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This blog is intended to document my journey into the world of handmade artisan lampwork beads.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Halloween Ghosts



Halloween is my nother daughter 's favorite holiday. Last year I made her this bracelet and she would not even give it back to me to adjust the size until this year and then really didn't want to. So while I had it in my possession I took this picture. This year she helped me figure out my new phone, so I made her some ghost earrings to match. I was pretty pleased with both so I made myself a very similar bracelet and earrings. Of course I will only get to wear them a couple of times before it is time to put them away until next year.

I know it has been awhile since my last post, but that doesn't mean I have not been busy. London, KY's claim to fame is the Chicken festival. I usually avoid it like the plague. Well long story short, I had a booth this year in the Mountain Heritage Artisan Guild's tent. I was not expecting much, since most of the crowd is into blow up machine guns and such. I was pleasantly surprised, my husband was really successful on Saturday and Sunday in the sales department. Thursday and Friday were definitely very slow and miserable. Would I do it again, probably.

Back in the summer at the Gathering I purchased some metal clay powder. I purchased one pkg each Bronze, Brass and Copper. I have just now gotten to play with the first packet. I tried the bronze first, since it supposedly is the most forgiving. It is a long process. Wednesday after work I mixed up the clay and cut my pieces. I put them into the dehydrator until Friday after work. Then I put them in my kiln and did the first firing on a shelf to burn off the binder. Saturday morning, I took them out, they looked like charcoal briquets. I put them in coconut charcoal in a stainless steel pan and back in the kiln they went. They were in the kiln from 9am and were finally finished at 10pm. I opened the kiln and finally got to see them Sunday morning. We still didn't have a product that looked like metal. I put them in a pickle solution for awhile and then into the tumbler with stainless steel shot and water and dish soap. They tumbled all day, and Wa-la, bright shinny metal. I am very pleased and can't wait to try the other two metals.