Tag: pendants

Beadfest or Bust!

Leave a comment

 

Beadfest or Bust

In case you were wondering wher I had been – I have been in the “glaze cave” as I afffectionately call the basement studio. I have been glazeing all day every day and firing the kiln daily as well. All in preparation for my first national bead show. Its a convention really. Beadfest, Heard of it? It is August 17-19 at the Greater Philly Expo Center (actually in King of Prussia). Classes, demos, book signings, and a huge retail sales area. Bead mecca. Bead porn. 

And I will be there at #454 in Artisan’s Alley. 

A group of my fellow beaders/designers… and I decided to host a sale in all of our shops. Because there’s nothing else going in my life this week, right? (wink, wink). Please take a look and support the artists in their endeavors if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Melinda Orr ~ Melinda Orr Designs ~ 15% off w/coupon code BEADYGIRL ~ Enter for the Leather Bracelet Kit Giveaway on the blog

Etsy: www.orrtec.etsy.com

Blog: www.orrtec.blogspot.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/melindaorrdesigns 

 

Lorelei Eurto~ Lorelei Eurto Jewelry ~ 20% w/coupon code BEADYGIRL

store: www.LoreleiEurtoJewelry.etsy.com

blog: http://Lorelei1141.blogspot.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LoreleiEurto

 

Karen Totten ~ Starry Road Studio ~ 20% off w/coupon code  BEADYGIRL

Blog: http://starryroadstudio.blogspot.com

Etsy:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/ktotten

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/starryroadstudio

 

Marsha Neal ~ Marsha Neal Studio  ~ 10% off your entire purchase from my Etsy shop including the special SALE section that has items marked down 30% off.

(Marsha is my bead show guardian angel/consultant!)


Every listing purchased during this date from Marsha’s Etsy shop will get entered into an additional drawing for a $25 Marsha Neal Studio Etsy Shop Gift Certificate (see her blog for extra info).

Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/MarshaNealStudio

Blog: http://www.marshanealstudio.blogspot.com/

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/MarshaNealStudio

 

Staci Lousie ~ Staci Louise Originals ~ 20% off w/coupon code BEADYGIRL

Etsy: http://www.stacilouise.etsy.com

Etsy Components: http://www.etsy.com/SLArtisanAccents

 Blog: www.stacilouise.blogspot.com  

 

Sue Kennedy ~ Sue Beads ~ 20% off w/coupon code BEADYGIRL ( My BEADFEST neighbor!)

Etsy: www.suebeads.etsy.com

Blog: www.suebeads.blogspot.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/SueBeads/241806885873855

 

Lisa Peters ~ Lisa Peters Art ~ 20% off w/coupon code BEADYGIRL (sorry not applicable for RING KITS) 

 Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LisaPetersArt

Blog: http://www.lisa-petersart.blogspot.com/

 

Jenny Davies Reazor~ 20% off w/coupon code BEADYGIRL

Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/jdaviesreazor

Blog: http://www.jdaviesreazor.com/blog

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JDRshrineart

 

Mary Hubbard of White Clover kiln: coupon code BEADYGIRL

Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/WhiteCloverKiln

Blog: http://www.whitecloverkiln.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WhiteCloverKiln

 

For me – the shop is sparse, I admit it, but its all been about Beadfest prep: 

earring pairs

 

glaze table.

 

Happy Shopping!


Clay. Creations. Friends. Fun…

4 Comments

pendants

Wow – all last week was a blur. Getting ready for Wicked Faire, firing the kiln multiple times, packing, prepping. Phew. (Wicked Faire was fun. No, there werent many pictures taken. Yes, I saw Gumby, Santa, Papa Smurf, Jesus, demons, a faun, pirates, and so many more characters. But what happens at Wicked should stay at Wicked…)

So this week – already Thursday? Show applications, paperwork, etc. Doing quite a bit of catching up…Working on Fall themed submissions for magazines, mailing my charms to Ornamentea for the “Lucky charm swap” and thinking/sketching for my Music blog hop…

Exciting news…I am one of the newly selected members of the Suburban Girl Design team. Suburban Girl Studio is owned and operated by Diana Ptaszynski – who I met last fall at Beadfest in Philadelphia. (She organized a bead swap that went from fun to epic. Friends were made, hijinks ensued.) Diana makes ceramic beads and components in stoneware, porcelain and raku. Like these: 

Suburban girl beads

And these: 

Suburban Girl raku

The design team will receive a piece – seasonally, and we will create using that component, blog the results and share the love. You know the results are going to be radically different,and extremely creative. It will be interesting to see especially as the team members all have different packgrounds in art, clay, design, metal smithing. I am looking forward to the creative challenge. 

