assembling my ceramic jewelry bits

 I am using waxed cotton with clasps attached which means various looks can be obtained for necklace, i.e. threading only one square as pendant or threading through all three for a horizontal look, see previous post testing using ribbon, or a vertical configuration shown here. Did manage to get those ceramic links into a bracelet too.  Will experiment with different waxed cotton colors and start to color more of the ceramic bits.  The stud earrings gave me a preview of colors from earthy to brights.  The inktense blocks provide a huge range from subtle if you use watered down color to really vibrant.  Once dry colors are permanent.  Here are some of he subtle, earthy colors:

playing with more colors

Now you know those stud earrings are only about 1/2" to 3/4" in diameter.  My closeups make them look much bigger

.  Had fun trying out different color combos.  The will make pretty earrings I think.

excited and inspired

Nothing excites me more than the discovery of new techniques especially those that use older techniques used in new ways and other tools and supplies that can be used in new ways.  For those who may have visited my blog you may have seen the results of my attempt at Indigo batik on ceramic.  See "very old" 2011 post here.  I probably have had more visits to this post than any other.  I did manage to construct a box using this technique .  This was rather difficult to produce.  I used a method similar to that used on fabric, ---silkscreened pattern in blue onto flat clay using several shades of cobalt underglaze through silkscreen.  Then dried surface but not whole clay slab with heat gun. Then applied layer of hot candle wax to whole surface.  When cool I fractured the wax using my fingers from underneath clay slab, then brushed a watery black underglaze on top of wax which caused it to seep through the cracks onto the silkscreened pattern.  Only then could I form the box.  It worked but I had to watch smearing as I constructed box as wax wanted to come off as I manipulated the clay.  OK that was then, I always have loved the look of batik,

and a watercolor look  on clay if possible.  I also am not hung up on a purist approach to my ceramics, preferring a whatever works and if easy, even better.  A while back I experimented with Inktense blocks made by Derwent bought mine here.  I posted  experiments on fabric and using the product on a foam cut as a stamp.

I blogged about using silkscreens on my clay.

Now I am ready to play with ceramic jewelry again, especially after seeing this piece
by Margit Böhmer

whose Facebook page is here  https://m.facebook.com/margit.boehmer?_rdr#!/

So I had some scrap clay some of which I had tried another experiment --wanted to see if I silkscreened on fabric with underglaze, would transfer onto clay

Then I just started cutting up into squares using smaller squares as other jewelry items.  Then continue used by stabbing out more scrap clay, impressing it with one of my texture sheets made from craft foam cut with my Cameo digitacutter.   with circle cut out for other necklace pieces.  one large square with inner square cut out, then small circle makes three pieces, two for necklace parts and the small circles for stud earrings.  Quickly bisqued whole bunch in my 8x8" test kiln.  Today I played with adding color using Inktense blocks.  Will play with more colors tomorrow.   Am excited at the nice matte finish and beautiful colors.  Would also work for larger decorative pieces (not for food, of course), but boxes and sculpted figures.

signs of spring here

Find new and exciting ways to use patterns on Silhouette Studio Designer Edition

The fun I had in my previous posting using my pattern library to make washi tape has led me to another useful use of patterns "and" Inkjet Printable vinyl.  As you know, I have an Epson 13" wide format printer which I am loving, Workforce WF-7610.  I have not done a lot of vinyl work, just a few things made over the holidays as gifts using vinyl I had had but never used before.  I decided that if I were going to use vinyl again, and did not want to have a huge supply of all the various colors, I would look into getting Inkjet Printable vinyl which I could color anyway I wanted before cutting.  I found this 12" x 24" inkjet printable (PERMANENT) vinyl here.  So I ordered 4 sheets (if I cut in half, I have 8 12" x 12" sheets---for $15.80 plus $6.95 shipping --total $22.75  comes out to $2.84 per 12x12" sheet)  It is a lovely matte finish.  I have been having such fun adding interesting patterns to my pattern library, some are my painted papers, some are great images found here and there.

Now to put all that to work.  My smart phone is a Nexus 4 which I love,  I also love the leather case I have for it, see here.  However, I often misplace the phone in the house and because it is black, I often can't see it, so I have used my Device Manager to make it ring while I scurry from room to room looking for it.  So I tested a tiny bit of leftover vinyl from those holiday projects I made and found the vinyl sticks nicely to the leather.

So I made a template for both the front and back of the leather case, one having appropriate holes for camera and speaker openings, one which covers whole side with no openings.  Here is a screenshot of my template:

Then the fun began as I filled these templates with the various patterns I have added to my pattern library, see previous posting and video on how I fill objects with patterns.  I couldn't stop, this was so much fun.  I have to be honest, my first template was just the solid without the cutouts for the back.  I thought I could easily cut out the areas after sticking it to my case, which I did, but a much nicer job can be done if you get the placement and template working with the cutouts.  For one thing, you can "pan" or scale your design pattern in exact position where the holes won't matter.  I will, therefore share with you the printout of my vinyl showing only the full front templates as shown below and I have annotated the picture to show you another mistake I made

I also could have moved the registration marks to allow for wider print/cut area, so you can learn from my mistakes.  Well, I used the black cat ( I love my black cat named "Pepper"), and that graphic certainly makes my phone visible when I misplace it again.

What is nice, Is that I can change out the vinyl patterns when it suits me, The only thing is I keep thinking up new ideas for decorating my phone. 

