Inside the Studio with Claire Lockwood of Something to do

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 bribe you to use that keyboard and tell us what you think. The following week a winner is chosen at random from all eligible entries.

Congratulations to Carolyn!

You have won a £14 of credit to spend in one of Rebecca's shops, either Songbead or The Curious Bead Shop!

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So, it's been a very beady old week here. I've spent the lion's share of it with mud on my hands.

As you can see, I've been building up these precariously balanced trays of greenware. I've been doing a few experiments, like trying applying colour directly onto the unfired clay.

I do hope these colours come through the firing okay - fingers crossed! I've also been working on lots of new designs. So, I thought I'd share a selection with you here today.  They're all waiting to be fired before I can start decorating them any further.

So, that's what's been happening in my studio this last week. I'm really looking forward to getting some colour on these. I have lots of new glazes to try!  In some cases I've settled on what colours I'll use but in some cases I'm still unsure. Which brings me to this week's question. I'm not going to ask you for your favourite colour(!), but I am curious about your favourite colour combinations. Sometimes we get stuck in our ways when it comes to the colours we put together. So, I'm looking forward to hearing other designer's favourite colour pairings. The prize this week is a good ol' mystery bundle of beads.

So just comment below, giving your favourite colour combinations, to be in with a chance to win!

Inside the Studio with Claire Lockwood of Something To Do With Your Hands

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 to Despina Veneti!

You have won a gift certificate to spend at either Songbead or The Curious Bead Shop! 

Send Rebecca an email to claim your gift certificate. 

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Hoooooooo.... I feel like I'm coming to the end of a marathon. After days and days of photo-editing and listing drafting, I'm finally in a position to add new things to both my shops - new beads, new jewellery.  I added lots of new beads to my Etsy shop last night. Here's just a selection.

(Apologies for the grey tinge to some of the photos - terrible photography weather here recently!)

I've been doing lots of slip-decorating of porcelain...

...and trying to master forming a cone cap:

More porcelain here. I just love it with cobalt oxide:

As ever, I've made plenty of earring pairs...

...and I'm still loving lilies and leaves:

These bead sets are a new thing. I spent ages building up layers of different colours and marks, subtle variations in shades, and a range of textures.

Here are a few more bead sets.

What else? Headpins:

Naive / primitive face cubes

And also these big ol' thorn focals:

They were inspired by some wooden beads I bought recently from Pine Needles Sweet Grass. 

Cool, hey? They're so wonderful. However, I had imagined they'd be bigger and chunkier and might work as focal in a big necklace. (I always forget to look at measurements when I order things!) The thorns I bought will be great in earrings and more delicate necklaces but I was set on having some big thorn-like necklace focals. So, I tried making some. I hope my ceramic pieces diverge from their inspiration enough not to seem like a rip off!

And finally, on the bead front, some more of these old favourites - 

Some of these pieces have sold but there's still lots to be snapped up in the shop.

But, I also mentioned new jewellery. Here are just a few of the new pieces I've made - there are many, many more. Of course, they feature lots of art beads.

hand-painted wood - Graceful Willow

feather rounds - Blueberribeads; faceted round - Something to do Beads

ceramic building - Jubilee; ceramic cog and spike - Marsha Neal; ceramic stick pendant - Scorched Earth

ceramic drop - Scorched Earth

copper bead - Joanne Tinley; ceramic coin - Something to do Beads; bingo chip clasp - Amanda Davie

Now I've bombarded you with visuals, it's time for the giveaway. Up for grabs today? A $15 of credit  to spend in either my bead shop or my jewellery shop. The question? What new things are you going to be working on this weekend? - or next week? - or when you first have opportunity? Just answer in a comment and you'll be in with a chance of winning!

Bye for now, Claire

www.somethingtodowithyourhands.com

www.somethingtodo.etsy.com

www.somethingtodobeads.etsy.com

Inside the Studio with Claire Lockwood

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 to Mokki! 

You have won a pair of Tari's super cute house charms. 

Please send Tari an email with your information.

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Oh boy, have I been busy!  As you may know if you regularly read this blog, I got a kiln fairly recently and have been making ceramic beads.  Prior to that, for a short while, I was getting my stuff fired at a local potter's place.  I'm now falling into a production cycle of firings that results in large batches of beads.  I may be wrong, but as I understand it, many ceramic bead makers use a kiln that is a bit smaller than the one I chose (now christened Bertha).  So, my production cycle involves spending an age making up heaps and heaps of greenware to fill up all that space, ready to be bisque fired.

