Torch Fired Enamel–$10

The Printed Pattern: Techniques and projects for inspired printmaking–$10

The Practical Potter–$8 (slight crease in cover)

Ceramics–Ways of Creation–$8

Penland book of ceramics–$15

Creating your own jewelry: taking inspiration from museum masterpieces–$8

Metalworking 101 for Beaders–$8

Metal Craft Discovery Workshop–$8

$2 shipping per book

Thanks for looking!

Use coupon code BOCCYBER to receive 20% off storewide!  Lots of new stuff added Like the pieces above. I’d give you a few more preview photos but frankly I’m tired of fighting the computer to load them to  my blog….

Here are a couple of pictures of the loaded kiln. It takes a while to get the glaze kiln loaded up, because nothing can touch. Even with the time I took arranging the pieces, I still had a couple of them “kiss” each other when the high-temp wire slumped a little bit.

The color of the glazes are generally NOTHING like the final product. Those rust colored pieces? Half of them came out blue.

Here’s what came out of the kiln. Please pardon the picture quality–we aren’t due to have any sunshine till next week, so the lighting is LOUSY.

I love how the crystals give these pieces a celestial look. As soon as the sun comes out, I’ll be getting these listed.

I’ve also been adding new pieces to my shop. I have lots of fall stuff getting added, and I’ll be adding some holiday pieces as well (let’s face it, it’s galloping towards us at break neck speed).  Here’s a little sampling of what’s what:

Off to get a little glazing done. My son is in school now and just celebrated his fifth birthday yesterday! It’s so….quiet during the day

I’m offering 20% off in my etsy shop when you use the coupon code, “longweekend20.”  Here are just a few of the new pieces that I added this week.  Oh, and I’m one sale away from 200.  Lucky number 200 will get a little something extra in her order!

On Monday, August 29, I’ll be participating in the Beads of Clay cyber sale. Use coupon code “bocblowout” to receive 25% off your entire order. For a full list of participants visit the Beads of Clay blog on Monday.

Irene will be in our neck of the woods this afternoon (Sunday). We’re already starting to get the driving rain. On that note, my internet has already been flashing on and off, so I’m not sure what will be happening over the next couple of days. If you place an order in my shop and don’t hear back from me right away, please be patient. In the meantime, the generator is filled with gas and I’m getting ready to pop a turkey in the oven–feels like the perfect day for comfort food. Since you’ll be reading this on Monday, I hope you “weathered” the storm safely.

Hubby repaired my little kiln (again) and I managed to get two bisque firings and one glaze firing completed.  I have a couple of other small dishes to fire, but there wasn’t enough room for them in the little kiln. Since then I’ve attempted another glaze firing which failed. My husband thinks he knows what the problem is (not the elements), so I’m hoping it can get fixed soon.

The rest of the pictures show what I’ve been working on today. I’m at the bottom of a bag of stoneware, so it was pretty stiff to work with. I probably should have made some beads to go with these pieces, but I got tired of fighting with the clay. I can wedge the clay with some water to make it more cooperative, but it’s not happening now.

I also have a collection of little itty bitty handbuilt prep bowls that need to be glazed. If Pete can’t get the little kiln to work I’ll have to start working on filling the big kiln up. If I filled it up with all pendants and beads I wouldn’t have to make anything else for 5 years–I’d have plenty for my shop!

Speaking of my shop, I’ve renewed some items that had expired a while back, and I’ve added some new bead sets and some pendants, so be sure to pop over and check it out!

I spent a few minutes this morning  editing photos, and I managed to get a few listings into my shop.  Now, while the boys are off fishing, I’m going to glaze some new pieces. There are some new shapes with new designs coming. I even have a few little dishes to glaze as well.

Baby steps...first day back in the mud. I have a little handbuilt dish, some beads, some pendants, and in the back some textured pieces that I'll use for glaze samples.

Long story short, last fall I lost my clay mojo. I had a  couple of average firings in a row, I saw some pieces in other shops that were very similar to my own, etc. etc. I stepped back to decide what it was I really wanted to do. Once I decided to do it….tax season hit. I’ve emerged from tax season (relatively) unscathed, ordered a few new glazes and pigments to play with, I have a new selection of “inspiration books” (the Lark 500 series), and a couple of new technique DVD’s. I AM READY.

I’ll continue to make pieces for jewelry, but I also have some little trinket dishes planned out. For those who requested them, cabs will be showing up in my shop as well. I plan a bisque firing for sometime this week, then I’ll be cracking open the glaze jars.

Savvy?

They are valued at $70! How sweet would it be to win these?  I might cheat and use them on clay instead of metal….or I might just start stamping some metal pieces as well. Be sure to head over to her blog to check out the rules and enter yourself!