 Here are some more I have been playing with.

 and here is a screenshot of some of the patterns and I have lots more that have been added to "my Patterns" .  Hope you are inspired to try some of these ideas.

:

making inexpensive washi tape using printer and Silhouette Studio Designer Edition

Happy NEW Year everyone  here are two videos showing new ways to use the Silhouette software with Designer Edition.  Sorry for 2 videos but I forgot a few important items covered in Part 2 and have not found good way (and the time) to edit them into one video

Playing with sketch function in Cameo

Someone else (sorry I can't find out who, but think it was on this list)  put me on to the great bargain of gel pens at COSTCO. 100 Tek gel pens for $19.99 from COSTCO

They sell for $49.99 at Amazon: picture here:

TEKwriterUSA Gelwriter Gel Pen Set with Rotating Stand, 100-Count (27131-

ID)I

			TEKwriterUSA Gelwriter Gel Pen Set with Rotating Stand...   Amazon.com : TEKwriterUSA Gelwriter Gel Pen Set with Rotating Stand, 100-Count (27131-D) : Gel Ink Rollerball Pens : Office Products
			View on www.amazon.com	Preview by Yahoo

  I have them, soooo many colors and nice metallic colors too.  So, I decided to put them to the test

I also boought the pen holders from Amazon here: Silhouette Pen Holder

			Silhouette Pen Holder Shop Silhouette at the Amazon Arts, Crafts & Sewing store. Free Shipping on eligible items. Save on everyday low prices.
			View on www.amazon.com	Preview by Yahoo

but they have no instructions and it wasn't til I saw this blog tutorial that I figured out how to use them:

Silhouette School: Silhouette Pen Holder Review and Tutorial

			Silhouette School: Silhouette Pen Holder Review and Tut...   Tutorial and review on how to use the Silhouette Pen Holders.
			View on www.silhouetteschool...	Preview by Yahoo

 So now I was ready.  the pens come with a rubber grip which I sliced down and removed --nice razor slice enables you to put it back on after using.  here's pic 

So I tested it with a new font I downloaded called League Script (free)

Free Font League Script #1 by The League of Moveable Type | Font Squirrel

	Free Font League Script #1 by The League of Moveable Type | Font Squirrel   Download and install the free font League Script #1 by The League of Moveable Type as well as test-drive and see a complete character set.
	View on www.fontsquirrel.com	Preview by Yahoo

and made some adjustments to pen depth, then marked the pen as shown in above pic.

Just did name and address but thought I would give the whole thing a workout.  I had just created a very complex design using Inkscape to bend a design and possibly use as a silkscreen or print image, but I had traced it and did some other work i SD so it was a cuttable image, tho not one I would try to cut for obvious reasons, wayyy to complex, but I thought hey might be good for sketch.  I am very impressed, see pics below---First test in the middle I ran through twice when the lock on the pen assembly unlocked, Obviously pen too far down and a mess, top address came out good so that is the place I marked, but whoa, the sketch of the seabirds was great, Too bad camera doesn't quite pick up slight metallic.  Anyway, thought it might be useful:

one more

This plate did not get in bisque firing  and previous glaze firing so it just came out of a firing that had some items glazed after bisque and some items single fired.  I love to edit my photos as part of my glazing notes.  I have an android tablet and use Photo Editor app to do this and it is quick and easy.

I had used a foam cut to make this ---

here is foam cut

I just free handed outside curved edges.

glazed and dazed

At this post, I shared the silkscreened ornaments in greenware stage.  Here they are glazed on both sides, wired with little bow on top, I think they are cute

Story of a pot gone bad

The story of a very bad pot:  looks so innocent sitting on shelf between glazes doesn't it?

In it's early life, after bisque but before glazing:

I didn't like the sloppy way I painted on the underglaze so I decided to steer this poor pot on its path to ruination, see above as it awaits more glaze

The rest  is history, pot stuck to shelf made a huge mess see previous posting, but alas, quite a beauty in death:  

and the moral of the story is--------------

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

OK opened up kiln yesterday, as the title says, a bit of all.     But maybe I should begin with the "good".  There were a few:  

The heart plate above was made using this foam cut.  The first "regular" thickness foam I cut on my new Cricut Explore which resulted in deeper impressions.  I think the raggedly edges of the cut are not as good as the cleaner edges I get from the Cameo, but on clay, it doesn't seem to matter, so I now have the option of deeper impressions if I want them.  Here is the foam cut:

Then there were the bad and the ugly

The testing of the "new" Spectrum Green Mirror Glaze did not work out well, Caused the piece to crack, but to be fair, it probably wasn't constructed well, although it made it through the bisque firing.

  But the piece that made the biggest mess was the one that totally stuck to the kiln shelf, "and" ran off shelf onto another piece below.  While kiln was ramping up,  I remembered, while lying in bed, that one item I glazed with 3 coats of Spectrum "Old Copper" I had not elevated    ( put on stilt) in case the glaze ran. Well it ran all right.  But there is a lot to be learned here.  The piece is  goner, but I do like the way that glaze did over black underglaze and will try it again, next time with more care regarding the glaze running.  I had used the glaze before on a couple of single fired pieces shown here last May.  These were flattish pieces and I could see some running underneath, but it was not  problem.  Maybe I only used 2 coats also.  When in doubt, protect the bottoms and shelves, lesson learned.

As I loaded up kiln, I had this pushed to edge of shelf and that glaze just ran down on item on lower shelf too:  You can see this down he frog's back here:

More later----