So much newness!

I am so proud that I finally finished the necklace I talked about a short while back. Since graduating, I've not had any big 'projects' to work on really, so I gave myself one. And finishing it feels really good. Not worrying about it being graded feels pretty good too. ;D



Details about this necklace are right here in my shop.

And now that I've bombarded your computer with all those photos, I have a few more. I've added a ton of new photo's to my photography shop on Etsy TheUnderstory, but I'll just post a couple of my favorites and if you want you can go check out the others. :)

Resting Petals



Dandelions Are Flowers Too dandelion study n. 4

I hope everyone's week is going lovely! :)

New items of strange botany

Got some new things listed tonight that I'm really happy with. :)

Botany bracelet (More photos and details at the link)





Magic bean necklace (also, more photos and details at the link)

New comment procedure, new print

Normally I comment back to people on their blogs, but noticing that others just do it in their own blog, I think I will start doing that too. It seems to be easier for everyone, and less time consuming for me. :9 If I'm wrong about this let me know your opinion.
On another note, I just posted a new print on The Understory.

New Items

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

New Etsy: The Understory

I finally decided to make a separate Etsy shop for my photography. It's at TheUnderstory.etsy.com. (an understory is the floor of the forest). I have a ton of photo's that I've taken over the past year or so that are just piling up on my computer, waiting to be made into lovely prints. :)
Here are a few I've added recently:







The rest are the ones that were already on my main shop.

Polymer clay is handy for other things too!

...Such as keeping your beads where you want them while you plan out a necklace.

I like using it instead of those beading trays because it can hold oddly shaped beads how you need them, keeping the holes horizontal and such. I just roll out a coil and flatten it to the table to the length I want and it works out really well. I can push my beads into it and it doesn't get all stuck in/on them or anything.

And this is that necklace finished:



I am extremely pleased with how it turned out. Besides the gemstone beads used, the rest are all handmade by me, either ceramic or polymer, including the copper clasp.

Newness!

I finally finished my new Etsy/blogger banner. You like? Also changed my blog colors. And i finished a hat just now, but here is a new necklace I recently posted.



The bean beads are polymer, the rest are ceramic. All made by me.

What's Tab Making??

It's about time I showed some of what I have been working on in my final ceramics class before I graduate this December. Before I do that though, I want to show a couple of finished things from my metals class. Earlier in the semester we learned granulation (a process used by goldsmiths or silversmiths to decorate precious metals with small spheres fused to a base piece.) We also learned to make a chain with fine silver (fine silver is what we were also using to granulate). We had to do a practice piece first, which I ended up using as the focal point to this bracelet. It also uses the chain I made (which is kind of a pain in the ass since you have to fuse every jumpring by hand before linking together)







I'm really happy with it, and wear it most days. :) It's not supposed to have a face, it just ended up looking that way. But I like it.

Once I got the hang of granulation with my practice piece, I made the main project. These are a pair of 8 gauge earrings. The granulated part is of course *fine silver, and the hook and rivet is sterling silver. These were not meant to look like purses, but they just ended up that way. *shrug* That's ok with me though, I am really happy with them. I wear them almost daily.






*As far as I understand from my class, you must granulate with pure metals, not alloys. Only pure metals will fuse together when heated. This is why you can not granulate with sterling silver. Sterling is 7.5% copper, which is added for strength (silver is pretty soft). Fine silver is something like 99.999% silver, nothing added whatsoever.



Ok, back to ceramics. These pieces are all unfinished, either still being sculpted, or still in need of being glazed, etc... They are for my BFA senior exhibition that will be December 7th. So close! So stressful! Haha.

This is a sort of terrarium, so to speak. Tiny plant life (muchly made up from my brain) in what could be a split nut shell, or maybe some driftwood, who knows. :) It is dry, but still needs to be bisque fired. It will be really tricky to glaze!









A work in progress which is now finished, waiting to be bisque fired.



Bottom of this still waiting to be carved, and the top waiting to be put on.






Here it is with the top finished. The bottom still needed to be carved, but it has since been finished and is also waiting to be bisque fired.





Here are some bisque fired pieces on my shelf, ready to be glazed. :)







One of several small 'studies' of mine. They'll make good glaze testers. :)





This is my work space in the advanced studio. I have since cleaned and organized it so it looks much better now. :9





And that's all for now! I can't wait to have the finished pieces to show. :D