BOC Open House Today!

I have participated in the Beads of Clay Open Studio in the past but things are a little different this time around...for this event I'm going to participate as a static poster instead of having multiple posts throughout the afternoon. Don't you worry, there is still the chance to enter to win but instead of having you bounce to and from my post you can read at your leisure.

Entries for the random drawing for this floral lagoon lentil bead will be closed at midnight PST on March 6th. Just comment on the post for your chance (make sure you leave me an email address to contact you!).As an extra bonus for everyone who stops by during the event, I am offering a 15% discount off everything on my website during the open house. Just enter the code spring11 at checkout and your discount will be calculated automatically. Don't delay, this offer ends at midnight and there's only one of most items available!

So without further ado, I will share a little new work with you as well as some new studio developments...

Actually first, something old...well it's new to me but clearly has some miles on it! Talk about serendipity, when I selected the electrician to wire my new big daddy kiln I had no idea that it would turn out that his wife used to dabble in ceramics...and he had an old potter's wheel in his backyard that he was very motivated to get rid of! It certainly needs some cleaning and it's not high tech by any stretch of the imagination but it works, the belts are in good shape and it was FREE!

The new is the shiny digital fantabulous kiln that is now wired into that big honkin' power box on the wall! Part of the reason I chose to do the static post today for the open house is so that I'm not distracted while doing the inaugural firing with it. Here it is this morning all vacuumed out and empty...
Loaded with a freshly "kiln wash" covered shelves so things don't stick and ruin the shelf surface and orton cones that bend at particular temperatures so I can check that the temperature is correct (you can't trust the digital readout or firing by time, only the bend of the cones will truly tell you what temperature your kiln has reached).

Now some recent work since it's going to take me a while to fill that big space! (luckily I still have my baby kiln that is good for small, quick firings)

I finally included some more loopy linky circles in a firing again...
These zinnia connectors have received a little press lately...Lorelei used one in my lagoon glaze for a necklace in the new book Wire Style 2!


Since this is our spring event, what do I love about spring? Well, living in Southern California I have the benefit of seeing things like this most of the year... but nothing beats the return of full blooms in the spring! Enjoy the studio tours, don't forget to comment for your chance to win and swing by the BOC blog for a chance at a big batch of goodies from all the participants!

Fall Traditions

This post is going to wrap up the BOC Open House event for this fall. Don't forget, the super special 30% off open house discount will continue to be in effect for all purchases on my website through tomorrow, Monday the 25th when you use the code fallopenhouse in the coupon code box at checkout.

So since I love to cook and bake I thought I'd share my ultimate cookie recipe with all of you... Mmm, cookies... (espresso cinnamon chocolate chip to be precise). This is essentially Alton Brown's "The Chewy" chocolate chip cookie recipe but I've thrown in a couple of twists that I think make this cookie perfection:

Ingredients

• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 2 1/4 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Hardware:

• Ice cream scooper (#20 disher, to be exact)
• Parchment paper
• Baking sheets
• Mixer

Directions

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.

Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk, espresso powder, cinnamon and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

If you make them I'd love to hear what you think!

Now if you're not a baker, these


might need to become a tradition... I do own a tequila collection though so I suppose I'm partial to the third skull combination!

What are your fall traditions? Please share!

Open House Giveaway #2

It's time for the second giveaway for the BOC Open House! This time I have a pretty floral porcelain pendant in my "peacock" glaze.

***Again, please be sure to have contact info in your comment on this post (or have your email preferences in Blogger set for replies) so you don't miss out. *Vicki* the first giveaway winner...if you read this please contact me with your information I don't have a way to get in touch!

The Open House Continues...

This is the BOC Open House segment that is supposed to be the peek into the artist's studio...I've shared pictures of my various work spaces in the past so I won't show the same things again. I will give you a (messy) picture of my baby kiln as I opened it this morning- I had to sneak in a quick firing of bead caps for an order. In lieu of studio shots I will share a couple of photos of my inspiration location, our place in Sedona, AZ... the beautiful red rocks... and a nice rusty javelina family (better than the real kind)!

How about a look at some new work? Recently in thinking about my bumpy pendants I decided to take that style and allow it to evolve into something a little more distinctive...I was playing with some Bali beads and thought...Hey, couldn't I do this on porcelain with my bumpy dots? I think it might just work! (for the record, the pieces are a total bugger to actually get into the kiln without breaking off all the little dotty details...you see one set of bead caps here but there were half a dozen or more that didn't make it). I have some more plans for how they will continue to progress but I definitely need to contemplate how to move them before firing without busting them up).

What else is new? Ah...I learned that I have a necklace in the October issue of Bead Trends. I'm happy to say that the necklace didn't even make it back to me, it found a loving new home with one of the BT peeps!

I think that's enough for now considering that you need to get to all the other Open House blogs before the next giveaway. 4:00 EST will be giveaway #2...again just a 15 minute window to enter so don't pause for a nap!

