Kalaya Steede

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...

It is that time of year and things have been pretty busy. I just placed some things in my Etsy store and wanted to run a Black Friday special but starting on Monday! If you have a burning desire to own a Winter Calavera or a TinSkull this code:  BlackFriday will get you 20% off until this Friday.  Just type in BLACKFRIDAY when checking out and voilà! Have a great week! Namaste Kalaya

"While death burns the lips of other cultures,  Mexicans are familiar with death,  joke about it, caress it, sleep with it,  celebrate it;  it is one of their favorite toys and their most steadfast love." ~Octavio Paz I have made a lot of designs in jewelry but am always happiest when making skulls.  A friend of mine last night actually told me that she thought my best work was with the skulls and why not concentrate on that alone?  Oh...would not that be business suicide?  Hahaha!!! Who knows but I think I need to do what I love. Currently I am having mucho fun at making these skulls and am in the process of designing more skulls of a scary kind.  These skulls are made from recycled Louisiana license plates, found objects, and tin collected from several places, Mexico being one of them.  Although a friend of mine brought the ones from Mexico on over. Words are stamped on the back side of everyone of the TinSkulls....

Bonjour everyone! I wanted to share some exciting news.  Tinskulls will be making their debut during Art for Arts' Sake this Saturday, October 6th at Adorn and Conquer Gallery , 2038 Magazine Street!!! I will be there around 6ish so stop by, say hello, and stroll along Magazine. Tinskulls were all made from found objects, hand made rivets, recycled LA license plate and Mexican tin.  So fun to make and wear!  Tinskulls Also, do not forget to stop by and say hello to Ms. Catrina by Raquel Jasso and Jesse Bert at Thomas Mann's Gallery .  Catrina has been waiting for this weekend since August! I also want to mention that there will be a joint workshop with glass artist Ginger Kelley and Thomas Mann on October 6th-7th.  It is called... "Captured" Pendant Making .  Looks like pretty cool stuff!  Click here to find out more information. I am so excited and hope to see some of you out there on October 6th. ...