A blue bird and a bear head... finished.

I've just completed two clay pieces that I'm quite proud of. 

An adorable blue bird figure, and a bear head wall hanging.

To see them before painting... click here.

I hope you don't mind if I show them off.

This is my blue bird before I painted a 

glossy finish on him. 

The gloss protects the paint, and enhances the colours,

but makes it hard to get photos without glare.

This is the bear head before the glossy finish.

These are after the glossy finish. 

A quiet Easter weekend

These are the 1st spring flowers, growing at the base of our walnut tree.

This beetle was crawling up my pantleg...on the inside! EWWW!

Had me doing the funky chicken and yanking all my clothes off

in the living room. Thank goodness I wasn't on Skype!

On the bright side, this little bird (pine siskin?) posed on one

of my big garden pots. (No, I didn't make it, but am resisting the urge to paint it.)

I did a bisque firing, and these are all the items I fired.

I can't wait to paint them. (some of the small weird items

are actually press moulds I'm experimenting with).

These 3 birds were in that load, and are ready to paint. The big one is my 2nd big bird, and he's the same, (or slightly bigger) than the 1st one. I haven't decided on what colours to paint him.
Any suggestions??

I started painting the bear and the medium bird, starting with a base-coat.

I hate waiting for paint to dry, so we went to the beach
 to enjoy the sun, the birds and watched the ferry cruise by.

Simply charming...

The short version: I bought some charms and made simple, earrings with them.

The long version:

  I enjoy shopping for unique pieces to use in my jewelry.

Combining pretty charms, colourful glass, or precious stones, into a pair of earrings, is almost instant gratification.

 The other day, I received a new order of charms, and was anxious to go to my studio and make some new earrings. However, my son was on Skype, and we were having such a good visit, so I opened the packages, and we just kept talking.

    I have a couple of tools in my desk, so I made several pairs of earrings while we visited. 

They're simple, lovely, and Inexpensive.

Clay pieces often take weeks from start to finish. 

Paintings also take many hours to be completed.

Earrings are one of the few things I can make from beginning

to end, in one sitting AND they are easy to ship.

But, just adding a charm to an ear wire? Anyone can do that… if they want to.

Makes me reluctant to call them "handmade", however, not everyone is willing or has the patience,
to fiddle with tiny things. 

 So... 

A simple charm hanging from a hook.

Easy to make, and yet so pretty to wear.

It'll take time for me to get them all listed in my Etsy Shop, but I did 

add the butterfly earrings.