Giveaway Winner!

It's 3:00 EST so it's time to choose the lucky winner of the BOC Open House Giveaway #1 bumpy pendant and charm set....

Congratulations Vicki! Your email preferences are set up for "no reply" in Blogger so please send me an email with your contact info. I'll give you until Monday at midnight PST to get in touch.

If you didn't win, don't despair...there's another giveaway scheduled for 4:00 EST! There's another post before that though so come on back at 3:15 EST to check it out :)

Open House Giveaway #1

Thanks for coming back for the first BOC Open House giveaway! Up for grabs is a porcelain pendant and charm set with raised detail finished in my matte "foam" glaze.I don't have many of this style of pendant left so this is your chance! I've been glazing off bumpy bisque I had fired over the course of a few months but haven't been making new ones. Want a chance to win this bumpy pendant and matching charms? I'll make it easy...just leave me a comment on this post (be sure that you have your email comment preferences set for return emails or leave me some contact info!) and let me know what you envision for these pieces.

Enter quickly though, I'll use a random number generator to pick the lucky winner at 3:00 EST!

Welcome to the BOC Open House!

Greetings! Thank you so much for stopping by to join me for a little visit during the Beads of Clay Open House event. Grab a cup of tea or coffee (this organic and sustainable brand was a recent lucky find...it does have a kick!) and take a moment to spend a little time with me here in San Diego... With all the wonderful participants you'll want to bop around to each blog...especially when the giveaways begin but I hope you'll return later to spend a little bit of time browsing past posts if you're a new visitor!

A little bit about me and my work...I am ever so fortunate to be able to live in beautiful Southern California, not that I don't miss Canada where I grew up, but it's not hard to forget minus 40 degree winters once you get accustomed to the sun year round...ok mostly year round! We've had quite the stretch of rain recently which has meant an endless supply of towels by the front door for the pupper.

I work primarily in porcelain but mix in a little stoneware now and then. I do retail, wholesale and special order beads, pendants, cabs and buttons. You can take more of a peek at my work on my website and my clear-out items usually end up in my Etsy shop.

My latest venture is the Bead Show Travel website and blog. It's in the infancy stage but the goal is a one stop site for all the details about bead shows across the country. Please take a minute to stop by and bookmark the website and become a follower of the blog. (There will be a good reason to already be a blog follower in the near future...a little thank you for those already in the loop!).

As a thank you for those who take the time to stop by for the open house... I'm offering a super special 30% off open house discount for all purchases on my website through tomorrow, Monday the 25th when you use the code fallopenhouse in the coupon code box at checkout.

Now I know you need to go visit the other blogs in the open house but be sure to come back at 2:45 EST to enter my first giveaway (don't be a slowpoke, the entries are only open for 15 minutes!)

BOC Open House Preview

A week from today will be the Beads of Clay open house event! Come on by 2-5pm EST/11-2 PST...there will be giveaways (two, count 'em two!), happy yummy fall recipes, and other random open house musings. I'll be offering a super special coupon code for my website too.

Want a sneak peek of the giveaways?? I'll be giving away the above bumpy pendant and matching charm set and this floral pendant...Please stop by and visit, I'd love your participation! What kind of recipe(s) would you like to see, dessert or main dish?

Don't forget, you can still enter to win a bracelet bar and matching charms over at Andrew Thornton's blog and I have my free shipping offer on through tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting...

during my BOC Open Studio day! I hope to see comments from you all again in the future and look forward to exploring all your blogs as well!

As an extra thank you for all those who came by today, I'd like to offer a special discount code for all in stock retail bead/pendant purchases on my website until 12:00 PST tonight. just enter the code: BOC FALL to save 30% off your order.
(this offer is not valid for custom/made to order beads or pendants)

Come back by the blog later this evening, my pal Mary Jane from http://mairedodd.blogspot.com/ has created some lovely jewelry with my beads/pendants that we will be auctioning off to get me closer to my fundraising goal for the Komen Race for the Cure next Sunday! Trust me, you WANT to see more of these!!Thank you again for taking time to spend part of your day with me!

Favorite fall...

things to consume! So pour yourself a mug of Festive Spiced Cider and check out these yummy ideas!

I do so love the recipes that signify fall. Not just holiday food but also all those things that contain the seasonal ingredients. How about Pumpkin Cinnamon Streusel Buns for breakfast?

Then a way to use up that Thanksgiving turkey for dinner? Turkey Potpie with Cheddar Biscuit Crust

Don't forget a show stopper dessert courtesy of one of my favorite non-bead/jewelry magazines, Real Simple. Gingersnap Pear Cheesecake (one small suggestion from my experience with this recipe is to reduce the amount of butter used in the crust).

Finally, although not edible, another look at a pair of pendants in my new autumnal glazes!

French Architectural Pendant in Harvest glaze.One of my new patterns in a toasty glaze that I've named Vintage.

