Kalaya Steede

Sugar skulls just got a makeover.  I cannot seem to get away with making these.  My favorite color is the white sugar enamel. I use the torch because it gives me more control over the sugar stage of the enamel.  Sometimes I use a mantra while firing and it goes something like this (after pulling the torch away).  Stop...stop...stop...STOP!!! A lot of people seem to think they are just for Halloween but I wear my sugar skulls year round.  It is like a momento mori. me·men·to mo·ri məˈmenˌtō ˈmôrē/Submit noun noun: memento mori; plural noun: memento mori an object serving as a warning or reminder of death, such as a skull. I am constantly thinking about my own mortality.  I guess this is why I make skulls.   What about you?   Are you afraid of skulls? Just today my mom requested a necklace to accompany her earrings.  I am totally on it mom! Oh just so you can compare.  These are how the earlier style ...

Dear Friends, My gallery has decided to move and it saddens me to say that I will not be going with them.  I have broken away from the herd. So what now? This is what I ask myself and to be honest I do not know.   I turn to you. The ones who come back to read...to listen to my failures, successes, and my angst.  I am grateful that you are still here. The Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG) was here in New Orleans.  I was so thrilled.  I made new friends and visited with old friends and we had a blast! Halstead held an exhibition along with SNAG at RHINO Contemporary Gallery.  200 kits went out and 30 pieces were selected for the Halstead Design Challenge.  My piece, What's Her Story? was selected to be among one of the 30.  I was so honored. _/\_ Inspired by the women of Storyville and Bellocq's photography this brooch is the first in its series. The story behind the story. Every woman has a story, especially the women ...

Mandalas have been on my mind a lot lately.   Struggling to find my truth.   I find making these in the studio calms me. Vitreous enamel, steel, and silver. Silver and copper ring Even though I knew that hard solder melts at 1450 degrees I still had to try enameling the copper.  In theory the solder should not have run.  If I only took it out of the kiln a minute sooner this may not have happened. A total melt down but I love that color!  :) Vitreous enamel, copper, and 22k gold leaf My intention for the above mandala was a ring.  The challenge was difficult but I managed to make it. Vitreous enamel, copper, 22K gold leaf, and silver I feel myself pivoting once again and feeling the need to create amulets and talismans but in sculpture form. Each person's life is like a mandala - vast, limitless circle. We stand in the center of our own circle, and everything we see, hear and think forms the mandala of our life...everything t...

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

Every now and then a little elf steps into the studio while I am working and starts asking these annoying questions.    What are you doing? Why are you wasting your time working on that? PRODUCTION WORK?!!! WTH?!!! He (yep the little bugger is a "he"), I shall name him Doubt, infects my mind from time to time.   This all happened last Friday while making some of my New Orleans'  Token pendants. So I reached down deep inside me to think about the "why".  I thought about it because I was running towards something else and resisting the moment. As I sat there at my bench working on this particular token pendant here is what came to me. New Orleans Token Pendant These particular tokens were minted in 1947 and 1970.  They differ only on what is said on the back (1947 - "One Base Fare" and 1970 - "One Cash Fare") .  The ones I use for my pendants are minted in 1947.   I do not clean them up.  Instead I examine them, hold them...

~Thich Nhat Hanh I have always been atracted to the lotus flower and its symbolic meaning.  However, not until recently has it sprung up in my designs.   It has been my source on inspiration. The one below is my new lotus rings.  I made 5 of them.   It's really good meditation and soldering practice. When I look at it, it just makes me smile. The individual cells in the pod was my inspiration. Lotus pod picture can be found here:  http://www.pse4.biz/?p=391 This next piece was also inspired by the lotus pod.  The picture of the lotus pod was (still is) hanging in my studio probably for a couple of years.  The design had always been inside my head but my skill wasn't seasoned enough back then to execute.  When I sat down to make this piece it only took me a day. Inside I riveted an actual lotus seed.  Can you see it? Let me be like the lotus... Backside The lotus inprint was made by using a rolling mi...

So much has happened these past two weeks I don't EVEN know where to begin . So let me start off by saying... dun...dun...DUUUUN... I have been accepted into RHINO Contemporary Crafts Company.   RHINO stands for R ight H ere I n N ew O rleans. I am so excited to be a part of this tribe. Looks ominous, right? This was how it looked on my first day. Along with learning the ropes I had to also get my work in there.  Wait...what? I have to have inventory? So I desinged some volcano earrings to mark the occasion because I'm going to be  EXPLOSIVE!!! LOL!  I just had to say that.   These were made with antique roofing copper and fresh water pearls. Which led me into making a silver pendant. Freshwater Black Pearl Flip-side So that is the big news of the past couple of weeks. I just finished making somemore volcano earrings with labadorite AND they are wicked cool!   Well, to me they are.   ...

