I have a larger wrist, you might use more or less depending on wrist size.  I then began to sew or whip stitch the braided ribbon thru the existing holes.  I did have to cut the end off once and heat with a lighter to help the ribbon go thru the holes easier.

 Notice in the above photo where the arrow is pointing is the middle of the leather where I marked it with a pen before starting. 

 When I got around both sides and to the last end I tucked the ribbon under the last few stiches and did the same on the other side.

 Above you can see how the ribbon is unraveled some and I am tucking it under the existing stitches.

 A view of the other side so you can see one side finished and the other almost finished.

Above is the back of the belt where I tied a knot in the waxed linen thread to hold the bead on to the belt.

 I then sewed one of my pottery cuff beads thru the existing holes with waxed linen thread, if needed I could have punched holes.  On this one I lucked out as they were already there.

 The above photo show the cuff sewn on both sides.

 I had to punch one hole to add jump rings and a lobster claw but was able to use the existing hole on the other side.

 I made a quick pair of earrings and just attached the beads to ear-wires with jump rings and added a tiny copper bead for an accent.

 I simply threaded leather into one of my doughnut beads for a simple choker.  And tied a sliding knot to put on and off.

 These beads are in a Tahitian Blue they have a real water color effect which is fun for casual wear.

A close up of the earrings.

I wonder what people make of the loads of stuff I donate yearly to the thrift store? I think it is nice that we have the stores in our town, they benefit great causes and they are a great resource for items to reuse.  It is so much fun to find a treasure like the belt I found.  The best part is I have a large section of the belt left for another project and my daughter has already spoken for they next seven inch cut.  :)

More Show and Tell:

The following pieces were made by Carrie Grabowicz.  Carrie is a stay home mom of two sweet boys with lots of energy who love to have fun.  Her shop name Hammi Jammi came from a nick name she gave her boys when they were acting silly.  Carrie states that "It started off that they were "hams" if they were goofing around. Then it turned into "hambone jambone" and finally it turned into "hammi jammies."  What a fun name to use for her shop and a sweet sentiment behind the name.

 A beautiful design using one of my lavish steampunk beads.

 The above was made with an Elli bead in Autmun, the design below is also the Elli bead with flowers in Aqua Fresca.

Show and Tell

What fun to be a kid and have show and tell day at school.  I just want to share some designs using my pottery beads.  It is always fantastic to see what my beads have become once they go to their new homes. Check my shop for all these pottery beads, and I am constantly adding new colors and designs.

These were made by Lori, Lori has been making western cuffs using my beads and leather, super cute.

Galen has made these lovely pendants using some of my pottery beads.  

 

Nicki Lynn has made a cross cuff bracelet and a bird pendant that are really nice.

 

Stephanie has a talent for combining colors to make exciting western cuff bracelets.  Please note that the Y'all beads are a design she had me custom make for her so you will not find them in my shop.  Have a great idea for a personal design? Just contact me for the details on how you can have your own personalized beads.

 

Thanks for looking and have a Healthy, Happy New Year.  Until next time...Cindy