Don't forget to return at the end of the Open House at 4:00 EST (1:00 PST) for more!

See the other participating blogs at: http://beads-of-clay.blogspot.com

And the winner...

is comment #6 !!

Congratulations Summer!

Send me an email and let me know your mailing address so I can send off your pendant!

If you aren't Summer (or even if you are!), swing by my website until midnight tonight and use the coupon code: BOC FALL for a 30% discount off your retail bead/pendant order.

Stay tuned, there are still more Open House posts to come!

See the other participating blogs at: http://beads-of-clay.blogspot.com

The studio...

or lack thereof!
Let's just say "the world is my studio", or more accurately, our entire home is my studio! I tend to spread things out so I can work on them where ever I may be at the moment. This translates to multiple dedicated locations around the house- a work desk for jewelry design and pendant scanning in the office, on a nice day it might mean glazing on the patio (yes that is a dog back end you see behind the sofa), a closet of beads and various supplies (also in the office), kilns (and storage of all ceramic supplies) in the garage,a work bench (for soldering, metal sawing, oxidizing) in the garage, glazing tray on the dining room table in the evenings (so I can "watch" tv or just be with hubster and the pup), The sofa where I sit with my laptop cropping pendant pictures and listing things on my website, and a drying slab of pendants in the kitchen (so I can run in during commercial breaks or between chapters of a book to obsessively pat the drying pendants down so they don't warp).I usually just work with the background noise of the tv, I tend to pretty much tune everything out while I'm working with clay so even that isn't necessary!

So that is the "studio" tour. Living in Southern California means no basement to convert into a studio and although I keep all my ceramic supplies in the garage (one that does not also house a car thank goodness!) I would never call it my studio as I usually move everything to where ever else I want to work that day. Someday I hope to have a dedicated space where I can have everything together, but I suspect that I would continue to work in the same way... all over the place!

Be sure to visit again at 3:00 EST (12:00 PST) to see the next giveaway! While you're waiting, why not swing by and check out my necklace auction post? I'm participating in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure next weekend- 100% of the proceeds from the auctions go to the Komen Breast Cancer charity.

See the other BOC participating blogs at: http://beads-of-clay.blogspot.com

Ladies and Gentlemen...

we have a winner! Courtesy of Random.org #4 will be receiving the Harvest pendant!

Congratulations to turkey lovin' Lorelei!

Come on back at 2:00 EST for my "studio" tour and another giveaway is to come as well this afternoon!

See the other participating blogs at: http://beads-of-clay.blogspot.com

Giveaway time...

All right, get your fingers warmed up! My first BOC open house giveaway is here! Up for grabs- one of my new designs in the glaze Harvest:Just leave a comment on this post telling us about your favorite Thanksgiving tradition in order to be counted in the giveaway.
The winner will be announced at 2:00 EST (11:00 PST). Come back to see if you're the lucky duck!

See the other participating blogs at: http://beads-of-clay.blogspot.com

Beads of Clay Open Studio...

WELCOME!

For those of you new to my blog, I'm Mellisa Essenburg, the ceramic beadmaker behind Chinook Jewelry Designs. (Ok, the picture is a few years old but I'm back to that hair length so it's the closest to current I have!) I started off making wirework jewelry years ago (hence the "jewelry" part of my business name) then encountered Kazuri beads at a bead show. I couldn't take my hands off of them, the glazes were beautiful and they were so smooth- I bought a few with a bracelet in mind but no other grand plans. As you can see, things progressed from there! I found the wonderful Beads of Clay group when it was back in it's infancy and through the wonderful artists who founded the group, gradually began experimenting in the small scale of beads. I've been offering ceramic beads and pendants through my website for almost five years now and as you'll see, they have been evolving (hopefully for the better!) since then.

So here's a little travel through time staring with my inaugural work and a peek at some of my latest pieces!

This is some old stuff! (boy, I hope you knew that without me telling you)




I'm most inspired by architectural details with anything from nature as a close runner up. I've also been experimenting with strong geometrics in colored porcelain for a couple of years (inspired by Kandinsky's paintings) but haven't really rolled them out on the website.












After focusing primarily on beads for several years now, I've returned to making finished jewelry... this time incorporating some of my beads into the designs. I love using the components in my jewelry pieces, especially earrings, because they're lightweight and so delicate in appearance.

I have most of my earrings up at my 1000 Markets Shop right now and many that I have still not added.

Today until midnight PST I'll be offering a 30% discount off all retail in stock beads/pendants on my website for my open house guests! Just enter coupon code: BOC FALL in the coupon code box at checkout and your discount will be automatically calculated.

Last but not least, there's nothing more satisfying to me than receiving emails from artists to show me what they've created with my beads! (click on the pics to check out their sites)


















Come on back at 1:45 EST (10:45 PST) for your chance to win one of my newest fall pendants!

See the other participating blogs at:
http://beads-of-clay.blogspot.com