Suburban Girl Studio

Merry Christmas!

A very Merry Christmas from the Suburban Girl family to you and yours!   

Artists Helping Artists-Silent Auction

Several artists in the blog community have decided to band together to help a fellow artist in need. Each one of us is conducting a silent auction to help raise funds during this time of hardship. All moneys raised will go directly to the artist in need.

I'm offering one of my handcrafted bracelets featuring my ceramic beads:

My bracelet features one of my handcrafted raku ammonite fossil connectors and porcelain ammonite fossil charm, rutile quartz nuggets, carved bone, lava beads and ostrich shell beads all wrapped with Vintaj bronze wire and finished with Vintaj brass findings.  

The bracelet measures approximately 8 inches in length and has a 1 inch extender chain.

 

Auction Rules: 

Artists Helping Artists Silent Auction

The starting bid for this bracelet is $25.00.  US and Canadian residents welcome (for shipping purposes).  Auction closes Sunday, December 28th at midnight.

Would you like to be the winning bidder?

Please leave a comment along with your bid. If you are the winning bidder, you will receive an invoice after the close of the auction. There must be a way to contact you. If you have email preferences turned off in your profile, please leave your email.

Many people are auctioning items to help out! Please visit these the other artists below and place your bid!

List of participants:

Patti Vanderbloemen

Lori Anderson

Lana Kinney and Marie Cramp

Beth Emery

Diana Ptaszynski-You are here!

Terri Wlaschin

Andrew Thornton, Nan Emmett, and Maria Richmond

Maire Dodd and Deborah Lee Taylor

 

Thank you!

Raku Bead Shop Update: Round 1 of 2

Lots of new raku in the Etsy bead shop today!  

Here's a peak...

Connectors/Links!

New pendant designs!

New charm designs too!

I'm hoping to upload the second batch of raku goodness to Etsy in a couple of days!

Rock N Raku Firing

Yesterday, Colin and I braved the cold to raku fire some Christmas ornaments and beads.  It was still fun but by the end our fingers and toes were quite frozen.  

I pre-loaded the racks the day before so that they would be ready to go in the kiln right away.  I also had a leftover doiley dish so I put it in as well (it cracked but I kind of knew that would happen).  Then Colin set the kiln to fire to over 1800 degrees F.

While the kiln started up I filled our reduction chambers (small metal garbage cans) with newspaper and also some cedar chips this time.  

Then the raku monster appeared!  Ahhhh!  Oh wait, that's just me getting prepared as the kiln got closer to our desired temperature.

When it was time and the glaze was nice and molten we pulled them out and put them into the reduction chambers.  The newspaper and cedar chips catch fire and then we shut the lids.  The fire needs oxygen to keep going and so it begins to pull it directly from the glaze.  We leave the racks in the cans for 15+ minutes and then pull them out and pour a bit of water on them to finish the cooling.  

Once that is complete I unrack everything and then we engage in our least favorite part...scrubbing the pieces in water.

Here are some of the ornaments I made after they have been washed off.

I haven't photographed any of the beads yet as it was really cold and I was really tired by the end of this.  Later this week I will start listing several of the beads in the Etsy bead shop.  All the ornaments will be going to family and friends for Christmas.  

This might be our last raku firing in our electric kiln as Colin is going to start building a gas kiln here at our house.  I can't wait to return to gas firing and I'll be sure to take lots of pictures as the kiln is built!

Heading for the Kiln!

Tomorrow I'm loading all of these raku beads and buttons into the kiln for a bisque firing...

Also, these ornaments are going in as well...

The rest of the week will be spent glazing, glazing, glazing and then I plan to raku fire them all on Saturday or Sunday.  I can't wait to see how they turn out!

When Pottery Attacks!

**If you are looking for the ABS Ornament Blog Hop simply scroll down to the previous post.**

So technically it wasnt the pottery that attacked me it was one of my cutting tools.  Regardless, my palm now has a cut on it because I made a ding dong move and didn't pay attention when I should have been.  I wanted to make a bunch of raku ornaments today but once I cut my hand I had to stop because I could no longer wedge the clay properly.   

Hopefully my hand will heal up enough tonight that I can get back to work tomorrow.

Every year I make ornaments for my family and I thought raku would be fun this year.  I hope they don't turn out ugly and I hope they survive the firing!

They kind of remind me of cookies....Mmmmm, cookies....

Art Bead Scene Ornament Blog Hop-Reveal!

So of course I saw a blog hop and HAD to join in.  Blog hops are like candy...I can't stop myself! Anyway, for my ornament I employed the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) method again because it IS the holiday season and I'm pretty busy.  Here's what I made...

I used one of my own handmade brown stoneware leaf pendants and paired it with a copper spacer and large Swarovski crystal wrapped with Vintaj bronze wire.

I had thought about going for a more Christmas-y ornament but in the end I really liked this earthy pendant and how it looked next to the tree.

A big thanks to Heather for hosting this fun blog hop!

And here is the list of everyone participating!  Enjoy!

Humblebeads Suburban Girl Studio - You are here! Spirited Earth Garden Path Beads Life in the Lyon's Den Blog by Salla It's Been a While Sue Beads Artist At Work Modern Nature Studio WireWorked Too Aquarius Artfully Ornamental Gem Rose Designs Jewels by Ine BeeTree by M.E. Islandgirl's Insights Angela Lund-Logan Gem's PC Corner Summers Studio Sandy Volpe The Next Bend Skye Jewels Janina Grigore Elysian Studios Art Bead Scene  Jeannnie's Blog

 

One Day Only!

Today only, I am offering FREE shipping in my Etsy Jewelry Shop!  All purchases today will ship via USPS First-Class mail and will come with delivery confirmation.  And there are plenty of new items to choose from.  Here are a few!

Over the Rainbow Art Bead Bracelet

Coppery Raku Pendant

Brown Stoneware Leaf Earrings

And on a different note, next week I'll finally be getting back in the studio and starting work on raku beads!  I can't wait to shove my hands into that cold, wet clay!