Kalaya Steede

the lotus flower blooms  most beautifully from the deepest and thickest mud. Lotus Pod Pendant - Vitreous Enamel and Silver Namaste Kalaya

It first started with TinSkulls.  I then had this idea to make torch fired enameled calaveras (skulls).  It was an easy transition to make because Dia de los muertos was heavy on my mind.   And so the process begins... 1.  Design 2.  Modify design 3.  Saw out the skulls 3.  File 4.  Decide on the bail 5.  Execute My first go at it was using two colors with some steel.  I veered away from my original plan and did not like the results.  I cannot tell you exactly why but it just did not "feel" right. I fell back to my original plan and that was to design what I like to call my "Winter Calaveras".  My inspiration came from a book that I am currently reading ( The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern).  Well...a book that I have been reading for the last year!  Hahaha!!!  I am a slow reader!  Anyway, I wanted to make my calaveras black and white but for some reason I used red abo...

I've been working on a few things for you but first things first.  Aren't you wondering how Fire Spirit turned out? Below is the enameling process. I sifted with a 100 mesh sifter. All enamels are  Thompson Enamels  and firing was done in Wall-E, kiln's name, at 1500 degrees F for about 1 minute and 15 seconds. All kiln's are different. Wall-E likes to get things done fast and furious. I'm only going to enamel the top piece. The bottom piece will be left alone to allow fire scale to form at will. I removed excess enamel from the bottom piece after each sift with a paint brush. 1. Sifted 1996-Black and 1850-Pumpkin. Fire. Rinse 2. Sifted 1870-Orient Red. Fired once more and thought to myself...why are you doing it this way?  I should of been layering the enamels. Ohhhh how I forgets how to do things.  Rinse. 3. Sifted some 1820-yellow, 1870-Orient Red on top of that. Then I removed some of the enamel here and there with a paint brush, letting the F...

Tonight I am getting Night Star ready for her journey home.  As I'm polishing her to make her all beautiful, I can't help but to feel a little sadness to see her go.   Night Star was designed in the fall of 2010 as part of the Amulets of the Goddess Series.  I had loads of fun designing the pieces. There were three in the set and now all three are with their Goddess.   Night Star was the last to go. Night Star Being, Knowing, and Becoming I Bring You Strength and Growth I'm all for letting go but sometimes it's just so hard.   Hold onto Night Star while looking up into the night sky and make a wish.  Namaste Kalaya

So it's Sunday and I'm just hanging out surfing the web when all of a sudden I see one of my pieces on Facebook.  I lean into the computer to take a closer look and step on the link.  I don't think I can tell you how giddy I was to be Etsy Nola's find of the week.  This is too cool!   Merci Beaucoup! Namaste Kalaya