Kalaya Steede

On October 24th, the Tulane graduate students of Biomedical Sciences are holding a fundraiser event  SeLebrating Sierra Leone, at the House Of Blues to raise funds for Ebola relief and research in Sierra Leone, West Africa.  All proceeds will go to Tulane Kenema Government Hospital in Sierra Leone . They will also be holding a silent auction during the benefit.  Oh how fun! Remember this necklace I made last summer during my NErDy phase? Well... it will be auctioned off on October 24th at the House Of Blues event. I love this necklace.  It makes me feel super NErDy sexy! But I couldn't just hand over the jewelry.  It needed a little je ne sais quoi . But what? YES!  It needs a super NErDy, sexy box for presentation.   And how does one do this?   By just grabbing the closest cigar box and releasing those creative juices baby! At first I painted this on... Original Left Side View I really liked my p...

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

I was introduced to Lucia Antonelli and Pat Flynn at the Patina Gallery in Santa Fe.  I fell in love with Antonelli's necklace.  It felt so good to the touch and the bead work must of taken forever!  Oh if I only could do work like that!   Pat Flynn's anticlastic cuff bracelet was to die for!  Made from iron with 22K gold dust fused to it.  Beautiful!  But the amazing part of the bracelet is that it was light.  How can he make iron that light?    Wish I took some pictures for ya, but when I'm out and about I forget about all of that .  Allison was great to talk to at Patina Gallery.  So if you are ever in Santa Fe go stop by Patina Gallery and take a look at all the yummy jewelry they have on display.