A Bird (but no figs)

This is all about more beautiful things that my wonderful customers ...no, the wonderful artists who give my pendants homes are more like collaborators... have shared with me this week.

First, (actually read my whole post first THEN) go over to the Vintaj blog and vote for Erin's necklace. It's number 16 and it's the first time I've gotten to see one of my pendants wrapped with Vintaj filigree. I love the combination of the petal pink glaze with the Vintaj brass. After you vote, go tell your signficant other, children, friends, neighbors, dog walker and postal worker to vote too. Get this woman some votes!!!

Ok, on to the eye candy! Sharon of Livewire Jewelry came up with two stunning bracelet designs that she has showcased on her blog. I think the color palette is so soothing on both pieces (of course I'm partial to all things blue, green or blue-green!).Dana of Colors of the Woods has done exactly what her name would suggest, create a trio of necklaces that echo the shades you would find in an autumn forest.You can find her pretties on Etsy.Last but not least, Maire inadvertently gave me the greatest idea today...no, I'm not telling yet...but I do think it's very fun! This is definitely one of the reasons I say I have collaborators, not customers!

Noticeably Nostalgic

I was so excited to open my email to this photo from Erin of Tesori Trovati Jewelry. She used one of my petal pink asian circle pendants with Vintaj filigree wrap. In her words, she added Vintaj chain segments interspersed with vintage Czech cathedral beads, brass filigree beads, gray freshwater potato pearls, golden shadow swarovski crystal bicones and finished it with a brass trigger clasp, a brass butterfly charm and a small gray pearl. I loved that she designed it with the filigree wrapping around the back so that the pendant can be worn facing forward or backward. Glazing the front and back of a pendant takes a bit more effort than just glazing one side, if it's only glazed on the front the pendant can sit on a kiln shelf during firing. However, if it's glazed on the back as well, the pendants need to hang in the kiln so they don't touch anything. I do it just because I like the uniformity of both sides being glazed, but I think it's wonderful when a designer takes advantage of that extra detail as well!

Erin also mentioned something that I thought was worth addressing here- that my pendants were thinner than she thought they could be and because of that she was worried about breaking it while wrapping it in the Vintaj filigree. Since my pendants are made from high fire clay, they're quite durable but my goal is definitely to make them as thin as possible without compromising their strength so they are lightweight. The only time I've broken them is when they've encountered a harder surface, i.e. pendant meets tile floor, pendant flies out of my hands on to cement, and so on. Treat them like you would a nice dinner plate or your favorite coffee mug and you should be fine! If you're wirewrapping or filigree wrapping, it's important to not put too much pressure against the edges and be careful not to slip with your pliers but you don't have to treat the pendants like they're made of eggshell!

Back to the glazing table so I have another batch ready to go in the kiln tomorrow- I'm aiming for three glaze firings this week so there should be plenty of new work on my website by next week!