I had been thinking perhaps I would go out into the blog world, and see if there was interest in a design team of my own. My pendants are one branch of my body of work, I do quite a bit more. (Tiles, shrines, collage…) Perhaps after this design team experience, I will launch my own. What do you think? 

Stay tuned for the music blog hop next week and new tile designs in the works. 

Bethany. Beach. Boardwalk. Beautiful…

3 Comments

Bethany1

The day dawned cloudy and a little hazy, but that did not last long. I had a great spot on the boards, at the top of the main drag in town. 

Bethany2 

The dunes and the beach as my backdrop!

Bethany3

For this show I was in the “Mixed Media” category. So my jewelry display had to be limited, just ceramic components. But they were very popular…

hat

I never wear hats. Thank heavens I had borrowed an umbrella from Betsy!!!

Bethany5

reunion

Pleaseant surprise! Kim was a student of mine whose Grandparents live in Bethany. I was thrilled to see her, to catch up and to meet…

Jack

Jack! (And her husband, of course!)

 

Sorry this was rather brief. This is a big week. Today is my birthday, and I had a productive studio day – mixed media collages are in progress for this weekend at Artsfest. Tomorrow I have to finish earrings for a blog swap, and the infamous Bead Soup! Bead Soup posts will go up on Saturday – stay tuned!

 

 

Bead Fest, bead swap, bead abundance.

4 Comments

When I left for Philadelphia Saturday morning, with Marsha of Marsha Neal Studio, I had the best laid bloggy plans. We were headed to Beadfest. I wanted to take pictures of inspirational items, gorgeous gems, beautiful beads, and the people…Here is all I managed: 

beads1

beads2

Once there – it was a frenzy of shopping, familiar faces, chatting, shopping… Such a great day! And the camera stayed in my pocket. Oh well. I can show you the loot, and there is some loot…

A highlight of the day was the Bead Swap organized by Diana of Suburban Girl Studio. This wasnt about a contest, or a challenge, or a blog entry – it was simply a great way to meet, and share the beady goodness with friends old and new! My new friend and swap partner was Meredith Arnold – a very talented and humorous lady! I crashed her class and got a handful of her gorgoeus polymer beads! They are a bit of a challenge as I am a gemstone junkie, but I already am starting to have some ideas!

swap beads

Then there is the shopping, the loot, the treasure. Lets start with artist beads, shall we? 

artist beads

goedes and fossils

Geode slices and fossilezed starfish!

loot1

Amazonite, calcedony, mystery gem, sapphire!!!, kyanite. 

loot 2

Moonstone, calcedony (?) and yes, more moonstone…

gems loot

Apatite, mystery gem, amethyst, smoky quartz, rutilated quartz, moonstone, lapis, garnet, labradorite, amazonite. 

I know. I bought quite a bit. I get dazzled by the gemstones in all their glory. But I am officially doing Art on the Avenue in October as a “jewelry/mixed media” artist. Meaning I am juried in for jewelry, a coveted spot, and I am allowed to bring tiles and shrines as well. So excited!

After the shopping and swapping marathon – time for a little wine and conversation! The large group of us settled in at Legal Seafoods, and had a great evening! I thoroughly enjoyed getting to meet and chat with people whose work I admire, people who were inspirational/influential to me when I began making ceramic beads, people whose blogs I read regularly. Thank you all, it was a pleasure!

candid camera

Candid camera with Lorelei Eurto and Diane Hawkey. (Elaine Ray and Cynthia Deis look on…)

dinner 1

Nancy Schindler/Round Rabbit, Lisa Petrillo, Lorelei Eurto, Diana P/Suburban Girl. 

dinner2

Mary and Molly Hubbard/White Clover Kiln, Melanie/Earthenwood Studio

dinner3

Kristie Roeder/Artisan Clay, Melinda Orr, Marsha/Marsha Neal Studio. 

I hope there are many future meetings in our futures!

 

 

Wednesday – Work in Progress

Leave a comment

Just a quick update – what is actually happening this week? Some people blog a Wordless Wednesday – here is a Work-in-progress Wednesday. I try to be in the ceramics studio on Mondays and Wednesdays. I work at home the other days – on everything from mixed media, glazing, jewelry…

So here is the clay in progress: 

Celtic flora tiles

Here are the initial sculpted pieces – a set of tiles depicting the four Celtic plants. (Scottish thistle, Irish shamrock, Tudor rose, and Welsh daffodil.) They are rough at this stage, and obviously one tile short. When the clay is a bit dryer and firmer, I will carve in details and neaten everything up in general. The shamrock is tough, it is such a simple plant, I may take out the four leaf and enlarge it even more. They are 5″ square, and will be ready for fall shows. 

