Inside the Studio with Michelle McCarthy of Firefly Design Studio

Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive, we offer a prize each week to encourage you to use that keyboard and tell us what you think. The following week a winner is chosen at random from all eligible entries. And here are the results from last week!

Congratulations to #6 - Susan Marling!  You have won a surprise package of wonderful beads from Mary Harding.  Please contact Mary to claim your prize.

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My ceramic bead studio has been in high production mode for some time now.  The second half of December through the end of January was all about creating beads, pendants, buttons and cabochons for Cherry Tree Beads to take to Tucson with them.  They already represent my line on their wholesale website, so I was really excited for them to take them to the To Bead True Blue Show with them.  They should of arrived home from the show a day ago, so I haven't found out how it went, but hopefully many of my beads found new homes!

Every January and July I redesign my bead show trays.  I have had a lot of fun doing that this past month.  I pretty much split things up into sea life themes, nature themes, spacer beads, cabochons, earring pairs, bracelet toppers and my new sets.  Sets will be a focal pendant, bracelet topper or earring pair with matched up accent beads.

When I produce, I pile up the beads that I want to be a certain glaze color.  I place them on skewers so my hands stay away from the paint and place them in a wood holder to dry.

After they dry, I take a wet pipe cleaner and run that through all the holes or wire loops.  This helps prevent them from sticking to the bead trees while firing.  My last load is cooling in the kiln right now. I have my first bead show of the year this weekend in Pompano Beach, Florida.

Here is a kiln load still warm....

So I can fit quite a few beads in my kiln.  This load is white earthenware with cone 06 glazes which is a firing temperature of 1,855 degrees.  My kiln is digital and I usually fire on the fast schedule, which completes the cycle in a little under 4 hours.  But then I have to be patient during cooling.  It is another 8 hours later that I can open my kiln, which is around 150 degrees.  

I hope you have enjoyed reading a bit about my bead show production.  Now for my question.......

Since sets are a new product for me, I'd like some jewelry designer input.  Besides the focal, how many side beads would you like in a set?  All ceramic or a combination of materials?  I definitely don't want to take my set idea to a kit level Lol.  Please leave a comment below and a winner will be chosen by random number generator next week.  The lucky winner will receive one of my new sets!

Inside the Studio with Mary Harding

Inside the Studio :: Mary Harding of Mary Harding Jewelry

                           Welcome to Inside the Studio!

Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive we offer a free prize each week to bribe you to use that keyboard. The following week we choose a random winner.

Congratulations, Colleen  You have won a Q Marks the Spot Necklace from Erin Prais-Hintz of Tesori Trovati Jewelry that Erin will create just for you.   Please send Erin an email with your information.

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         This week we visit the studio of Mary Harding of Mary Harding Jewelry

                              Some porcelain beads I made recently by Mary Harding

Beads, beads, beads. That is what I have been up to.  Shaping them.  Coloring them. Glazing them. Experimenting with them and yes, taking a class about a special way of making them.  More about that in another post later this summer.

  Beads in the bisque stage that I made a couple of days ago  by Mary Harding

What do I like about making beads?  It is working with my hands, the process of moving and shaping the clay, the feel of the soft velvety clay on my hands, and most of all the exciting journey to that special place in my consciousness where the Now takes over, the endorphins are flowing and and the inner critic is mute. I like to think of the process of making beads as a non verbal stream of consciousness.  As a place where the mind is freed up and the hands and eyes are in charge, not my thoughts and rational thinking.

                          Notice how short my finger nails are and how the clay is neither too sticky or too dry:  all prerequisites to                                                                   working with clay for bead making

And how do I get there since it takes a bit of warm up before it all comes together and the journey and exploration begins?  For me it takes quiet, assurance that I will not be interrupted, warmth, and a comfortable chair and table arrangement and a reasonable plan for how many I will make.  I usually like to make beads in small amounts so as not to feel overwhelmed or like it is a chore.  I usually decide ahead of time which tools I will use and set them out.  I like to have a bit of structure regarding how I will work which could involve size, and only a few tools for marking the clay.

                        Tools I used in this most recent bead making session

Yesterday when I was glazing my beads I set up a structure of 4 colors and piles of 5 beads in each pile that I would use one color with for the base coat.  By the end of the session, when my hands took over I was using 6 colors and even painting at times by dipping my fingers into the colors.  I had a wonderful time and I just love how the beads came out.

the beads with colored glazes before they were fired drying in my dehydrator   Mary Harding

For me it is the process that I love for bead making, but for other activities, like stringing or bead work, I often like the product better.  What about you?

All this brings me to my question today.  For which one of your creative activities do you enjoy the process of making the most and why?   Comment below and you will automatically be entered into a draw  to win a 3 bead string of my newest beads.  The winner will be announced next Friday in the Inside the Studio post on that day.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I look forward to reading your comments.

I leave you with this validating quotation from D.W. Winicott

 “It is creative apperception more than anything else that makes the individual feel that life is worth living.”