Kalaya Steede

Get out of the studio!   You know...my a/c has not stopped running since noon!  I believe it is just getting hotter and hotter here in NOLA but you know what? It would not be NOLA without that summer, HOTTER THAN HELL, heat! Okay enough of that.  What have you all been up to? I have been making this and that. Mostly making rings and etching my heart away. When I sit down to make a piece I often think about what I want to say or what kind of energy I want it to have. Do I want to attract love or do I want to invoke inner peas...hmm...I mean peace? Maybe I want to provide protection? Since prehistoric times metals, crystals, stones, and symbols held power and mystery. When I make my pieces I like to incorporate some sort of protection for the wearer, usually there is a piece of turquoise somewhere. This past week I started off making my mother her long awaited bullet casing pendant.  On the casing I etched the Rune symbols for Journey and Protecti...

Bonjour! I have been on a ring making journey and in the past week I have probably made at least 7 rings!  Would that count as a ring a day?  HA! Anyway, my most favorite rings are anticlastic. Anticlastic is defined in which the two principal curves bend in opposite directions, like a horse saddle. Curves in the metal are so beautiful to look at and follow,  kind of like our bodies.  Have you ever lay there with your hand in front of your face and just follow the curves of your hand? Absolutely beautiful! Here is a ring that I recently made on commission. Notice the gentle curves and feel how smooth they are. Well this journey of anticlastic forming has led me to making my own anticlastic or sinusoidal forming stake.  I was going to purchase one but why do that when you can make your own? I started off with a block of rock hard maple (7/8" thick) and transferred a template a friend gave me. After about 40 minutes I was able to ...

Summer is definitely here in NOLA and although I cannot stand the heat I love the summer rains. Sunny one minute and then the clouds provide us with shade and you hear distant thunder.  Then if we are lucky it will rain and give us some relief but sometimes it just increases the humidity and NOLA becomes one big sauna! So many things have been happening...mostly with kids but who wants to hear about that? Today I am officially back in the studio. Hooah! I am making some rings that have to be enameled but I hit a wall.   Paralysis ensued and the ring sat on my bench for about two weeks!  Yes...it has been that long.  I think my Muse took a vacation. It was all about choosing a color.  So I decided to make myself some sample colors.   How tedious, right? I was told that the cure for creative block was to go into the studio and start doing tedious things, i.e. make 30 pairs of ear wires.  That is a cure to get unblocked for sure...