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Showing posts from September, 2011

I Heart You!

Here are some new things I've been working on. My good friend Amber has inspired me to sculpt.  For my second attempt (first was Grim) I decided to do some hearts.  At first they looked like cat heads but after some tips from Amber they started to look like hearts.  You rock Amber! These are made from paper clay.  All three are dry and ready for some paint. Yay!  It's Wednesday.  Can't wait for this weekend. Don't forget to come out to Art for Arts Sake this Saturday.  It's going to be an enchanting evening!  Hope to see you there. Namaste Kalaya

About Last Night

The leather workshop last night was a blast!  That is after we all got the first bead on.   Did I ever mention that the first bead is always the hardest bead to put on?  Well, it is but after you get use to it the rest is a breeze.  In fact it's so easy you can get carried away and before you know it you are removing beads because the bracelet is too long! My youngest students EVER!  They were all naturals. She made a bracelet with ruby red beads which looked amazing. They made bracelets that were earth toned.  Lovely!    Everyone came in and picked out their beads without hesitation.  If only I could be like that!  I hope they all had fun. There were six students overall and I was still nervous.  Will I ever stop being nervous?  I hope not.  I kind of like that nauseous feeling and heart palpitations that I get before a workshop. :p Next month I will be teaching another workshop and hopefully that first bead won't be so difficult. Have a great Friday everyone!

I Just Could Not Wait!!!

For our anniversary I made my husband a ring AND I gave it to him 4 days before our anniversary.   I knew from the start that it could of been disastrous because I have never set a stone directly on top of a ring before. But the only way I can get better at it is to just make it and keep making rings.  So I faced my fears and just jumped in. Usually I take FOREVER to make anything as some of you may know.  However, I was on a deadline and it took me only 1 day to make it.  Unbelievable!  Also, the ring actually fit! The band was textured by going through a rolling mill.  I then cut the length and width needed.  I used Contenti's Blank Ring Sizing Chart . Choose the ring size and then added 0.5mm to that because the width of this ring was over 4 mm.  This ring was 8 mm in width overall.  The stone is turquoise and measures about 6 mm.  Making the bezel to go around the stone was easy.  The hard part was filing the bezel to sit on the ring shank.  You have to use a curved file

Cotton Candy Anyone?

Happy Monday! Do not forget that this Thursday evening I will be teaching a leather wrap bracelet workshop at The Bead Shop here in New Orleans.  Come out and join me in some fun.   Last week I designed a bracelet for my step daughter.  She is very girly and LOVES the color pink.  So I decided to make her a pink leather bracelet. BUT I never have the materials I need, especially anything pink, so off to The Bead Shop I go. I managed to find some kind of pink beads.  I think it is crystal dipped in some sort of pink enamel.  I really don't know what it is but it's pink.  She's bound to love it.  Right? I think it is the most colorful thing I have EVER made. I really don't know what to say about it.  It's very girly. Yeah...girly. I also made a ring in a day!  Can you believe it?  I will post that later on in the week so you can have a little suspense. Until then have a great rainy Monday. Namaste Kalaya

Dia De Los Muertos aka Day of the Dead

Oh Goody!  My favorite time of the year is fast approaching and I need (of all things) a tiara.  Every girl should have at least one and at the moment I have none. My theme is Dia de los Muertos.  A tiara for the Day of the Dead celebration.  It's going to be so shabby chic! Whatever that means. Do I know how to make one?  No.  Can someone teach me?  Yes. So, I'm taking a class here in New Orleans at The Bead Shop on how to make this lovely head piece.  You know what this means...right?  I need to start shopping for supplies!  Yay!  I absolutely LOVE shopping for supplies.   So far this is what I've got. These bones and howlite skulls came from Shipwreck Beads .  It was the cheapest place to get these babies but there is a minimum order of $25.  I don't think that would be too hard to hit. Then I bought these beauties on Etsy from Troxies .    The big flowers up front are enameled with center holes.  The itty bitty ones in the back are aluminum flowers with center

66 Degrees Ferinheight what the...

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. Right after Tropical Storm Lee blew by the weather couldn't be any nicer for the month of September. Well...just for a couple of days but I'll take it! I spent most of Saturday making art journals and one leather bracelet. This one is for my step son. At first I was going to make a double wrap but I thought the stone was to feminine. That's when I decided to add some brass elements. Tell me what you all think? I've also been planning for my tiara for Dia de los Muertos. I bought some pastel skull beads so far. I was thinking all week long about these skull beads and then they became OUT OF STOCK!!! I was so ill about the whole mess. I think too long about things. I really need to work on not doing that. Sarah will be teaching an awesome class at The Bead Shop in October for making tiaras. I will be there along with some other fun people. So come on over and join us!  Yours truly will be teaching 3 w

Mehndi anyone?

Oooooo how exciting is this. Check it. This week I've been learning the Indian art of mehndi from my friend Mallory!  I got to learn how to make the stinky paste. WAIT! I didn't think it smells bad at all but for some reason she did AND so did my other friend Hussain! Tysheena and I thought it smelt like green tea. We really did! But it looks like a mud mask for your face. Uhhh...I don't recommend spreading this stuff on your face. Mix the henna up with some lemon juice until it becomes kind of mud mask consistency. Then we let it sit at room temperture for four hours and then double bagg it in a Ziploc bag (so it doesn't transfer the taste to your food) and stick it in the fridge. The next day the henna was placed in a big cone and then squeezed into a small cone, which will be used to apply the henna. Here's Mallory drawing one of her intricate designs on my hand. She was AMAZING. The design just came flowing from her hands.  She's s