My latest and greatest. This cuff was inspired by my friend being in a group called The Amazons . So... what would an Amazon woman wear as part of her battle outfit? That's when I came up with this cuff bracelet. The design was rolled on to the metal using a rolling mill with another piece of textured brass. I used my metal stamps, handmade by me, for the border.  The two pieces are held together with my hand made copper rivets. Inside I drew a labrys, or double-bladed axe, a symbol of the ancient Amazon tribes, with an engraver along with other symbols. Is it original? Ummm....not completely.  I'm sure... no I know I was influenced by someone or something.  The thing is I just couldn't tell you from where or from whom. Some people would like to tell you that a piece is original but         is it? The eyes and the mind are like cameras.   Storing and then filed away whether we want it to or not.  ...

My muse has abandoned me.  For me I go through these phases of being uninspired.  It happens quiet frequently to be honest. I hear a voice and he says, Follow your bliss. But DAMNIT,   Following your bliss is tre difficult and sometimes downright PAINFUL. Okay, enough of that. It has been about a two solid weeks without being in the studio.  So yesterday I cleaned up the mess and was going to organize but then said to myself,  Self, you don't have time for that.  Get busy and stop procrastinating. I managed to clear off the working bench and put back together my beloved lotus bracelet.  A good warm up exercise to start the morning.   Did you know that I did that?  It's kind of like working out.   Need to warm up them hands Baby before diving in. I sat there for awhile before finally deciding to finish up a piece that was in the making about a year ago. I made this box using copper and sa...

Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth. Then you'll see, that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself. ~The Matrix It's hard to get out of my head and out of my way.  These past two weeks I've been doing just that.  Letting things go and just doing.  Most of my new work I posted on my Facebook page but my latest work is still on the bench. It all started with this green stone known as uvarovite.  Now that stone has been with me for about 2 years, maybe 3.  It was time for it to go out into the world. The pendant was all done and ready to accept the stone. BUT...I wasn't feeling it. COME...ON!  Are you kidding me? All you have to do is add the stone and move on or is it? My hands moved over to my stone box (I have only one).   Really?   Yes, only one and pulled out this beautiful blue stone. Arizona chrysocolla Which also sat on my bench for over ...

Today I wanna show you the process for a piece I am currently working on. It all started with this carved bone mask.   Originally I wanted to hinge part of the piece but decided not to because well...okay because I was being LAZY. Anyway... In my mind this was going to be a pretty big piece but I can do this!   The back plate is ~ 3.5"L x 1.25"W. The Plan Spirit I had made a bezel for the mask and the stone.  The stone bezel will be riveted on to the back plate.  The mask bezel will be soldered to the back plate.  After the back plate was sawed and filed I was ready to solder. Copper, brass, and bronze oxidizes really fast.  My intention was to get in there with the torch and out of there as fast as I can. BUT maybe that is not the answer. I had to do the soldering in steps and everything was going great until I ran out of oxygen! Who does that??? I mean...I HAVE oxygen. I just did not have the regulator for it...

cause Kalaya wants to come out and play!   It is just as well that it is raining because I really need to be in the studio anyway and has it really been two weeks without a post?  For the last two weeks all I have been doing is playing, playing, and then played some more!  Hehehe!!! And here I am...Wednesday, April 3rd with only 2 1/2 days left until Freret Fest this Saturday! My latest creation is for that Starbucks junkie in your life. Click on the picture below to find out all about Freret Street Festival. I will be there with a few of my 200+ artist friends strutting their stuff.  Here is a preview... Alison Ford Metals NOLA Breeze Art Libellula Jewelry Bead Dat And of course myself... A Bit Of Mexico In My Heart Next post will be about how to make bezel wire.  So come back and visit me! Have a great Hump Day! ♥ Namaste Kalaya

Just a few days ago I finished setting two vintage glass cabochons from a friend. First the sketch of the setting.  This is where I try to decide how big, what gauge metal, where the stone will go, and where the prongs will go but most importantly for me is what and where the bail will go.  I decided to use a riveted bail so I made sure to design the back plate for it.   Okay...sawed the shape and center punched where the prongs will be placed.  I drilled holes so that an 14 gauge wire would fit nice and snug.   Next, solder, pickle, solder, pickle, and finally cleaning it up!  Yes...I had to solder a few times.  Sometimes those suckers do not want to stay put.  Not my fault at all!  hahaha!!! Finally I get to patina, buff it up, rivet the bail, and now it is time for it to receive the vintage glass.  The setting of the stone or piece is always last.  Which means...this is also the point...