New Rings with Swarovski Crystal Cabachons

Well, well, well.....I have been making these swirl rings for 3 years now. I opened a bead shop exactly 3 years ago. The problem in making these is that you need a large hole rondelle....well, well, well....easier said than to actually find large hole rondelle beads. I have been seeing some of these rings as of lately....then the light bulb goes off....as to why not make my own beads....so I did that about 2 weeks ago
and then last week more light bulbs went off and I decided to try making these with a little bit of a bling added to them. These are the first 3 I have made.....
I am very happy with the results. Maybe it really doesn't take a whole lot to make me happy.....which is really nice.

I WON THESE!!!

I am so excited. I won these great pieces on October 24.
The group I am member of Beads of Clay (BOC) had an open
Studio Blog Event on that day. All of the participants
were in a drawing and these are the pieces I won.
These are the artists and their items they created:
Mushroom - Summers Studio, LeAnn Weih
Leaf - Mary Harding
Dragonfly - Melinda Orr
Oval Tree - Marsha Neal Studio
Noel - Clayworks of New Hampshire, Lisa Boucher

All of these pendants are awesome!!!

YiPPPEEEE GLazed Pieces

This shows my new raised design. I like how the glazes work on the raised designs much better. I LOVE HEARTS!!!!

I have lots of hearts....some with raised and recessed designs. Some have slip that I have made designs then glazed. I am experimenting with slip. I love the look!!! It really is fun playing, experimenting and seeing how something will come out once it is fired. It can truly be a hit or miss!!!! I take lots and lots of notes in my journal whenever I am experimenting. Sometimes things get so hectic and I can be in such a hurry that I notice that I mess up my notes in that I know what I wrote is so NOT CORRECT!!!! My new thing in life is.....NO HURRY, NO WORRY!!!
Why is this so much easier to think than do!!!!

Here they are.....actually...not all of the 257 pieces. I worked Saturday and Sunday to get these items glazed.

BISQUE BEADS

Wow....I was busy last week. These photos show my bisque beads that I made last week. They are made of white earthenware clay and raku. I fired these this past Saturday. I handformed 257 beads and pendants.



This shows my Fleur de lis Beads and Pendants. I have a new raised stamp. I can't wait to see the glazes on this. I have been using mainly stamped designs that are recessed. I think I will like the new stamp with the raised design. I put a glaze firing on today....can't wait to get these out of the kiln. I am still playing with my bumble bee colors. Also, tried some new things with the glazes....anyway...let me keep on task. I also have a larger heart cutter that I have used. Went to Michael's over the weekend and found some wonderful oval cutters and a larger 2" round cutter. Found these in the Cake Decorating section.




Here are some of my BEADS. In the middle look really close and you will see my one and only snowman!!!! I do believe he will be a lonely snowman....he took way too long to make!!! Bet he is gonna be too cute when he is painted.
As I said earlier in my rambling on....I put on a glaze firing today and will get everything out in the morning. I will show some of my new pieces when I get these.