New AJE Contributors: a Brief Intro

Hello friends! The AJE team is super excited to introduce our new contributors. They are all super talented, creative women, who will add new dimension and experiences to the blog. They will begin writing in September, including introducing themselves more in depth to you. In the meantime, you can get a preview of what to look forward to.

Laney Mead

First up is lampworker and writer for Cat World Magazine, Laney Mead. She makes incredible sculptural beads, especially animals. You can find her work in her Etsy shop and read her blog here.

Laney started out her artistic pursuits with paper and pencil, with no real formal training. She discovered lampworking one weekend and after a blissful two days of making wonkies, she was hooked and has been lampworking ever since.

Cathy Mendola

Next up is jewelry artist Cathy Mendola. She has tried several different mediums including metalsmithing, but a couple years ago she learned bead embroidery and has been hooked ever since. You can learn more about Cathy by reading her blog here, and peruse her Etsy shop here. 

Claire Fabian

Claire, who lives in Germany (the rest of the team are based in the US and the UK), likes to tell stories with her work. She uses the tagline "to add a little odd to your life" after getting the complement that her work is odd, so she will fit in perfectly! 

Claire works as a researcher by day, and creating with several different mediums in her off hours helps keep her sane (does this sound familiar?) You can read Claire's blog here and take a look at her Etsy shop. 

Cooky Schock

I don't have Cooky's profile photo yet so I swiped this one off Facebook, which was posted by Sam Leonard

Cooky had written a post for AJE about using a lucet before we begged her to join as a regular contributor. Cooky has a wide variety of artistic pursuits, has been a bead shop owner and is now a traveling teacher. Check out her website gallery for some eye candy  

We are really excited for you all to get to know these artists better and for the new experience and energy they bring with them. We know you will love them! 

Playing with Raku

I've hardly done anything this last couple of weeks, it's school holidays so my time has been dictated by children. So I was looking around for something to write about and I decided to have a go at a raku technique I read about ages ago.... resist erosion.

Raku Firing

I've tried this idea on porcelain once before using shellac to mask the design, but this technique uses wax. I had a bottle of wax resist and a piece of dry greenware that I made to try out slab building that I didn't know what to do with next so I started of giving it a coat of wax.

Greenware with wax resist coating

You can't see much from the photo, but it's fully covered with a coating of the resist.

After tracing around the edge of the shape, I sketched out a rough design and transferred it to paper which was wrapped around the piece.

Transferring the design

The design was traced over again with a ballpoint pen and a gentle pressure to transfer the pattern on to the clay.

Scratching the design through the wax

Using a sharp pointed tool, the design was scratched through the wax and in to the clay. I freehanded some leaves and grass to fit around the shape.

Sponging away the clay

Using a sponge and gently rubbing in a circular motion, I carefully went over the lines to wash away the clay. The wax starts to erode along the edges where the design has been scratched through to the clay leaving a shallow organic depression in the piece. 

Glazing

Once the piece had dried again, I painted over the lines with a copper glaze. The wax resists the glaze and any pools were removed by gently dabbing with some kitchen roll. Once dried, it was put in to the kiln for a single firing. 

The reduction bin

I couldn't photograph the next bit as I needed both hands for taking the piece out of the hot kiln. It was transferred using tongs to a tray of sand with straw and newspaper on top. Once alight, a metal bucket was placed over the top and pushed in to the sand to create a seal and allow the oxygen inside the bucket to burn out creating a reducing atmosphere. The lack of oxygen affects the glaze and brings the metals in it to the surface.

The big reveal

After a few minutes, comes the exciting part... removing the bucket and seeing what the flames have created. 

The finished piece 

Not so pretty on the back

The muck and carbon were cleaned off and I gave the piece a coat of clear sealant for protection. The front and back look totally different, mostly due to the fact that I messed up the cleaning on the back bit during the glazing part and rubbed it rather than dabbing, so the glaze got stuck in the wax and transferred to the parts that should have stayed black. 

Overall though, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It's much better than my first attempt at copper glaze where everything just came out nasty brown, and it's definitely something I will be exploring further. I think this would be a fantastic technique to try out on beads!

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Art Headpins Challenge Inspiration...Are You Up For It?

