Kalaya Steede

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...

What once was old is new again. So I get this text from a friend it goes something like this... Friend:  I really like those earrings but I don't do dangles. So... Could you make it into a necklace? Me:  Sure!  I can do that.  No problem. (because I'm a metalsmith and can do ANYTHING) Friend:  Can you put the down first then up? Me:  Wait, what? You want both ? So that's how the conversation went which led me down this journey of WTF? So I begin the process. I had drawn up an idea. Trying to keep things simple. But I wasn't feeling this.  That bar was not going to make this hang right and I was walking down the road of soldering this then that.  Things could get messy. Frustration now sets in. Why oh WHY?!!! Why did I agree to do this? Why didn't I just leave it alone? Then I make a ring to dangle them on but it changes the feel of the piece  ENTIRELY! More frustration. WHY?!!...

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...

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...

Some things begin with a stone.  A Mexican beauty known as senora turquoise. My intention was for this stone to be used as a brooch/pendant. The design was drawn up and penciled mark where I was going to place the back pin and such. In other words... I had a plan. I used 20g for the base (2"H x 1-3/16"W).  The snake was forged out of 16 g round silver. The Vision I have two torches, acetylene/air and a Smith little torch.  I REALLY love that little torch of mine. I started with the acetylene torch thinking that I was going to get the heat I needed but that failed.  Threw the piece into the pickle pot and meditated on it. Problem...#1 Base is pretty big.   Solution...to #1 Move to Smith Little torch, use charcoal block, and above all be patient. Hot damn it actually worked!  Everything was soldered down, even the snake. Next, clean up all that solder gunky mess. Bezel and snake soldered down.  Hot damn! Time ...

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...

Oh I think summer is on its way.  Those days of hot and humid and feeling like you are swimming in sweat.  So I took advantage of it not being quite here yet by swinging on the hammock, reading a lovely book, and feeling the breeze sweep across my face and hair.  What a lovely start to Friday, huh?   Our Auntie and Uncle are back home here in New Orleans from their new home in California.  I tell you this because on my bench lies a piece of copper with a hummingbird cut out of it and it has been sitting there since last summer.  My intention was to mail it out to her...A Year Ago! Hehe! I was kind of paralyzed with the piece.  Thinking it had to be perfect and my skills were not up to the task.   I wanted her to have this piece today.   It must of been the fastest piece I have ever made EVER (~2hrs)!  Remember the humming bird was already pierced ahead of time and has been aging on my jewelers bench for months. ...

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...

I have been commissioned to make a pendant.  Yay!  The only requirement was to use an Ankh in my design.   Some of you have asked to see the progress. So just for you, a sneak preview of the pendant in process. First the design.  The pendant will measure a little less than 1" in diameter.  I'm using the second drawing down on the left side. Second, piercing the metal and attaching the bail.  I added just a little too much solder on the bail so I'll have to clean that up. When will I ever learn?  The Ankh will sit on top of the copper piece. The back side. All that is left for me to do is put it all together.  I have already filed and patinated and sealed.  Although I don't know how I feel about the sealing part.  It's some sort of polymer that keeps the metal from oxidizing.  I kind of like how the metal ages with time but not everyone likes that.   I think the hardest part is figuring out what chain or cord wou...

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