The Making of a Rustic Stoneware Coin Pendant

This month, I am providing my rustic stoneware coin pendants for the August Component of the Month.  I thought it might be fun to show off how these pieces are made.

First 3 Steps

All rustic stoneware coin pendants start their life as a ball of speckled brown stoneware.  I then flatten each ball and impress the texture into it.  I have two texture sizes I use for these pieces.

Removing the center

Once each piece has been textured, I remove the center using a variety of cutters.  

Greenware coin pendants

The pendants are then left to dry for several days.

Cleaning up the pendant

Once the pendants are completely dry, I clean up any rough patches with water and a sponge.

The little kiln and some bisque

After all the pieces are cleaned up, I load them into my little kiln and bisque-fire them.

Glazed bisque

The next step is to glaze the back and the textured portion of the pendants.

A tray of glazed pendants

I then use a wet sponge to remove some of the glaze, leaving glaze only in the textured sections.  This leaves much of the brown stoneware exposed.

Adding crackle glaze

After the initial glaze, I apply a white crackle glaze to each piece.  This helps give the piece that primitive, aged look.

Tray of glazed pieces

Once I have enough pieces to fill my large kiln, I load it up and turn it on.  The kiln will run for several hours and I'll unload it the following morning.

Finished pendants

If all goes according to plan (it doesn't always), then these are the fabulous end result!  Thankfully, we had zero issues with the kiln and all of them came out great.  And that's how rustic stoneware coin pendants are born!

Happy Beading!

P.S. If you are sad that you weren't randomly selected for the COM, I do have some of these pieces available for purchase in my Etsy shop, so you can still play along!