Yesterday was a glazing day. I moved things up to a temporary spot in the dining room; it was too lovely a day to be in the basement for hours. (Now when it gets hot – I love the basement!)

goddess pendants

From an Indian goddess icon, these are half way there. The color to bring out the details and a transparent glaze will be applied over that. 

Plate-o-pendants

I wish I could say I got all these done! – but they are also awaiting their clear transparent coat of glaze…

Milagro pendant WIP

These milagro eyes are my current favorite. I have a finished one I wear almost every day… 😉

But there is more to be done:  the chipmunks for Robert, the buttons for Noelle, and the molds for Cooky… and that glazing to finish. Back to work. Maybe I will load the kiln before dinner…

 

We have a winner!

Leave a comment

Well, I counted. And I counted again to be sure. There were 234 pendants on that plate! And that was from 1 firing. I am itching to get back into the studio to make more! When what I should be doing is settling in for a long Etsy listing session. 

The closest guess: Jennifer Boni Ayres guessed 218. Congrats Jen!

pick a winner

winner

And our random winner: Heather Moose!I find it ironic, yet fitting – that both winners are my former students! Isnt that the joy of social networking; that you can keep up with people that otherwise you would have lost? These two were both Ceramics students – now married, successful… Maybe I have pictures of their work somewhere? I will look… I can clearly remember projects they did: Jen’s Emily Dickenson bowl, Heather’s Homage to Keith Haring…

On to the prizes: Here are the more detailed pictures of colors. If my winners would select a color – I will surprise them with the rest. 

1. Grey

grey

2. Celadon

celadon

3. Cobalt blue

cobalt

4. Olive green

olive

5. Bamboo ( Hey that’s what it’s called…)

bamboo

6. Clear – with underglazes. These are from assorted stamps: Medusa, bat, Tarot cards…

tarot

This was rather fun. Perhaps I will do another give away and contest over the summer! Stay tuned…

A contest – and a give-away!

5 Comments

This week I had many pendants in the kiln. Not a few, but an entire shelf. This is precious territory, here. The stars were all aligned: there was enough ware glazed to fill the gas kiln at the studio; there were enough shelves for me to commandeer one for my pieces; I was there to load said pieces; I had enough pieces ready and waiting to be fired. To celebrate this huge pile of beady goodness – and the recent publication of my work in Beads 2011 – lets have a contest!

You have two chances to win: 

1. Guess how many pendants/charms are on this plate. It is a standard dinner sized paper plate. 

Plate o pendants

plate detail

2. Be the lucky name drawn from the proverbial hat!

Winners – I will pick two winners – one who has guessed the number closest to the actual number of pendants. ( I still haven’t counted yet!) and another name chosen from the entries at random. I will count the pendants and draw winners Monday April 25th. The winners will receive either 2 pendants for use in their jewelry creations OR 1 pendant with a gemstone dangle, on silk cord, ready to wear. Winner will get to select color scheme from a detailed photo posted Monday; I will surprise you with the design/motif. 

Feel free to repost this, share on Facebook; or reTweet. Sorry it wont get you any extra chances to win. Just share if you feel like sharing the love. People I havent met personally are invited to enter here, or on my FB business page: The Art of Jennifer Davies-Reazor. ( All entries go into 1 pool: Twitter, FB, FB biz, blog all together now.)

I have to say, its all rather intriguing – as I have no idea how many are piled there, either! Happy guessing! 

A to Z: E is for Excited! Ecstatic!…and Etsy

2 Comments

We went to Barnes and Noble last night, as we often do, for a coffee, relax, browse a little… There is was. I had seen a copy but it was exciting to see it for real out on the newsstand. 

newstand

That little yellow butterfly in the center – mine! I had submitted a variety of pieces in January, and received word that pieces were selected. Needless to say I am very excited. 

And a little frazzled – to be honest. Are there any components for sale in my Etsy shop? Did I list any after finding out I had been selected – so they would be ready to sell in April at the release of the publication? You can guess the answer. I had it on my to-do list, but it always seemd like there was enough time, do it later…

My view today: 

desk view

I am listing items on Etsy. It is my job. 

Lunar hare

I get giddy with excitement when I look at that picture of my Lunar hare pendant larger than life! 

mag page

Those are also my pieces at #1 on this page. A hi fired stoneware textured heart and an earthenware pendant/charm. Yesterday I loaded a whole small shelf into the reduction glaze kiln at the studio. I didnt count the pendants 100? More? (cue evil laughter) I cant wait til Thursday! More pictures then, I promise!

For now – back to listing on Etsy!