In case you missed it or it's slipped your mind our design challenge for this month is all about Art Headpins and we'd love you to join in. You can find full details here but all you need to do is design something using art headpins (or make the headpins themselves) and be able to join in out blog hop on August 30th.

Art headpins have been around for a good while now but they seem to be gaining in popularity which is not really surprising considering their versatility and the wide variety of mediums they are now made in. I started working on my challenge pieces this week but before I did I decided to do a little review of some of my past pieces to see if they provided inspiration.

For me earrings are usually the first things that come to mind, partly because they're often sold in pairs but I also think ear (or eye) level can be the best place to show off these pretty pieces.

The design can be very simple but still very striking like this pair which matches head pins by Suebeads with beaded beads by Kristen Stevens.

With this pair the headpins are by Humblebeads with beaded beads by Suebeads and here I use the wire of the headpins to create loops and then passed them back down through the bead and formed little tendrils as an added embellishment. If the wire of your pins is particularly long its worth considering working them into your design.

Here I used headpins by Jen Cameron purely as embellishment, wrapping them around a copper hoop and adding my own ceramic drops to finish the look.

But Art Headpins are not just for earrings and I've used them in a number of necklace designs. Here I've used one of my own fine silver headpins to create a pin bail for a gorgeous lampwork tube bead by Magdalena Ruiz...

And again, this time with one of my bronze clay headpins.

Another design with a bronze headpin using one of Caroline's cute little bird beads sitting on a lovely Mookite bead...again, simple but effective.

  

This last necklace was made for a design challenge several years ago and was probably the first time I'd worked with Art Headpins (unfortunately I can't remember who made these). I called this necklace Shiraz and the idea was to give the impression of vineyards with the deep purples, buds and curling tendrils of the headpins. A tiny bronze headpin also features in the capped bead dangle.

Looking back over these pieces had the desired effect and I've already managed to make a few pieces for the challenge...very organised for me I can tell you! I hope you're feeling inspired too but just in case you still need an extra nudge then how about doing a little window or hard cash shopping..? There is an abundance of headpins out there in all sorts of materials just waiting for someone to show them some love and here are just a few of my favourites...

Glass by Thornburg Bead Studio

Ceramic from Latirus

Mixed media from Pip n Molly  

Glass by Anneli Beads

Ceramic by Marsha Neal Studio (available at Bead Fest Philadelphia this week).

Glass by Beads of Passion

Polymer clay by Studio St James

Glass by Beadfairy

Silver by Atlantis Glass and Bead

Glass by Sabrina Koebel

If you would like to be included in the challenge please refer to the original post which you can find via the link at the top of this page and then e mail Jennifer Stout Cameron.

Be creative and enjoy yourselves!

Ancient to Modern - the Lucet

Hello all - Jenny here. Wanted to take a sec and introduce Cooky Schock. She is a fibers/mixed media artist from San Diego. Former owner of The Shepherdess Bead store - that's how I met her during my tenure there. She is joining the team here at AJE, and you will get a full introduction soon, promise. These "Lucet" things really intrigue me - stop by at Beadfest for demos and more info. Cooky will be next to me at #462 in Artisan's Alley!   

Here's what she had to say: 

While researching different thread-made chains to use with my micro macrame work, I cam across and article about the lucent. Coincidentally, at the same time I saw a PBS special about the Vikings. In one scene in the background some men were making ropes using antlers as the tool. 

More research, more discoveries. Now fast forward to Medieval times where many objects of everyday use were hung by the waist with cords. Cords were used for drawing up bags to keeping up undies, etc. You name it and cords were involved! All these cords were handmade, usually on a simple but very essential implement known as the LUCET. This simple tool has been through many eras but the basic shape has remained constant.

The fork design is the most common, but a lucent made of more precious material such as ivory. .tortoise shell or mother of pearl usually did not have a handle. 

My first lucent was created using a pickle fork and sawing off the center tines!

The lucet I now sell are made from a variety of recycled exotic hardwoods made by a woodworker from Crickhowell, a small rural village in southern Wales. 

Any weight fiber can be used with any lucet and beads can be added as well. The braid itself is square and very strong. 

Besides using the cord for chain, you can create I-cord much easier and faster than knitting or crocheting.  It’s such an easy tool to use that even children have fun working with it. If you’re at BeadFest, please come by my booth #462 in Artisan Alley and try out this fun little tool know as the lucet.