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...

Yours is to live it, not to reveal it. ~Helen Luke Sometimes I get caught up in the game.  The game of striving for importance.   What do I mean by this?   Well...as a kid I fantasized about being important, famous, or even rich.  I think for the most part we are taught that self-importance comes with having a great job (that pays well), a big house, nice car, and even kids.  These are some examples of success. So it is not a mystery when this feeling crosses over into my art.  Sometimes I feel the need to think about what will sell.  To make pieces that EVERYONE will love and want but is this the objective in being an artist?  It is quite difficult to be in the minds of others and then trying to make things that the public would like but you yourself do not like at all! So when I make certain pieces, that I have a blast making, but know in my heart that the general public would not like I feel guilty.  I say to myself that...