 

Spring is bringing many new things…

4 Comments

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold:  when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.  ~Charles Dickens

spring daffodils

Today was such a day. The daffodils are teased with the chill wind. The dogs are sunbathing, recharging their solar cells. And I was in the studio…. I try to do a seasonal newsletter, yet I find myself liking the weekly blog entries better. So please feel free to follow this blog, if you are interested in updates and musings, and work in progress. But on to the news of the season…

The Spring season was ushered in by the magical wonderful Mythic Faire. Held in Baltimore, this is the little sister show to the autumn extravaganza that is FaerieCon. The weekend is a medley of talks, panels, music, artwork, and meeting and chatting with creative people. It was great to see old friends and make new! More on Mythic Faire can be had here: Mythic Faire website and my blog entry…

Immediately after returning from the Realm, as Mythic Faire is often called… I had to get back into the studio! I had a new exhibit going up in days at the Music School of Delaware.  My dear friend and talented artist Betsy Mortenson and I are revisiting our ImagoDea – Envisioning the Feminine Divine show with new work. The show is open now, and will remain up until May 20th. Our opening reception is in tandem with one of the schools concert series – Music : Ritual and Healing – held on Sunday April 3rd. If you are in the area and interested please stop by! More information at their website.  They are located at 4101 Washington St in Wilmington DE. 

ImagoDea postcard

A sneak peak into some of the new collages, you ask? ok – here is a teaser. This is from the series of 9 small collages – The Muses, as I was still working on them. 

Muses in progress

But there is clay on my hands as well as paper fibers and glue! I am trying to achieve balance between areas of my life – arent we all? So time spent in the clay studio and ever increasingly in the jewelry studio rounds out my days. I have a fantastic new mold awaiting clay – from a detailed original carving – a split tailed mermaid, a sexy one at that! Cant wait to have a batch of tiles to glaze… I will post pictures as soon as I have some…

I also have new shrine tiles. I made the empty shrines, cast them, and from the mold can make multiples. Each one is different, but related. I like this new way of working in a series, yet still creating one of a kind pieces. 

rough shrine tiles

Here they are very rough, straight from the mold. And after adding elements and glazing…

shrine tiles

Working in a series this way is how I do my ceramic pendants, and it seemed the next logical evolution to work on tiles this way as well. I have been working in the jewelry studio quite a bit lately, and may have news about my jewelry offerings in the future… For now I leave you with a few pictures of new work. (Some of which will soon be making its way to my Etsy shop, naturally…)

pendants

Along with the clay, I have been working in resin and in metals. Getting reacquainted with some of the skills I learned in metal smithing classes as an under grad!

resin

mojo talisman

So here is hoping spring finds you healthy and happy! And may it be a productive, creative and fruitful season!

Upcoming events: 

I am teaching two workshops at through The Art Studio.  Mixed Media Jewelry: Collage in Resin in resin will be held Thursday April 14th from 6-9pm. We will create small collages, inset into bezels and seal them with resin. It is simpler than it seems and highly addictive!

The second workshop is a ceramics workshop – Creating a Floral Mirror Frame. We will work in clay one week, and glaze the next.  Students will design and sculpt a floral ceramic tile, which will become the mirror’s frame.

Information on my classes can be found at the Art Studio website, or by calling 302-995-7661 – if you are interested!

My next festival/art show of the year is in June – seems like so far away as I write this! The Appel Farm Arts and Music Festival is near and dear to my heart, as I was a jewelry instructor there for two summers. The day long music festival is a regional tradition, and draws great musical talent, as well as a stellar arts festival. Please do check it out, and see the line-up at their website. 



 



Hibernation…

Leave a comment

Forgive me blog readers, for it has been 7 days since my last posting…

I was really getting into the swing of my new schedule. Clearly it wasnt routine yet, though. Last week I had  head cold, and after my latte post I pretty much retreated. Hibernated. Withdrew. Holed up. I was foggy, and lethargic, and didnt have a thing to say…

So the A to Z post for “B” is missing. And I will sneak it in there some time in the near future. Look for the first of the 2 “B” entries tomorrow. 

Since I was last here – we have gone from this: 

Oscar's tree

to this: Oscar in snow

And I have been loving the time housebound – spending it in the studio. I have many items to list on Etsy tomorrow morning…

Tray of hearts

And thats just a few! My favorite is the far left: dark brown and teal on the ceramic heart, apatite, smokey quartz above. It says “Amor”.

 I will be listing necklaces and ceramic components. First time listing the pieces as materials – as opposed to finished pieces. 

I look forward to next week. I dont mean to wish the weekend away, but I will be glad to be back in the studio, back to reality. Between my cold and the snow – I have had a chance to retreat, now its time to get out there again…  I leave you with one more snowy image…

Dryad - snow cloaked