Saturday, December 15, 2012

Dirt Under My Nails

Making clay beads is dirty business - probably because clay is made of dirt.


































I love adding these wee terracotta components to my jewelry.
These leaves are so light they add virtually no weight to the earrings.

























I made them at my friend Nancy Valle's studio. She makes amazing giant clay sculptures and bowls. Nancy lets me make teeny-tiny things while I am hanging out in her space and then she graciously fires my piddling bits of clay for me.



These little discs with leafy impressions I hand colored with colored pencils and then gave them a rubbing with Renaissance Wax.



























The little bead caps are also clay.























































All of these earrings are still available (I think) at the Record Archive in Rochester, New York.
I have a trunk style show up there for the month of December with paintings and jewelry.

1 comment:

Numinosity said...

I am really loving the combination of clay and glass these days. Glass tend to get rather heavy when you start to multiply components on a pair of earrings. And the texture is such a great balance to the shiny glass making for a dynamic effect.These came out really good.

What fun you must be having making some new clay bits to combine in your designs.

I spent a whole day making clay bits with wire hangers for drops not realizing that a special wire was needed and the steel I was using was going to melt as it was a high fire clay, but it sure was fun to make something with my hands instead of torching.

Also I wanted to say that your new business card is really pleasing to the eye. What a great graphic.

Happy Holidays to you