As you can see, I could actually get much more in here but I can only wait so long! I opted for a larger size because it was not that much more to get a kiln three times the size of the very smallest.  Also, I was bothered that I wouldn't be able to get many beads racks in glaze firings if I went for the small kiln.  But, the drawback is that it takes a long time to get a batch of beads completed. It also means that I end up with a massive mountain of bisque that needs glazing, which can be a bit overwhelming.  All this aside, I'm still loving the whole process. It was very good to get this greenware cooking. Did I whisper, Go, Bertha, Go!, as she whirred into action? I may have... . Then, after four glaze firings - two different stonewares and two different earthenwares - I finally had my batch finished.  And then it was time for the dreaded photographing, editing and listing, which has taken much of this week. I finally got all these new beads into my bead shop last night.  Anyway, time for a photo feast. Like I said, there were rather a lot of them...

Lots of earring beads, including lots of my point pairs...

and a range of polka dot porcelain spears.

I've been experimenting with making breastplate pendant connectors, 

along with lots of other pendants:

And I'm still obsessed with all things seed pod and lily-like:

I have tiger stripe beads in a rainbow of shades, including these:

And plenty of these pennant sets -

I decided to go in for the whole Marsala thing - and bought too many Marsala-y glazes. Some worked better then others....

These roses have been very popular so I made up plenty of sets; here are just a few:

And, of course, there's always a call for birds:

I had lots of fun selecting palettes for these sets:

And here's a last few bits:

These are just a few from that mountain in the kiln, so if you're interested in seeing the others, click here.

But, time for the giveaway. This week I'm giving away a mystery bundle of beads. 

Which means, I haven't quite decided what it is yet but I'll put together a little bag of beady goodness and I'll send it out to the winner.  My question is: what is your favourite art bead medium?  Are you unable to resist lampwork, or are you more of a polymer fan? Are you, like me, in love with all things ceramic, or perhaps you're crazy for enamelled elements?  Mind you, I love all these things - I'll wager most of you do too.  Anyway, comment below with your answer to stand a chance of winning that mystery bundle!

A little extra from the studio - new ceramic beads, from Something to do beads

So, this is a bit of an add on to my Inside the Studio post last Friday. If you read that you'll know that I'd just picked up a bumper load of beads after firing (I haven't got a kiln yet). Anyway, I didn't have time to take any pictures so I'm sharing them today.  On Friday I included a picture of some earrings made with a couple of dinky bird beads. Well, I've made quite a few birds...

If I have a spare bit of clay left out after making something I tend to make it bird-shaped. There are bird sets, lone birds, and birds in pairs for earrings.

Talking of earring pairs, I've made rather a lot of them.  

There were several casualties on the way to getting these warp-free, and I'm sure there'll be more warping in the future.  The glaze on the pair on the right is beautiful (and it's not like I made it, so I'm allowed to say that!), but, frustratingly, I've struggled to take a picture without having all of that light reflecting off them.  

I did say lots of earring pairs, yes? 

I do like crackle glazes. I've also always been a sucker for any glaze with crystal inclusions, like those I've used on a couple of these pairs.

They can be messy to use but I love them.  Had to make these glossy bonbons using them too.

I tried making up some of my old polymer designs in ceramic. These turned out quite nicely.

And, of course, there was bound to be some owl-age.

Which fox do you prefer - realistic fox or stylised fox?

These have a hole running down the centre at the back. Here's another fox-y piece:

And here's some more pendant pieces.

I've been having a go with glaze stains; I'm quite pleased with these sets.

This is a bit of an ongoing project - faux beach pottery. I've yet to get them exactly how I want them.  

Here's a few more miscellaneous pieces. I particularly like the tiger stripes and the cobalt feather set.

Yellow may be my favourite colour of rose. The rosebuds above, to the right, have also been an ongoing experiment. I really wanted to get a pinched, paper-like feel to them.  Here's an earlier set that I made as I attempted to get the look I was after. 

If you read Friday's post you may remember that I said the prize for the ITS giveaway would be a mystery bundle of beads. Well, let's clear that mystery up! The winning commenter will receive this set of roses. But I promised a bird too, so here's everything that's up for grabs:

If you'd like to win these, head here and add a comment saying what piece of equipment you'd most like for your workspace.

I hope you've enjoyed this little preview of these new beads. I have many more: a frankly alarming amount of photoshopping lies ahead. I'm hoping to get them in my shop within the next week or so.

Bye for now, Claire

something to do with your hands

Something to do beads on Etsy

something to do with your hands on Etsy