Floral Rhapsody Collection

Hi
It has been awhile since my last post. I have been working very hard. I managed to create some new beads for the Bead and Button magazine's BeadDreams 2010 contest. Here is just a taste of the Floral Rhapsody collection. They are made from colored porcelain. I start my coloring the white porcelain clay with mason stains. I then use the colored clay to hand make each petal of the flowers. After they are bisque fired to cone 04, I glaze the faces of the pansies, orchids and center of the flowers and finish with a clear glaze. The flowers and leaves are ready for the final firing.
They will be available in my etsy store and my website early summer. You can email me if you would like to pre-order the floral pendants, leaves or links. The floral pendants will retail for $30.00.

Welcome March with New Comtemporary Designs

Welcome March. The first day of spring is just around the corner. I awoke this morning to the birds singing His praises and the sun was shining.

 I have finally taken some pics of new designs for 2010. I am really excited about these new designs. I have been testing the market by wearing a prototype and have received rave reviews. I will have to admit that the pictures are not the best since I was using a different camera. I still have not gotten mine fixed so I used the camera we have for the children. But, you are still able to see the designs. Of course, each design can be made with any texture design and glaze color giving a vast number of options.

The woven clay basket class I took last week was fun. Teresa at Everyday Art Gallery is planning some great classes for 2010. Make sure if you are in the area that you check it out.

Facebook Link

Thanks to all my fans so far on Facebook. I have reached a goal of over 25 which has now allowed me to create a shorter url. www.facebook.com/tgldesigns. I am very excited to reach this goal. Keep up the good working fans.

I am also excited to be taking a pottery class this week at Everyday Art Gallery. I have been looking forward to the day that I can take the woven clay basket class from Mr. Talley. I will definitely post pictures of my work once it is done.

Let it Snow..Let it Snow..Again

Well, today it is snowing outside the studio. The kids have been out of school for 4 days this week. We are just recovering from last weeks huge snowstorm. We rarely get snow in these parts. We get more ice than anything. We had between 5 to 7 inches last week and more snow, sleet and freezing rain from one system today and more from another system coming in tomorrow. I have spent time working a temporary job last week that  finished up earlier this week. I did manage to get a bisque fire done last Sunday. I plan on sanding, waxing and glazing today with a possible tie-dye break. After the last test tile firing, I was so excited with the new colors that I had to get more things made. I look forward to seeing these items all decked out in the new colors. I have made some rectangular frame links and some items textured in patterns I have not used in a while.

There is one problem that dampens my excitement. My digital camera broke last week. I won't be able to take pictures of the new items right after the glaze firing. I won't be able to put any of them in my etsy store right away. My camera is a Canon PowerShot S2 IS that is only 3 1/2 yrs old. The lens has malfunctioned again. The lens will not retract back when shutting off the camera stopping all operations. I had to have the malfunction repaired the first time during the first year warranty period. Now, I will have to pay to have it repaired or pay more money for a refurbished camera with a 90 day warranty. I really don't like that idea. I spent so much time researching cameras 4 yrs. ago and getting to know how to operate this one that I really don't want to have to do that again.

Well, let it snow..let it snow..again..I going to prepare to glaze

Big Red Chewing Gum Anyone?

Look at this new glaze color for 2010..It looks exactly like a stick of Big Red chewing gum..What do you think?
The pendants are available in my etsy store.

I have finally taken the plunge into facebook by creating a fan page for TGL Designs. Please check it out and become a fan. My goal right now is to get 25 fans so that I can have a shorter url which will make posting it alot simplier.

I hope to bisque fire the kiln today. I was so excited to see the test tiles revealed that I couldn't wait to get started glazing new pieces. I found that all I had already bisque fired were pieces that didn't have any texture to them. After glazing those, I had to make more pieces of porcelain with texture..check back with me to see those revealed. I have several rectanglar donuts with holes at both ends. These are going to look great. I can envision one as a link between a strand of pearls off set from the middle.

Let me know what you think of this new color..any suggestions as to a name.

Test Tiles Revealed

Yea!! God is good! I am very pleased with the overall results of the test tiles. Given the countless variables that contribute to the science of pottery, many of the colors turned out beautiful.
Some of those variables that I may have experienced yesterday may include the fact that I am having trouble adjusting my kiln sitter after I installed a new one. The cone is suppose to be at a 90 degree angle but mine are coming out extremely "U" shaped which could cause overfiring. This is definitely different than before. Another variable could be that some of the glazes arrived extremely cold almost frozen. I have never experienced that before so I have to reason that it could change the chemical formula. Most definitely the clay bodies are a variable. If you don't fire the same clay body as the sample given by the manufacturer then expect variations in color.

Needless to say, whatever the variables may or may not have been, there are always surprises when you open a kiln of test glazes. For example, one of the pink glazes is beautiful on white porcelain, as shown in the below picture as the pink rectangle) but not very attractive on stoneware clay. Some glazes that are suppose to be transparent are too opaque for textures but would still work for a smooth surface. An example would be the pink diamond in the outside lower left hand corner of picture below.

The above picture depicts some of the new glaze colors for 2010. The are on a white porcelain clay color.

Test Tiles in Kiln Today

The new glazes arrived earlier this week so I have been glazing some test tiles I made last week from porcelain and stoneware clay. Today, I am firing the kiln. It always amazes me to see the color of the glazes before they are fired. Some that look very burnt orange will actually turn out denim blue or burgundy, some that are dark gray will turn out blue, some that are light brown muck colors will be beautiful greens or pinks. I am always excited to fire the kiln knowing that tomorrow when I open the kiln, I will have an array of colors inside. I am expecting about 29 new colors to reveal themselves tomorrow morning. I am hopeful that all 29 colors will be spectacular. I am very excited to see the pinks. I really need a good pink glaze. I have been looking for one that is semi-opaque to transparent. These have a tendency to flow nicely over textures. Check back tomorrow and we will open the kiln together.