New Beads Are Finally Here!

The Kiln is done and look what has arrived! 

I thought I would show you how the beads look once they are out of the kiln, while they are still raw and unpainted.  They boast rich blue, green, yellow, and brown colors.  The clay body I use has a very sandy feel to it and you can almost see the details of the rough texture in some of the pictures.  Once the piece is sanded it becomes very silky in texture.  The clay body comes in five colors; blue, brown, yellow/orange, green, and black.  Although I have the black colored clay, I have not used it and I am not sure why - perhaps down the road. 

The first picture with three floral pendants shows the contrast of raw versus beginning layers of ink/patina. If you notice in this picture the raw pendants are a rich blue; this is the original color of that particular clay.  The next picture shows three pendants and a cabochon with the beginning layers of color.  Next, there are five raw pendants, three which are golden yellow and two which are brown.  The center peacock feather pendant shows beginning layers of colorant.  The last four pictures show the raw form of the beads, prior to being sanded, colored and polished.

I am quite excited about the settings in picture #4.  One of my goals this year is to learn how to work with resins.  An idea I had for these pieces is to paint them, add a picture or scene in the center and pour a resin over it.  I am still in the sketching stages of this project so we will see how it works.