Ceramic Bead Caps - A Winter Diversion

The winter is so horrible here and we have been so stinkin' sick.
I dread going outside and am bored with staying in.
O, I know where I live and that I should be ok with the snow but it's extra stupid this year.

So, I've been hanging around the house messing around with something new.
Stoneware bead caps.

It's good to have a friend who is a ceramic sculptor.
She makes giant things and let's me piddle around with wee bits of her clay and make beads.

Here's a peanut butter jar full of fired, but un-glazed bits.
I loathe glazing, it's messy and uncontrollable and full of color surprises.

So I am painting my ceramic beads, something I understand.
It's a way to get just what I want. I know, right?

Mmm, colored inks.
Art supply porn.

Theyre mixable, fast drying, come in lotsa great colors.
Soooo much better, for me, than glazes.
You can thin them, wipe them off, layer them, build up veils of color.

I use a garage sale pickle dish as my ink palette.

I rigged up a system of toothpicks and an aging Styrofoam block for painting and drying them.

After I got the first batch painted I dumped out my stray glass headpins and started playing.

Mixing and matching.
Loving these potential earrings.

I'm off to paint some birds.