Kalaya Steede

I have come full circle. This Saturday will be my 2nd Freret Street Festival . This marks my one year anniversary of doing markets.  Woohoo!!! Here is me one year ago at the Street Festival. I revamped my booth display this week. I felt that the pieces were not popping, and the props were actually crowding the table so the eyes could not rest on any one thing. So all of the displays were removed for a more wabi-sabi look. A more simple look. I will take a picture tomorrow for you. The forecast is predicting 60% rain...likely! Wow! Do I melt in the rain? YES! hahahaha...well...not really but still! Here is a sneak preview of some of the pieces you could see if you came out for a visit. Some pendants... I was playing with scraffitto enameling.  Lots of fun but time consuming.  All of these were done in a kiln except for the middle one.  That was torch fired. Some dangle earrings... but the real fun was this... 'Wonder' brooch I wond...

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...

No...we did not torch anyone! However, I did teach three lovely gals how to torch fire enamel yesterday. The hardest part was deciding what color to use!  I seem to always want to use red. What is your favorite color?  Red...no wait...purple!!!  ( Monty Python and the Holy Grail ) We sanded, painted, sifted, laughed, screamed, and fired! Hannah taking control of the torch! Their mission was to make a pendant to wear out the door.  Were they able to complete said mission? YES!!! The finished pieces. Now for the close ups! Hannah's Sybil's Leslie's I was not able to photograph Leslie's piece well...booooo!!!  You have to see it in person.   It really looks fabulous!   They all did a wonderful job at picking out what colors went well together and Sybil did an excellent job at torching her piece.  That was not an easy feat because it was HUGE but she adjusted! Too bad I do not have ...

Creating... Oh what a fun evening!  My friend Ty wanted to make a necklace to go with a particular slinky sexy dress.  She thought about buying one but I say why?  Especially if one can make it.  After all, she has me, right?  So off to the Bead Shop on Magazine.  We buy some bronze chain, coral, turquoise, Swarovski crystal, and a flower by Vintage.   1.  Making the components.  I had no idea what I was doing!  I just wrapped wire around this bead turquoise to secure it to the flower.  Some sort of bird's nest action going on.  2.  We measured the length of each chain and made many adjustments. 3.  Placing the components in the proper place.  What are the proper places?  We don't know.  We just played with it. 4.  Final Piece!  Yay!  Ty danced around the room and pretended to pick things up.  You know...going through the motions.  We had to test the integrity...

My first "How To Video."  I never thought I would do this but here it is!  I wanted to share my findings with everyone.  Like I said earlier enameling head pins has never been easy for me.  Usually the enamel just bounces off the copper.  I guess it wasn't a love made to last.  However I think this time they may work things out and stick around.  LOL! After balling up the 18 gauge copper ends I dip them into Thompson Enamel. Once the copper is covered in enamel I torch them using the end of the flame. I call it the fluffy part of the flame but it is basically at the very end. I'm heating the enamel slowly until it becomes red and then dip in enamel again. I do this at least three times. So far the enamel is not bouncing off the copper! Yay! Have a great rest of the week.  Tomorrow is hump day so we are half way there! Namaste Kalaya

Happy Monday Everyone! I already wish it was Friday so I can experiment more.  But why rush the days?   I'm working on a series of "Dipped Dangles."  They are so much fun to make AND wear. Made with 18 gauge copper.   The price of silver is outrageous and forcing me to shift to other materials.  However, the ear wires are still silver.  Don't want our ears turning green.    I had torched enamel mocha on the balled ends.  The picture couldn't capture the color but trust me it is there. I think the reason it is so dark is because I burnt the color off.  The whole piece was then patinated and polished with a brass brush.   This is the prototype.  I would like to use heavier copper but I'm on the fence about that.  I don't like to wear heavy earrings.  Does anyone?   So...this weekend I'll be making more Dipped Dangles with lots of different colors. I also experimented with enameling different colors on bal...

Being, Knowing, and Becoming Amulets of the Goddess Series This baby sold last week.  Yay!!!   The spiral is a symbol of being, knowing, or becoming.  For me it is all three and I tried to address this with the circles moving in a spiral direction.   My hope was when it was worn that it could serve as a reminder of being in the moment and knowing we are a part of this universe.  Which I forget every now and then. I had a great time designing and making this piece and hate to see it go but at least I get to see it every once in awhile.   Namaste Kalaya

You better wear green today or you're going to get pinched! Especially if I see you.   I haven't been able to work at the bench since last weekend but there are all sorts of ideas in my head.  But sometimes they just aren't able to make there way out and it's so frustrating.  Argh!  Thank goodness for other people's blogs.  What would I do with out them?   Here's something green for you...   I made this baby last semester.  I sawed the top layer and then enameled with a beautiful green.  This was riveted to a textured piece of copper underneath which was patinated to bring out the wee little fleur de lis.  The solid brass escutcheon pins were difficult to rivet until I decided to anneal them.  Who would of thought?  You can see more pictures on my ETSY shoppe . Don't forget to wear green.   and Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day, ♥ Kalaya

You know how sometimes one has unfinished pieces hanging around?  Well, I have a bunch.  This particular piece has been waiting for me to try a new technique.  Pictured below is the front.  I wanted to make the backside matte. When I enamel I usually like the glossy look but I wanted to try a matte finish.  I tried to use wet sandpaper 600 grit to get the matte finish but this is how it turned out. It was very uneven.  I decided to give etching cream a try and this is how it turned out. Oh well!  At least it's the backside.  I was going to put it back in the kiln to fix it but sometimes you just have to stop messing with it before it's too late.  I'm going to have to do more experiments to try and achieve that matte finish.  Here is the final piece on a cable chain.   Live and learn.  Have a great Sunday!   Kalaya